Humanitarian agencies are concerned by the plight of certain categories - victims of war, the poor, refugees. We look at people from different perspectives, but the dynamics of our relationships can boost everybody s ability to deal more effectively with people, and to fulfil respective responsibilities. I would like to insist in particular on the idea that business focuses on people. Flip through any magazine. Of course, some of this is rhetoric - flattering people, making them feel that they are not exploited.
Business is about profit - but then, profit, of course, and increasingly so, is about people.
The immediate purpose of our presence is not the same, but being there creates a common proximity with people often deprived and suffering. And I could continue. One may say that these were generous gestures, prompted by the sight of suffering - yes, indeed, they were. In this sense, they were also truly humanitarian gestures. But I firmly believe that business, by nature, wishes people not to be poor, not to be deprived, not to be excluded.