Poverty and the private sector
Is good business merely about making money – or should it be about something more? More than 96,000 Oxfam supporters thought so, when they recently backed us in an important campaign.
Our aim? To get Starbucks to support Ethiopia's attempts to trademark the names of its best-selling beans. In June 2007, Starbucks and the Ethiopian government struck an historic deal, enabling farmers to get a fairer price for their coffee beans.
The private sector can have a huge impact on poverty. Poor countries could benefit fully from everything it has to offer – from decent jobs and a skilled work force through to new investment and new ideas. In fact, beating poverty depends on it.
And businesses – big and small – can help.
Oxfam and the private sector – what business is it of ours?
The private sector has the potential to lift millions of people out of poverty. Large, powerful trans-national companies and corporations in particular, have an enormous impact on poor people in the developing world.
Investing far more than governments can ever deliver through overseas aid, they can create new jobs and opportunities, generate wages for buying more goods and services, and teach important new skills.
But left unchecked, it can do more harm than good. Because when large international companies pay low wages, allow bad and dangerous working conditions, and neglect people’s rights – as they sometimes do – it’s much harder for people to lift themselves out of poverty.
It’s this power to affect lives that makes it essential Oxfam works with the private sector. So we aim to influence companies to improve their policies and practices when they source their products in factories in poor countries.
We also work with businesses that are genuinely committed to making a positive impact in the developing world – both on workers’ lives and on the environment. For example, in West Africa, we work with the cotton industry, at all levels of production – from farmers to large textile manufacturers and clothing retailers – helping to make sure people’s interests are protected, and lives change for the better.
It doesn’t stop there. Oxfam also works worldwide at community level, supporting local entrepreneurs, family businesses, producers and workers, helping them to make a success of what they do, and find lasting solutions to their poverty.
And finally, we campaign for change at global level too. Our Make Trade Fair campaign has put international drug companies Pfizer and Novartis under pressure to stop blocking poor countries’ access to cheap medicines – another example of Oxfam’s commitment to challenging business, big and small, to work for everyone.
