I am so excited to be here today to talk
to you about something that is very near
and dear to my heart and I suspect too
many of you the subject is global
poverty and slavery and the question is
what is the sustainable solution to end
it for human justice this quest for the
answer for me began seven and a half
years ago in Kabara Kabira is the
largest slum in all of Kenya it’s right
outside of Nairobi and it is where a
half a million people are said to live
in the space of one square mile you can
imagine that I took this photo when I
was there and it’s a pretty typical
scene you see this young woman actually
more like a girl she’s 15 or 16 years
old most likely and she has a child
Kabira is full of women that are AIDS
positive that are left to struggle on
their own while I was there I had the
opportunity to sit down with some women
they told me something that changed my
life forever they said that if we could
just have jobs that would pay us $8 a
day we could thrive and provide basic
essentials for ourselves and those we
care for I’m thinking that’s it eight
dollars a day and as a businessperson
I’m thinking that is so doable and I
started to imagine what if business
could be used as a force for good to
provide opportunity for people and
situations like this so I began a quest
to learn about this topic of poverty
slavery injustice and do whatever I
could and I’m going to share some of my
research with you and we’re going to end
on a very positive note of how we can
all participate in sustainable change
well the global poverty number is that
700
50 million according to the World Bank
90% of that is in sub-saharan Africa and
South Asia over a 26 year period this
graph shows you that poverty is
essentially unchanged it’s gone down a
little bit in South Asia and it’s gone
up a little bit in sub-saharan Africa to
put in more personal terms it’s like
having to work two full days maybe
12-hour days taking everything that
you’ve earned to get one of these with
soy now
as I researched jobs and business I
discovered that the fashion industry is
a very large industry there are over a
hundred million people today employed in
this industry and in South Asia the
average minimum wage is a dollar 90 a
day poverty level and it’s growing at a
rate of 10 percent a year in South Asia
and India is the second largest exporter
of fashion products Bangladesh is home
to 7,000 fashion and apparel factories
thirty percent of those are unregulated
or illegal in 2013 one of these
factories collapsed and 1,100 people
died the thing about this it was
preventable the owner of the factory was
told the day before that there were
cracks in the building and it wasn’t
safe and everybody should evacuate he
ignored the warning and told the people
in the factory the people that work
there if you don’t go to work you will
lose your jobs so the next day they all
went to work and the building collapsed
1,100 people perished
now the aftermath was all over the news
for a couple weeks and it was discovered
that major brands like hmm and gap we’re
having their product made in
this building amongst other big names
they were unaware of this which I
understand because it was an unregulated
factory they had no knowledge and they
were they were really upset about it so
they put together a coalition of other
companies to assure building safety
going forward which is great but they
never addressed the minimum wage and
today it’s still the same now some of
these people that are in this world of
fashion they can’t live most people
can’t live in a dollar 90 a day so what
happens they’re very vulnerable and
they’re easily tricked by the lie of a
stranger which says I got a better
opportunity for you and women
particularly young women fall for this
only to be kidnapped and sold to the
local brothel to be a prostitute with no
way out
slavery slavery is at an all-time high
according to the global slavery index
forty five point eight million 18
million of that number or 40 percent is
in India alone it is said that there’s
more money made in slavery today then
Google and Starbucks make it combined so
you could see there is a connection
between slavery and poverty in fact
slavery is largely a symptom of poverty
so if we’re going to go after slavery
and try to solve that we’ve got to deal
with the poverty in India families can’t
afford to live on a dollar 90 right they
do the unthinkable some families are
selling their children into slavery and
in many cases because girls aren’t
valued as much as
boys they are sold so what do we do
what’s being done what do you hear about
is the solution to poverty what do we
hear most we hear aid is the solution we
need to help those people right they’re
hungry we need to give them food they’re
cold any clothing they need shelter
right absolutely they need those things
and in emergency situations that makes
total sense but from a long-term
perspective I’m not sure in sub-saharan
Africa a trillion dollars of aid has
been provided during the same 26 year
period that we see on this graph
sub-saharan Africa poverty has gone up
with a trillion dollars no other region
in the world gets that kind of aid
Jeffrey Sachs a well-known professor at
Columbia University well-respected in an
advisor of the UN he says that we could
end global poverty by year 2025 if only
Americans would give more I would love
to have a conversation with mr. Sachs
and say where is your logic poverty is
getting worse we’re giving record
numbers to the area of the world with
the most poverty and on top of that
America already gives significantly more
than any other country so I’m not
getting it the numbers just don’t add up
another side effect of Aid it’s widely
documented by Transparency International
is a lot of it ends up in corruption in
the hands of corrupt individuals these
two guys took five billion each and put
it in their Swiss bank accounts another
factor that it is a more subtle but I
think it’s very important to consider
when we dump large quantity of food and
clothing on a country let’s say shoes
what are we doing for the opportunity of
the local shoemaker wouldn’t it make
more sense to help the local business
grow and thrive another example of that
is Haiti Haiti used to grow and farm
farm and harvest and grow all their own
rice today they don’t grow any why
because we donate so much rice to Haiti
there’s no local market hard to compete
with free all right let’s make this more
personal let’s say that you have a
really cool coffee shop a bakery it’s
going pretty well you’re working really
hard it’s tough to run a business right
and some of the size to open up a shop
right next door to yours but they decide
to give everything away free how would
you feel probably not too good I would
suggest that we’re doing the same thing
when we dump products that could easily
support the local business so let’s
think about that another example that’s
really popular that is what’s called the
buy one give one program or model you
buy this great product typically
fashion-related and for every one that
you buy a donation of charity is given
on your behalf
feels good sounds good
but I would suggest that that charity
when you give that food or those shoes
or whatever it is to that region of the
world that is in need aren’t we doing
the same thing as just giving lots of
product to places where the local
business could potentially handle that
another part of that is what if that bag
is made in the conventional fashion
industry that pays the minimum wage of
$1 90 a day aren’t we in fact
perpetuating the one thing that we want
to stop poverty
I’m here to share some really good news
okay
and also it’s been heavy Michael Porter
another well-known professor at Harvard
he has been studying social needs
poverty and he is concluded that
actually business has the greatest
chance of solving most of our social
issues and businesses that incorporate a
social value into their business are
more competitive have better brand
differentiation I totally support that
because for the last five and a half
years we’ve been running our business
and doing just that so you remember the
women in Kibera well after a few years I
started a business that is providing
great jobs in India the most enslaved
impoverished country in the world and
we’re working in three regions of India
and it’s really cool to see the impact
on lives and we’re delivering a high
quality product that’s competitive and
meets the needs of consumers we have
learned and proven that we do not have
to compromise humans anymore to get what
we want one region that we are doing our
work in is sana gachi Kolkata India sana
gotcha is a region of Kolkata it’s known
as the largest red-light district in all
of Asia where 10,000 women work as
prostitutes many of them were trafficked
in at a young age of 10 years old this
picture was taken of me last month when
I was there and I’m looking down in
Tucson agachi where all the brothels are
directly behind me is where we have our
work and we’re creating jobs for people
I want to tell you one story
there is a woman that grew up in sauna
gachi her mother was a prostitute she
had to do her homework in the same room
that her mother was serving clients if
you can imagine that as she got older
the men started to pursue her but
luckily she escaped and eventually
learned about the work that we’re doing
and I can tell you today she is thriving
and she’s making enough money to provide
for herself and her mother her mother
and her are free of this injustice and
they’re doing great so here’s what we
can do here’s how we all can participate
in sustainable change here’s something
that you can identify with
if 25% of Americans shifted just $65 in
their fashion spending to an ethical
brand and it’s really easy to find these
brands because they put humans before
profits and they’re happy to tell you
about how their pay structure works and
they’re very transparent and there are
many brands that are coming onto the
scene every year if we did this a
million lives would be changed I believe
Nelson Mandela said it best
as long as poverty and justice and gross
inequality exists in our world none of
us can truly rest thank you
you
[Applause]
to you about something that is very near
and dear to my heart and I suspect too
many of you the subject is global
poverty and slavery and the question is
what is the sustainable solution to end
it for human justice this quest for the
answer for me began seven and a half
years ago in Kabara Kabira is the
largest slum in all of Kenya it’s right
outside of Nairobi and it is where a
half a million people are said to live
in the space of one square mile you can
imagine that I took this photo when I
was there and it’s a pretty typical
scene you see this young woman actually
more like a girl she’s 15 or 16 years
old most likely and she has a child
Kabira is full of women that are AIDS
positive that are left to struggle on
their own while I was there I had the
opportunity to sit down with some women
they told me something that changed my
life forever they said that if we could
just have jobs that would pay us $8 a
day we could thrive and provide basic
essentials for ourselves and those we
care for I’m thinking that’s it eight
dollars a day and as a businessperson
I’m thinking that is so doable and I
started to imagine what if business
could be used as a force for good to
provide opportunity for people and
situations like this so I began a quest
to learn about this topic of poverty
slavery injustice and do whatever I
could and I’m going to share some of my
research with you and we’re going to end
on a very positive note of how we can
all participate in sustainable change
well the global poverty number is that
700
50 million according to the World Bank
90% of that is in sub-saharan Africa and
South Asia over a 26 year period this
graph shows you that poverty is
essentially unchanged it’s gone down a
little bit in South Asia and it’s gone
up a little bit in sub-saharan Africa to
put in more personal terms it’s like
having to work two full days maybe
12-hour days taking everything that
you’ve earned to get one of these with
soy now
as I researched jobs and business I
discovered that the fashion industry is
a very large industry there are over a
hundred million people today employed in
this industry and in South Asia the
average minimum wage is a dollar 90 a
day poverty level and it’s growing at a
rate of 10 percent a year in South Asia
and India is the second largest exporter
of fashion products Bangladesh is home
to 7,000 fashion and apparel factories
thirty percent of those are unregulated
or illegal in 2013 one of these
factories collapsed and 1,100 people
died the thing about this it was
preventable the owner of the factory was
told the day before that there were
cracks in the building and it wasn’t
safe and everybody should evacuate he
ignored the warning and told the people
in the factory the people that work
there if you don’t go to work you will
lose your jobs so the next day they all
went to work and the building collapsed
1,100 people perished
now the aftermath was all over the news
for a couple weeks and it was discovered
that major brands like hmm and gap we’re
having their product made in
this building amongst other big names
they were unaware of this which I
understand because it was an unregulated
factory they had no knowledge and they
were they were really upset about it so
they put together a coalition of other
companies to assure building safety
going forward which is great but they
never addressed the minimum wage and
today it’s still the same now some of
these people that are in this world of
fashion they can’t live most people
can’t live in a dollar 90 a day so what
happens they’re very vulnerable and
they’re easily tricked by the lie of a
stranger which says I got a better
opportunity for you and women
particularly young women fall for this
only to be kidnapped and sold to the
local brothel to be a prostitute with no
way out
slavery slavery is at an all-time high
according to the global slavery index
forty five point eight million 18
million of that number or 40 percent is
in India alone it is said that there’s
more money made in slavery today then
Google and Starbucks make it combined so
you could see there is a connection
between slavery and poverty in fact
slavery is largely a symptom of poverty
so if we’re going to go after slavery
and try to solve that we’ve got to deal
with the poverty in India families can’t
afford to live on a dollar 90 right they
do the unthinkable some families are
selling their children into slavery and
in many cases because girls aren’t
valued as much as
boys they are sold so what do we do
what’s being done what do you hear about
is the solution to poverty what do we
hear most we hear aid is the solution we
need to help those people right they’re
hungry we need to give them food they’re
cold any clothing they need shelter
right absolutely they need those things
and in emergency situations that makes
total sense but from a long-term
perspective I’m not sure in sub-saharan
Africa a trillion dollars of aid has
been provided during the same 26 year
period that we see on this graph
sub-saharan Africa poverty has gone up
with a trillion dollars no other region
in the world gets that kind of aid
Jeffrey Sachs a well-known professor at
Columbia University well-respected in an
advisor of the UN he says that we could
end global poverty by year 2025 if only
Americans would give more I would love
to have a conversation with mr. Sachs
and say where is your logic poverty is
getting worse we’re giving record
numbers to the area of the world with
the most poverty and on top of that
America already gives significantly more
than any other country so I’m not
getting it the numbers just don’t add up
another side effect of Aid it’s widely
documented by Transparency International
is a lot of it ends up in corruption in
the hands of corrupt individuals these
two guys took five billion each and put
it in their Swiss bank accounts another
factor that it is a more subtle but I
think it’s very important to consider
when we dump large quantity of food and
clothing on a country let’s say shoes
what are we doing for the opportunity of
the local shoemaker wouldn’t it make
more sense to help the local business
grow and thrive another example of that
is Haiti Haiti used to grow and farm
farm and harvest and grow all their own
rice today they don’t grow any why
because we donate so much rice to Haiti
there’s no local market hard to compete
with free all right let’s make this more
personal let’s say that you have a
really cool coffee shop a bakery it’s
going pretty well you’re working really
hard it’s tough to run a business right
and some of the size to open up a shop
right next door to yours but they decide
to give everything away free how would
you feel probably not too good I would
suggest that we’re doing the same thing
when we dump products that could easily
support the local business so let’s
think about that another example that’s
really popular that is what’s called the
buy one give one program or model you
buy this great product typically
fashion-related and for every one that
you buy a donation of charity is given
on your behalf
feels good sounds good
but I would suggest that that charity
when you give that food or those shoes
or whatever it is to that region of the
world that is in need aren’t we doing
the same thing as just giving lots of
product to places where the local
business could potentially handle that
another part of that is what if that bag
is made in the conventional fashion
industry that pays the minimum wage of
$1 90 a day aren’t we in fact
perpetuating the one thing that we want
to stop poverty
I’m here to share some really good news
okay
and also it’s been heavy Michael Porter
another well-known professor at Harvard
he has been studying social needs
poverty and he is concluded that
actually business has the greatest
chance of solving most of our social
issues and businesses that incorporate a
social value into their business are
more competitive have better brand
differentiation I totally support that
because for the last five and a half
years we’ve been running our business
and doing just that so you remember the
women in Kibera well after a few years I
started a business that is providing
great jobs in India the most enslaved
impoverished country in the world and
we’re working in three regions of India
and it’s really cool to see the impact
on lives and we’re delivering a high
quality product that’s competitive and
meets the needs of consumers we have
learned and proven that we do not have
to compromise humans anymore to get what
we want one region that we are doing our
work in is sana gachi Kolkata India sana
gotcha is a region of Kolkata it’s known
as the largest red-light district in all
of Asia where 10,000 women work as
prostitutes many of them were trafficked
in at a young age of 10 years old this
picture was taken of me last month when
I was there and I’m looking down in
Tucson agachi where all the brothels are
directly behind me is where we have our
work and we’re creating jobs for people
I want to tell you one story
there is a woman that grew up in sauna
gachi her mother was a prostitute she
had to do her homework in the same room
that her mother was serving clients if
you can imagine that as she got older
the men started to pursue her but
luckily she escaped and eventually
learned about the work that we’re doing
and I can tell you today she is thriving
and she’s making enough money to provide
for herself and her mother her mother
and her are free of this injustice and
they’re doing great so here’s what we
can do here’s how we all can participate
in sustainable change here’s something
that you can identify with
if 25% of Americans shifted just $65 in
their fashion spending to an ethical
brand and it’s really easy to find these
brands because they put humans before
profits and they’re happy to tell you
about how their pay structure works and
they’re very transparent and there are
many brands that are coming onto the
scene every year if we did this a
million lives would be changed I believe
Nelson Mandela said it best
as long as poverty and justice and gross
inequality exists in our world none of
us can truly rest thank you
you
[Applause]
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