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Nobel Peace Prize – A recognition and an incentive to the Colombian business leaders who act businessworthy

 Tuesday, 08 November 2016 15:05

The Business for Peace Foundation would like to congratulate the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, and the Colombian people for this important recognition. We are delighted to see that the Nobel Peace Prize is providing a new impetus to their efforts in looking for a negotiated solution to the oldest running armed conflict in Latin America.

The Business for Peace Foundation, like many others, strongly believe in the determination of Colombians to achieve peace. The Government and the negotiating teams in Havana are back to work, trying to reach an agreement that works for all, and the private sector has a strong role to play at this critical time. Businessworthy leaders should be congratulated for showing that peace-building is not only feasible and desirable from a business angle but is also the best remedy to attack a key root cause of the conflict, extreme poverty.

Juan Andrés Cano, 2015 Business for Peace Honouree, embodies this new breed of local businessworthy entrepreneurs. Through his consulting work, he has been an avid promoter of ethically responsible and sustainable business practices that support society in becoming fairer and more inclusive.

Juan Andres is also the founder of PeaceStartup. This is a joint Colombian-Spanish initiative that gathers key stakeholders to discuss and identify sustainable solutions to tackle specific challenges of peace-building through the use of information and communications technologies. It is this innovative approach to making peace-building a business opportunity which earned Cano the Business for Peace Award in 2015, the highest recognition made to a business leader.

‘The best way Colombian business leaders can contribute to building peace is by expanding their way of thinking to understand that the business is not only for individual profit but this must create value for society too. This is the type of mentality which is critical for peace and which, the Foundation, promotes’. 

– Per Saxegaard Founder and Executive Chairman Business for Peace Foundation