Global Entrepreneurship Week in November 2020 included E-SPACE, a three-day hybrid event, which offered a range of master classes and conferences. Rainer Gude, Co-Director General of Initiatives of Change Switzerland was invited to take part in its closing panel.

The theme of the closing panel of E-SPACE was ‘How to become the changemaker of tomorrow?’ The three panelists – Ingeborg Albert, Innovation Manager at Geneus, Didier Fischer, President of the Servette Sports Group, and Rainer Gude – discussed how entrepreneurs can transform their ideas into reality and bring about positive change. 

Ingeborg Albert pointed to three main risks which confront entrepreneurs: an idea may not fulfil a need in society, it may not work in the market, and its execution may fail. To minimize these risks, she said, you need to tackle them one by one. First, clarify your idea and get feedback on it from as many people as you can. That will help you ascertain whether there is a need for your idea. Then you can address the other risks. At each step, you need to build, measure and learn. ‘Entrepreneurship is not just for creative and bold people,’ she concluded. ‘The more you do, the better you get at it. It is a process like any other. You should consider it as a career path, but then let yourself be supported by experts.’ Geneus supports entrepreneurs throughout the whole process.

‘There are great ideas in all the world’s drawers, but only entrepreneurs concretize them,’ said Didier Fischer. The entrepreneur spirit has three elements, he said. The first one is passion: don’t go down a path for money if you are not passionate about it. You will need that passion to fuel all the effort that your endeavor will demand. Secondly, be clear on what the added value of your idea is. And thirdly, you have to be different. At each step of the way, from the product to the structure of your organization, ask yourself how you can differentiate yourself.

There are great ideas in all the world’s drawers, but only entrepreneurs concretize them.

- Didier Fischer

Rainer Gude pointed out that if you want your ideas to change the world for the better, you first need to be the change yourself. Start by asking yourself six basic questions: who, what, where, when, why and how. Who are you? Find who you are beyond what you do, beyond what people say about you, and beyond what you have, otherwise nothing that you will do will ever give you contentment. Finding your purpose and your values will help you see what you want to change in the world. Don’t think that the when is necessarily in the future. See every moment as an opportunity to start over, again and again. Keep asking yourself why you want to do it and stay open, because your ideas might change over time. Lastly how? By doing the inner work first. Use silence and keep listening to that important (but often ignored) expert – your own inner voice.

The panelists agreed that failure is an important part of all entrepreneurs’ paths. ‘We are all afraid to fail, but the more often you try and fail, the more you learn,’ said Ingeborg. However, she continued, be smart and specify your maximum affordable loss beforehand. Didier added that both failure and success are dangerous, depending on how you treat them. Even if you succeed, you can learn something for the next part of the project. They ended by stressing the important part that communications – especially with your own employees – play in achieving success.

Photos & video: E-SPACE

During Global Entrepreneurship Week in November 2020, Initiatives of Change Switzerland took part in E-SPACE, a three-day hybrid event, which offered a range of master classes and conferences. Annika Hartmann, Managing Director of the Ethical Leadership in Business programme, offered a masterclass on ‘Surviving a crisis’.

Crises are not only difficult times, but they also mark a point of change – and therefore of opportunity, Annika Hartmann told participants in her masterclass on ‘Surviving a crisis’. She identified tools and strategies which entrepreneurs can use to prepare themselves for such times.

Entrepreneurs are all about finding solutions, she said, but this requires resilience. Those who have developed this quality can bounce back more quickly and with less stress than those who haven’t.  The good news is that everyone can strengthen their resilience, but first, she said, ‘you need to apply the oxygen mask principle and take care of yourself’.

She suggested taking time in quietness every day to gain clarity on your situation, on the purpose and values which guide your actions, and on the way forward. Journaling is another great way to discover yourself. However, Annika warned, this is a marathon, not a sprint – these tools will be most useful when practised regularly, in the long term.

Resilience also involves external factors. Social connections at different levels (personnel, professional and community) can offer support. Being isolated is harmful for to health and it is important to reach out to others.  

Participants also had the chance to watch three young people from countries in crisis telling us about their own coping strategies. Antoine from Lebanon explained that as his country started a revolution in 2019, he had found it helpful to keep a healthy distance from the news, practice quiet times and surround himself with people with whom he had a mutually supportive relationship. But he was still unprepared for the crisis which followed Beirut’s explosion in August. What had helped him then was joining others in cleaning up streets, churches and houses. Through this, he had come to accept what had happened.

Sidra from Syria explained that most people in her country live below the poverty line, but wallowing in the situation does not help. She had found strength in her practice of journaling and quiet time and had decided to reach out to others. She found other young people who wanted to make a difference and together they are taking initiatives to change the world’s perception of Syria and to help people in need.

Lastly, Mark from Belarus described his practice of protest and solidarity during the troubled times that have followed his country’s elections. ‘Help others when you can,’ he said, ‘but also don’t hesitate to ask for help yourself.’ We can find much strength and support in our communities.

With these strategies to build resilience at hand, Annika Hartmann closed by telling participants that it was now up to each of them to create their own survival toolkit.

The theme of 2020’s Geneva Peace Week was ‘Rebuilding Trust after Disruption: pathways to reset international cooperation’. On 6 November, Initiatives of Change and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy held an online panel discussion on ‘environmental peacebuilding’, as part of this annual feature of the international peacebuilding calendar.

One hundred and fifteen people attended the online panel discussion, which was moderated by Anna Brach, Head of Human Security at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and conceived by Dr Alan Channer, a peacebuilding and environment specialist with IofC International’s Initiatives for Land, Lives and Peace programme. Channer is also involved in IofC Switzerland's Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security and the dialogue's Summer Academy on Land, Security and Climate.

The session explored the dynamics of environmental peacebuilding through three case-studies with a view to replicating and scaling-up solutions.

Channer opened the panel by explaining that since the environmental crisis ultimately threatens eveyone’s security, it requires a global and collaborative response. He reflected on the strong relationship forged between France and Germany after the World War II, partly catalysed at IofC conferences in Caux, Switzerland. ‘As well as the reconciliation between individuals, there was a decision to collaborate on shared natural resources,’ Channer said. ‘The intention of French Prime Minister Robert Schuman and other statesmen of the time was to strengthen long-term peace.’

‘We can look at environmental peacebuilding in a similar way,’ Channer maintained. ‘When we strengthen collaboration to safeguard the natural environment, on which we are all mutually dependent, we also strengthen the bonds of peace. Environmental peacebuilding must come to define our era, or the human story will be over.’

Irene Ojuok, until recently the National Technical Specialist on Environment and Climate Change with World Vision Kenya, described how land degradation makes survival challenging for many of her country’s rural population. People are hungry, she said, ‘and a hungry person is a dangerous one’.

Fights over territory and resources impact everyone, including children who grow up amidst violence and risk perpetuating it. ‘It has been difficult to motivate people to restore the land because it can take years to see the benefits and people need to eat now,’ she said – and this was why a shift in mindset is needed first. ‘You need to regreen your heart to regreen your landscape – and you need to be the change you want to see.’ Ojuok explained how farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR) is restoring livelihoods and empowering communities to manage their land sustainably.

Dr Raj Upreti, Executive Chair at the Policy Research Institute of Nepal, shared how drought, irregular rainfall, floods, avalanches and landslides pose serious security risks to the Nepalese people, causing increased conflicts. He described a strategy to restore human security by connecting local skills and wisdom with public policy, thereby making local institutions more effective and responsible. He put down the success of this strategy to its collaborative approach.

Lastly, Kelechi Eleanya, Team Leader at the EverGreening Network for Forest and Land Restoration (ENFORLAR) in Nigeria, talked about the Akassa community in the Niger Delta, where massive oil extraction has damaged the environment and threatened people’s livelihoods, leading to armed conflict.

Eleanya presented the ‘Akassa Model’, developed to promote local conservation and bring sustainable peace. He said the model is being emulated because it is highly inclusive and involves a bottom-up approach. Statoil/BP are involved in the project as a way of making reparations to the community.

These inspiring case-studies suggest that sustainable solutions to ecological problems require social cooperation. Replication and scaling-up depends on collaboration; the work of trustbuilding to safeguard our shared future is more urgent than ever.

Find out more about the Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security and the Summer Academy on Land, Security and Climate.

Report by Elodie Malbois and Alan Channer

Photo teaser: Leela Channer