26. The Private Sector vs. Inequality

Monday morning at SXSW might have found you at another session in The Line about the intersection between the private sector and social impact. This time it was Parag Mehta from the Mastercard Centre for Inclusive growth, and Vera Natasha Hinojosa, who leads CSR at Netspend, an Austin financial services company, who between them have come up with the slogan #rethinkCSR.

If you were at the session you would have heard a fascinating narrative that chimed so neatly with things you would have heard from previous speakers. CSR is not just about being nice, it’s not just about giving away spare money, it’s core to a businesses identity, and its core to what customers expect.

The speakers backed their ideas with statistics. 78% of consumers think companies should do more than make money, 76% of millennial customers consider companies' social goals when they think about where to work. Getting CSR right is fundamental to a company’s success.

In addition, CSR that supports the community builds the ability of commercial success. As Mehta says ‘businesses cannot succeed in a failing world.’

You’ll get more of the Mastercard Centre, in particular, in later posts, but more than anything else, this session built the sense that companies’ CSR is moving into a new phase. #rethink CSR