On 20 February, 2014 SMU’s India Initiatives and the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Alumni Association, Singapore, played host to two of IIFT’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipients, Mr Siraj Chaudhry, Chairman, Cargill India Pvt Ltd, and Mr K V Rao, Resident Director ASEAN, Tata Sons. They were in SMU to speak on “Ethical Business in Emerging Markets – Reality or Pipe Dream?” at a seminar that attracted more than 60 members of the business and academic communities as well as IIFT Singapore alumni.

Mr Chaudhry shared his personal experience in leading the global commodity giant, Cargill, in India. Starting with a handful of people two decades ago, Cargill has grown significantly, employing 2,500 people today, marketing multiple brands and managing many plants. He said this demonstrates that it is possible to build a strong successful business in India ethically. It was not an easy path. It cost more money and time. It needed firm resolve and commitment to stay in the field and play against a tough competition. The company also made it clear that there was no reward for any employee for taking a quick but unethical route to success.

He also spoke of the change in the environment in India. Cargill in India has been able to buy land, build factories, get all the permits necessary and operate successfully, without having to bribe, in spite of the multiple changes of governments at the state and centre in India. As Indian states compete for foreign investment, they are simplifying their policy environment to showcase the ease of doing business in their state.

[Photos: Mr Siraj Chaudhry (left) and Mr K V Rao (right) speaking about their companies’ approach to doing ethical business in emerging markets.]

Starting with the etymology of ethics, Mr Rao covered the whole gamut of issues, including whether it is fair to single out emerging markets on this subject. He peppered his talk with the Tata Group’s experiences in India, Indonesia, Kenya and other countries, highlighting the difficult but ethical choices they make. Agreeing with the first speaker, Mr Rao said that taking the ethical route in emerging markets meant that the Tata Group had to be patient and needed long-term commitment from the leadership.

Practising ethical business starts with educating and working with the local community. He illustrated this with Tata Chemicals in Gujarat in India. Whale sharks were being killed by the hundreds every year in the state. The company worked with the local communities and their leaders to treat the whale shark “like a daughter who comes to her parents’ home to give birth and that it is their duty to take care of the animal”. The effect has been that the locals now call the whale shark the ‘dear one’ and pledge to protect it. Not only have the killings stopped, the local fishing communities now release the whale sharks accidentally caught in their nets.

Mr Rao also spoke about the withdrawal of Tata Chemicals from Lake Natron in Tanzania where a deposit of hundreds of billion cubic litres of soda ash resides in the Lake Natron Basin. When an independent agency highlighted the impact of the project on Africa’s millions of lesser flamingos for whom Lake Natron is the breeding ground, the company withdrew, demonstrating its commitment to environmental sustainability.

[Photo: Professor Ann Florini sharing her thoughts during the panel discussion.]

Professor Ann Florini, who is a Professor of Public Policy at the SMU School of Social Sciences and also Academic Director of the Master of Tri-sector Collaboration, moderated the discussions with great aplomb. She made an emphatic point that developed countries have legislated away some unethical practices and that does not make them any holier. She pointed out that, beyond legal compliance, the speakers had shown that their companies had incorporated ethical practices in their business models and in the day-to-day operating practices. She referred to the number of non-government organisations and activists who keep a closer watch on businesses today than in the past.

Mr Jasper van Schaik, Head Trade and Commodity Finance Singapore, Rabobank International, brought out salient aspects of issues Rabobank faces in trade financing in Africa and other places because of ethical questions. The general message from the panel was it is indeed possible to do ethical business in emerging markets.

In his vote of thanks, Vice-President of the IIFT Alumni Association Singapore, Mr Mrigank Ojha, thanked SMU’s India Initiatives, International Trading Institute and AmCham Singapore for their support for the event. The Association also presented tokens of appreciation to the panellist and hosted the participants to a networking lunch.

[Featured Photo: Professor Ann Florini from SMU School of Social Sciences moderating the panel discussion with Mr Siraj Chaudhry, Mr K V Rao and Mr Jasper van Schaik.]