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Building upon earlier efforts to promote responsible business by various apex bodies of Nepali business associations, NBI Business Code of Conduct Concepts launched in 2013 as a voluntary step towards better business practices. “Nepal Responsible Business Summit 2014″ was held on 16-17 December 2014 in Kathmandu with an objective to bring Nepal’s business community together to discuss how to:
- Integrate responsible practices into their core business
- Build a brand around responsible practices
- Create operational efficiency through responsible practices
- Increase and improve stakeholder engagement
- Effectively manage integrity and compliance issues
Each of the above objectives was discussed thoroughly in five separate parallel tracks, consisting of three learning/ discussion sessions, with at least one international best-practice example, alongside various local Nepalese examples to set the context. Business leaders, civil society and academia came together to jointly discuss how business ethics and responsible business practices can become integral part of doing business in Nepal. Different models of business ethics were explored and their relevance for Nepal were analysed. Participants debated on concrete examples of how companies are changing their business practices towards a more sustainable and responsible private sector entity. Costs and benefits of such leadership decisions were discussed and the potential for collective action amongst Nepalese business leaders and leading businesses were explored.
The conference was endorsed by Ministry of Industry and is organized by the National Business Initiative (NBI); School of Management, Tribhuvan University (SoMTU); Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM); Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI); and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, which acts on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
One of the objectives of the Summit was to share both international and Nepali experiences in implementing responsible business practices. The Summit programme thus included guest speakers such as Mr Gupta from India and Mr Jon Hanks from South Africa, and it also included speakers from large and small Nepali companies in diverse sectors.
