Together with its partners at the International Chamber of Commerce, Principles for Responsible Investment, United Nations Development Programme, and United Nations Global Compact, the Business for Peace Foundation is now seeking candidates for the 2020 Oslo Business for Peace Award.

The Award is the highest distinction given to a business leader who exemplifies outstanding businessworthy behaviour and accomplishments, creating value both for business and society.  UNDP is leveraging its global network to seek candidates who 1) act as role models for society and their peers; 2) have earned trust by their stakeholders and; 3) stand out as advocates for responsible and ethical business conduct.

“The Oslo Business for Peace Award Honourees are role models and bold business leaders who put society first. They work towards the Sustainable Development Goals, recognising the essential role that businesses have to play in changing the world for the better and shifting the way we live. The stories deserve to be shared and celebrate,.” said Per L. Saxegaard, Founder and Chair, Business for Peace Foundation

Previous Award winners include Hamdi Ulukaya (Chobani), Paul Polman (Unilever), Marilyn Carlson Nelson (Carlson Companies), Richard Branson (Virgin Group), Sarah Beydoun (Sarah’s Bag), Edgar Montenegro (Corpocampo), Martin Naughton (Glen Dimplex Group), and Durreen Shahnaz (Impact Investment Exchange).

Candidates are nominated through a global, bottom-up process through the Oslo-based Foundation’s global partners. Then, Honourees are selected by an independent committee consisting of Nobel Laureates in peace and economics. Current committee members are: Ouided Bouchamaoui (Tunisia), Leymah Gbowee (Liberia), Finn Kydland (Norway), and Eric Maskin (USA).

“Businessworthy means running a successful business that at the same time makes the world a better place,” said Eric Maskin.

“Contributing to making the world a better place has to be as important, if not more so, than the bottom line,” said Alice Laugher, CEO of CTG and a 2019 Honouree.

The deadline to nominate a candidate is November 21, 2019. Nominations can be submitted online through our website. Winners of the 2020 Oslo Business for Peace Award will be announced in spring 2020 and Honourees will be presented with the Award in a public ceremony at Oslo City Hall on May 14, 2020.

How to nominate a candidate

Help us celebrate businessworthy leaders and nominate a candidate for the 2020 Award.  To submit a nomination, visit our website.

We look forward to receiving nominations of qualified business leaders and engaging with the private sector at the global, regional, and national levels.

We welcome candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds and industries. Previous Award recipients range from a Turkish yogurt producer who hires refugees in the Unites States to a British product designer who has created sustainable refrigeration, and a Nigerian entrepreneur who has increased the overall returns to rice farmers.

There are three evaluation criteria:

1.    Being a role model to society and their peers
The Nominee is acting as a role model to the general public and the business community by showing how to achieve long term success by being businessworthy.

2.    Standing out as an advocate
The Nominee is an outspoken advocate for the importance of ethical and responsible business, seeking to solve problems that create value for both business and society

3.    Having earned trust by stakeholders
The Nominee has earned recognition and appreciation as a business leader by stakeholders in the communities within which the business is developed and cultivated over time.

Please consider these criteria when filling out the nomination form. Nominations can be submitted until November 21, 2019.

About the Business for Peace Foundation

Business for Peace is an international foundation based in Oslo that aims to support, inspire, and recognise global business leaders who are positively changing the face of business. At the centre of the Foundation’s activities is the annual Oslo Business for Peace Award, conferred to exceptional individuals who exemplify the Foundation’s concept of being businessworthy: ethically and responsibly creating value both for both business and society. Through the recognition of these individuals, the Foundation’s mission is to unlock the positive power of business to achieve peace and prosperity. The Foundation also hosts events that bring together business leaders, investors, leaders of NGOs, politicians, academics, and civil society from across the world to discuss the practical actions needed in order to make substantial and sustainable business contributions to society.