Millionaires can teach us how to give away wealth

I begin with a heartfelt salute to Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.  Not because they are on the 'richest of the rich' list, with the Mittals and Ambanis breathing down their backs. No, not at all. And not even because they have, by giving away all their hard-earned wealth for the common good, become the ideal mahapurush of our sanatan dharma.

The reason lies in the latest news, news of their calling upon others on the Forbes list in the US to pledge giving away half their fortunes, and for making the pledge public. It is not in the earning of wealth that nobility lies, but in giving it away to alleviate the miseries of the world.

Come to think of it, our own Forbesians seem to be turning a very deaf ear to these moves.

Otherwise, post the verdict of the shameful Bhopal episode, suppose the fifty richest Indians/corporations were to give away one percent of their profits to the actual sufferers, hundreds of victims would get a new life. And the respect for these rich men and women from the business community would climb high - as it would amongst the sensible and sensitive in this country. 

Where giving away profits goes, the Tatas are perhaps the only group who have charity written in their charter.  Current controversies notwithstanding, all Tata companies give 66% of their own profits to trusts set up by them, to donate money to various causes.

At the recent conference on humanising globalisation that I attended, this is what Don Dungarjee was at pains to explain to the audience. (I was thinking of the jobs offered to locals by the Nano and the farmers made landless, but kept my counsel). And then I met Mike Hannigan.

Mike was a typical 60's child on the West coast of the US. Flower power was in, action against the Vietnam war was mandatory, and love, not war, was the cry of the generation. Then suddenly, he was old enough to be on his own and he started thinking of what everyone else was doing - earning a living that had little in common with the beliefs and values of their growing up years. Why could he not create a business which was close to his beliefs and values, which ran to help others, to change the world and to make it better for everyone?

With a meagre $20,000 as capital, he set up an office supplies company and named it Give Something Back. There were no outside share holders to give future profits to, so he decided that 100% of his profits would be used to fund NGOs that he and his customers felt were making a difference to the neighbourhood.

Like with most companies, the beginning was tough. Customers assumed that a 'do good' company's products would be more expensive. But by keeping the company lean, by not having any retail outlets, by running everything without paper, through e mails, and many other innovations, he made the business a success.

Today, 20 years later, the company sells 40,000 products (6,000 of which are green) through several depots across the country. They advise companies on cost cutting and sustainability, have a pick up service for e waste and old boxes to help recycle both of these, and have their customers vote where they want the profits of the business to go. They even have a 'Green Guru', the in-house sustainability guru to help companies go green. And over these years, they have given away over 4 million dollars to NGOs.

Mike gets a salary as do all the other employees. "If we are well paid, why should we need more?" is the mantra there.
If the proof of the pudding is in the eating, Mike Hannigan has been eating his pudding for twenty years and goes from strength to strength. And he is living example that capitalism does not have to equate greed. One can do well and do well to the society at the same time.