One would imagine former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair leading a semi-retired life at his home in Connaught Square, and writing about the years in 10 Downing Street. But it is reported that he spends every three weeks in a month travelling outside the UK on work trips for a range of roles he has taken up: as a lecturer in Yale; raising support for green technology in public speaking engagements in China, Europe and the US; working as an advisor for banks, JP Morgan and Zurich; for national government of Kuwait on a 30-year development plan; and Mubadala, an Abu Dhabi state-backed investment fund. And in the midst of a busy schedule he has also taken up unpaid roles; as a Middle East envoy working for the US, Russia, the UN and the EU and as an advisor to the African states Rwanda and Sierra Leone, advising policies for private-sector investment.
In the background of the criticism for his decision to support the invasion of Iraq in 2003, his efforts to combine politics, business and religion has puzzled critics. Blair needs a second phase that would steer him clear from muddy waters of politics, as he is left to grapple for uncomfortable answers. Always a man who likes to follow his own agendas, in a recent interview with the Sunday Times, he explained his association with various charities and called himself a ‘social entrepreneur’ working to bring social change by introducing economy boosting measures in the developing countries. He said, “I can engineer social change on my own terms, outside of a big government bureaucracy.”
The hindrances of bureaucratic channels to bring about the social change have led many to see an alternative to deliver housing, water, food, education and basics of health directly to those at the bottom of the pyramid. The rules of giving have changed; investing in the future to take care of the needs of the next generation is now also linked to the desire of the wealthy to do good for the community. The importance of social entrepreneurship to alleviate poverty and illness and reduce unemployment in the poor countries from funds given by the corporate sector and not soft loans or grants sanctioned by the government has infused philanthropy with the creative aspects of capitalism. Entrepreneurial goals are no longer linked to innovation, taking risks and reaping the reward. The business magnate Bill Gates turned to philanthropy with the goal that the benefits of technology and science should reach the underprivileged through entrepreneurial commerce that will change the direction of public welfare. The willingness of the corporate sector to support political leaders like Tony Blair to spearhead charitable causes (Bill Clinton’s charity aims to provide affordable treatment for the HIV/AIDS patients in the developing world and Condoleeza Rice is among the Board of Directors of a venture working on climate change) demonstrates the push given to the convergence of non-profit ventures and profitable enterprises.
Social entrepreneurship demands explosive ideas carried with an unsinkable force to defeat the thought that change is not possible. Blair’s hard-to-be-deflated desire to have a mission to do good in the world ignites in him a drive that would be seen as power hungry. But a social entrepreneur has to defy the odds to catalyse a social change by introducing market forces in the non-profit sector. Rather than judging the non-profit ventures from the profits they yield, their legal structures or the self proclamations of social entrepreneurs, it is the standards of the efficacy and the genuine intentions that should be highlighted. The pioneer to coin the phrase ‘social entrepreneur’ is Bill Drayton, an American scholar. He established Ashoka, a global association to support social entrepreneurs who can combine the pragmatic and results-oriented methods of a business entrepreneur with the goals of a social reformer. In an interview published in the magazine Fast Company, he said, “An entrepreneur ploughs the field, and it weakens the idea that change isn’t possible.” In countries previously subjected to dictatorship and apartheid regimes, thanks to information technology, individuals are better informed and have both the desire and the will to bring social change.
African leaders of Sierra Leone and Rwanda, where Blair’s charity Africa Governance Initiative is working to advise on finance and governance, agree that his team has been helpful in suggesting measures to attract foreign investment. In the aftermath of the political violence that swept Rwanda in 1994, some 800,000 people were killed. Now, under the leadership of President Paul Kagame, whose openness to fight corruption has encouraged American companies like Google and Starbucks to envisage investment projects, the country’s economic growth is considered as a success story for developing countries. The report issued by the World Bank called ‘Doing Business Index’ showed how Rwanda’s position has risen from 143 to 67 in the economic growth chart. Rwanda was at the head of the reformers, the top 10 of which are all developing countries like the Kyrgyz Republic, Macedonia and Belarus. President Kagame argues that the cooperation between the government and Blair’s charity which pays for a nine-member team working in the president’s office to support the local ministers to eliminate corruption, is more of a mutual partnership, “What I would like people to know is that the type of partnership we have with Tony Blair is totally different from the type of consultancy people are used to. We work in very strong partnerships whereby not only gaps are filled where they exist, but there’s also the notion of transfer of skills, mentoring, actually doing things that are measurable such that over a period of time, we will be able to know what kind of impact was made.” Blair also played a part in the deal between the government and the British companies Eco-fuel Global and Eco Positive to grow crops to make bio- diesel.
The complex network of communication bringing together countries, banks, gadgets and computers has accelerated the pace to connect people and ideas. But feelings of powerlessness, uncertainty and anxiety resulting from escalating rate of change are also generating a need for comfort and solace. Previously, it was predicted that the power of physics will altogether wipe out religion and beliefs. But that is not the case any more. Richard Watson, a futurist writer who advises organisations in future trends (the list of his clients include, Virgin, Toyota, McDonald’s, Tesco, Unilever and Coca-Cola) argues that multiple futures from embracing technologies will be fraught with insecurities and religion will prevail in the climate of globalisation. Blair’s conviction that religion is not irrelevant in the modern world led him to set up the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. If faith-based groups and social activists can work together to tackle global poverty and health issues then this will be a visible proof of ‘faith in action’. The foundation is working to advance the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000 to eradicate malaria which kills around 850, 000 children each year. In Rwanda, where there are more churches and mosques than hospitals, the foundation aims to distribute medicines and bed nets to combat the disease.
Blair is one of the most vocal British politicians to stress that religion should be seen as a force of change to improve the lot of humankind and not to be associated with extremism or past history. Although his alliance with Iraq invasion will invite scepticism but his call to salvage faith from its association with violence and discord cannot be overlooked. The breaking down of barriers in the era of globalisation to be linked only with introducing products on a global market and increasing the demand in the production sector is too limited a view. And to disengage with seeming indifference from the lack of dialogue and exchange of information between faiths is a perilous mistake. The misrepresentation of faith induces a climate of fear, withdrawal and ignorance, and lack of commitment to tackle these issues is further marginalising those who are vulnerable to the propaganda and tactics of the extremist elements.
Long before globalisation, religions promulgated trade, exchange of cultural values and knowledge. During the period of Abbasid Caliphate, the streets of Baghdad were teeming with men of learning, traders and inventors from all over the world. It was from here that the technology of paper spread across the West, most probably introduced by the Chinese traders who also passed on the knowledge of gunpowder. Today, faith demands to be treated with a dynamism which goes beyond doctrine and debate. Blair could be giving lectures in the halls of Yale on ‘Faith and Globalisation’, visiting a school in Dubai to launch his charity’s Face to Faith programme or simply sharing his views on the Quran with U2’s lead singer Bono – he has forged a direction for himself where he is comfortable to be part of a worldwide community.
Religion has also been posed as a barrier in many conflicts around the world, most significantly in the Middle East. A dilapidated approach in political negotiations for a Palestine state is now threatening stability in the whole of that region. Blair took up the job as a Quartet representative to carry out his envisioned peace process for a Palestinian state by creating institutions of statehood before the final agreement on a ‘road map’. He is convinced that by encouraging investment in the West Bank, not only will it give boost to the economy and provide jobs for the unemployed youth (some of whom are left with no choice but to work as construction workers on the sight of new settlements in the occupied territory), it will also help to diffuse the distrust of the Israelis and more checkpoints will open. To reverse the downward trend in the living standard of the Palestinians, economic reforms aimed at foreign investment has shown visible signs of growth since 2005, as noted by the International Monetary Fund. Projects such as Wataniya mobile phone network launched last year will create 750 skilled jobs and projects boosting tourism are underway. But the growth in real GDP per capita can only be sustained if more military roadblock restrictions are lifted to allow a free flow of traffic in the Palestinian territory.
Blair’s faults are numerous as he himself likes to admit, “When you are someone like me, you create a lot of controversy one way or another.” But for him, life as a former Prime Minister is not about giving after-dinner speeches and cutting ribbons. He still feels he has an unfinished job and by becoming a social entrepreneur he can achieve what he could not do while in office. There are those who will criticise him for his past failures but his ‘incurable optimism’ will not stop him from bringing change to the most neglected parts of the world.