Talking about business benefits

Henkel Polska together with the business magazine CR Navigator of Warsaw, organized a public debate on diversity and social inclusion. Michael Pyner, co-author of the London-based Shoreditch Trust project aimed at including groups threatened by social exclusion, was a special guest of the event.

Dorota Strosznajder, Head of Corporate Communications at Henkel Polska, opened the meeting, stating: “We all agree that diversity can address many problems of today’s world. What is more, there are companies, including Henkel, which view diversity as a condition of, and opportunity for, further growth of their global organizations.”

There followed a cross-sector debate with participation of experts representing business, NGOs and academia. Topics rigorously discussed by participants included how diversity management translates into business opportunity, and how to facilitate social progress for groups threatened by social exclusion.

Special guest Michael Pyner, an expert on creative business models and social entrepreneurship, and also co-author of the Shoreditch Trust project aimed at residents of one of London’s boroughs, said: “The model that assumed that the man should support the family and the woman should take care of the children is no longer relevant.”

The meeting also featured a presentation entitled “On The Way to Work,” a social project for the vocational activation of long-term unemployed women, run jointly by Henkel Polska and the Warsaw-based Women’s Place Foundation. Sixty women from Mazovia Province (Polish: Województwo Mazowieckie) are participating in the project, which runs from October 2013 to June 2014, aimed at supporting them in their return into the job market.