African businesses can emerge stronger from Covid pandemic

Covid-19 vaccine research

Covid-19 medical test vaccine research and development concept.

Photo credit: AFP

What you need to know:

  • Many private-sector companies and governments are working together to defeat the coronavirus.
  • We must ensure this spirit of solidarity and collaboration is not lost when the pandemic is over.

As an African, I am enormously proud of how businesses on the continent have come together to support communities during the Covid-19 pandemic.

They have done so despite enormous challenges and hardships. Many private-sector companies and governments are working together to defeat the coronavirus. We must ensure this spirit of solidarity and collaboration is not lost when the pandemic is over.

As African governments confront this new reality, they do not have unlimited resources to support distressed businesses and the unemployed. That is why the response of many businesses has been so inspiring. 

Soon after the outbreak of the pandemic, companies across the continent teamed up to assist their communities with emergency medical supplies, personal protective equipment, rapid testing kits and other vital services. They accomplished it all through an impressive mix of innovation and collaboration.

Their success is anchored in public-private partnerships, early action, community mobilization and preparedness from lessons learned.

If there is a silver lining to this health emergency, it is that African science and industry have proved they can deliver local solutions for local needs.

This resourcefulness and self-reliance will stand nations in good stead for this Decade of Action on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and for the success of Agenda 2063.

Another lesson is the importance of partnerships. Across the continent, telecoms groups have worked with health ministries to set up Covid hotlines with advice on how to prevent and manage infection.

Public-private partnerships between transport companies have enabled patients suffering from chronic diseases to receive their medicines at home.

Fair labour conditions

But perhaps the most important thing we have learnt from this pandemic is that companies are only as healthy as the communities they serve. Covid-19 has tested the resilience of businesses.

Companies have had to figure out not only how to survive cataclysmic economic disruption, but how to look after the needs of their clients and communities as well.

The pandemic has taught us that principles matter. Clients and customers will remember how companies behaved in this crisis. That is why the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact, covering human rights, fair labour conditions, the environment and the fight against corruption, are more relevant than ever.

Now that we are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel, the Ten Principles can help businesses maintain their good corporate standing and guide their path to a sustainable recovery.

We must ensure that includes encompassing the innovation and benefits that arise from employing and empowering young people – the fastest growing youth generation on the planet.

We must ensure that the micro, small and medium sized enterprises that have suffered immensely during this difficult time are not forgotten.

The UN Global Compact is the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative, supported by more than 12,000 companies in 160 countries.

All of our members are committed to upholding our 10 principles, and during this pandemic are doing so in practical ways. For example, to protect human rights, our companies have denounced price-gouging practices and committed to treating all customers equally.

Our members have reinforced their employment policies to ensure they do not discriminate against older workers, working parents or the infected. 

The UN Global Compact encourages business leaders to use the Ten Principles as their guide in responding to the crisis. By ensuring that profit is aligned with principles, we can unite in the business of a better world.