Closing date approaches for nominations to the World Business and Development Awards

With under two weeks go before the closing date for nominations, the World Business and Development Awards have announced the ten-member international judging panel charged with determining award winners in 2012.

The organisers have issued a final call for businesses to submit successful initiatives in line with the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. All organisations, regardless of size or location, engaged in innovative business models delivering both commercial success and helping improve social, economic and environmental conditions are eligible to apply online.

The closing date is 25th March 2012 and forms can be downloaded here. Read the initial launch story here for more background information and email info@worldbusinessawards.net with any direct queries.

The awards ceremony will be held on 19th June 2012, when governments convene in Brazil at the Rio+20 Conference, closing the Business Action for Sustainable Development Business Day.

The WBDA will stimulate businesses of all sizes and in all regions to bring forward their best examples, says Clare Melford, CEO of IBLF.

The International Judging Panel will be chaired by Alan Detheridge, Associate Director of The Partnering Initiative and a Board member of the Synergos Institute, the Revenue Watch Institute, the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help and Management Sciences for Health.

The international judging panel that will determine this year’s winners includes:

Graham Baxter, Senior Adviser, International Business Leaders Forum

Jean-Guy Carrier, Secretary General, International Chamber of Commerce

Susan Chaffin, Head of Business Call to Action Secretariat

Ying Chen, Director, Beijing Rongzhi Institute of Corporate Social Responsibility and Vice President, China Enterprise Confederation (CEC)

Lisa Dreier, Director of Food Security and Development Initiatives, World Economic Forum USA

Wanda Engel, Executive President, Unibanco Institute and a member of US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's International Council on Women's Business

Sameer Hajee, Co-founder and CEO, Nuru Energy

Ted London, Senior Research Fellow, William Davidson Institute (WDI) and faculty member of University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business

Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Vice Chairman, UN Global Compact and Chairman of the Global Compact Foundation, the Innovative Vector Control Consortium and Hermes Equity Ownership Services

Jane Nelson, Director, Harvard Kennedy School's Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

The closing date is 25th March 2012 and forms can be downloaded at www.worldbusinessawards.net/nominate.

FACTFILE:
Celebrating a decade of biennial award giving, the World Business and Development Awards are organized by the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). This year, the Awards will take place in partnership with the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency and the UN Global Compact.

In 2010, the Awards received an unprecedented 172 nominations, representing a variety of business and commercial endeavours undertaken by business associations, non-governmental organisations and individual companies from more than 42 countries. Diverse in nature, the 10 winning initiatives ranged from low-income housing in Mexico and assisting farmers in Sierra Leone, to offering affordable maternal health services in India.