Mario Garnero Given ‘Global Innovation Award’ by Swiss Style

At a Ceremony held in London, Prize acknowledges Lifelong Commitment to Development by Brasilinvest´s Boss Mario Garnero, Chairman of Brasilinvest, Brazil’s pioneer merchant bank, was presented with the 2011 Global Innovation Award during a ceremony held at the Claridge’s Hotel in London on Saturday, September 10, by the Chairman of Swiss Style Magazine, John François Beguin.

Founded in 1992, Swiss Style is a unique media concept geared towards the needs of the affluent English-speaking population of Switzerland, Europe and Asia. Many of Swiss Style’s readers exert leadership and commanding authority over the allocation of the world’s human and material resources.
During the ceremony, John Beguin stated that “in today’s world, as we address the structural fault lines that belie global financial crises, it is vital that both the individual and the institution apply intelligence to their best ends and act. Lives, fortunes and the public good may, in fact, be at stake.” In such a context, he added “Swiss Style is honored to present its 4th Global Innovation Award to a man who well reflects both private industry and public good: Mario Garnero.”

The chairman of Swiss Style highlighted Garnero’s visionary and tireless efforts to position Brazil as a world-class power, effectively balancing its strong position in an evolving world. By awarding Mario Garnero, he said, “we also salute the women and men of Brasilinvest, who, under his leadership, have contributed in putting Brazil at the forefront of the BRIC acronym.”
Mario Garnero declared he is “delighted and humbled” by the Award. “We can now see how right we were in establishing Brazil’s first private development agency, for Brasilinvest works today with 80 partner companies in 16 countries. Awarding me is but a signal of Brazil’s growing importance on the global stage,” he concluded.

Former recipients of the Global Innovation Award include:

2010 Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (MASDAR) CEO, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber for The MASDAR Initiative in searching for solutions to some of mankind’s most pressing issues: energy security, climate change and the development of human expertise in sustainability.

2009 TNT Express CEO, Peter Bakker and employees for their CSR linking hunger and climate change solutions.

2008 Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in behalf of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan.

SWISS STYLE honours TNT Express CEO Peter Bakker and employees for their CSR linking hunger and climate change solutions

SWISS STYLE honours TNT Expres CEO Peter Bakker

The ancient Greek historian Herodotus reminded us: “No man is free until all men are free.” American statesman Adlai Stevenson observed, “A hungry man is not a free man.” Sit down with Peter Bakker and you will not leave without knowing that a child dies every five seconds from hunger, and you can do something about it. Like climate change, if you are part of the problem, you are part of the solution.

At Davos 2010, we honour TNT CEO Peter Bakker and TNT’s 152,000 employees in 200 countries who were inspired to make a difference on both global hunger and climate change solutions. This is CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) that embraces and takes responsibility for fixing the broken chain in the circle of life.

Seven years ago, Bakker wanted to address global hunger. TNT partnered with the World Food Program (WFP) to help transform emergency food distribution. TNT employees volunteer time, use corporate in-kind resources and raise funds to improve food distribution globally. Bakker set up the Hunger Tent at Davos in an act of civil disobedience to galvanize solutions. The Tent has become the WFP Hunger Tent established by the World Economic Forum as the exclusive site for food security sessions, gathering the best brains, leaders and experts to the issue.

In similar fashion, Bakker launched TNT’s global programme Planet Me, to address climate change. His reasoning: TNT contributes to the problem so it must be part of the solution. The 3-part programme to cut carbon emissions that includes electric truck fleets, driver training and competitions, and even innovations such as the creation of biofuel collective farms in Malawi for Jatropha plants, is an effort to stabilize the circle of life between farming, food, economics and social well-being.

TNT went further in the CSR circle and cycle of life, ranking number one on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and creating corporate accounting methods that allow neither individual nor institution to slip away from tighter metrics for social responsibility and efficiency.
We salute Peter Bakker and TNT employees for unflinching vision and verve, for connecting the logical circle between hunger and environment, and for unceasing insistence that we be the solutions we wish to see in the world.

John François Béguin
Chairman, Swiss Style

Innovation and the environment are two subjects close to the heart of Swiss Style. The world suffers from the consequences of our ignorance of the implications of our actions in developing the technological sophistication of our manufacturing processes and building needs where often it wasn’t required. To recognize the remarkable efforts of those trying to change the imbalance of our world and restore us to some state of equilibrium with nature and a better way of living, Swiss Style has decided to create a “Global Innovation Award”.

In 2009, Swiss Style recognized:
Global Innovation Award to MASDAR Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi, 18 October 2009 – Swiss Style honoured the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (MASDAR) for The MASDAR Initiative in recognition of its work in searching for solutions to some of mankind’s most pressing issues: energy security, climate change and the development of human expertise in sustainability.

Pierre-François Unger, Swiss State Councillor, Department of Economy and Health (l) and John Béguin, Swiss Style Chairman (r) with award recipient Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (MASDAR)

The Award was in honour of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (MASDAR), its Chairman, Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, its CEO, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, and its employees for taking on what many experts thought was impossible or too expensive not long ago: To design Masdar City, an agglomeration which will rely entirely on solar energy and other renewable energy sources that will most certainly become the world’s most sustainable, zero-waste, car-free, carbon-neutral city. Credit is also due to the Government of Abu Dhabi, which made the financial resources available for this groundbreaking project.

Global Innovation Award to SOCAR of Azerbaijan
Davos, 30 January 2009 – Swiss Style, Switzerland’s English-language magazine for leaders, honoured the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) for its work to rehabilitate the Absheron Peninsula on Baku’s shelf of the Caspian Sea – the birthplace of the global oil business.
Swiss Style Chairman John François Béguin presented the award to Elshad Nassirov, vice president, SOCAR, in the presence of President lham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, on 30 January at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos.