Julian Parrott was invited by Social Investment Scotland to attend the Scottish Business Awards at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Thursday, 12th November.
The event attracted over 2000 delegates and was apparently the largest sit-down dinner to be held in Scotland since the coronation of George V. The combination of business recognition and charity fundraising event was run and hosted by the young entrepreneur Josh, who also founded and runs the Scottish-based, sandwich and catering social enterprise called Social Bite. You can watch an inspiring video how social bite transforms lives of numerous people around Scotland here:
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=m53sAVZyMj4&feature=player_embedded
Our hosts were nominated in the Best Financial Services company category but unfortunately lost out to the Green Investment Bank.
The event was a liberally sprinkled with celebrities, with appearances by Chris Evans, Rob Brydon, Chris Hoy, Judy Murray and Tom Hunter, but by far, the star attraction was, movie star, producer and social activist, George Clooney. After an active day, visiting the Rose Street, (Edinburgh) branch of Social Bites and hosting a number of charity events; the evening was opened with an hour-long interview of George by Chris Evans.
George Clooney certainly lived up to the reputation as a charismatic who seemed at ease in the environment and engaged directly with the audience. The interview itself ranged from anecdotes about George’s career and upbringing in an activist Democratic family to the desire that he had to put something back to society to help address the wrong is that he sees in the world. In particular, he talked about his work in raising awareness about global humanitarian issues and his involvement in the charity Not On Our Watch which he co-founded with a number of other media personalities.
Interestingly, for ethical investors, he explained that their current project The Sentry is involved with ‘following the money’ around the arms trade which contributes to the continued unrest and humanitarian crises. As part of this project, Not On Our Watch have engaged forensic accountants to start to track the flow of money through various organisations to identify and ultimately name and shame those which are either directly or indirectly involved in the funding of these global conflicts. Watch this video to find out more about The Sentry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ajcmyvolQCE
This emphasizes the importance of knowing where your money goes. For many it’s important to make sure that your pension or ISA does not support global conflicts and unrest. Avoidance of the arms industry is a key element of most ethical funds, so by investing ethically you can be confident that your money isn’t invested in harmful activities .
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