WEconomy

“You don't need to be a corporate giant with hundreds of thousands of contacts and clients. From SMEs to individuals, we all have networks we can tap into to help us amplify the good.”

Part Three: Chapter 17Weconomy Impact Engineering, Step Three: Engage Your Networks

By Craig Kielburger

Power to the people: Leverage your networks for big impacts

From C-suite to mud hut, it was a serious skills swap: a lesson in small business management delivered by one of the world's top accountants, in exchange for a demonstration on cooking chapati from a woman who wanted to sell her snacks.

Inside a small dwelling in the village of Udawad in northern India, Bill Thomas, now chairman of KPMG International, watched Ganeshi Bai, a shy amateur cook, expertly shape dough into a ball before flattening it on a round pan that rested over an open fire. She motioned to him to try. As Thomas leaned in, so did those around him, including junior accountants, middle managers, their accompanying family members, and several curious goats. As Thomas pancaked the dough, his would-be chapati crumbled. Bai whispered to the translator that he would never get married with those culinary skills. When she learned Thomas's wife was actually there, she turned to her and empathetically quipped, “How unfortunate for you.”

The cooking lesson over, they got down to business. Or more precisely, to questions about ...