Harbingers of Hope

Humanitarian and global health activist Rachel Kiddell-Monroe delivers a post-pandemic message to family enterprises: “It’s no longer about just making money, it’s about contributions.” Listen now! 

For as long as she can remember, Rachel Kiddell-Monroe has always been interested in fairness and justice. When she was a teen growing up in the UK, she considered training to be a nurse. Instead, she became a lawyer and activist who now specializes in humanitarian assistance, global health, governance, and bioethics. As for the role of family enterprises in such matters, Rachel believes the depth of values and principles within family firms can have a meaningful and practical impact on marginalized members of our communities, cities, and the wider world – especially now in our post-pandemic economy. This year could be a “turning point in the world” for us all, she asserts, in which capitalism will be “turned on its head” for the better. Family enterprises are well-positioned to start rethinking and reviewing how they do business and find more purpose. “It’s no longer about just making money, it’s about contributions.” As for Canada, there is an enormous role for family enterprises to bridge the gap that divides the haves and the have-nots. 

 

A professor of practice at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill University, Rachel Kiddell-Monroe is also executive director of SeeChange Initiative, which helps marginalized communities find empowering solutions to their healthcare needs. She is a member of Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) international board of directors. Formerly president of the board of directors of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines from 2007 to 2013, Rachel now serves as a senior policy advisor. She was recently appointed to the McGill University Health Centres Clinical Ethics Committee. During her time with MSF, she led humanitarian missions in Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda. After becoming the program director of MSF Canada, she was appointed regional humanitarian affairs advisor for Latin America based in Costa Rica.