Russia’s first Positive Economy Forum will be held on 16 June 2015 in Rostov-on-Don. The event is being organised by Center-invest Bank together with PlaNet Finance (France). The main venue will be the Vertol-Ekspo exhibition centre. The event has the support of the Office of the Russian Presidential Plenipotentiary and the Governor of the Rostov Region.
The theme of the Forum is social entrepreneurship, and there will be an emphasis on young people and their vision of their future roles. Information communication technologies will be used to link together in the one space the Forum of Towns and Territories (organised by the Expert-Yug business magazine), southern Russia’s Council of University Principals, and the Russian National Forum of Microfinance Institutions.
The Forum organisers hope that the media will actively engage with the event and help bring the Forum and Russia’s positive development to the attention of the whole world.
“A positive economy is based not only on economic concepts, but on social foundations,” says Jean-Emmanuel Afota, managing director of the Positive Economy Forum in Russia. “It is an economy for future generations. Social business has existed in France for 35 years. We would like to share this experience with Russian entrepreneurs.”
Our French partners have said that Russia already has a positive economy; there are lots of initiatives and these should be developed. In this respect, Center-invest Bank is a prime example: in the interests of future generations, the bank is implementing transformational banking principles and creative solutions to today’s challenges.
Dr Vasily Vysokov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-invest Bank, said: “We have invited 60 experts from Europe and Russia to share their positive examples from different sectors of the economy. This will give a new boost to the development of social entrepreneurship. We expect the Forum to generate 50 proposals to develop the positive economy in our region and in Russia as a whole.”
During the Forum, business people, non-profit organisations, engaged citizens and social entrepreneurs will share their experience and propose new ways of addressing environmental and climate challenges, expanding access to education and medical services, and developing and supporting cultural projects.
The proposals should provide solutions to societal needs. They should be financially transparent and scalable/replicable.
The Forum should provide a platform for exchanging experience of positive practice relating to the following:
- Opportunities for a Positive Economy in Russia (plenary session);
- Positive business models and entrepreneurship in the 21st century;
- Positive anti-crisis solutions;
- Positive towns and society;
- Positive energy;
- Transformation of educational models;
- Positive food products and agriculture;
- Transformational banking and accessibility of financial services;
- Public Private Partnerships;
- Measuring positive impact;
- Positive integration of regional players into the global economy.
The Forum’s provisional programme and information about the main theoretical approaches to a positive economy are available on the Forum’s website: позитивнаяэкономика.рф. Visitors to the website can also answer a questionnaire that will be used to finalise the Forum’s programme, which will reflect best international practice and the wishes of the people of southern Russia.