The abstractions of freedom

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Davos, Jan 26: Davos can be life-altering experience only if you take the business of attending sessions seriously. The manner in which some of these sessions are structured is designed not just to provoke discussions, but more importantly question the over-arching status quo.

My fourth day at Davos began with a very early breakfast session hosted by the global CEO of Nestle. The topic was not consumer marketing or building brands but, instead, a discussion on biotechnology and the role that companies like Nestle would have to play. Being an early riser helps, but when you are lucky to be invited to a session such as this, the benefits are incomparable and I am glad I made it to the breakfast.

There were eight speakers representing eight streams of thought, each of them a global leader. Our very own NK Singh was one of the speakers, but if you looked around the room, you possibly had about 40 of the top Fortune 100 CEOs, not to mention academics and such like. And this when the total size of the audience must have been about 50, if that! One must compliment the role that Nestle’s legendary CEO Peter Brabeck-Lemathe is playing in bringing this whole business of GM foods and the role that biotechnology can play in not only ensuring better and more robust crop patterns but, more critically, the manner in which this is done around the world.

There were some startling facts that came to light: did you know it takes 8,000 gallons (yes, you read right) of water to create one pair of jeans. Yes, that is the kind of wastage we are talking about and Peter’s point about treating water with care could not have been made before a wiser audience. In fact, seated at my table was the Nestle director of Asia, Oceania and the Middle East, Frits van Dijk, and I mentioned to Frits that India would benefit from a mini debate on this issue given the wastage we are seeing in our agriculture processes.

I was surprisingly impressed with what my good friend Martin Sorrell had to say: Martin is better at figures than on GM foods but he too highlighted some critical issues that confront consumers when they look at modified foods, especially given the naturalness which exists in the relationship with what they eat!