Blog of RENAULT NISSAN Alliance

Every company has a social and moral responsibility towards those at the bottom of economic pile… but helping them can, in turn, help the company in question.

That’s the message from Claire Martin, Renault’s Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility and Managing Director of the Renault Foundation at the 2013 Global Meeting of the Women’s Forum held in Deauville, France (16-18 October).

Speaking on the topic entitled ‘Innovation at the bottom of the pyramid’, Claire illustrated her point with experience gained from one of Renault’s social projects.

The company has started Renault MOBILIZ, a programme run in conjunction with the Renault dealer network in France, which provides car maintenance at cost to poor families.

It’s a generous gesture in a country where about 8 million people are living below the poverty line. By helping keep the less well off mobile, they are more capable of finding jobs and becoming socially productive. As Claire told the meeting: “Mobility is the missing link in the fight against poverty.”

Renault MOBILIZ has other aims, too. It proposes micro-collective transportation schemes and subsidised rentals at a cost that can be met by the less well off. The key is to provide access to sustainable mobility for everyone.

But Renault’s largesse looks like having an unexpected benefit. The knowledge gained from the programme promises to help Renault eventually expand into a previously overlooked market sector and to win the loyalty of those who could become customers once they are back in work.

The Women’s Forum session concluded that companies can not only profit from investing at the bottom of the economic pyramid they also may find that by exploring and adapting previously untapped markets they enhance their own flexibility and ability to innovate.

• The Renault-Nissan Alliance is a partner of Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, an international platform looking at major social and economic issues from women’s perspectives.

See more pictures here

Find out more about the Women's Forum here

Push picture: Claire MARTIN, Vice President Corporate Social Responsibility and Managing Director Renault Foundation
Credits : Sébastien Millier
Second picture: Claire MARTIN, Vice President Corporate Social Responsibility and Managing Director Renault Foundation speaking at the women's forum in Deauville
Credits : Women's Forum for the Economy and Society