Three Nobel Laureates will for the first time select business leaders who stand out as examples for others within the business community by his or her ethical business activities. The Award Giving Committee consists of Professor Muhammad Yunus (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2006), Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2004), and Professor A. Michael Spence (Nobel Prize Laureate in Economic Sciences 2001). The Award Giving Committee has selected 7 nominees for The Oslo Award 2009. They are: 1. Engineer Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel (Saudi Arabia), president of Adbul Latif Jameel Co. Ltd., and President of Abdul Latif Jameel Community Services Programs. 2. Anders Dahlvig (Sweden), Ikea CEO. 3. Dr. Mohamed “Mo” Ibrahim (Sudan), member of the Africa Regional Advisory Board of London Business and founder of the Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. 4. Jeff Immelt (US), chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the US General Electric. 5. Josephine Okot (Uganda), founder and managing director of Victoria Seeds in Uganda. 6. Jiang Jianqing (China), head of the Investment and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). 7. Zhengrong Shi (China), founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Suntech Power, one of the leading solar energy companies and the largest solar module manufacturer in the world. Engineer Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel is nominated for several community programs in the Kingdom and the world, especially in the area of promoting thousands of job opportunities each year. Jameel has been the driving force behind the Grameen Jameel Pan Arab Initiative. In addition, he opened the first Bab Rizq Jameel (Gateway to Prosperity) Center in 2007 for creating employment opportunities for men and women. The winner of The Oslo Award 2009 will be presented at the award ceremony on May 14, in the same hall and surroundings as the Nobel Peace Prize, in the City Hall of Oslo. The Oslo Award will be awarded annually to the business leader whose actions and commitments are making an outstanding contribution to the promotion of ethical behavior and peace. “It is important to inspire and encourage business persons to be conscious of the role they can play as individuals to foster stability and peace. This is an element that should be incorporated as a matter of course into corporate social responsibility,” said Nobel Laureate HE Kofi A. Annan. “The Oslo Award develop as a natural consequence of discussions and deliberations during the The Oslo Summits on Peace through Trade in 2007 and 2008,” said Per L. Saxegaard, representing the Business for Peace Foundation in Oslo, the initiator of the award. __
