New help for humanitarian efforts

A body has been formed to enable businesses to become directly involved in development and humanitarian operations in strife-torn emerging countries.

Corporates for Crisis will encourage companies to use their business skills to draw up and implement community projects where poverty and disaster are endemic.

The charity’s directors, who include Sahar Hashemi, founder of the Coffee Republic chain, are considering an initial venture in northern Uganda and say they are talking to 20 of the FTSE 100.

The London-based organization wants to persuade companies to become involved in projects on the ground, rather than just writing cheques for charities.

Co-founder Christopher James, a former SAS soldier and Foreign Office civil servant, said the group, which is funded by private investors and aims to have 20 employees within three years, is intended to be a ‘boots and suits’ organization combining entrepreneurial business minds with community development expertise and ‘military planning’.