(Photo Credit: EoC Secretariat)
1100 representatives of the Economy of Communion (EoC) from 51 countries had a grand opportunity to meet Pope Francis at the Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, on February 4, 2017. He called on the global entrepreneurs to “be the seed, salt and leaven of another economy: the economy of the Kingdom, where the rich know how to share their wealth, and the poor are called blessed.” The majority of the representatives from EoC are entrepreneurs, men and women, who chose communion as a way of life, and a way of running their own businesses. Many participants came all the way from Asia, including China, Korea, the Philippines, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Representatives from Asia. Photo source: Consulus
The representatives from Consulus as members of EoC included Mr Lawrence Chong, CEO of Consulus, Mr Steven Tan, Director of Retail & Social Impact (Singapore), Ms Helena Pham, Partner (Vietnam) and Mr Paolo Frizzi, Country Director in Italy.
From left to right: Mr Steven Tan, Director of Retail & Social Impact (Singapore), Ms Helena Pham, Partner (Vietnam), Mr Paolo Frizzi, Country Director in Italy, and Mr Lawrence Chong, CEO of Consulus
“To enable an economy of communion, we need business leaders who care about the society and seek to shape a better world. We have worked with many global leaders who share the desire to do so, therefore I believe together we are able to develop an economy of communion”, Lawrence shared his reflection after the meeting with Pope at the Vatican. For Helena, she respects the Pope even though she is a free thinker. “I respect him because he is a wise man with words of wisdom and a big heart. This morning, he agreed with us, members of Economy of Communion that: “Communion is not only the sharing but also the multiplying of goods, the creation of new bread, of new goods, of new Good with a capital ‘G’”. In order to do so, each individual and each company need to innovate themselves and learn how to collaborate with each other to work towards the greater good,” she said.
Read Pope Francis’s speech to EoC Congress here: Italian version and English version.
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