Hello everyone. This is George Hara.

I began studying archaeology in the United States in my twenties, and to raise funds for my archaeology, I started a company while I was a graduate student in the United States and began my business activities as a venture capitalist. I have started businesses not only in the United States but also in Israel, Europe, Africa, and other countries, and have traveled all over the world.

As I travel to countries around the world, I keenly feel that the cultures, values, and even languages that have been cultivated throughout each country's history are in danger due to the trend toward globalization.

Now, in every part of the world, disparities and social divisions are widening.

Is this the price of economic growth?

This should not be the case. Economic growth should lead to economic and spiritual enrichment for us and our descendants.

But why isn't this the case?

This is due to the widespread adoption of shareholder capitalism, which holds that "companies belong to shareholders."

If a company belongs to its shareholders, then the company's business is conducted for the shareholders, and any profits it generates belong solely to the shareholders. Furthermore, shareholders demand large returns from companies in the short term, which leads to neglect of research and development, which takes time to generate profits. As a result, we will shift from a society dominated by the real economy to a society dominated by the financial economy, leading to a decline in the global economy.

In order to break this situation, we have proposed public interest capitalism as the true form of capitalism.

A company contributes to society by working in harmony and cooperation with not only shareholders and management, but also the entire "company" including employees, business partners, local communities, and even the global environment. It is by contributing to society that a company can generate profits. In other words, a "company is a public institution of society," and it is necessary to distribute the profits it generates fairly among the "company" and contribute to the sustainable development of society.

Recently, there has been progress in reassessing shareholder primacy, but we have yet to fully address inequality and create a healthy society. The world faces a mountain of new problems, including war and conflict, infectious diseases, population decline, an aging population, energy security, food self-sufficiency, and the weak yen and foreign exchange rate. The key to resolving these issues lies on the path laid out by public interest capitalism. If Japan can demonstrate public interest capitalism to the world and take the lead in solving global problems, Japan can become a country the world looks up to. We invite you to share our aspirations and move forward together on this planet.