Shantel
The Nippon Foundation today announces an investment of a further $2 million into promoting disability inclusion and generating systemic change within business. This latest injection brings their total investment to $7 million, following a $5 million investment in 2021.
The Nippon Foundation is an independent, non-profit, foundation founded in 1962 which provides humanitarian aid globally. As a Global impact Partner of the Valuable 500, their aim is to promote economic participation for persons with disabilities.
Ichiro Kabasawa, Executive Director, The Nippon Foundation commented: “Investing in the activities of the world’s 500 most successful and well-funded corporations is a contradictory decision for a non-profit organization like the Nippon Foundation. However, we are making this investment because we know that ensuring systematic change is what truly is needed, and we are confident that The Valuable 500 will bring about success.”
The Valuable 500 will maximise this investment and harness the power of collective actions across the 500 global businesses. This will be achieved by focusing on three pillars: Representation, Leadership and Inclusive Reporting. Each pillar is developed and delivered in partnership with several Iconic companies amongst the likes of Google, Sony and Verizon. The Iconics represent some of the largest brands in the world which will invest in products and services which will affect system change – materially improving disability inclusion within business.
With over 10% (53) of the Valuable 500’s membership being head quartered in Japan, the Valuable 500 and The Nippon Foundation will be convening Japanese businesses to discuss how they can continue to improve disability inclusion within business and combat ESG obstacles effectively.
Caroline Casey, Founder, The Valuable 500 commented: “Central to this work is tackling one of the greatest barriers to change – the lack of disability data in business. It is our ambition that all our companies will be reporting on disability performance in their annual reports against a harmonised set of metrics. Thus, enabling us to hold ourselves to account and create new frameworks for driving system change.”
In January, the Valuable 500 launched its white paper, ‘ESG and Disability Data: A call for inclusive reporting’, co-funded and developed with Allianz and London Stock Exchange Group. The culmination of their efforts will be showcased in the world’s first accountability event on disability business performance in Tokyo 2025 on International People with Disabilities Day (IDPD).
