In the first two parts of this series, we explored how humanitarian engagement can fuel commercial growth and build key internal assets such as brand and talent. Now, we turn to a more fundamental driver: risk. According to the 2017 OCHA study, “A study of private sector engagement in humanitarian action,” for many businesses—especially those with operations, supply chains, or customer bases in volatile regions—humanitarian engagement is not optional. It is central to business continuity and risk management.
This post examines the third key rationale for private sector engagement: the strategic imperative to mitigate risk. Safeguarding communities, protecting employees, and learning from crises are all direct investments in a company’s own resilience and long-term stability.
Ensuring Business Continuity
When disaster strikes a community, it also disrupts the businesses operating there. A crisis can decimate a customer base, halt supply chains, and bring entire markets to a standstill. Proactive investment in community resilience is, therefore, a direct strategy for securing business continuity.
The OCHA study offers clear, real-world examples:
- Coca-Cola in the Philippines: After a disaster, Coca-Cola provided temporary structures to a local convenience store—demonstrating “micro-level resilience planning.” By supporting a key point in their last-mile distribution network, they protected both the community and their revenue stream, maintaining brand presence during crisis. This approach can be scaled across any distributed sales network.
- GSMA and Mobile Network Operators: In the telecommunications sector, there is a strong business rationale for investing in disaster resilience. As GSMA notes, a network failure during a crisis has a high reputational cost—at the very moment when services are most needed. Investing in preparedness protects infrastructure, staff, and the company’s reputation as a reliable provider.
These motivations go straight to the bottom line. According to the OCHA survey, 31% of companies would deprioritize or end a partnership if it failed to protect their consumer base and prevent market interruption. For nearly a third of companies, community resilience is not just about corporate citizenship—it is about commercial viability. For humanitarian actors, functioning telecom systems and reactivated local markets immediately reduce the strain of delivering (at times imported) basic goods and services.
Protecting the Most Valuable Asset: Staff and Clients
For any company in a crisis-affected area, employee safety is paramount. It’s both a moral responsibility and a business necessity—a company cannot function unless its people are protected.
The OCHA study highlights this with a clear example:
- Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association: In cyclone-prone Fiji, the association issues daily weather alerts to members. This simple, proactive step enables timely evacuation or preparation, protecting both staff and customers, and demonstrating deep commitment to safety and welfare.
Risk Management and Process Improvement
Humanitarian partnerships present invaluable opportunities for companies to grow and learn. Crisis preparedness and response offer a “real-world laboratory” in which to test emergency procedures, gather intelligence, and improve internal processes.
The OCHA study provides several examples of organizational learning:
- ABB and LafargeHolcim: Both companies leveraged their partnerships with humanitarian organizations to gain access to expert security briefings in the challenging locations where they operate. Such intelligence is vital for assessing risks and protecting employees and commercial projects. As Ron Popper of ABB shares: “[partner humanitarian organizations] provide security briefings in countries of operation which allow [the company] to ensure the safety of employees and commercial projects in hostile environments.”
- Microsoft Philanthropies: Humanitarian engagement fosters knowledge transfer between public and private sectors. By participating in crisis preparedness, companies can stress-test internal protocols and train staff under real-world conditions.
Conclusion: Resilience as a Shared Value
The message from business leaders in the OCHA study is clear: building community resilience is not (just) an act of charity, but a direct investment in business resilience. By protecting customers, safeguarding employees, and learning from crisis response, companies mitigate business risks and secure their long-term operations. This is shared value in practice—the health of the community and the health of the business are inextricably linked. The more resilient the community, the less likely the need for external humanitarian aid when disaster strikes.
Coming up next: Beyond mitigating direct risks, strategic humanitarian partnerships also provide companies unique opportunities to build relationships and shape the environments in which they operate. In our final post, we’ll explore how these partnerships earn companies a coveted “seat at the table.”
