A Powerful Partnership to End Violence Against Women

At the heart of effective CSR are strong partnerships between the business world and nonprofits. The relationship between two new  SI members — veteran CEO David Suddens and nonprofit leader Leslee Udwin – shows what’s possible.

A key aspect of membership in the Satell Institute is the deep bond that develops between CEOs and the leaders of the nonprofits they support. The ties elevate both sides. Nonprofits not only get multiyear financial commitments from their SI sponsors; they get insights and support, too. Companies, meanwhile, receive all the benefits of giving back, including a stronger, more prosperous community, which ultimately helps business.

There may be no better example of an impactful partnership than the one between two new members of SI’s New York chapter: international business executive David Suddens and nonprofit founder Leslee Udwin. Udwin’s organization, Think Equal, seeks to end violence against women and girls around the world through a groundbreaking, research-backed educational program.

“We laugh a lot together, we cry a lot together,” says Suddens, whose career as a CEO has included helming several companies, among them iconic British footwear brand Dr. Martens.

“We disagree with each other violently over most things we talk about,” he adds wryly, “but in a way that is designed to move things forward.”

“We have our fun spats now and again,” laughs Udwin. “But we have a really great relationship. David is so interested in what we’re doing that I genuinely turn to him for advice.”

Thanks, in part, to Suddens’ support, Udwin has been able to bring Think Equal’s innovative educational programming — which focuses on kids as young as age 3 — to half a million children in 38 countries around the globe, from Africa, Asia and Australia to Europe and the Americas.

It’s a testament to the extraordinary work that nonprofits do, to the vital role the private sector plays in supporting them, and to the mission of the Satell Institute.

The Road to a Partnership
Suddens and Udwin are both passionate about ending violence against women, but they took different journeys in getting there.

After 13 years leading Dr. Martens, in 2015 Suddens became CEO of Vlisco, a Netherlands-based textile manufacturer that has a significant presence in Africa. As he traveled in certain parts of that continent, he became familiar with horrifying stories of violence against women.

“I was introduced to Dr. Denis Mukwege, who had just won the Nobel Peace Prize for repairing women’s vaginas — women who had been raped as weapons of war in the eastern Congo,” he says. “I went to a place called the City of Joy, where the women go to recover psychologically after the physical recovery in the hospital. And I was deeply affected by the horrors that had been inflicted on these women.”

Udwin, an actress-turned-filmmaker, already knew the horrors. A rape victim herself at age 18, she’d become even more attuned to the issue of violence against women when she made a documentary called India’s Daughter. She spent 31 hours interviewing six men who had gang-raped, and murdered, in the most brutal way imaginable, a female medical student in India. “The scales fell from my eyes, and I came to understand that these men were programmed to think as they think,” she recalls.

Indeed, Udwin began to realize all violence essentially stems from the same root cause: being taught that someone else is less than you are. In other words, it is born of discriminatory mindset.

What could be done about it? Udwin began looking for answers and discovered a vast trove of scientific research, much of it done by esteemed neuroscientists, that held the answer: If children can be taught empathy at young ages, it shapes their views, and behavior, for the rest of their lives.

Thus was born Think Equal. The organization has developed social and emotional educational programs for kids ages 3 to 6, and works with governments, schools, educators and parents to teach those important lessons. “We are laying neuropathways in the brain while the brain is being built,” says Udwin. “And those neuropathways are pro-social. They are kind and empathetic and loving and they care about building healthy relationships.” The program has been so successful that it’s gained the support of an array of organizations, from UNICEF to the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

Udwin and David Suddens came together when they were introduced by the dean of INSEAD, the renowned international business school (Suddens is an alum and guest lecturer). Initially, Udwin didn’t know about Suddens’ successful business career, or that he’d launched his own foundation. But the day after their first meeting, Suddens reached back out, offering financial help for Think Equal. His contribution allowed every child in Gambia to receive the Think Equal program.

Aligning With Satell
Since then, the relationship between the pair has only deepened.

“David and I have such a good relationship,” explains Udwin. “He helps me recalibrate my passion and my tone. It’s very, very difficult when you feel as strongly as I do.”

“Leslee has built an organization that will allow this effort in early childhood development and emotional intelligence to continue way beyond our lifetimes,” says Suddens. “That’s what I try to talk to her about.”

Udwin was introduced to the Satell Institute through a friend who’s part of the New York chapter. Udwin happened to be in the U.S. at the time — Think Equal has created partnerships with several American teachers’ unions — and went to an SI event. “I just loved it,” she says. “It was a beautiful community of wonderful human beings who all have the kind of beating hearts that David and I have.”

For Suddens, SI’s requirement that members commit to funding a nonprofit for at least four years aligned with his own beliefs.

“I think it’s just common sense, really,” he says of long-term funding. “If you believe that something needs to change and change takes an awful long time, then you should commit to it for a long time. I want Leslee to know that my foundation will continue to support her over a number of years.”

As it would for any nonprofit, Udwin says that kind of commitment makes a huge difference.

“Just to give you an example: the next country David is funding is Ghana,” she says. “Now, Ghana is a huge country. There are 16,000 classrooms. You can’t do that in a year or two. So knowing that that commitment is there over a number of years enables us to say to the Ghanaian government, ‘If you are genuine in your belief in this subject, and you embed this within your national curriculum in a sustainable way, we will train people to do this program for decades to come.’”

The result will be real long-term change — change that shows the power of commitment, of Corporate Social Responsibility, and of the strong and deep partnerships that define the Satell Institute.