Mihoko Kashiwakura: Active as the Japan Representative of the Gates Foundation

Everything has been connected since I took the AO entrance exam for SFC. In my application, I wrote about meeting a young girl begging in Mexico when I was six years old as my starting point. I stated that I wanted to create a world without poverty, and therefore wanted to look for answers that could significantly change society at SFC, where I could study diverse disciplines.

I feel like I've finally landed a job that is a direct hit, right in the center (laughs). I think my career up until now has been about trying to change how systems work, but now I am able to be involved in the field of social contribution itself.

During my SFC days, I wondered whether entering the field of international cooperation, such as JICA or the UN, would actually bring about the greatest change to society. The answer I came up with was that first, the economic system had to change. I thought that understanding and changing accounting and financial systems would be the key to solving social issues, so I first chose the financial industry.

While working at a securities firm, I obtained my US CPA license. While understanding the mechanisms of accounting and finance, I thought about how transforming them could solve social inequality and environmental problems. Then, I went to study for an MBA at the University of Cambridge.

At the time, Prince Charles of the UK was saying that we must change accounting through "Accounting for Sustainability," considering the Earth 100 or 200 years into the future. So, in the UK, I studied the quantification of social value in accounting, wrote a research paper, and was able to connect with people in the field of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investment.

I believe we must change the definition of the value of money. Current P&L and balance sheets are determined by a single standard of value. However, I hope that in the post-COVID world, accounting will move toward an era where ESG is not outside of financial statements, but rather integrated into the variations of corporate value.

The mission of the Gates Foundation is that "all lives have equal value." Before Bill and Melinda got married, they went to Africa and were confronted with the fact of "inequality in life"—that children there were losing their lives to diseases that could be treated or prevented in developed countries. So, it is an organization created with the mission of how to eliminate poverty using their assets.

I work at the Japan office, and what I find very rewarding is that this mission can deliver a pie of solutions from Japan to the poor in developing countries by leveraging the power of the Japanese government, private companies, and civil society.

When collaborations with large companies or the government move forward, I am very happy to see results that translate into numbers, such as vaccines for tens of millions of people or products that reach hundreds of people.

Currently, the total grants of the foundation are about 5.3 trillion yen.

The annual budget is about 500 billion yen. However, if we seriously want to solve all the poverty problems on Earth, it is just a drop in the bucket. To achieve that, cooperation from developed countries, the UN, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and other international cooperation players, as well as NGOs on the ground, is necessary.

Therefore, the mission of the foundation is not to act alone, but to form strategic partnerships with governments, the private sector, international organizations, and NGOs, and to see what kind of impact can be made based on the strategies we create.

What we are focusing on most during this COVID-19 pandemic is how to deliver the three-point tool for COVID-19 countermeasures—"vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic kits"—to developing countries. To that end, the "ACT Accelerator" was launched under the WHO last May. We participated as a partner, contributed funds, and created the framework.

This is a framework that the world created for the first time during this pandemic, and the biggest challenge we are facing now is how to make it run properly.

The disparity between nations that has emerged with COVID-19 is clearly visible in vaccine supply. While developed countries have currently secured vaccines for about 2.5 times their population per person, it is only about 14% relative to the population in developing countries. This is a phenomenon of self-interest known as vaccine nationalism.

To counter this vaccine nationalism, it is important to create a framework that includes developing countries based on international cooperation and multilateralism.

Regarding vaccines, we created a scheme called the "COVAX Facility" that developing country governments can also join, and the Japanese government was the first among developed countries to step forward. This is something to be proud of. Because Japan stepped forward first while other developed countries were running toward self-interest, it has now become a large framework with over 190 participating countries.

That's true. However, it is predicted that if vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic kits do not reach developing countries, Japan will suffer an economic loss of 500 billion yen in 2021, mainly in the manufacturing industry, and 1.36 trillion yen by 2025.

For developed countries as a whole, this would be an economic loss of 16 trillion yen in 2021 and 48 trillion yen over five years (according to economic analysis by the Eurasia Group). The Earth has truly become integrated. In this integrated economy, we have come to realize that even if you act out of self-interest, you actually lose out yourself.

Therefore, from now on, thinking about global optimization and global strategy is highly rational economically and also good ethically.

I suppose it's that the current situation in developing countries and the sense of it being a "personal matter" for Japanese people are very far apart. I think it would be good if people could feel more closely that the industries they work in and the things they consume are already integrated into the global economy, including developing countries.

There are many people from diverse backgrounds. There are those from consulting backgrounds who grind out strategies, experts in infectious diseases like tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria, those who have developed pharmaceuticals, those who have worked in government agencies for a long time and are skilled in communication, and those who have been on the ground with NGOs and have high expertise in logistics and supply chains. It is truly diverse. Since I had no background in international health at all, the field of medicine and health itself was a new theme for me, but if there is something in common, it might be that people who have no hesitation in absorbing new fields are gathered here.

My role is to collaborate with all sectors in Japan and create partnerships in various forms while gaining the cooperation of diverse leaders.

Japan is a country that has gained great trust from people on the ground, and I believe there is much Japan can do with diplomatic power based on that trust. Also, there are few other countries in the world with such wonderful services as Japan's universal health insurance system. The Japanese government has long communicated the importance of Universal Health Coverage to governments in developing countries and has strived to share that knowledge.

Currently, GHIT (Global Health Innovative Technology Fund), where Dr. Hiroki Nakatani serves as CEO, is a model created by the Japanese government, Japanese pharmaceutical companies, and the Gates Foundation contributing funds as a solution for infectious diseases that are difficult to profit from in developing countries, such as HIV, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases. This is the world's first model to promote R&D for developing countries, and I think it is something to be very proud of.

Furthermore, in the private sector, there are still many technologies, products, and services that only exist in Japan or can only be done by Japan. Also, regarding NGOs, Japanese people often act as coordinators at international conferences and manage things well. I believe there is a lot of potential for Japanese people to be active in such international arenas.

I think that in Japanese-style capitalism, the awareness that a company is a public entity of society, or that it creates products and services for the sake of society, is at the root of Japanese management. Therefore, I think it would be good if leaders could think more than ever about where the potential to grow corporate value lies—not just for immediate shareholders and direct stakeholders, but including broader global issues—for corporate value and medium- to long-term strategies after COVID-19.

We are no longer in an era of mass production and mass consumption; from now on, I think we will shift to seeking the nature of social value based on the premise of finite resources. I believe we should pursue such a form of corporate value.

However, I don't think a single company can demonstrate corporate value in broad areas like the social domain on its own. There, I believe that skillfully forming partnerships with stakeholders involved in that area, such as the government and NGOs, will also lead to corporate competitiveness.

Exactly. The role of the foundation is to make advance investments in risks that companies and governments cannot take. For example, the eradication of polio was a difficult challenge of how to deliver polio vaccines to places with unstable political situations.

This year, Nigeria was finally certified by the WHO as having eradicated the wild strain. It is wonderful to have such happy news amidst COVID-19. I believe the role that must be pursued precisely because we are a foundation is very large.

I think it is very important to listen to your inner voice saying, "I want to do this." Since we are in a phase where the times are changing this much, I believe that being able to clear what you really want to do with ideas that can strip away fixed concepts will become a weapon.

Looking back, I have crossed various fields without building much expertise in a single one, and I think that has become quite a strength. When times change, a role that connects completely different sectors might be required more than staying in one field forever.

The same goes for this field of international health; I don't have much resistance to jumping into a place I don't understand well. If you can perceive that as a field where you can grow, I think unknown fields are good places for both companies and individuals.

Overseas, the Mita-kai is quite active in various activities. I think it is rare in Japan for a university to have such a rich network outside. I think connecting global society and Japan through the Mita-kai network is a significant role.

Also, as a characteristic of Keio, I think there are many people who create new values for a new era. The theme of SFC was "International Students from the Future." I think it is an environment where people have the perspective of creating new things for the next era, and without being bound by existing things, can creatively and innovatively produce things they truly believe in.

I just loved SFC (laughs). The way of studying was new; it was a place where everyone had some kind of theme and sought answers to their own challenges from various fields. In my case, the theme was international cooperation and international development, but I think the fact that I was exposed to all sorts of disciplines, starting with finance and corporate theory, is linked to my current career.

As a characteristic of SFC, I think there were many students who were clear about wanting to do something in a certain field. Then, even though everyone's interests were completely different, discussing things was very interesting. SFC was my first experience of finding learning purely fun.

We spent a long time on campus, and even if there were no seminars, we would somehow just talk about various things at Gulliver Pond (Kamoike) for a long time. The overnight stays called "zanyu" (staying behind) were also fun, and I feel like the time spent noisily doing group work and staying over with everyone was the most enjoyable.