Davos Memory Lane: Sharon Stone

by Alec HoggWelcome Lunch Leadership on HIV/AIDS in face of Stigma

It took a dozen years for me to return to Davos after my first visit, mostly because of a career went first into a corporate (ABSA) and then entrepreneurship (Moneyweb). In 2004, the WEF asked me to help facilitate some sessions at the Africa Summit which was held in Maputo, the first time it was going outside SA. I did – on condition that it would guarantee one of those prized invitations to Davos. And the next January I was back in Switzerland.

The timing was perfect. In an effort to add more glitz to the event, for the first (and only) time the WEF invited a number of entertainment stars – Angelina Jolie, Richard Gere, Bono, Gerard Depardieu, Chris Tucker, Lionel Richie and Peter Gabriel. Easily the biggest impression was made by Sharon Stone, the Basic Instinct actress.

Towards the end of the conference, a high-powered Plenary focused on about poverty with the UK’s Gordon Brown and President Benjamin Mkapa from Tanzania among those on stage. As it was winding down Stone, who was in the audience, jumped to her feet and shouted: “I’m sick and tired of talk, talk, talk. Come on, let’s do something. I will pledge $10,000 and I challenge everyone else in the room to join me.” South African business leader and philanthropist Bertie Lubner was first to follow, jumping up as well with “Yes, I’m joining you, Sharon, I’ll pledge $50 000”. That started a flood which ended with $1.4m being raised to buy mosquito nets.

Bertie got a ribbing afterwards from the South African delegation, including then Finance Minister Trevor Manuel. He suggested that maybe because of Bertie’s advanced years he hadn’t heard exactly what Sharon Stone had said – she said “Come, join me on a team for bed nets” – in other words mosquito nets. Manuel joked that Bertie didn’t hear the “nets” part. Lubner still dines out on the story.

The WEF dropped the movie star idea because that year media tended to focus more on the celebrities than the meeting’s content. But genuine do-gooders like musicians Bono and Peter Gabriel have been Davos regulars ever since. They have made some terrific contributions over the years.

In conjunction with BrightRock, we have taken to sharing the stories from our recently published World Economic Forum starter pack PDF, ‘A Veterans Guide to Surviving Davos’ with you – To download the full document, follow this link

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