Understanding Information from the Fringe

Johanna Hallin
Aug 8, 2017 · 6 min read

By Evelina Fredriksson & Johanna Hallin

Srey — whose stories constitute the basis of the book with the same name — has known starvation; she can provide vivid descriptions of environments that seem more compatible with a post-apocalyptic urban dystopia than one of Asia’s fastest growing economies. She lives in an urban zone of catastrophe, where threats come in many disguises and where dangers and possibilities are clearly positioned in both time and space.

Srey’s story is not about the past. It is about the present and the future. The information she provides is relevant for any decision that affects development. It is as important to understand her place in the present as it is to discuss development from an historic perspective.

The idea that businesses play an important role in building societies is in no way a novel or surprising one — it is an idea as old as trade.

Research and knowledge work on sustainable development — the way in which this term is commonly defined today — has also been ongoing for decades.

Empathy is needed to create relevant information flows

Long gone are the days when economic matters were the only parameter of interest to business leaders, owners and investors. Today, environmental and social sustainability issues are front and centre. The gap we are currently facing is not one of knowledge, but one of skills — and empathy is certainly one of the most crucial.

Empathy is a skill needed to create relevant information flows, which in turn can be used to make the shift from cause-driven leadership and siloed sustainability, to a truly purpose-driven leadership and human-centred entrepreneurship.

You, who are currently reading this this, and Srey, who is working on a garbage dump in Cambodia, are encountering the same products in entirely different places in the value chain.

Let us go back to the piece of plastic wrapped around your food. In your kitchen the plastic is what makes your food safe and edible; the plastic in Srey’s workplace, floating on a pool of water, is a death trap. You clearly do not have the same relationship to plastic now — but in the long run the challenge concerns all humans. In her daily life, at the very bottom of a society of consumption, there are issues that do not exist in your kitchen. But it is a problem that concerns you, even if it has yet to affect you directly.

There is a need to shift away from a perspective where problems only concern those who are being most adversely affected in this particular moment in history. They concern each of us in each moment, but there are people, like Srey, who carry specific information on the most extreme expressions of leaders’ failure to create the conditions for development, while — from a safe place behind a desk — indirectly causing the avalanches of waste that suffocate girls.

Purpose-driven leadership with empathy

It is no longer possible or fruitful to take on problems as causes. The problem does not require isolated efforts, but it does require purpose-driven leadership with empathy. This is the condition for a holistic approach to development.

The book Srey is part of the process of building knowledge around what lies beyond sustainability: Inter Business. This is a framework that abandons the traditional way of viewing sustainability as — at best — one part of core business; instead, the whole company is used as a tool for multidimensional value creation.

The girls’ stories are not tales of suffering presented in a line to give you a break from your own problems.

The girls’ stories are not tales of suffering presented in a line to give you a break from your own problems. She is not providing you with a sad story to distract and entertain you. She is offering you an opportunity to connect the dots so that you can understand what it is that you need to do about the large, complex and shared challenges of today.


Meeting Srey

Photography by Sotarn.

Srey Toeung, 8

Srey Toeung begs with her Mum. They walk along the River Side. They ask for money from tourists, young Khmer couples, drunk backpackers, families, and everyone else moving in the area.

“One day, things were floated. Signs of someone having died in the river. I never saw the body, but we know there are ghosts here now.”

Sao Sreyli, 16

Sreyli used to live in the River Side slum, Dey Krahorm, that was taken down in 2009. The evictions were violent. 500 demolition workers were escorted by 300 police offcers. Every family had to move immediately
and were taken off to a relocation camp called Along Knagn.

“I saw our home burn. We were moved out of the city against our will, so we started to look for another house right from the start. When we found one closer to where we used to live, by the night market, we moved there. We tried to sell food, but we couldn’t sell anything, so now we only beg for money.”

Sreyli’s mother died ten days ago. Sreyli is carrying her little brother on her arm. She chants, like all the children who beg, “Give me hounded riel, give me hounded riel.”

If anyone would give less than a thousand riel, he would get it thrown in his face. But that is how the begging hymn goes.

Soun Minear, 9

Soun sells weight. She asks people in a loud voice whether they want to know how much they weigh.

“Some people are so big, like 80 kilograms, or even 100. They are of course tourists, but really big Khmer people pass by sometimes too.”

Chan Ratana, 6

“I play with my friend here. We play that she is the child, and I am the mother. I pretend that I send her to school, but she is not a very good child. She always causes trouble.”



This text is an excerpt from Srey — Tales of Urban Girlhood, a book on empathic meetings all the way out into the outer rims of the value chain.

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Explorers of Holistic Value Creation and the Future of Business

Johanna Hallin

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Exploring a future of interconnected business innovating for humanity #InterBusiness

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Explorers of Holistic Value Creation and the Future of Business

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