In January the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting begins. Normally held in Davos, Switzerland, this year’s event will be in virtual format and will have the theme “Working Together, Restoring Trust,” with the aim to address economic, environmental, political and social fault-lines exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting will bring together the foremost business, government and civil society leaders and focus on progressing cooperation on tackling climate change, building a better future for work, accelerating stakeholder capitalism, harnessing the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and ensuring a more inclusive future of work.

Every year, Oxfam releases a report ahead of the event, examining the disparities between rich and poor. This year’s report is truly shocking, and something that really caught my attention for the wrong reasons; the collective wealth of the world’s ten richest men has doubled (Elon Musk’s alone has grown by 1000%!) and there has been a billionaire created almost every day during the pandemic.

Meanwhile 99% of the rest of the world are worse off, and 160 million have been pushed into poverty. Lower incomes for the world’s poorest contributed to the death of 21,000 people each day, the Oxfam report claims.

Danny Sriskandarajah, Oxfam GB’s chief executive, said the charity timed the report each year to coincide with Davos to attract the attention of economic, business and political elites. He added that “This year, what’s happening is off the scale. There’s been a new billionaire created almost every day during this pandemic, meanwhile 99% of the world’s population are worse off because of lockdowns, lower international trade, less international tourism, and as a result of that, 160 million more people have been pushed into poverty.”

“Something is deeply flawed with our economic system,” he added.

This is news I feel very strongly about. We all have a duty, to make a collective effort to do whatever we can to help people who will be negatively impacted by the events of the last two years. As we all know, there are some very difficult times ahead for each of us, but those in the UK, and beyond, who were already struggling will be finding life even harder moving forwards.

Challenging times ahead… I hope the richest choose to use their power and money wisely. I, of course, will be continuing my charity and philanthropy work.