About us
our mission
Our mission is to empower Human Rights advocates, strengthen corporate accountability, and advance cross-sector collaboration in:
(1) Promoting respect for Human Rights in business operations and
(2) Adding shared value for business and society.
About us
Who we are
We are Business and Human Rights consultants and advocates working across Africa, Asia and Europe who are passionate about promoting respect for Human Rights in business.
We collect, analyze and present the latest Business and Human Rights trends in civil society organizations, industries, academia, governments, and international organizations.
We offer an online environment where cross-sector collaboration is encouraged and best practices are shared.
We are a passion- and mission-driven organization.
Welcome to People and Profits. We hope you enjoy learning and sharing new discoveries in BHR with us!
Agni & Voltaire
My name is Agni Mentaki Tripodi, a Consultant on Business and Human Rights from Athens-Greece.
I spent 11 years in various Marketing Management / Brand Management and Business Development positions in FMCG, luxury goods/cosmetics, food/nutrition and the pharmaceuticals industry, after graduating with B.Sc. in Business Administration in 2003.
After completing my M.Sc. thesis on the Implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in the Pharmaceutical Industry and upon graduating with the degree of M.Sc. in International Management in 2014, I actively got involved in the Business and Human Rights field.
For the last 10 years, I have been working in the Business and Human Rights field with governmental, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as with academic institutions in South East Asia/Philippines region, the Russian Federation and Europe.
I met Voltaire Veneracion in Manila in 2014 and soon after, we decided to join our interest and passion for Business and Human Rights. I joined Voltaire in the Institute of Human Rights of the University of the Philippines and we started working together on projects to build capacity on UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and promote the respect of Human Rights in Business.
In 2017, we co-authored a book on Business and Human Rights titled “People and Profits, A Guide on Business and Human Rights for NGOs” published by the University of the Philippines Law Center, Institute of Human Rights. The guidebook was created in order to equip NGOs, Civil Society, Business and related stakeholders with fundamental knowledge and principles on Business and Human Rights. The book also provides Human Rights Due Diligence and Impact Assessment tools and frameworks that can be used to make sure that the business sector upholds its duty to respect Human Rights in business operations.
I also participated in BHR conferences organised by the UN, UNDP, the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, the ASEAN CSR Network and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).
In parallel, I am a Lecturer on International Business and Human Rights & Sustainable Marketing at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), where I also innovated and developed a course on International Business and Human Rights as part of the curriculum of Bachelor’s degrees in the School of Engineering of FHNW university.
Since 2021, I have been working as an International Consultant and Expert on Business and Human Rights at UNDP, where I have conducted a vital research and assessment work to streamline the progress of B+HR discourse as well as execute a long-term B+HR project to promote responsible business practices in Tunisia.
Hello! I am Voltaire Veneracion, a social entrepreneur and attorney-at-law from the Philippines.
I met Agni in Manila in 2014 while consulting for the University of the Philippines Institute of Human Rights (UP IHR) with Prof. Elizabeth Aguiling-Pangalangan as Director.
For the next two years, we supervised UP IHR research associates in gathering knowledge and practical skills and conducting participative consultation meetings on the then-emergent field of BHR with representatives of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), government officials, and business leaders.
Our vision was to build upon Agni’s excellent graduate school thesis on the UN Guiding Principles and explain these principles to local civil society, government offices, and businesses in ways they’d more easily understand.
The culmination of our scholarly collaboration was the publication in 2017 by UP Law Center of our book, People and Profits: A Guide on Business and Human Rights for NGOs.
In UP IHR, from 2014 to 2018, I was also Lead Researcher of projects and publications on women’s rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and on capital punishment. I served as facilitator of national consultations of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Business and Human Rights (AICHR) and participated in workshops and conferences of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Oxfam, ASEAN CSR Network (ACN), Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC), and the UN. In 2015, I completed a blending learning course on human rights and the environment that was administered by Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights (RWI) of Sweden.
I graduated from University of the Philippines with bachelor’s degrees in Economics (B.S. Econ., magna cum laude) and Law (Ll.B.)