A message from Dame Anita Roddick, The Body Shop Founder

The Body Shop and I have always been closely identified in the public mind. Today, it is impossible to separate the company values from the issues that I care passionately about ? social responsibility, respect for human rights, the environment and animal protection, and an absolute belief in Community Trade. But The Body Shop is not, and nor was ever, a one-woman-show ? it's a global operation with thousands of people working towards common goals and sharing common values. That's what has given it a campaigning and commercial strength and continues to set it apart from mainstream business.

Though I no longer sit on executive committees, I still spend time on The Body Shop business. I source new products during travels abroad, work as part of the creative team and spearhead campaigns. And I constantly question myself: How can I bring values into an industry that is certainly not values-laden? The only way I can do it is to perhaps bring back an idea for a trading initiative with an economically impoverished community in Mexico or Africa, or find inspiration for a new company commitment, just as my 1990 trip to Romania spurred the Romanian Relief Drive (now called Children on the Edge) and a visit to Glasgow led to our partnerships with Soapworks, a local factory that produces our soaps. I also hold great hopes for The New Academy of Business, a masters degree course at Bath University, which I helped to launch in 1997 with the aim of reforming business education for the new century.