Posts by: Hugues Chatelain

Interview with Hugues Chatelain, President of SocietyVision

In a fragmented world, where social bonds are fraying and mistrust is growing, companies have both the capacity and the responsibility to once again become drivers of cohesion. By building long-term partnerships with local associations, they can help strengthen the social, cultural, sporting, and environmental fabric of our communities. With SocietyVision, Hugues Chatelain offers a bold perspective: turning taxation into a lever for impact by transforming part of corporate taxes into societal investment. A pragmatic reform to reconcile economic performance with the common good.

As part of SocietyVision, you are launching an initiative advocating for the deduction of societal engagement from corporate taxes, for companies that invest in impact-driven partnerships and projects. Yet, your broader goal is to promote a fairer distribution of wealth. Isn’t it contradictory to reduce the tax burden on companies?

The initiative we are leading is precisely a lever for redistribution. It aims to give companies a direct responsibility in building the common good. Rather than taxing first and redistributing later, we propose to channel part of corporate taxation towards long-term commitments in social, cultural, environmental, or educational projects, going beyond traditional CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policies.

In other words, companies would become active players in redistribution?

Exactly. It may seem paradoxical, but it is a virtuous model. When a company makes a long-term commitment to the local non-profit network, it generates shared value for itself, for society, and for local communities. It’s a win-win approach: taxation becomes a driver of impact rather than a simple levy. And who better than companies, working hand in hand with non-profit organizations, to take action at the local level?

That implies the economic and social spheres must work together. What is the foundation of your model?

Cooperation. It is cooperation that replaces the traditional opposition between private and public interests. Our conviction is that cooperation between companies and associations is more effective in transforming society than centralized monetary redistribution.

How does it work in practice?

The model is based on a moral and economic contract: a company reduces its tax burden on the condition that it invests in a structured, measurable, and lasting way in impact projects, in collaboration with associations. These funds no longer disappear into an anonymous tax flow, they become rooted in the local territory, serving social cohesion.

Does that mean you’re not seeking to bypass the State?

Not at all. We want to help the State reinvent its levers. What we are proposing is a new social pact: more direct responsibility, more transparency, and greater efficiency.

In practical terms, what are the benefits for each stakeholder?

This initiative addresses four stakeholders, with positive effects for each of them. For companies, it means transforming a tax burden into an impact investment. They strengthen their local reputation, their employer attractiveness, and their territorial roots. For non-profit organizations, it marks the end of structural fragility: they gain financial stability, can plan long-term actions, and become more effective. For citizens, it brings more concrete projects close to their daily concerns culture, sports, employment, environment, social inclusion, and community cohesion. Finally, for public authorities, it creates a multiplier effect. Targeted and cooperative engagement is more effective than centralized redistribution. It addresses core needs, closer to the people.

So, in short, everyone wins?

Yes. It’s a virtuous circle. Wealth flows better when it connects stakeholders rather than separating them.

How did you come to develop this transformative idea?

It is the result of a long journey. I spent more than thirty years in the corporate world, holding executive positions in industry and commerce. Over time, I witnessed two worlds evolving in parallel: the economic sphere, powerful but often searching for meaning, and civil society, rich in ideas yet increasingly fragile.

So, a realization of a fracture, then?

Yes, a fracture between efficiency and usefulness. And I realized that what was missing was a bridge between the two. That bridge is cooperation. It makes it possible to transform part of economic performance into societal impact to create jobs and support social cohesion at both local and national levels.

And is that what you sought to formalize?

Exactly. My work in research and experimentation, particularly in my book Thinking Differently: Business, Society and Sustainable Capitalism, led me to build a model that goes beyond the opposition between profit and the common good. SocietyVision is now the concrete implementation of that model. It’s not a theoretical idea; it’s a response to the crisis of meaning that many entrepreneurs and employees are experiencing. For example, our work with Pascal Masapollo and his company, PIMAS SA, illustrates what can be achieved. It is both the driving force and the proof that it is possible to transform our traditional models. The launch of our initiative to allow corporate tax deduction for societal engagement reflects our ambition to multiply these actions and move to another level, one that is more structured and systemic.

And you — who are you behind this approach?

I see myself as a bridge-builder. My role is to connect worlds, the world of economy and the world of meaning. Sustainable transformation does not arise from confrontation, but from cooperation. It’s about aligning each party’s strengths and questioning the meaning of what we do and what we want to leave behind for future generations. My journey has taught me this. Cooperation is not just an option; it is an urgent necessity in our current context. It requires intellectual rigor and mutual respect.

You’re almost talking about a “cooperative revolution”… if one reads between the lines.

Yes, because I no longer believe in top-down revolutions. True transformations emerge from the ground from cooperation and dialogue between stakeholders. SocietyVision is the embodiment of that conviction: real wealth is not measured solely in monetary value, but in shared value, in restored trust, and in renewed cooperation.

It is time to redefine three words we use every day: replace growth with progress, competition with cooperation, and value with values.

To conclude, what message would you like to send to companies and decision-makers?

I invite them to take the step and support this initiative, which is both structuring and foundational to the transformation we need: to dare to transform part of taxation into concrete engagement, and to see cooperation no longer as a cost, but as a lever for human and economic growth.Our five-year vision is clear: to build a new model of prosperity, one in which every franc invested in society yields more than it costs, in impact, in cohesion, and in a shared future. 

©Hugues Chatelain – SocietyVision CHE-378.733.097

SocietyVision shows at the ELIA Biennial in Helsinki what can be achieved by linking business, society and art. The association’s collaboration with the Dimitri Art School demonstrates the benefit of art to society: academic art used as an instrument to transform society.

From 23 to 26 November 2022, Helsinki is hosting the 17th ELIA (European League of Institutes of the Arts) Biennial. It is one of the largest European art school conferences on art research and cultural education. The last ELIA Biennial was held in 2020 at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK).

This year’s event is under the motto “No stone unturned” and thus confronts the discourse on the importance of art in times of climate crisis, inequality and political conflicts. The biennial aims to promote solutions that address the needs of the environment, art and social justice by bringing people together and uniting them. The slogan illustrates the urgency of not letting anything pass that could contribute to solving the current challenges of humanity.

Under the sign of this slogan, Hugues Chatelain, founder of SocietyVision, wishes to give impulses during the biennial on how art can be associated with a company to illustrate the impact of responsible engagement in and for society. For Chatelain, art is an instrument that inspires companies, motivates their employees and can invite shareholders to assume long-term social responsibility. In collaboration with the Accademia Dimitri University School, he presents his approach to cooperation at the Helsinki session, based on his own practical experience: a new concept of a sustainable and profitable relationship between companies and society. His aim is to show how important it is for companies to make their commitment to society a priority, especially now, in times of economic uncertainty. His model shows how investment in social purpose, which goes beyond the usual CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) measures, leads to significant positive effects, including increased profits.

SocietyVision helps businesses accomplish their contribution to society. We connect business with the right NGO in a long-term and sustainable way to accomplish their contribution to society.

• We improve corporate reputation in the long term
• We create a successful social & economic vision
• We intensify the intrinsic commitment of employees
• We increase the profitability of the business

At Society Vision we believe that the decisive differentiating factor for the business is its long-term societal commitment.