A more representative shareholder base

Clémence Vermeesch and Isabelle Poizot

Members of Orange’s Individual Shareholders Committee

Too often, the makeup of shareholder bases in major organisations like Orange don’t sufficiently reflect the diversity of its stakeholders in terms of geographic spread, average age and socio-professional category. It’s time to revamp them so they better represent today’s society, and doing that involves combining digital technology with human values.

Shareholders’ meetings don’t usually take place at convenient times for people with 9-to-5 jobs and the items on their agenda don’t always mean much to those who aren’t professional investors. Shareholders’ club activities are often geared towards people living in and around Paris and companies could do more to reach out to young investors. People considering investing in major organisations expect the events they attend to be relevant. Companies, in other words, need to develop new ways of communicating and connecting with new audiences.

More about Orange’s Individual Shareholders Committee

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Online shareholders’ meetings are one option. More is needed, however, to foster direct connections between shareholders and companies. A human presence on the ground is important to build the close relationships that stakeholders expect. Because, more than anything else, owning shares in a company means being part of a human adventure.