The RSE&I network was launched in June 2012 at the international TV channel TV5 Monde headquarters, in partnership with the NGO FACE (Fondation Agir Contre l’Exclusion) chaired by Gérard Mestrallet (CEO of GDF-Suez) and the communication agency « Les Jardins de la cité ».

It counts as its honorary members Philippe D’Iribarne (Research supervisor of the « Management and society » team, CNRS), Alain Henry (French Development Agency), Emmanuel Kamdem (Director of the ESSEC business school, Douala University) et Michèle Guillaume-Hofnung (President of the Guillaume-Hofnung mediation institute).

It was originally created to develop the proposals submitted in the white paper « Corporate social responsibilities in French-speaking Africa » (« Les Responsabilités sociétales des entreprises en Afrique francophone », September 2011, Charles Léopold Mayer editions). This white paper is based on the expertise of economic actors in African diasporas in France, gathered within the context of the mission for the 50th anniversary of African independences (2010/2011).