Part 11/13 of the Business Sustainability in Nigeria Series with Adiya Atuluku and Jennifer Uchendu
We have talked a lot about business sustainability in Nigeria! So far, we’ve gone from what is is, to its different concepts, its benefits, ideas on how a business can be more sustainable, how projects can be financed, the organisations that ‘guard’ it, and even a couple of debates about common issues of contention.
As we get to the end of the series, we thought to bring out those things that, without which, would make business sustainability that much more difficult to achieve. Think failed sustainability and CSR projects, wasted resources, and increased potential risks. We’ve touched on all these throughout the series, but it really is important to note them all together. We’ve attempted to prioritize some factors, and have listed four key ones, based on our insights from experiences of other businesses and the level of control the business can have, that are critical for success of business sustainability in Nigeria.
CEO and Top Executive Commitment: A lot of things can become possible when the ‘Oga At The Top’ believes in it. If you’re the CEO and getting your business to be more sustainable is a passion of yours, your business is much more likely to actually achieve this simply because you have the power to acquire resources (time, people, funds, etc.), allocate those resources, and keep people on their toes. If you act like you’re interested, and follow up your words with consistent action, most else will follow. If you’re not the CEO though, and the sustainability champion is lower down in the command chain, then you need to understand your CEO and see where his priorities lie, then fashion your sustainability language and approach in line with those priorities.
Capacity in Sustainability: Sustainability has gone from an issue that only a few deal with in a business, to something that involves everyone – marketers, product designers, operations, facility managers, and even other companies in your supply chain. For everyone to act, they need to know what to do. It’s not an instinct, but it’s something that everyone can learn and get better with practice until it becomes ‘the way we do things around here’. For example, seemingly simple company-wide recycling program won’t be effective unless ALL employees understand why they are doing it, and understand what exactly they should recycle. Else, it will become just another chore that they don’t want to bother with. Building capacity in sustainability should be one of the first things a business should do before they can get value from the process.
Partnerships and Collaboration: The trend in sustainable development has been putting more and more emphasis on partnerships and collaboration. This is most evident in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals which has even dedicated a goal (17) to partnerships in particular. There are so many forums now that are built to enable businesses share ideas and best practices, and encourage collaboration even amongst competitors. This is essential to shorten the learning curve and to maximize limited resources (since efforts are less likely to be duplicated if people are collaborating and know what’s going on, and expenses can be shared). It’s really an amazing time to be working towards sustainability…and the cheapest time too!
Phasing: Last, but most definitely not least, has to do with actual implementation. It’s important for the business to phase their activities in order to not get too overwhelmed, to manage their resources, and to manage the change process as well. Generally, there are three phases. In the first phase, the business needs to have an awakening into the benefits of sustainability and then make that commitment towards it. The first evidence of the commitment should usually be in how they treat their workers (health and safety issues) and environmental conservation. Key here would be an understanding of environmental trends, starting to report on their environmental issues, and a new and inclusive kind of dialogue with all stakeholders. Not to talk of ensuring they comply with all applicable laws! The second phase would then be incorporating sustainability into their operational processes and into their product design. For example, phasing out harmful chemicals, incorporating renewable energy, upholding ethics, reducing wastes, and generally making continuous improvements that have an impact on the triple bottom line! The third and final phase here would now see the business looking outward – looking to opportunities provided by third parties, influencing policy makers, engaging in social issues, partnering significantly with NGOs and academia in their sustainability journey, having and implementing a code of conduct for their suppliers, etc. All while keeping phases one and two going.
In the end, it’s all about having a strategy that is meaningful to the business and to its stakeholders, and implementing like mad, but in a phased approach. We do hope that with this series, businesses at least have some insight into what sustainability means to them, and how they can start to go about it.