Part 13/13 of the Business Sustainability in Nigeria Series with Adiya Atuluku and Jennifer Uchendu
I must have written about my sustainability story a couple of times but never on this site and specifically for business sustainability.
Founding and running SustyVibes is not my first sustainability job and will not be my last, I have in the past five years since graduation sought for ways in which I could learn in this sector and this has brought me the little success I have achieved so far. I will attempt to take you through my journey on as much as I can remember, and hopefully, come to a conclusion that business sustainability is not something so far fetched. All through this series, Adiya and I have explained one singular fact: a business’s approach to our planet, people and its profit strategies can responsible and green.
In 2011, as a biochemistry undergraduate in Covenant University, I was asked to present a seminar paper on ‘’The role of Biotransformation in the Health Sector” and it was on this assignment that I came to understand how nature worked and was fascinated by how mother earth found ways to use and re-use her resources. I saw how the sun which aids photosynthesis, helps us dry our clothes and food could also generate energy and it was like I had struck gold. I went further to learn about biofuels and clean energy sources and I instantly knew I had found something I wanted to spend my life advocating or practicing.
Prior to my service year, I started looking for jobs in the energy field but was not lucky, I divinely got into Unilever Nigeria three months after service year had commenced and while working there as a Regulatory Affairs officer, I got to learn about the importance of packaging and the sustainability involved in ensuring that not only are materials used in packaging not wasted but should be sourced ethically and also not cause harm to content of the product in anyway. I learnt about product claims and worked on some of the issues we had with claims on our products. Now, when I see a new product claim to do something really remarkable, I check for its content and the kind of testing they carried out to arrive at such conclusion, because the reality is that a lot of these companies lie for profit: which is basically going backwards in the business sustainability mapper!
I was also fortunate to be in Unilever at the time the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan was being launched in Nigeria, to listen and learn about all the plans to help the environment and communities in Nigeria and to also follow through some interesting brand transformations. Omo was a good example, contrary to what people think, a detergent does not have to lather ridiculously before it takes a stain out of a fabric and so the Research and Development team started working on how customers could use less water while washing – yes, your guess is right, reduce the lather effect and have it still remove stains effectively. A very susty move which I found very exciting and if you noticed, Adiya and I kept applauding Unilever’s sustainability strategies because most of them were very well thought out.
I also wanted to do something sustainable for my department and since I had to stand in as secretary for some months, I decided to enroll in an in-house sustainable procurement software training programme that also exposed me to the importance of a transparent value and supply chain and in turn, the benefits the company stood to gain in the long run. Apart from learning about Sustainable Procurement, I also decided to digitalize all our regulatory letters for easy identification and to avoid unnecessary printing and photocopying that wasted both time, energy, paper and bandwidth.
I pushed for a change of department when I was tired of doing the same things daily and honestly, wanted to do all I could in a sustainability-focused Company like Unilever, I worked with the Quality, Health and Safety department where my boss was kind enough to give me a special task: researching on waste production in the oral and skin factories, after which I had to give a presentation on. Now, because companies spend a lot of money purchasing raw materials, any solution that prevents waste in operation processes is always welcome and in the four months that I carried out this study, I learnt that factory workers did not really have the company’s interest at heart (not their fault anyway) and did not really care about what was being wasted. So in my recommendations, I asked that the factory workers be treated better and fairly so that they could stay happy in their jobs amongst other recommendations that I am not sure I am allowed to share.
If you think Unilever was the peak for me, you are wrong. I walked into the Lagos State’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for a voluntary slot and though they thought I was crazy, I spent one year learning how things worked in government, while I have my reservations and know that I do not have the patience for civil service(right now), I learnt firsthand, the need for policies and very smart people in civil service. I was fortunate to work with Mrs Damilola Makindipe, a self-starter with a strong passion for Renewable Energy, she helped me see the need for data in sustainability projects and when we proposed a technical Research and Development Unit for the ministry, it was approved but not necessarily supported.
Information is very key for both Sustainability actors and general citizens and that is why companies must learn to be as detailed as possible in their sustainability reports, they need to know the government bodies to work with and thankfully, they can now use the Sustainable Development Goals as a perfect guide and focus for their sustainability impacts and projects.
I have also worked with indigenous local energy companies and seen the need for visibility for small firms in this sector, Nigeria does not have the environment that whole-heartedly supports sustainability and ethical businesses and so, business leaders must think their sustainability plans through while working with everyone involved in the company to ensure that they operate optimally without compromising the environment, their stakeholders and their profits (which they most likely would not anyway).
Finally, working in Jumia Nigeria and proposing a Sustainability Unit, strategy and plan has been one of my biggest achievements till date not just because I got this approved with no formal degree in this field but because, I got my CEOs and managers to believe in sustainability, I spent time with them in meetings explaining just how much of an opportunity lies in this move.
My white paper, which I am also not allowed to share had a lot of sustainability projects that e-commerce companies could adopt and I learnt all of this by reading about other companies getting it right in the west and also working with notable sustainability actors in Nigeria who I am proud to be mentored by.
The first project I worked on was on plus size fashion and self-esteem boost for our female shoppers. My sustainability work with Jumia Nigeria was short lived but it ushered in SustyVibes, a decision that I would not trade for anything in the world right now.
Everything that we do at SustyVibes preaches Sustainability and if we cannot run our own projects sustainably then we really are living a lie. So we have made it a point of duty to recycle, to get necessary approvals before stating claims, to tell the truth on the website, work with companies with good ethics and even use recycled complimentary cards. The journey literally just started for us but we are so big on Business sustainability that we dedicated thirteen weeks to discuss it.
Beautiful and insightful article. It’s so cool to know that young people are thinking in the direction to make the environment sustainable.
I applaud your effort , I will hit you up to know how we can work together.