First Bank Nigeria recently supported the International Sustainability Conference in partnership with the Lagos Business School, Ajah.
The event which held at LBS last Thursday had several captains of industry, eminent scholars, and business professionals in attendance.
The conference touched on issues, such as efficient energy use, sustainable labour and community relations, work life balance, environment management, sustainable financing and how business leaders play an effective role in championing sustainability thinking and paradigm in their strategies, as they navigate local and global business terrains.
Sustainability deals with how organizations rise to take action in meeting the world’s environmental and social challenges.
According to literature from the Lagos Business School, investors, customers and other stakeholders are demanding sustainability as criteria for determining whether or not they want to do business with a particular organization.
Few issues are expected to have a considerable effect on organizations, the way they operate, and the products and services they provide as sustainability.
Thus corporate sustainability is being speculated as the next megatrend, which would transform organizations, their markets and the economy in ways far superior to past megatrends such as total quality management, globalization and information and communication technology.
Keynote speaker, Prof David Grayson, a director of the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibilityat the Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University and holds the Doughty chair of Corporate Responsibility spoke on Challenges and Opportunities of Running Sustainable Businesses in Emerging Markets.
A Commander of the British Empire, Grayson enlightened conference participants on New Sustainability Champions describing them as the business leaders who
- Proactively turn constraints into opportunities through innovation
- Embed Sustainability in their company’s culture
- Actively shape their business environments
Grayson said Nigeria’s success in combating the Ebola Virus Disease had shown the international community that the West African nation could offer great value to the committee of nations.
He called on companies to adopt a Board Sustainability Mindset defining this as a collectively held view that long-term value creation requires the company to embrace the risks and opportunities of sustainable development, and that the board are simultaneously mentors and monitors, stewards and auditors of the management in their commitment to corporate responsibility and sustainability.
During his address, CEO of First Bank, Mr. Bisi Onasanya said his organization adopted the Sustainability Center is April and that the bank was proud to partner with the well respected business school.
He added, “We are concerned about sustainability issues and through this center, we are poised to tackle the issues of sustainability in Africa and the World.”