…Set For 2022 International Sustainability Conference
By IJEOMA UKAZU
The Lagos Business School Sustainability Centre (LBSSC), IHS (Nigeria) Limited, and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Africa are set to hold the annual (virtual) International Sustainability Conference (ISC) on Friday, November 18th, 2022.
In preparation for the annual forum, LBSSC hosted an in-person stakeholders meeting themed “The Role of the Private Sector in Building Resilient Systems”.
According to the statement issued by LBSSC and made available to this medium, the impacts of climate change, economic volatility, the COVID-19 Pandemic, rising levels of poverty, and humanitarian crises, have revealed vulnerabilities in essential systems.
From food supply and energy to healthcare and transportation infrastructure, there have been unprecedented negative impacts on the value and supply chains on which society depends. These are all realities in the Nigerian business environment today. The shocks hit hard on businesses, but by applying ‘sustainability’ thinking and actions, private sector organizations can drive solutions that will have a positive impact on society, value chains, staff, customers, and their business performance as well.
The Stakeholders, the statement stated, were welcomed by Mrs. Oreva Atanya, Head, of Sustainability, Lagos Business School (LBS), and Douglas Kativu, Director, of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). Mrs. Atanya emphasized LBS’s goal to support the private sector organizations to be more sustainable internally and in terms of their external footprints.
“We hope businesses take the learnings from this meeting to re-evaluate and improve their approach to sustainability and CSR in a way that creates a more positive impact for the society, their stakeholders, and shareholders as well”. Speaking on harnessing the potential of sustainability reporting in building resilient systems, Mr. Kativu stressed the need for businesses to move past a culture of compliance to drive long-term change. He also appreciated the role of LBS in developing leaders to drive sustainable businesses in Africa,” she said.
Delivering the special remarks on behalf of IHS (Nigeria) Limited, Cima Sholotan, Director, Sustainability and Corporate Communications, according to the statement, encouraged the attendees to move past problems into action.
“We need to think bigger and long term. From an approach to staving off hunger to effective end-to-end value chain solutions that also provides much-needed services to the vulnerable population. We need to see resilience as a win-win outcome for businesses and other stakeholders to pursue together,” said the statement.
The meeting, which drew sustainability professionals and important stakeholders, the statement stated, also included informative speed talks and interactive sessions on Sustainability Disclosure and Food Security in Nigeria.
Delivering the session ‘Sustainability Disclosures in Nigeria’, Tinuade Awe, CEO of NGX Regulation, the statement maintained, highlighted the significance of embedding sustainability into fundamental business operations in Nigeria.
According to her, since the sustainability guidelines went into effect in 2018, businesses in Nigeria have struggled to implement sustainability regulating principles. Although the adoption rate remains low at 10%, the private sector has made some headway in implementing sustainable guiding concepts over the years.
Leading the second conversation on food security, Opeyemi Famakinde, Value Chain Adviser at GIZ’s Nigeria Competitiveness Project (NICOP) in her presentation themed ‘Answering Nigeria’s Food Security’ said that NICOP has focused on large, medium, and small-scale businesses., adding that there is also a focus on strengthening farmers’ and buyers’ relationship and ease of access.
She underlined the role of building resilient food systems and addressing the food security challenges in Nigeria.
The stakeholder meeting is a pre-engagement leading up to LBS’ Annual International Sustainability Conference (ISC) which will be held on Friday, November 18, 2022. The ISC is an annual dialogue-to-action forum that brings various stakeholders together to advance sustainable development through business. The platform shares knowledge and inspires business leaders to embed sustainability and responsible business practices in their strategy and operations to result in a positive impact not only on business performance but on society as well.
This year the conference will focus on the theme ‘Building Resilient Systems for Sustainable Development and the forum is co-convened with the support of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Africa, IHS (Nigeria) Limited, and Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI). Participants can register to attend at https://bit.ly/2022_ISC