Call to prioritise sustainability

Bussiness leaders, academia, government officials and various NGos met at The Forum in Bryanston on 21 June for the Unilever Collective Action Business Breakfast.

The event aimed to inspire and develop a discourse around the implementation of meaningful sustainability measures for businesses in South Africa.

Unilever CEO, Paul Polman is an advocate for sustainable business models, and believes that it will require a major joint effort to truly transform the way business is done around the world. “It will take much more than one company, government and community to solve the issues that face us. We need collective action for a brighter and more sustainable future for all.”

Polman called for collective action to drive sustainability and urged stakeholders and business leaders to identify partnership opportunities that will deliver positive change and strive to meet targets set out in the National Development Plan (NDP) and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Top local influencers, including Dr Graça Machel, co-founder of the Elders and former First Lady; Dr Herve Ludovic de Lys, Unicef’s resident representative; and Professor John Simpson, director of the UCT Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing, joined Polman on stage to debate how collective sustainable action can positively impact the South African economy, environment and, ultimately, improve people’s lives.

Dr Machel focused on skills development, and how major industries in South Africa need to work with government to produce, not only jobs, but quality employees who have the necessary skills. “There has been a huge misstep between what our education system is producing and what kind of needs our industries have in terms of skills. We need to restructure our education system to match the needs of our country,” she said.

Prof. Simpson added to the discussion. “Sustainability is now a strategic element of business that South African organisations should embed in their daily operations. There is more that local companies can do to emulate early adopters such as Unilever who have incorporated sustainability with growth to deliver its targets on people, profit and planet,” he said.

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