- CCA SUSTAINABILITY FORUM ‘23
DATE: WEDNESDAY, 7TH JUNE 2023
TITLE: CCA SUSTAINABILITY FORUM ‘23
CATEGORY: CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY
Over 20 leading organisations from East Africa are set to meet on the 21st June 2023 at Muthaiga Golf Club for the Corporate Citizens of Africa (CCA) Sustainability Forum, a thought leadership business event.
This is in an endeavor to create and establish a thriving and dynamic corporate space based on exploring the effective application and integration of sustainability-based business models.
‘It is baffling that business models from the post world war two era are still largely applied by organisations today. Yet obviously the operating environment has tremendously shifted and continues to shift in the context of disruption and evolving and devolving societal expectations. This spells trouble for businesses because they are stuck with obsolete models. They simply contract, consistently post nil or negative performance, or at best display marginal growth year on year, ‘ says Sheida Mutuku, the CEO of Woodside Africa Group LLC.
She adds, ‘We have all the ingredients needed to build world class businesses right here in Africa. So far corporate sustainability is the only framework that promises to make this a reality. But for the yet unrealized exponential gains to be fully unleashed, the concept of corporate sustainability has to move from being trivialized as a buzzword or reduced to a brag certificate posted on LinkedIn or photo ops; to the serious business of practical and effective application of sustainability. Corporate Africa must play for higher stakes. It has to urgently rework its sustainability playbook.’
Given that businesses are becoming more involved in social, environmental and geopolitical affairs some of the speakers lined up to share practical and valuable business growth insights driven by sustainability include Mark Ocitti, the Managing Director of KBL, as well as Crispin Achola, the CEO BAT Kenya PLC. Other corporate leaders include Dr. Rakesh Rao of Crown Paints, Dr. Patrick Gatonga of AAR and Dr. Julius Kipng’etich of Jubilee Holdings.
These leaders will base their discussions on several intriguing topics including sustainability as a gold mine, business growth in transformative times, the role of leadership in corporate sustainability, Africa’s prosperity from a corporate sustainability view point; as well as Artificial Intelligence and environmental stewardship in relation to corporate sustainability and business performance in general.
Sheida says, ‘Corporate Sustainability holds interesting properties. It is vast, ever-evolving, collaborative and extremely versatile. It shows up differently from organization to organisation. No one size fits all. Hence the importance of sharing ideas and knowledge within this forum to establish solid fundamentals, as well as the trends and future of sustainability in Corporate Africa.’
CCA Sustainability Forum has constituted a strong panel of Corporate Africa frontline leadership at the C-Suite level including Karen Basiye of Safaricom, Emily Waita from Coca-Cola Africa, Monica Kihiah from NCBA, Kendi Muriithi from ABSA and Wangari Ngugi from Ecobank. Others include Sasha Mutai, the chairman of Kenya Rugby Union with the onerous of youth development through sports.
Sheida concludes by saying, ‘For us to realise our end game, which is Africa’s prosperity, Corporate Africa must take charge of the continent’s Sustainability Agenda. We cannot afford to play second fiddle to global forces, or do this as an afterthought, a fad or a farce. We must deliberately pick corporate sustainability best practice that aligns to our interests as a continent and our overall sustainability agenda. The collective exceptional performance of Corporate Africa is crucial to our continent’s transformation. And Corporate Africa’s leadership must decisively and confidently take the front seat. ‘
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