Business leaders and industry experts have urged the private sector, particularly in Africa to contribute to the creation of resilient systems that will make it possible to realize the goals of sustainable development.
This was the crux of the discussion during the annual LBS International Sustainability Conference which was organized by the Lagos Business School Sustainability Centre (LBSSC) in collaboration with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Africa), IHS Nigeria Limited and Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI) and held virtually on November 18, 2022.
During the conference, leaders explained how the COVID-19 epidemic and its aftereffects have left many countries vulnerable to risks and pressures that have a negative influence on the population’s capacity to endure.
According to them, the situation further revealed how vulnerable existing systems and institutions are, which puts the achievements in development that have already been made in jeopardy. They explained that conflict and insecurity are a few of these risks, along with economic shocks, extreme weather events, the social effects of climate change—which frequently result in food insecurity and large-scale population displacement—natural hazards—particularly floods and droughts—and communicable disease outbreaks and pandemics.
In her remarks at the conference, the Vice-Chancellor of Pan-Atlantic University, Prof. Enase Okonedo underscored the power of the private sector to innovate and move more quickly than the government.
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She said, “Our systems are failing us almost every day, and they are doing so faster than ever. We need to create new solutions,”. “We need to create ways to ensure that we maintain and improve standards,”.
To promote long-term transformation, Ease harped on the need for organisations to transcend a compliance-based culture for incorporating sustainability in their key operations to one of strategy and corporate purpose.
During the panel discussion on “Practical Solutions in Systems Building in Food and Energy” the Senior Vice President of Power and Climate, at Rockefeller Foundation, MrAshvin Dayal, the Manager at Global Reporting Initiative, Tendai Matika and the Managing Director of Geometric Power Group, Agatha Nnaji hinted the importance of addressing climate change and building resilient businesses.
They said that the private sector must recognize the immense potential of renewable energy sources and provide solutions that are localized, decentralized, and specifically designed to address the problems of various economic and social contexts in order to achieve sustainable development.
Story was adapted from Thisday.
