By Merit Ibe
Stakeholders have highlighted the place of sustainability and corporate social responsibility in organisations as vital opportunities for brands to grow in Africa.
The experts bared their minds at the 2023 African Brands Congress(ABC) , which came with brands exhibition and African brands leadership merit awards.
At the 8th edition of the congress themed: “Sustainability CSR and green goodness: An Opportunity for Brands Growth,” ideas, goods and inventions of various types that are original and creative as well as those with the potential for enterprises and return on investment were showcased.
Speaking on the event, Chairman, organising committee, Dada Ajai-Ikhile said the program was a homegrown initiative to celebrate brands, custodians and managers of brands across Africa .
“ It will be the best to do in a country said to be the largest in African continent.
Considering how the economy is evolving any serious brand needs to be here.” Ajai-Ikhile, who is also a member of the advertising regulation council of Nigeria (ARCON) noted that this year’s theme looks at how technology can help the climate instead of depleting it.
“Reducing waste, avoiding depletion and having it sustained is a viral issue today.
We do not want to use our resources as to threaten the future generations.
We can use brands to accelerate and build.”
For his part, Manager, Impact Reporting, MTN Nigeria, Edward Fagbohun, who was Lead speaker noted that any action that the company takes to give back to the society can fall under the CSR umbrella.
He defined sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without.comporomising the future, adding that at MTN “we don’t call it CSR but investment.”
He emphasised the importance of carrying the people along in the environment where you operate, adding that communities are demanding for organisations to be responsible.”
“We need to be sure that whatever we do as an organisation does not impact the business negatively.
Reeling out the importance of CSR, he said “43 percent of companies reported increased profits as a result of their CSR efforts, citing the Harvard business school report.
“Government alone cannot provide for us. It’s high time brands began to meet the needs of the community around them.
“You make profit and impact the people around you ..
He highlighted the benefits of CSR and sustainability to include brands recognition, increased sales, better financial performance, greater ability to attract talent and retain staff.
Omobolanle victor-Laniyan, Head, Group Sustainability, who is also a lead speaker, said sustainability gives that leverage or competitive advantage to organisations.
She tasked oganisations to embrace sustainability because
“it’s the right thing to do, it’s ethical, it’s morally right. It should be engraved in the hearts of any organisation.”
She noted that research has shown that brands engaged in sustainable and CSR far out weights their peers in performance.
“With the global issues, if we embrace sustainability together, we can address these issues.
She said he Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 to 16 are all about what we need to do and goals 17 is how we can achieve the goals .
Encouraging collaboration among stakeholders, she said:
“Goal 17 is about collaboration and partnership. As a tree cannot make a forest, with partnership, we can address the challenges and make headway.
“Sustainability is about providing innovative solutions to address challenges we face as humans. Together, we can make the world a better place, we need to understand the need to take a conscious business decision in a way that will help us meet our needs today without jeopardizing the opportunity of the future generations to meet their own needs. All brands need to start the sustainability journey now.”
Chairman, Brand Journalists Association of Nigeria (BJAN), Clara Chinwe Okoro said brand is “my constituency. We have over 42 members who are journalists from different media platforms across Nigeria. We cover the marketing communications industry, we report and we are the bridge between the consumers and the brands.”
To her, sustainability signifies that a brand is ready to operate on the long run. “So they take into cognisance the environment they operate, the well being of the consumers . And when they make policies they take into cognisance that it will affect their operations in the long run. CSR is the key point of sustainability.”
Desmond Osorogwe, Editor in chief of African Brands Magazine said “we are here to celebrate brands in Africa using the ABC platform.
It’s the gathering of brands CEOs in Africa.
This year is special to us. The theme is apt as the heart of any business today is sustainability and we as a brand development organisation, we decided to use the platform to share more insight on the theme..
“Sustainability is live and let’s live.
While you live, everybody must live. The environment must not be polluted or degraded for the future generation.
Professor Stanley Ohenhen, an associate professor of Theatre Management, Art Administration, Advocacy and Entrepreneurship at Bowen University, who was a keynote presenter, spoke on sustainability, people, products and the planet.
He said placing emphacy on the word sustainability has been made global by the UN since 2015..
To draw the global attention to the fact that we need to pay attention to the things we do as individuals, families, organisations, manufacturers, business owners to ensure we do not endanger the future while we are focusing on survival for today.
“That is where sustainability comes in . It is now a fact of businesses today.”
He urged government not to pay lip service to SDGs because they cut across every aspect of life.
“ If they do not play politics with the SDGs our world be a better place.
We need a change in attitude, intentions acculturation. Change in the way we used to do things not business bas usual.
“If the CEOs imbibe the lessons today and take them back to their constituencies, change is inevitable.
The high point of the event were
Panel discussions and award presentation to brands that have made impacts in their fields.