ambitious businesses
Common sustainability challenges for growing businesses
"What the..."
For managers running fast growth businesses (long on issues, short on time), uncertainty is unwelcome. The sustainability (or "ESG") landscape has also seen fast growth and continues to change, making it hard to get clarity on what to do and when.
Capacity
The team is passionate and talented but they're stretched, as is management bandwidth. There's never a lull to get under the skin of sustainability and figure out how it can add value and mitigate risk. Nor an obvious person to put on the case.
Distraction
Successful high-growth businesses often have a laser-like focus on a very small number of priorities. Uncertainty about how sustainability fits into these means it can often be seen as a distraction. And, therefore, not a priority until it has to be.
Value
The necessary focus on value accretion to satisfy investors, on securing the next round of funding or preparing to go public is often all-consuming. Sustainability has an ever-growing role in this but it requires evidence and thought.
Often PE-backed, our clients in this group are usually relatively early in their sustainability journey and are keenly focused on the positive impact they can have and differentiation they can build to drive value for all stakeholders. Much of our work is focused on the following:
purpose and impact
We work with clients with an impact-focused business model - often innovators and disruptors of the status quo, helping us transition to a more sustainable society.
We help them amplify this impact in their corporate narrative and stakeholder comms to underpin value creation.
Sometimes B Corp certification will enhance this narrative and we support their end-to-end application.
which issues matter
We have successfully worked with relatively early-stage businesses to quickly get to the nub of the sustainability issues that are relevant and material to them.
Known as a 'double materiality assessment', our evidence-based process can be scaled based on company size and complexity making it a pragmatic option for smaller businesses too.
There is no better foundation to an effective strategy.
integrated strategy
Our ultimate goal for any client is that they develop a corporate strategy that integrates commercial and sustainability goals – it makes execution and communication simpler, and prioritisation of funding more efficient.
We work with businesses to establish an integrated strategic framework (often incorporating work on purpose, vision and values), targets, KPIs, and fiercely-prioritised action plans.
compliance
Establishing what needs to be done to maintain compliance is not always easy when you are growing quickly - there are several sustainability reporting thresholds relating to employee numbers, balance sheet size and turnover.
We give our clients confidence in navigating their compliance and reporting obligations, preparing strategically for new disclosures as they grow. We often support with preparing inaugural reports.
establishing
capabilities
Once we know which issues are most important to value creation and risk mitigation for our clients, we support them to put the necessary capabilities in place internally to address them effectively.
Sometimes this involves establishing policies, governance and accountabilities.
Developing carbon measurement and reporting capabilities is also a common focus.
