Discussing Organisation Boards and Their Roles in Delivering ESG Success: Sustainable Square Kenya

ESG has grown from a foreign concept to a well-accepted, much sought after, must-do practice for all brands across sectors.

Sustainable Square Kenya had a chance to participate in this year’s 21ST Century Boards Programme – 2022, organised by The Leadership Group from the 22^nd – 24^th of June 2022 at Sarova Whitesands Mombasa – Kenya. 

This year’s event brought together senior managers and board members of various business and government departments under the theme: 21st Century Boards: Building Effective Boards that Deliver Excellent Performance. The event invited a participatory approach where delegates were able to share their own experiences and expectations from the sessions. 

Environmental Social and Governance Practices

During the event Sustainable Square Kenya discussed Environmental, Social and Governance practices in two of the sessions: Board Governance of ESG and Board’s Role in Corporate Citizenship/Stakeholder Relations. 

The presentations covered key areas of ESG; the Fundamentals of ESG, Business Case, Strategy and Integration, and Reporting.

Highlights on ESG

1. ESG has grown from a foreign concept to a well-accepted, much sought after, must do practice for all brands across sectors. This was evidenced by the enthusiasm and participatory nature of the participants throughout the event.
2. Covid-19 pandemic acted as a wake-up call for most organisations to self-assess on social risks that would affect a company’s brand reputation, bottom line and with the persistence of climate change impacts across the globe, the need to consider ESG as a means of assessing and managing potential business risks.
3. Most or all of the participating organisations were engaged in some form of ESG practise (knowingly or not) and have made some progress in the implementation of the same. Participants were able to highlight various Environmental, Social and Governance topical areas being activated in their brands, selected from a provided set of topics in the presentation. 
4. There’s a need for capacity building on the specifics of ESG integration and reporting – especially in Strategy Formulation, Stakeholder Engagement/ Materiality and Disclosure
5. Brands’ top management and boards need to embrace sustainability and champion it in their organisations for it to succeed. Participants whose top management had embedded sustainable business practices were already reaping the benefits in the value created.
6. There’s still the concern of financial implications of implementing ESG practices in a number of organisations and thus the need for continued training on sustainability as a shared value concept.

Over and above these observations, businesses in the East African region continue to commit to best practices in ESG integration and reporting. Regulatory bodies and business associations have also taken the initiative to provide guidelines and metrics for disclosures on various ESG issues such as;

1. The Nairobi Securities Exchange has issued an ESG Disclosure guidance manual
2. The Central bank of Kenya issued a guidance on Climate-related risk management and many other upcoming requirements

We commend The Leadership Group for their exemplary work in business leadership training and coaching, and in promoting responsible business practices in the region. 

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