This episode is Part 1 of the Insight Edge Sustainable Business Series championed by the LBS Sustainability Centre and the LBS Management Hub. In this episode of LBS Inside Edge, we discuss the topic ‘How ESG Management Could Drive the Attainment of Business Goals’ with Karen Basiye, Director of Sustainable Business and Social Impact at Safaricom PLC. Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. Karen emphasised the crucial role of ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management for long-term business success.

According to Ms Basiye, ESG involves managing current imperatives to ensure longevity, with companies needing to address environmental impacts, social issues, and governance structures. She highlighted the significant benefits of robust ESG management, including enhanced profitability, improved reputation, increased investor confidence, and access to sustainable financing. "If you have a great and robust ESG management, the first thing is that you are able to show value to the business in terms of the profitability," she noted. "When you have demonstrated credentials in sustainability, then you can attract a loan that has a low interest rate but also holds true to your sustainability indicators and journey."

Basiye identified key challenges in ESG management, such as the need for leadership commitment, centralised data management, and strategic development. She said, "ESG will go nowhere without leadership. The top leadership, the board, the C-suite leaders in the business must drive this agenda." Emerging trends in ESG include leveraging technology, focusing on carbon emissions and supply chain impacts, and fostering collaboration over competition. Basiye stressed that Africa must secure its place in the ESG space, leveraging its resources and human capital, and she believes that the future will be bright for businesses on the continent that embrace these principles. She asserted, "The future will be Africa. Everyone will be coming to Africa to trade for our human resources, to trade with our resources. But when they find we have already set the governance, we have a higher negotiating platform than finding us not ready." Basiye concluded with a call for collective effort, stating, "We cannot afford to leave any African country and African business behind."

Listen to this latest podcast series to learn more about ESG Management and How It Drives the Attainment of Business Goals.

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