On February 9, our CEO, Mr. Piyachart (Arm) Isarabhakdee, joined the UN Global Impact's CEO Forum on Sustainable Finance: Scaling Up Sustainable Finance Solutions for Accelerating Progress on the SDGs to share his insights on incorporating sustainability for SMEs. For major corporations, sustainability can easily become the main basis due to their significant revenue, which assists their sustainable business transformation. On the other hand, SMEs and micro enterprises mostly driven by passion purposes while having no big budget. How, then, can SMEs maintain sustainability in their business?
Our CEO gave four tips to shift SMEs' mindset from conventional businesses into sustainable, future-ready (Profit, People, and Planet-embedded) ones.
1. OPPORTUNITY AND BURDEN
For SMEs, the burden of an extra cost from environmentally-friendly packaging can turn into a delightful opportunity. Nowadays, when people are willing to pay a higher price for brands that encapsulate sustainability, this standard of valuing both the society (People) and the environment (Planet) will become the “new premium brand” in the future.
2. COMMODITY AND INNOVATION
By altering the perception from “customer-centric” to “customer collaboration” as aligned with SDG 12 of responsible production and consumption, brands will be able to collaborate with stakeholders, especially customers, to increase engagement while still enriching sustainability toward our community.
3. DECISION AND INVESTMENT
Making decisions becomes an everyday task for SMEs whose business requires a constant check on financial condition. However, focusing on profitability will only secure the short-term goals. Instead, companies should invest their competencies in something that foster values that will surely strengthen the business in the long way ahead.
4. PARTNER WITH PEOPLE AND ECOSYSTEM
Many entities in the ecosystem support the cost of sustainability. Hence, being able to collaborate turns out to be the standard of “new competitiveness” by leveraging your business transformation and uplift the level of sustainability.
The measure of intelligence is the ability to change. To be more resilient and sustainable in the business dynamic, SMEs should encourage new practices and mindsets that would lead them to perpetuate their own goals and benefits to society. GREAT impact starts from small actions, so let’s become part of making our world a better place!
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