LBS, Stanbic IBTC urge businesses to prioritise sustainability

Lagos Business School

Lagos Business School (LBS), in conjunction with Stanbic IBTC Holdings, has tasked businesses in the country to embrace initiatives that promote environmental sustainability in their operations.

Dean of the LBS, Prof. Chris Ogbechie, stated this during the presentation of a case study on holding company’s environmental, social and governance initiatives held in LBS campus, Lagos.

The case study, entitled: “Beyond the Buzzwords: Concrete Sustainability Measures in Corporate Strategy,” was authored by Ogbechie and the Lead of the LBS Management Hub, Segun Jones, and presented during a joint session to participants of the Owner-Manager Programme of the LBS and the Strathmore Business School in Nairobi, Kenya.

Ogbechie, who underscored the vital importance of sustainability for corporate existence of firms, stressed that the success of any business entity no longer consists of merely revenue targets, but in its efforts to promote environmental sustainability.

Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Demola Sogunle, highlighted the company’s continued focus on adopting its Environmental Social Governance (ESG) benchmark.

He said that the firm’s sustainability initiatives were designed to align with global best practices and recommendations.

Sogunle also said that in pursuant of its sustainability roadmap, the firm had planted 43,928 trees in the last three years, and plans 100,000 benchmark by 2025.

He said: “What is driving us is that from the very top, we have been able to identify the significance of interdependence between the success of Stanbic IBTC and the welfare of the communities that we serve. Given our market leadership position in different sectors and the amount of trust that has been reposed on our group, we had no choice but to begin to plug in on different aspects of sustainability. We have given ourselves key targets. The way we are going, we think we will be able to achieve these targets.”