MENA start-ups can show the world there is more to unicorn status than scale-up and expansion
For the Sustainable Development Goals to yield more successful results, the collective sustainable impact of companies should go hand-in-glove with business growth
Baha Hamadi is a board member of the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA) and a member of the World Economic Forum’s community of ESG practitioners.
The Decade of Action (2020-2030) to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 2015-2030) represents an opportunity for MENA’s homegrown start-ups and venture capital investors to show the world that there is more to unicorn status than scale-up, expansion and profit.
If every start-up is born with a built-in moral obligation to contribute, and its sustainability commitments hold true after becoming a unicorn, then we stand a better chance to achieve the SDGs.
Our region is not short of innovative start-ups being built and supported to reach a value of over a billion dollars in a few years, so why don’t we see emerging businesses joining the billion dollar social impact club in such a short timespan?
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000-2015) did make a difference. But was it enough? While the MDGs helped us improve the state of the world to a certain extent, we didn’t manage to accomplish the desired environmental and socio-economic change such as eradicating poverty and achieving universal primary education.
For the SDGs to yield more successful results, the collective sustainable impact of companies should go hand-in-glove with business growth.
Social entrepreneurship – or building a business with a purpose at its core – is likely to help us tackle some of our most pressing global issues. The actions of small, medium and large businesses over the coming nine years will largely determine whether we eradicate some of our biggest problems, or end up carrying them over for another 15 years.
The start-up ecosystem is flourishing. Entrepreneurs are prevalent in partially developing regions like MENA, and funding is abundant due to the growth potential in such regions. Kitopi is now the region’s fastest unicorn. Careem is a story that still inspires. Swvl, the region’s latest unicorn, is a reflection of that inspiration.
Global players with regional presence are contributing to the SDGs. Uber has committed to becoming a zero-emission mobility platform by 2040. DiDi is reducing its carbon emissions and providing aid to their drivers and their families. But beyond profit and CSR strategies, there is a missing ingredient to success – embedding responsible business at the core of business strategy from conception. This means more can be done, faster, and in the early stages of business, to champion relevant causes in support of communities and our planet.
Uber has committed to becoming a zero-emission mobility platform by 2040.
Unlike a commercial business with a CSR program, conducting business responsibly, investing responsibly or intrinsic CSR measures the extent to which the very operations of a business generate a social and environmental impact by default. Companies with intrinsically driven CSR genuinely care, and hence they are perceived as better corporate citizens.
On the other hand, extrinsically motivated CSR policies—the short or long-term initiatives companies launch to showcase their contribution—are valuable and necessary, but represent an atomistic approach to sustainability.
Moreover, companies that are only extrinsically motivated appear to be using CSR as a marketing tool. According to the UN Global Compact, companies should first do business responsibly and then pursue opportunities to solve societal challenges.
Will the next wave of MENA startups lead by example and integrate purpose within their business model? Given the key role of the business community in meeting the SDGs, the answer to this question will determine whether humanity will collectively succeed in at least halving the world’s biggest problems by 2030.
Baha Hamadi is a board member of the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA) and a member of the World Economic Forum’s community of ESG practitioners.
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By ITP
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MENA start-ups can show the world there is more to unicorn status than scale-up and expansion
For the Sustainable Development Goals to yield more successful results, the collective sustainable impact of companies should go hand-in-glove with business growth
Baha Hamadi is a board member of the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA) and a member of the World Economic Forum’s community of ESG practitioners.
The Decade of Action (2020-2030) to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 2015-2030) represents an opportunity for MENA’s homegrown start-ups and venture capital investors to show the world that there is more to unicorn status than scale-up, expansion and profit.
If every start-up is born with a built-in moral obligation to contribute, and its sustainability commitments hold true after becoming a unicorn, then we stand a better chance to achieve the SDGs.
Our region is not short of innovative start-ups being built and supported to reach a value of over a billion dollars in a few years, so why don’t we see emerging businesses joining the billion dollar social impact club in such a short timespan?
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs, 2000-2015) did make a difference. But was it enough? While the MDGs helped us improve the state of the world to a certain extent, we didn’t manage to accomplish the desired environmental and socio-economic change such as eradicating poverty and achieving universal primary education.
For the SDGs to yield more successful results, the collective sustainable impact of companies should go hand-in-glove with business growth.
Social entrepreneurship – or building a business with a purpose at its core – is likely to help us tackle some of our most pressing global issues. The actions of small, medium and large businesses over the coming nine years will largely determine whether we eradicate some of our biggest problems, or end up carrying them over for another 15 years.
The start-up ecosystem is flourishing. Entrepreneurs are prevalent in partially developing regions like MENA, and funding is abundant due to the growth potential in such regions. Kitopi is now the region’s fastest unicorn. Careem is a story that still inspires. Swvl, the region’s latest unicorn, is a reflection of that inspiration.
Global players with regional presence are contributing to the SDGs. Uber has committed to becoming a zero-emission mobility platform by 2040. DiDi is reducing its carbon emissions and providing aid to their drivers and their families. But beyond profit and CSR strategies, there is a missing ingredient to success – embedding responsible business at the core of business strategy from conception. This means more can be done, faster, and in the early stages of business, to champion relevant causes in support of communities and our planet.
Unlike a commercial business with a CSR program, conducting business responsibly, investing responsibly or intrinsic CSR measures the extent to which the very operations of a business generate a social and environmental impact by default. Companies with intrinsically driven CSR genuinely care, and hence they are perceived as better corporate citizens.
On the other hand, extrinsically motivated CSR policies—the short or long-term initiatives companies launch to showcase their contribution—are valuable and necessary, but represent an atomistic approach to sustainability.
Moreover, companies that are only extrinsically motivated appear to be using CSR as a marketing tool. According to the UN Global Compact, companies should first do business responsibly and then pursue opportunities to solve societal challenges.
Will the next wave of MENA startups lead by example and integrate purpose within their business model? Given the key role of the business community in meeting the SDGs, the answer to this question will determine whether humanity will collectively succeed in at least halving the world’s biggest problems by 2030.
Baha Hamadi is a board member of the Public Relations & Communications Association (PRCA) and a member of the World Economic Forum’s community of ESG practitioners.
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