The sustainability work must be visible on the top line

Evolvefy's survey "Board context in growth companies" clearly shows that competence regarding sustainability issues is often lacking in the boardroom. When asked which skills they lack, sustainability was the skill they lacked the most post-digitalization.

Large companiescan afford to bring a sustainability specialist into the boardroom, but how hould scaleup companies with limited resources think? The goal of the survey is that the insights will help boards of growing companies to create practical board work that favours growth and development.

Marlene Blomquist Börjesson at Evolvefy has met Gustav Stenbeck, entrepreneur and business angel specialising in sustainable business. Now he shares his toptips.

What do you think needs to be done for sustainability work to become visible and profitable in an organisation?

- For many companies, sustainability is something to be "ticked" off and thus does not become part of product development. Therefore, it becomes easy for the work with sustainability to become a paper product and not a strategy.

Gustav says the documentation itself is, of course, necessary, but it should come last. A mistake you often make is administering sustainability without defining the need and asking yourself how you can capitalise on your sustainability work.

- Companies that understand the importance of strategic sustainability work that creates profitability are the ones that will survive. The whole idea of​​ sustainability work must be changed. Go from defensive to offensive - from we shouldn't lose money to how do we increase our profits?

If you are now stuck in the philanthropy mindset, how do you get out of it?

- If you want to capitalise on your sustainability work in the future, you must change your mindset and step away from it. When you talk about sustainability, you mark something that is "ready" and that you are finished. There is almost nothing that is "ready" because there are always parts of production or process that can be better and more sustainable, says Gustav.

Gustav emphasises that instead of talking about "being sustainable", the company is on a journey towards sustainability. Switching to an electric car is an excellent example of sustainability. It is better than a petrol-powered car, but the bodywork and, not least, the battery pack still need to be durable. Having an electric vehicle is, therefore, more sustainable but not sustainable.

Today we see clear trends that the issue of sustainability is put in focus and that it is acritical component in many companies' strategic work to become competitive. What is driving that development?

- The EU is pushing the issue regulatory, and legislatively, we see that banks today give lower interest rates to better-performing companies in an increasing number of cases. Hand in hand with the banks go the insurance companies that assess/value the company from a business sustainability perspective. Companies with a high sustainability risk already find it more challenging to get approved insurance today. Finally, Gustav explains the consumer group that wants to prioritise companies that work in a more sustainable direction. All of this puts joint pressure on the core of the companies, not on their sustainability reports. Companies must become more sustainable to qualify, not just appear more sustainable.

He continues:

- If you summarise the trends, it is clear that society is moving in a more sustainable direction. When the market drives the work, companies have no choice. It is more important to start work on time than to be lagging.

For this to be possible in the future, Gustav believes that companies must move away from the philanthropic mindset and invest more in entrepreneurship. Simply telling someone to stop buying or flying is a pitch that less than a few can get behind. We have to think more extensively than that, and that's where companies become the fastest agents to create that change. Gustav concludes that if you can also make money from it, it can go fast, and it has to go fast now.

Three pieces of advice for the CEO/board of scaleup companies:

1.    Discuss why the company needs sustainability competence. Define the needs. Take advice from someone who has done it before. Try to find someone with experience capitalising on sustainability work in scaleup companies.

2.    Don't get stuck in the defensive rut; stake out the strategy by going forward. Sustainability should not be a business risk but a business opportunity. Analyse how and to what extent you want it to look and be. The greater the options, the more money there is to earn.

3.    Dare to delegate sustainability issues to the employees. You don't have to sit on a Master’s in sustainable development to become the company's most valuable sustainability resource. The most important thingi s - one competence and two skills. The competence must include a fundamental understanding of the company and the product/service you market. The skills must be the mindset of incredible impatience and willingness to change combined with a great interest in sustainability. If you find these two skills and competence in an employee, you appoint this person to lead your sustainability work.

Many thanks, Gustav, for your valuable advice and insights!

Sustainability is 2 of 4 sub-topics that summarise the results from Evolvefy's survey. The respondents hold roles such as CEO, Investment Manager and CFO or are board professionals in growth companies.

Evolvefy helps entrepreneurs and business leaders in growing companies build financial structural capital to realise their growth plans. When a company grows, the finance function shifts, and the need for CFO expertise depends on the company's phase. This is where things can often go wrong and become very costly. That's why we exist. Our concept is based on flexible and tailored solutions. We offer Growth Analysis, CFO Interim, Recruitment, Risk Management, and Accounting Services.

‍