Green is the New Gold: Sustainability Takes Centre Stage in the Middle East

Digitalisation is a key part in the puzzle to unlock value — and save the planet at the same time.

Just as the digital revolution transformed how we live and work, sustainability is driving new value and growth, permeating everything that we do.

It is a force for change — and technology is a vital enabler of the process, from accelerating net-zero transitions to building better value- and supply chains. Sustainability and digitalisation are increasingly intertwined, with technology providing the necessary tools to address environmental and social challenges. Such considerations are now incorporated into the design and deployment stages of emerging technology.

A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical system — a building, city, or industrial plant — that can be used to simulate and optimise performance. By using data and analytics to create a digital representation of a physical system, waste can be reduced, efficiency can be increased, and resource use optimised.

The business case for sustainability is clear, and organisations are being driven to act. Industry leaders are reimagining supply chains, looking to increase visibility and decarbonise operations to build resilience in the face of uncertainty. As businesses take a stand and lead the charge for a greener future, they look to stakeholders — including governments — to assist them.

Later this year, in November, the UAE will host the COP28 conference at the Expo City in Dubai — the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This is a vital forum for experts and government ministers to discuss and co-ordinate efforts to address climate change.

In a world concerned about the over-use of fossil fuels, decision to hold COP28 in the Middle East is significant: the region is home to some of the world's largest oil-producing countries. The conference presents an opportunity for these countries to demonstrate a commitment to change.

The UAE is one of those leading the way. It has a target of generating 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2050. The country is already home to the world's largest single-site solar power plant, with a capacity of 1.2 GW. It has declared 2023 the Year of Sustainability, a national campaign to promote action in all aspects of life — energy, water, food, and waste management. The campaign is supported by educational programmes, sustainability workshops, and awareness drives. The UAE Green Agenda 2030 aims to transform the country into a global hub for green economies and innovation.

Saudi Arabia’s Green Initiative aims to reduce carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2030 — and to plant 10 billion trees. Saudi has set similarly ambitious targets — half of all energy generation from renewable sources — but with 2030 as the deadline. There have been heavy investments in solar and wind power, with a $500bn initiative to build a mega-city entirely powered by green energy.

Both countries have implemented carbon-credit initiatives to offset their own emissions by investing in greener projects elsewhere. The Dubai Carbon Centre of Excellence has launched a trading platform which allows companies to purchase carbon credits from internationally certified projects. Saudi Arabia has a similar platform, the Saudi Green Initiative Carbon Trading Programme.

Digital twin technology will help to identify opportunities for energy and resource efficiency. A replica of a building can be used to model and optimise its energy use, and identify opportunities for improvements in heating, cooling, and lighting. The twin of a manufacturing plant can be used to simulate and optimise production processes, reducing waste and energy consumption.

Digital twins can also help in the urban context. Planners can simulate and optimise traffic flows and waste-management systems before infrastructure is installed. This means reduced congestion, improved air quality, and more efficient city services. Another benefit of twin tech is the ability to support circular economy models. By creating a digital representation of a product or material, it is possible to track its use throughout its lifecycle. Again, this cuts waste and boosts efficiency.

Accenture is helping businesses, governments and organisations to build their digital cores. It has made its own net-zero commitment and target date — 2025 — while working with clients to achieve their goals. The firm has established a sustainability services practice to help industries across the region develop and implement green strategies. The focus is on the management of supply chains, energy and carbon, and the circular economy.

Accenture's focus on sustainability in the Middle East is an important contribution to the region's future. Its expertise and experience assist companies with their sustainability goals, while supporting the global effort to address climate change by reducing waste and increasing energy efficiency across its operations.

The Middle East is making significant progress on sustainability. While there is still much work to be done, the region's commitment is a positive sign for the future of the planet.

About the Author

Bashar Kilani is Managing Director at Accenture based in Dubai and a member of the Growth Markets leadership team focusing on Digital Economy market making trends that accelerate growth, transform operations, and enable organisations to build their digital core.


The Rise and Rise of ESG, from Investment and Worker Safety to the Ethics of the Defence Industry

‘Immediate actions — necessary to mitigate losses from catastrophic events like the war in Ukraine and the pandemic — should be distinguished from the steps that are necessary to preserve a company’s long-term value.’

In April 2013, the concrete roof of a dilapidated factory collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,134 people — mainly female garment workers — and injuring 2,500.

Many of them had been producing clothing for international fashion brands — including Benetton, Primark, Walmart, Prada and Gucci — which turned the calamity into a global embarrassment. Just a few years earlier, the United Nations had instituted its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles. The human cost of the Dhaka tragedy highlighted the urgent need for global business to take safety aims seriously.

The rapid growth of Bangladeshi “sweatshops” over the previous decade — in response to Western consumer demand — had led to overcrowded, badly maintained factories and poor working conditions. The average wage for garment workers at the time was around $30 a month. Pope Francis denounced the system as slave labour.

The Dhaka tragedy had another consequence: Western consumers began to realise the link between the fashionable clothes sold in glitzy stores and the grim reality of their origins. The stark images of death and destruction in Bangladesh had investors questioning the ethical practices of many business and industry sectors.

Australian James Gifford was the executive director of the UN’s Principles of Responsible Investment at the time. He had been a “shareholder activist” in his native Australia for some years and was among the group of free thinkers who shaped ESG strategies in the early 2000s. “It is absolutely in the financial interests of leading Western clothing brands to have safe factories and not to have scandals,” he said. “We’re now seeing all the clothing brands scrambling to sign-up to new protocols on building safety.

“This is the change that the world is seeing. Formerly, people thought there must be a trade-off between profits and looking after workers or looking after the environment.” Companies, he said, needed to look after supply chains. Transparency in that area is just one of the issues being tackled by global business. Investor and consumer knowledge, and the power of social media, have put every industry in the spotlight. ESG aims are now part of the business mainstream in Europe and the US.

"The disruption to global trade caused by the pandemic failed to interrupt the progress of ESG."

The disruption to global trade caused by the pandemic failed to interrupt the progress of ESG. Amy S Matsuo, regulatory and ESG insights leader at KMPG US, says that far from provoking an investor flight back to traditional investment, the crisis amplified awareness in investors, policymakers and consumers.

“Pressure from investors, employees, customers and the general public has driven companies to commit to and act upon an ESG strategy,” she said, “focusing primarily on environmental factors. With the advent of Covid-19, stakeholders are turning attention to workplace safety, employee health and wellbeing, job security, data privacy, customer engagement, supply chain management, community investment, corporate leadership and innovation. ESG has expanded into a ‘main street’ issue, with significant reputational risk for companies.”

Gifford, now head of Impact Advisory and Thought Leadership at Credit Suisse, said there was growing recognition that the world was changing. Many of the most important changes are within the

ESG bracket, he said. “Change is opportunity, and ESG issues — being some of the largest, most important megatrends happening in society — simply translate into opportunities for the cutting-edge of investors to outperform their peers.”

The pandemic, followed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, had investors rattled. In times of crisis, investors historically tend to play safe, seeking out reliable havens for their money — usually gold or government bonds. But companies with strong ESG polices generally outperform those with less environmental and social awareness. A 2020 study of ESG investments showed that 60 percent achieved positive returns, and only eight percent were negative.

The growth of ESG adoption since the term was coined in 2004 shows no sign of wilting in the face of economic challenge. Companies which demonstrate a belief in sustainability and ethical standards are judged to be more trustworthy. Research by Morgan Stanley’s Institute for Sustainable Investing found that sustainable funds offer reduced risk — whatever the asset type. The analysis suggests that non-ESG funds have a greater downside deviation in volatile markets.

Gifford says sophisticated analysis by investors is growing. It is no longer just about picking out “the bad guys” from an investment portfolio, or investing in obviously green areas such as wind farms or solar power. It’s about seeking out companies with the potential to make the world a better place.

“Investors want to focus on what the boards of major corporations are actually doing, what they’re thinking about, what’s keeping them up at night,” he said. “With this radical transparency, with social media, with the accountability that corporations are feeling, all of these issues are becoming core to business, and core to those investing.”

The war in Ukraine has raised questions over the perceived rigidity of ESG principles — particularly in relation to the defence industry. Arms manufacturers have seen a degree of investor flight in recent decades, and the sector is seen by many as running counter to ESG aims. In March, a Bank of America report said that the Ukraine crisis “reminds us that, like most things in investing, ESG is complicated and nuanced”.

The conflict has led some to question whether investing in a strong defence industry should be considered fundamentally “social” in deterring regime aggression. An opinion piece in The Financial Times in March questioned the blanket approach of ESG aspirations; the effects of war on Europe’s doorstep illustrated the crucial nature of defence, it argued. “Surely an important component of (Europe’s) ability to provide safety and security to its citizens should qualify for some recognition in the social element of ESG?”

Similarly, in response to the increasing cost of energy — especially in a Europe so dependent on Russian oil and gas — there have been calls to soften climate-change priorities.

But Adam O Emmerich, a partner at US law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, says that while ESG investing is fundamentally about generating long-term financial value, the Ukraine conflict has prompted unprecedented support for the liberal international order. “The war provides important lessons,” he said, “and underscores the need for a non-disruptive transition to a low-carbon world — a view already shared by major investors.

“If unaddressed, climate change will trigger a humanitarian crisis on an unprecedented scale and lead to trillions of Dollars in losses. From an ESG perspective, a company’s performance is still being measured in returns delivered over decades and not days.

“Immediate actions — necessary to mitigate losses from catastrophic events like the war in Ukraine and the pandemic — should be distinguished from the steps that are necessary to preserve a company’s long-term value.”

By Tony Lennox


[caption id="attachment_25564" align="alignright" width="232"] Hamdi Ulukaya. US Department of Homeland Security. Photo: Public Domain.[/caption]

Yogurt king Hamdi Ulukaya, the founder and CEO of Chobani, has all his values in the right place

Turkish immigrant Hamdi Ulukaya never imagined himself as a business leader. He grew up in a semi-nomadic Kurdish family, splitting his time between the dairy farm and the grazing herd in the Erzincan province.

The family never wanted for quality cheese and yogurt, and Ulukaya now shares his family recipes with the masses as the CEO of Chobani, which has become a market leader in the US and abroad.

“I don’t come from a background of business. I never thought I would be a CEO or starting a company. In my early days. I didn’t even like this field,” Ulukaya told Time. The business mogul, who’s estimated by Forbes to have a net worth of $2.1bn as of April 2023, marches to the beat of a different drum. He challenges businesses that prioritise profit over people to try a page from the anti-CEO playbook, which he outlined in a 2019 TED Talk.

“Living in upstate New York, starting a company, seeing first-hand the power of business, how we can make a dramatic change in people’s lives, even faster and more sustainable than sometimes government and other organisations. When I saw that side of things, I fell in love.

“And then money becomes this tool, a powerful tool. Today we are over $2bn in sales with over 2,000 people. This social side of us — to be mindful of being impactful in our communities and societies — is really what drives us every day. If you take that out for any reason, we wouldn’t be as successful as we are today.”

Ulukaya worked on the family farm with his six siblings before studying political science in Ankara, then moved to the US to take English and business courses in New York. He worked on a farm in upstate New York before launching a feta cheese venture, which, despite its popularity, had barely broken even by the two-year mark. Ulukaya says they were some of the most challenging years of his life — but they helped set the stage for the next chapter of his entrepreneurial journey.

Hamdi Ulukaya chanced upon a sales advert for an old yogurt factory and initially tossed the mailer; within 20 minutes he had dug it out of the trash. Kraft had previously run the plant, but when the food conglomerate sold its yogurt business in 2004 to CoolBrands International for $59m, the idle factory was put up for sell “as-is” for $700,000.

He went to see the property the next day. “It took me four hours to find it. It was in the middle of nowhere and was 70 years old,” Ulukaya told the Washington Post. “At some point, you could tell there was a lot of life in there, and there were about 55 people who were closing the factory and just wrapping things up and turning off the lines and all that kind of stuff.”

Ulukaya’s attorney tried to talk him out of buying the plant. If Kraft couldn’t crack yogurt, what chance did he have? Despite the warnings, Ulukaya persevered. He acquired a Small Business Administration loan through a small community bank and got the keys to the facility in August 2005. He named the new business Chobani — which is Turkish for shepherd — and began making the high-protein yogurt that he remembered so fondly from his childhood.

In Ulukaya’s opinion, the US market was ripe for disruption.

“For years, I had asked why yogurt was so bad here. I was always told yogurt had to be sweet to appeal to Americans,” Ulukaya told Inc. “But when people go to Turkey or Greece, within 15 minutes of their return they start talking about how much they enjoyed the yogurt there.”

Greek-style yogurt is thicker and tangier than the familiar brands found in American grocery stores. It is strained to remove most of the liquid and whey, but that process isn’t unique to Greece. It originated in the Middle East in the Fifth Century, and the word “yogurt” is derived from Turkish. The yogurt now eaten all over world was popularised in the US as “Greek” thanks to marketing campaigns, first by the Athens-based company Fage in the 1990s ,and then by Chobani in the early 2000s.

Chobani began cropping up in retail chains, and Ulukaya told Entrepreneur that within five years, it could be found “in every major supermarket, in club stores, convenience stores and airports”. From that point, the company’s struggle to keep up with demand began. “By 2012, we were a billion in sales in that old factory,” he said. “We had over a thousand people, and we had not raised a penny to do so. We did it all by ourselves.”

According to Crunchbase, Chobani raised $750m in funding through a debt financing in 2014 from the private equity firm TPG. Chobani finished paying back the loan in 2017, but TPG still owned warrants that could have been converted into more than a third of Chobani equity. The company cut ties with TPG in 2018, when it brought on the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (Hoopp Capital Partners) as a new long-term investor. The financial terms of the deal were undisclosed, but Hoopp received a 20 percent position in Chobani. Chobani used the funds to buy out TPG’s remaining warrants.

Success and Influence of Chobani

Chobani benefits from a lower net operating profit after-tax margin than most of its competitors. It consistently generates over $1bn in revenue. Ulukaya expects $2.5bn in sales for 2023.

Last year, the company withdrew its (twice-postponed) plans for an IPO, citing unfavourable market conditions. Instead, it will focus on the strong execution habits that have helped to make it a household name while continuing to drive profitable and sustainable growth.

Ulukaya told Time that he’s never seen Chobani as a short-term project and doesn’t feel pressured to go public — but an IPO is still on the cards. “We’re very patient to keep our independence so we can do what we promise, which is making delicious food and making it accessible for the larger population.”

The company continues to expand the product line-up with non-dairy alternatives, like oat milk, plant-based coffee creamers, ready-to-drink cold-brew coffee and plant-based probiotic drinks. Chobani has manufacturing facilities in New York, Idaho and in Australia, its second-largest market.

Philanthropy and Social Justice

Ulukaya believes in the power of community and the proactive advocacy of social justice. He’s also a signatory to the Giving Pledge, and has committed to donate the majority of his personal wealth on or before his death.

Following the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Ulukaya pledged to donate $1m and up to $1m in matched donations for the aid relief. The goal was met and Ulukaya donated $2m in total to Turkish Philanthropy Funds, a New York organisation that has been supporting emergency aid and long-term relief programmes since 2011.

Between 2020 and 2021, Chobani donated 10.5 million products to fight food insecurity and advocated for policies aimed at ending hunger for millions of children.

In 2016, Hamdi Ulukaya launched the Tent Foundation, which unites more than 300 companies committed to hiring, training, and mentoring refugees. When he first started Chobani, Ulukaya heard that there was a nearby community of refugees with the motivation and legal permission to work, but lacking the transport, language and skills for employment.

Ulukaya acquired buses, hired translators, and started training refugee recruits. He found that they were soon able to provide for their families and integrate with their new communities — and they have become some of his most productive and loyal employees.

“It turned out to be one of the most amazing aspects of my journey with Chobani,” he told Inc. “Aside from it being the right thing to do, I saw how this infusion of unstoppable human spirit brought everyone at the company closer together. In that little town, where I was the second guy with an accent, we eventually had over 15 different languages ... People from all over the world, shoulder-to-shoulder, making yogurt.”

The Leadership Style of Ulukaya

Ulukaya has initiated a profit-sharing programme for Chobani employees. Nearly a third of Chobani employees were born outside the US. In the first quarter of 2021, the company began paying a $15 hourly wage, more than double the federal minimum. Ulukaya also launched an incubator for food start-ups.

All of these efforts underscore the exec’s commitment to put people over profits. “Just about anyone can make a good product,” he says, “but it's the people that count. In the end, it's the employees who will take it from a kitchen-table idea to the next level. There are a lot of important things in business, but the ‘people’ portion comes first.

“You can call it social entrepreneurship; you can call it whatever you call it. If you create an environment where everyone is passionate, equally recognised, the product is making changes in people’s lives, the community is benefiting, in the end, it makes things a lot easier.”

He told  Forbes: “You sleep better; have fewer meetings, motivational speakers and bosses. From the profit-making perspective, it’s the smartest thing to do. In my opinion, business — the motivation of creating wealth and value — is good, there’s nothing wrong with it. While I’m doing this, I’m making an impact on peoples’ lives in a positive way, so it’s win-win for everybody.

“Business is the biggest force that can make a difference in people’s lives. It’s not an NGO, just a business; the only difference is the consciousness.”

Ulukaya says purpose-driven companies will continue to win over the younger generations of clients, consumers and talent. “For them, the notion that the sole purpose of business is to make money is yesterday’s idea. They want to support and be part of the companies that are truly committed to making the world a better place.”


Is a Life of Luxury a Worthy Pursuit in the Modern Day?

Coco Chanel once said, “Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury.” She also noted: “Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity.”

So, what is luxury? The term is subjective, but it’s generally accepted to mean a condition of abundance, ease, and comfort. We use it as a prefix for everyday items — hotels, cars, homes — and to typify something that the hedonist can aspire to.

It can mean something with superior performance — a vehicle, a yacht, a watch — or something that generates premium sensations, like fine wines or exquisite art. Generally, luxury is equated with something expensive, available to a select few, and possessing an innate quality against which lesser things may be compared.

But luxury takes on a slightly different complexion around the world — and perhaps the ancients could have taught us a thing or two about it. The Queen of Sheba, first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, went on to be an important figure in several traditions and religions. She is believed to have been the wealthy ruler of Saba, and when she visited King Solomon, it was with a caravan of camels bearing gold, jewels, and spices.

The legendary Egyptian queen Cleopatra lived the ultimate luxury lifestyle before clasping that asp to her bosom. She famously bathed in asses’ milk and travelled the Nile on a sumptuously appointed boat. Not only did she appreciate luxury, she used it to show off her elevated position — and achieve her political goals. Like the Queen of Sheba, she seems to have been happy to flaunt her wealth — once dropping an enormous pearl into a cup of wine and swallowing it (presumably while a doting Mark Antony looked on).

Another, more recent queen, Marie Antoinette of France, became a virtual synonym for luxurious excess. Following her proxy marriage to King Louis XV, she travelled from Austria to France with an entourage of 57 carriages, 117 footmen and 376 horsemen. She reportedly commissioned over 300 dresses a year and never wore anything twice. She was dedicated to the pursuit of perfection and took great delight in her excessive lifestyle (best summed-up in her famous “Let them eat cake” quote.

Nowadays, bringing luxury into the everyday is an artform. Life-coaches and gurus encourage living your life as art. Luxury can be as simple as a cup of coffee with an indulgent foam topping, a comfortable down-filled quilt, or a tailored linen shirt. The ring you wear on your finger should fill you with delight, the handbag you carry should be simultaneously elegant and functional.

Moments of luxury brighten our lives and pierce the banality of ordinary life. And luxury, like most things, changes with the times. The last word goes to American fashion designer Tom Ford: “Time and silence are the most luxurious things today.”

By Naomi Snelling


Ajay Banga, former Mastercard CEO

Never has the role of moral leadership played a more important or challenging role in defining the success of a company’ — Ajay Banga

Mastercard’s former CEO Ajay Banga currently serves as vice-chairman at General Atlantic, but the US is backing him for World Bank presidency.

Banga, a naturalised US citizen, has begun a world tour to lay out his credentials for the position. It kicked off in March in the Côte d’Ivoire, with a meeting with the president of the African Development Bank Group, Akinwumi Adesina. Banga pledged to partner with Adesina and the bank to mobilise private sector capital — as well as private sector ingenuity and innovation — to tackle the world’s most pressing problems.

He highlighted inequality, short-sightedness and the tension between humanity and Nature as major concerns — challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, environmental degradation and ripple effects from the Russia-Ukraine war.

Ajay Banga was born and raised in India. After graduating with honours from his undergraduate economics programme, he went on to obtain the Indian equivalent of an MBA. He has gained vast business experience over the past four decades, serving in leadership roles at major multinational companies.

In 1981, Banga began a 13-year career with Nestlé spanning sales, marketing, and general management. He later joined PepsiCo and helped the conglomerate to launch Pizza Hut and KFC franchises in India. He spent another 13 years at Citigroup, where he led the group’s international consumer operations and spearheaded its global microfinance strategy. He spent his last year at Citi as chief executive of the bank’s Asia-Pacific business, splitting time between Hong Kong and Citi’s headquarters in New York.

Banga joined Mastercard in 2009 as the group’s president and chief operating officer. Within a year, he was promoted to president and CEO. During Banga’s decade-long tenure as Mastercard chief, the card company saw revenue triple — and market value increase tenfold. Banga helped steer the payment firm toward emerging tech such as cybersecurity and data analytics — which ended up generating around half of the company’s revenue.

During a 2020 interview with BQ Prime, Banga called Mastercard’s embrace of innovation and diversification a “real change-maker”.

“The biggest realisation that drove this was to define our competition — not as other payment networks, but as the wider environment of cash,” he said. “That just changed everything: how we approach the market, how we approach technology, how we approach financial inclusion, and our commitments to financial inclusion over the years.”

Johannes Linn, a former World Bank vice-president, endorses Banga’s bid: “Being from a developing country originally, and having grown up in India, you know, I’m sure he brings a perspective to the development business. Secondly, his successful career, especially in the finance domain, is very important right now.”

But Scott Morris, a senior fellow at the Centre for Global Development, warns that Banga might find it challenging to build consensus around global-warming policies. Despite the broad-spectrum appeal of the climate finance agenda, there are trade-offs — and competing priorities for funding. Morris believes Banga will have a “fairly tricky landscape” to navigate — particularly with regard to China.

“It’s really hard to see how you make progress on the climate agenda at the World Bank if you don’t have some kind of effective relationship with the Chinese,” Morris told NPR. “And, you know, that’s going to be squarely on his agenda in trying to manage that, at a time when his largest shareholder and the country that nominated him do not really have a pro-engagement stance with the Chinese.”

Voting on the World Bank nomination is expected in May; the president’s position is to be vacated by David Malpass a year shy of his four-year tenure. If Banga secures the role, he will head an organisation with billion-dollar budgets to fight poverty and promote people, peace, and prosperity on a global scale.

If elected, Banga intends to surround himself with skilled professionals who show strong convictions and commitment. “The leaders who deliver results, now and in the future, will be those who are able to build inclusive cultures and execute under rapidly changing circumstances,” he said.

“You need to harness the collective uniqueness of those around you to widen your field of vision. In the past, leaders were chosen for what they could deliver, but tomorrow’s leaders will be defined by their good judgement.

“Never has the role of moral leadership played a more important or challenging role in defining the success of a company.”


Ginni Rometty, former IBM boss

It was a Man’s World — but it‘Wouldn’t be Nothing’ Without A Woman like Ginni Rometty...

‘Teaching, hiring and advancing women benefits us all,’ says female tech pioneer

Virginia “Ginni” Rometty is, in no uncertain terms, a trailblazer of the tech world.

[caption id="attachment_24987" align="alignright" width="300"] Ginni Rometty[/caption]

She was the first female CEO of American multinational IBM, a corporation with a presence in 175 countries. She shepherded the tech giant through trying times, and established it as a major player in cloud computing.

But Rometty’s reign has not been without controversy. She came in for criticism over the delivery of generous executive bonuses — despite 24 consecutive quarters of declining revenue. She has spoken about her struggles and triumphs in a book entitled Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World.

Rometty studied computer science and electrical engineering at Northwestern University in Illinois. She received a scholarship from General Motors and completed an internship there during her undergraduate studies.

And while she was a pioneer herself, Rometty was also following the footsteps of some female greats of the computer science world — although their names have often been lost to history.

Lady Ada Lovelace is regarded as the first coder in history. She wrote an algorithm in 1833 for a proposed mechanical general-purpose computer designed by English mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage. He never managed to complete his creation, known as the analytical engine — so Lovelace was never able to execute her code. Women contributed greatly to the early days of computing, particularly as codebreakers in World War II, and went on to take roles as data-crunchers in the space race.

In the 1960s, women made up the bulk of the computing workforce, but by 1970, they represented just 13.6 percent of US computer science graduates. Women held 37 percent of the bachelors’ degrees in computer science in 1984; by 2021, that figure had dropped to 18 percent.

Coming into this changing playing field, Ginni Rometty graduated in 1979 and joined General Motors Institute as the head of application and systems development. She went on to become a systems analyst and engineer at IBM in 1981, mastering technical and management positions as she advanced through the ranks. She had staying power, and after three decades with the company, she was appointed as IBM president and CEO in 2012.

Successes and Challenges

Rometty took the helm at a moment of pivotal transformation for century-old IBM. The tech giant has a history of changing leadership during periods of revitalisation, and there was no pandering to her gender. Samuel Palmisano, IBM’s CEO from 2002 to 2011, told The New York Times: “Ginni got it because she deserved it. It’s got zero to do with progressive social policies.”

She steered the company away from low-margin ventures — including parts of its traditional hardware business lines — and focused on rapid-growth opportunities in data analytics and cloud computing.

“What steam was to the 18th Century, electricity to the 19th and hydrocarbons to the 20th, data will be to the 21st Century,” Rometty predicted in 2015. “That’s why I call data a new natural resource.”

The firebrand brokered partnerships with Apple, SAP, and Twitter. She oversaw the divestment of nearly $10bn in annual revenue — and the creation of a $21bn hybrid-cloud business. One of Rometty’s most notable accomplishments was the $34bn purchase of Red Hat, an open-source software provider, in 2018. That deal, the largest acquisition in the company’s history, continues to support the expansion into cloud computing. “We’re transforming this company for the next decade,” Rometty said in a 2014 interview with CNBC. “That is not a one-year job Not when you’re a hundred-billion-dollar company.”

The company was entering an era of converging tech trends: AI, big data, mobility, cloud computing and social networking. “Unlike any time in history, you had four or five trends all going at once,” she recalls, “feeding on each other and accelerating.”

During her eight-year tenure, IBM spent more than $133bn on deals, R&D, and capital expenditure, including 68 acquisitions. It wasn’t all smooth sailing; Rometty faced criticism over dwindling sales and a stagnant share price. To reduce costs and boost revenues, in 2014, IBM fired thousands of workers. Rometty defended the layoffs as necessary corporate restructuring. She received a $3.6m bonus for her performance in 2014, despite declining revenues. The compensation she received for her last two years on the job — with revenue and share price still in the doldrums — was a cool $41m.

Her recent memoir, Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World, contains some relevant snippets of information about that era. “Our challenge was to find that balance between being in service of our existing clients and surviving as a business,” Rometty wrote. “Who is IBM now? What should we become?”

Regarding IBM’s divested assets during her tenure, she says: “I did all this knowing that it meant no growth for the company at a time when the investment world was clamouring for it.” She defends her actions as the “right long-term choices”.

Rometty passed the company reins to Arvind Krishna in April 2020, naming him the “the right CEO for the next era”. Krishna started his IBM career in 1990 and worked his way up to lead the cloud and cognitive software division. “He’s a brilliant technologist who has played a significant role in developing our key technologies such as AI, cloud, quantum computing and blockchain.”

Rometty has been an advocate for diversity and inclusion throughout her career. She spearheaded campaigns to bring more women and people of colour into senior roles at IBM. In 2016, she launched IBM’s “New Collar” recruitment programme, which aimed to give training and employment options to employees lacking college degrees. She believes employers could recruit more efficiently, and achieve more diversity, by focusing on candidates’ skills and learning capacity, rather than insisting on university qualifications.

IBM worked with schools in low-income areas to provide students with mentorship opportunities and potential employment. Rometty implemented a SkillsFirst initiative to create on-ramps for people who had been previously overlooked. She struggled against biased notions that the move would dumb-down the workforce — and proved herself right.

“We did a lot of studying of the results, and the net of that was, nope, after about one year, their results were actually equivalent to our degreed people,” Rometty told the Harvard Business Review. “And by the way, they actually took more education; they were thirstier.” She also found that hirings were more diverse. “At first we called them ‘new collar’,” she says. “Not white collar, not blue collar: something new.”

IBM continues to support Rometty’s skills-first vision through its Pathways in Technology Early College High Schools, or P‑TECHs. The collaborative educational reform programmes provide schools with support, resources and mentorship to prepare students for modern tech jobs. Upon graduation of the six-year programme, students have earned a high school diploma and a two-year postsecondary degree in a STEM field — at no cost. Today, the P-TECH programme serves hundreds of thousands of students in hundreds of schools in 28 countries.

Rometty believes this culture is crucial in technology fields, where upskilling is required every two or three years. “You have to be willing to reinvent yourself,” Rometty told the Financial Times. “If you don’t define who you are, someone else will.”

Rometty continues to advocate for skills-first job recruitment in her role as co-chair of the executive committee of OneTen, a coalition helping black job-seekers connect with opportunities that don’t require university education. It provides wrap-around support services and connects the talent pool to educational and skill-building organisations.

The former exec is currently promoting her book, in which she reflects the journey from childhood poverty to the C-suite of a Fortune-500 company. It taught her that, to paraphrase the old song, “it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it”.

Conflict resolution is a recurring topic in the book. “There are different ways to run toward conflict,” she explained. “One is to protest, take a stand, and be very vocal. That doesn’t always mean public or private. I think it means keeping your eye on what you’re really trying to get done, and what [provides] the best odds of that happening.

“Whenever you position something so that there’s going to be a winner and a loser, very rarely have I seen that be to anybody’s benefit. If you position something so that there is no way out other than making the other person look like a loser, you’re not going to get done what you have to get done.”

Ginni Rometty has faced numerous difficulties and considerable changes. She has earned a reputation as a problem solver, risk taker and forward thinker. She oversaw the company’s transition into fast-growing industries such as cloud computing, AI, blockchain and cybersecurity.

Rometty serves as a role model for girls interested in STEM subjects and women interested in executive leadership. Her exit from IBM coincides with a general exodus of female leaders: Susan Wojcicki has stepped down from YouTube, Meta Platforms lost its chief business officer, Marne Levine, and Sheryl Sandberg left her role as Meta’s COO.

“During my time at IBM, our P-TECH programme and changes to our recruitment process brought more diversity, including more women, into our workforce,” Rometty told the Economist. “Other companies should follow suit — businesses that include a variety of perspectives and experiences are more innovative, more competitive and more able to create products that appeal to a whole host of users.

“Giving everyone equal access to education and employment opportunities also promotes women’s economic security — and so will help societies flourish.

“When it comes to science and tech careers, women must not be discouraged, overlooked, or derailed. They must also be paid equally. Teaching, hiring and advancing women benefits us all.”


Chieh Huang, cofounder and CEO of Boxed

Chieh Huang’s dedication and initiative didn’t quite pay off, in the end — but the Taiwan-born entrepreneur hasn’t lost all hope…

[caption id="attachment_24990" align="alignright" width="233"] Chieh Huang. photo: Boxed[/caption]

Boxed CEO Chieh Huang defines retail as “the business of making genuine, lasting connections with customers and creating the best, most curated shopping experience possible for every shopper”.

And that’s just what he did with Boxed, an online wholesale store selling affordable items in quantity. Huang started the company from a garage in 2013, and it evolved to become one of the most prosperous e-commerce businesses in the US. At its peak, it had 1,000 employees and millions of dollars in funding.

But Boxed suffered the same fate as many of the businesses going public via special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) between 2020 and 2021. Firms began to see losses pile up and market caps plummet. Boxed declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 2 this year.

The company now plans to sell off its service-as-a-software platform, Spresso, to senior creditors.

Early years

Boxed CEO Huang was born in Taiwan in 1982 and grew up in North Edison, New Jersey. He earned a law degree from Fordham University and an economics undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins University. Huang tested the waters as a corporate attorney, but within three years, he was seeking fresh challenges.

In 2010, he launched Astro Ape, a mobile gaming company, while goofing about with friends in his attic. Their efforts caught the attention of a Japanese company and attracted an $800,000 investment before the nascent company was sold to Zynga, a San Francisco-based video-game developer.

Huang launched Boxed in 2013, offering a range of essentials shipped directly to consumers and businesses. The company relied on powerful inhouse tech capabilities. It wrote software, built automation robotics, and ran state-of-the-art fulfilment centres across the US.

Boxed Success

Huang obtained investment from backers such as Greycroft Partners, First Round Capital, and Alpha Edison. According to Crunchbase, Boxed raised $365.9m over six funding rounds, including a post-IPO equity round in December 2021. In January 2023, it announced the approval of up to $20m in financing through a second-lien secured-term loan.

Huang was up against supersized organisations like Sam’s Club and Costco, major players with established economies of scale. He differentiated Boxed by simplifying the shopping experience: no membership fees, for a start. It also offered free shipping on orders above $49 (above $19 for loyalty members).

People-Centred Leadership

Huang has been praised as a visionary leader for prioritising workers’ wellbeing as a viable part of the firm’s bottom line.

“We are a different way to do business,” he told Entrepreneur magazine. “What drives me personally is to show a future generation that you can be kind to the folks in your company and still do well. You can offer free health insurance and still be profitable. That’s not without its own stress. But we are a pioneer in some of the ways to do business.”

Sometimes pioneers make it, he observed in 2022, and “sometimes they don’t”. Those words proved prophetic this April, when Boxed filed for bankruptcy. But the company’s ultimate downfall has done little to detract from the legacy Huang constructed.

Boxed offered above-average starting wages, covered college tuition for employees’ children, and subsidised special “life events” such as weddings. It also gave each employee access to a $500 emergency fund. Huang insists these perks delivered an exponential return on investment. Boxed maintained exceptionally low staff turnover — something that can cost companies anywhere up to twice a departing employee’s annual salary.

“At its core, it just comes from me growing up poor and seeing my parents come home pretty beat up,” he told the New Jersey Monthly. “In New Jersey, you have all different types of workers. You get exposed to part of the workforce you don’t get exposed to in [affluent] Silicon Valley.”

Huang argues that business leaders don’t need to chase every penny to be successful. The e-commerce exec is an outspoken supporter of social causes. In 2017, Boxed became the first firm to cover education costs for employees’ children. Boxed supported gender equality measures by fighting against the “pink tax” and refusing to charge extra for products specifically marketed to women. It launched the Rethink Pink Campaign in 2016, dropping the price on 20 personal care items to achieve gender parity. Within three years, it had reached a total of $1m in offset discounts redistributed among customers.

Boxed provided employees with a variety of benefits, including health insurance, a 401k matching retirement plan and unlimited holiday time. The company also advocated environmental responsibility through initiatives like its Unboxed programme, which encouraged customers to recycle used packaging.

Powerful Platform

Boxed saw an uptick in revenue between 2018 and 2021, from $140.2m to $177.3m. The company credited the success to its dedicated workforce and a creative business strategy that blended the convenience of internet shopping with the financial benefits of buying in bulk. Boxed believed the grocery industry would transition to an “online and delivery” model. The bet paid off for several years, allowing the e-commerce upstart to stay ahead of industry giants.

Boxed established itself as a change-making disruptor by offering convenience and a seamless, omnichannel experience “that meets our customers where they already are”, Huang said in a World Retail Congress interview. “In addition to our technology solutions, we can provide CPG companies with speed-to-market advantages, as well as valuable customer feedback and purchasing data, which inform their future product decisions.”

Boxed began licensing its tech and services to brick-and-mortar groceries, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, and consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) companies. In 2019, it partnered with grocery chain Lidl to provide an express delivery platform. This year, it launched Spresso SaaS solutions on Google Cloud Marketplace, and announced partnerships in DTC logistics and data-driven merchant insights.

Technology was a linchpin of the growth strategy. Spresso, Boxed’s high-margin software and services business, offers an end-to-end software stack for storefront, marketplace, B2B, advertising and fulfilment functionality. Boxed recently began marketing those capabilities in a modular format to activate a wider customer funnel.

End of an Era

Boxed began to encounter difficulties just as the world was coming out of the pandemic. The firm had planned to go public by merging with a SPAC in 2022. The deal collapsed, and Boxed considered alternatives, including a conventional IPO or a sale to a bigger business. In December 2021, Boxed went public with the SPAC Seven Oaks Acquisition Corp in a deal valuing the equity of the combined firm at around $900m.

But the shut-down of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) had a knock-on effect for the e-tailer. SVB was the 16th-largest bank in the US and the largest in Silicon Valley by deposits. It held most of Boxed’s cash deposits and other liquid instruments. Four days after its closure, Boxed filed a report with the SEC stating that it was “actively soliciting proposals for the sale … of all of its assets, as well as other material transactions that would improve its liquidity position”.

“We’re in a world where technology companies are certainly not being rewarded with the multiples that we saw in years past,” Huang said. “And there has been a lower sentiment than in years past on e-commerce companies as well.”

Boxed’s 2022 third-quarter results showed a net loss of $26.4m, compared to a net loss of $5.9m in the same period the year before. Boxed has now filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company plans to wind-down retail operations and turn its Spresso business into a separate legal entity that can be sold to senior creditors. Boxed has promised Spresso clients that there will be no disruption of service during the process.

“This was an incredibly difficult decision,” he said, “and one that we reached only after carefully evaluating and exhausting all available options. Although this outcome is not what we worked so hard for, we are thankful to everyone, including our customers, who have supported us along the way.

“Looking to the future, we are incredibly excited to watch the Spresso business continue under new ownership. I’m immensely grateful for each and every team member throughout the past decade who has contributed to the journey of Boxed. Through their hard work and dedication, they made a lasting impact on the e-commerce consumables industry.”


Alexandre Mars serial entrepreneur and philanthropist

Cash-rich and determined to do good, Alexandre Mars leads the world’s wealthy by example...

[caption id="attachment_25570" align="alignright" width="300"] Alexandre Mars. Photo: Epic[/caption]

“My money is my superpower,” says Alexandre Mars, CEO and founder of Epic Foundation and the sustainability-driven venture capital firm Blisce.

And the French businessman and philanthropist is now putting his “superpower” to work for social good. “I always knew that my life would be a mission,” he said. “It wasn’t my goal to own several houses and a few planes. I wanted to help the world’s most vulnerable, people who aren’t able to fight back.

“There are so many people suffering, and we often assume that the government can solve everything — but the truth is that they don’t have endless money.

“That’s why we believe businesses should be leading the way.”

Serial Entrepreneur

At age 17, Mars launched a concert-promotion company. As a business student in Paris, he founded one of France’s first web agencies. After completing his education, he entered the workforce and soon occupied senior positions. He launched the advertising tech firm Phonevalley in 2010, which was eventually sold to Publicis Groupe, and the social media management system ScrOOn, which he sold to BlackBerry in 2013.

In 2014, Mars founded a venture capital firm headquartered in New York and Paris. Blisce was the first transatlantic fund to be certified as a B Corp. It has invested in leading US and EU brands such as Spotify, Pinterest, Headspace and Too Good To Go. The Blisce portfolio includes 12 active and eight exited investments.

The firm is optimistic that entrepreneurship, innovation and purposeful capital can improve the state of the world. Mars believes there is no acceptable financial performance without responsibility. The firm donates 20 percent of the fund’s carried interest to Mars’s non-profit, the Epic Foundation.

In April 2023, Blisce announced the final closing of its second fund, raising $250m. The round was supported by Bpifrance, SWEN Capital Partners, Groupe SEB, BNP Paribas Cardif, and L'Oréal Group. Future investments will focus on the “consumerisation of healthcare and enterprise, generative AI, future of commerce, electrification of the home and tech services for an ageing population”.

Charitable Work

“When I started my first venture, I knew I wanted to change the world,” the altruistic entrepreneur told The Financial Times. “And I realised that the best way to change the world was to have skills, resources or networks.”

After selling his start-ups, Mars had the financial freedom to conduct his own market research on the philanthropic sector. He travelled the world, meeting with thought-leaders, government officials, academics and social entrepreneurs. He found that funding for non-profits often fell short; would-be donors lacked understanding of the issues, trust in the organisations, and the time to conduct their own due diligence.

Mars launched an intermediary to bridge that gap. Epic Foundation has been connecting donors with vetted non-profit organisations since 2014. The foundation creates “giving solutions” for corporate clients, and supports projects in childhood development, youth equality, education, health, safety and professional upskilling.

Mars has met many wealthy individuals on his entrepreneurial voyage. “When you start having conversations with them about giving, you learn that even if they want to give, it’s difficult because there’s a lack of time, trust or knowledge.”

Mars documented his philanthropic journey in his 2018 book, Giving: Purpose Is The New Currency. “A pitfall emerged in my discussions with donors,” he said, “the lack of trust that comes with an avalanche of options. Scientific studies have shown that when you have more than seven options, you are more likely to procrastinate and make no choice at all.”

Epic Foundation analyses thousands of non-profit organisations each year and selects just a handful for sponsorship. After the rigorous vetting process, selected organisations can expect at least three years’ support from Epic Foundation.

Mars covers all the running costs — about $2m each year. “The goal is when £1, $1, or €1 is donated to Epic, 100 percent of it is going to the organisations in our portfolio.”

In 2017, Mars introduced the Epic Pledge, which helps founders, investors and corporates share their success by promising a percentage of their proceeds and profits to social causes. The foundation has an international community of more than 330 pledgers, including Brut’s Guillaume Lacroix, Boxed’s Chieh Huang, and MealPal’s Mary Biggins.

Impact and Acceptance

As of May 2021, the Epic Foundation has raised more than $30m for 26 charities that assist children and teenagers. Its work has improved the lives of 13 million youngsters. It partnered with ride-hailing firm Kapten to allow travellers to round-up their fares for small, individual charity donations. It has also partnered with fashion icon Dior, enabling its employees to donate the small change of their monthly paycheques to charities. “After one year, one-fourth of the organisation was giving away money,” said Mars. “It’s big.”

Mars has gained distinction as a pioneer in the field of social impact. The International Economic Forum recognised him as a Young Global Leader in 2016, and in 2018 he received the Legion of Honour, France’s highest civilian award.

In his latest book, Mission Possible: How To build A Business For Our Times, Mars lays out a roadmap for founders to create start-ups that are commercially viable — and socially impactful.

“The generation under-30 today is changing everything,” says Mars. “They want purpose.”

The modern world has lost patience with the Ebenezer Scrooges and the wolves of Wall Street. Time has run out for those archetypes, and businesses must adapt to the new norm.

“For the last 40 years or more, the world has been top-down. Someone ‘up there’ has been making decisions for everyone else. But what we can see now is the bottom-up coming to the fore. Things that we have accepted as ‘normal’ or ‘the way things are done’ for so long will no longer be normal.

“Internet disruptors are a big part of that.”

Dubbed “the French Bill Gates”, Mars certainly qualifies for disruptor status. But he prefers a more inclusive approach to philanthropy than the Giving Pledge popularised by Gates and Warren Buffett.

“At first sight, this initiative seems extremely laudable,” Mars wrote in Giving. “The world has more billionaires than ever before. Personally, I consider the Giving Pledge an extraordinary initiative. However, the cut-off figure of 50 percent goes against my personal philosophy of giving.

“In my opinion, it gives rise to judgment and stigmatisation rather than encouragement and goodwill. Does someone who gives away 25 percent of their possessions not deserve our respect?

“No matter how much we give, it will never be enough, but I will continue to fight for my belief that giving should become something other — and more — than an obligation: a norm.”


Working Hard — and Loving It: James Caan in his Element

On the face of it, James Caan has the whole enchilada: TV celebrity, philanthropist, and champion of entrepreneurship — with several global companies to his name.

[caption id="attachment_25011" align="aligncenter" width="900"] James Caan[/caption]

He's also the founder and chair of the government-funded Start-Up Loans Scheme — which earned him a CBE. Behind the success lie dedication, persistence, and effort — and the courage to step into the unknown armed only with rock-solid self-belief and a can-do attitude.

His early years were not easy ones. James Caan was just two when he arrived in the UK from Pakistan. He grew up in the East End of London, which at the time was not the friendliest or most welcoming environment. The family home burned down — taking his tailor father’s orderbook with it — but the Caans literally rose from the ashes, thanks to an indomitable spirit and admirable tenacity. “I like the challenge of building something, achieving something that no one else has done,” he says.

“What excites or compels the man who wants to climb Mount Everest, or the sportsman who wants to be the greatest of all time? They want to achieve something. Entrepreneurs are the same; we are reaching for the summit.”

And James Caan should know. He cut his entrepreneurial teeth at high school, where he sold jackets made by his father to his friends — taking a cut of each sale. After dropping out of school at 16, he went on to become one of the UK’s most prolific entrepreneurs. Caan has started, scaled, and sold a string of businesses, including the recruitment company Alexander Mann — which he started from a broom cupboard in Mayfair, armed with just the Yellow Pages.

James Caan Hamilton Bradshaw

By the time he sold the firm in 2002, it was generating £130m in sales and had offices around the globe. The serial entrepreneur is furthering his legendary status with a global financial platform, Recruitment Entrepreneur International, which has a footprint in 18 countries. His other enterprises include Humana International and private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw (James Caan remains its chairman today).

So, what’s his secret? “You have to take one step at a time,” he says. “You don’t always know where each step is going to lead, but I’m a great believer in methodically working towards your goals.”

Gradual progress leaves space for unexpected opportunities, he believes. “When you start something, it's because you're inspired and motivated: you find something that interests and excites you, and then you develop it.

[caption id="attachment_25013" align="alignright" width="300"] James Caan and David Cameron[/caption]

“Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. But as you navigate your way through, you evolve, and your confidence grows, and you start to believe in yourself. You start to think, ‘I can really do this’.

“Everything I’ve ever done has been one step at a time, I've never (tried to) run before I can walk. If anything goes wrong, you only drop a step, whereas if you run, you trip up.”

Caan adopted his father’s advice — “observe the masses and do the opposite” — as one of his guiding principles. Despite fallout over his name-change (from Khan to Caan) and his choice of a path different to that of the family business, Caan’s respect for his father lay at the heart the project of which he is proudest: building and funding a school in Pakistan.

“When I went back to Pakistan for the first time and went into the village where my father was born, I saw lots of kids running around at 11 o'clock in the morning. I wondered why they weren’t at school — and then I realised there wasn't one.

“It pulled at my heartstrings, because I knew my dad’s story so well ... he was in a large family, the country was in turmoil, and his family needed to live. My grandmother sent him to a tailor’s shop to earn a trade at the age of eight, so he never saw the inside of a school.

“I wanted to provide other kids with the opportunity that my father never had. And I had an unshakable conviction: that I wanted to build a school that I would be happy to send my own children to.

“Everybody said I was mad, because it's a remote village, and I was trying to create an incredible building, and it was a bit out of place.”

With typical tenacity, Caan built a state-of-the-art facility, naming it the Abdul Rashid Khan School, in honour of his father. “I’ll never forget arriving on the first day it opened, and there was a queue of children a mile long,” he recalls.

But he didn’t just create the building; he also funds the teachers’ salaries, school minibuses, and their running costs. Caan visits at least once a year.

“Living in the West, you realise that the best way to break the poverty cycle is through education. And it’s an amazing feeling to realise that because of my father, these kids have a chance to change their lives. When I built the school, my vision was that I wouldn’t just transform the lives of those children, but I would transform the lives of everyone in the village and the community.”

Caan was there recently, and spoke to one of the English teachers. She was a graduate of the school and had come back to teach there after her university training. “And that was amazing,” he says.

When Caan first published his business book, Start Your Business In 7 Days, he had no idea what a catalyst it would be. “Someone bought my book and gave it to Lord Young, who was the special advisor to David Cameron,” he says. “One of the biggest challenges the British economy was facing was that we were not creating enough jobs.”

Caan was asked by UK government to found and chair Start-Up Loans in 2012 — a government-funded scheme to provide advice, business loans, and mentoring to start-ups. The organisation has backed more than 50,000 businesses and created 64,000 jobs.

“To be recognised by the government, to head a campaign to turn the British economy, and create a country where you stimulate entrepreneurship — it was a really proud moment,” he says.

Caan caught the eye of the producers of BBC programme Dragon’s Den — and his role as a dragon made him a household name. His fame, and his calm and measured approach, became hallmarks.

Caan is on a global mission to ensure Recruitment Entrepreneur International becomes a leading support platform. “There’s an undeniable desire to succeed and to become the best,” he admits. “But mainly I choose the life I choose because I love it.”

By Naomi Snelling

See here for the print version.


Daniel Lubetzky, Aiming High and Digging Deep to Engender a More Peaceful World

[caption id="attachment_25022" align="alignright" width="231"] Daniel Lubetzky. photo: KIND[/caption]

From developing healthy snacks to advancing the Middle East peace process, one entrepreneur keeps biting off as much as he can chew

Serial entrepreneur and best-selling author Daniel Lubetzky has some timely advice for start-ups seeking funding.

Inflation and recessionary warnings have had investors pumping the brakes, but Lubetzky finds a positive in that. “Investing during a downturn has the benefit of helping to reveal values-aligned partners with the fortitude to navigate challenges and emerge stronger,” he says. “At the end of the day, a good investor is a strategic partner, not just a source of capital.

“In times of major economic disruption, it can be particularly tempting to look for ‘easy answers’ by relying on someone else’s playbook for success. The most epic journeys don’t follow a road map; they are forged by teams whose values help them navigate the inevitable twists and turns ahead.”

Entrepreneurial Experience

The Mexican-American billionaire had a multicultural upbringing, the son of a Holocaust survivor born and raised in Mexico City. He moved to the US with his family as a teenager and studied economics and international relations in Texas, Israel and France. Daniel Lubetzky is fluent in six languages.

The altruistic exec began his entrepreneurial journey early. “Back when I was an undergrad at Trinity University, I started a watch company called Da’Leky Times. It taught me a ton about business and retail merchandising that has helped me throughout my career.”

He went on to earn a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School in 1993 and spent brief spells at Sullivan & Cromwell and McKinsey & Company. Daniel Lubetzky was drawn to social entrepreneurship and was awarded a $10,000 fellowship to foster joint ventures between Arabs and Israelis. In 1994, he founded PeaceWorks, a “not-only-for-profit” business uniting Middle Eastern neighbours in multicultural understanding and commercial co-operation.

The company produces a line of Mediterranean-inspired pesto sauces and tapenades. Olives for the flagship brand MEDITALIA are grown in Palestinian villages, the glass jars come from Egypt, and the sun-dried tomatoes from Turkey. Five percent of profits go towards fostering peaceful co-existence and economic co-operation.

“When I was starting PeaceWorks, I considered all of my energy net-positive,” Lubetzky shared in a 2016 Inc interview, “so I didn't filter it. I ended up distracting my team with hundreds of ideas, which was a recipe for overextension. In the consumer / packaged-goods business, that may be the most common mistake — people launch a product, it does well, and then they have this urge to launch more and more and more products.

“And some are mediocre, which makes you vulnerable to competitors.”

Daniel Lubetzky used the profits from PeaceWorks to fund further social ventures. He believes business can serve as a vehicle for social change while delivering products and services in a free market. “First and foremost, this is a business,” he says. “But there’s an added reason for being. It’s not just to make money. It’s also to try to have a positive impact in society, however small that may be.”

In 2004, Lubetzky launched the New York City-based snack food company KIND. It creates nutritionally dense snacks that are healthy for communities — and the planet. “When I founded KIND, it was just me and a couple of [food-tech friends] in Australia. I had been traveling a lot for PeaceWorks and was frustrated with the food choices on the road. I was always eating things that were either healthy and tasted like cardboard or were tasty and too indulgent.” Product development took a turn for the better when they landed on an irresistible recipe. “I knew we got it right when I couldn't stop eating it.”

The company brought in $1m in its first year. Within four years, KIND had secured a private equity investment of $16m from VMG Partners, to provide a cushion of working capital and to fuel expansion plans. Lubetzky says it was the right move at the time — but he accepted a clause requiring the business be sold within five years. The closer the deadline loomed, the more convinced Lubetzky became of KIND’s potential.

“Four years into the deal, I was realising that KIND could become so much bigger,” he told CNBC. “My investors were pushing me to sell the company and were very eager. My vision was to continue growing the company for many years to come. And their vision was to exit and get a return on their investment.”

Daniel Lubetzky bought out his investors in a $220m deal funded with company cash and $200m in bank loans. “Now, because I hadn’t pre-negotiated the terms for buying them out, it turned out to be very, very expensive — and very risky,” he said. “Things could have gone wrong. I could have lost the company. But I believed in KIND.”

That faith was well founded. KIND emerged as one of America’s fastest-growing snack brands. The buy-back negotiations took two years, culminating in 2014 — when KIND annual sales nearly doubled.

Lubetzky decided to sell the company in 2020; confectionary giant Mars Wrigley took ownership in a $5bn deal. Mars first took a 40-percent stake in KIND in a 2017 deal for an undisclosed amount. “I am still a meaningful stakeholder in KIND today,” says Lubetzky, “and I still guide them. We’ve agreed with our partners at Mars that KIND will be a separate, stand-alone platform, and KIND is still growing by double digits.”

Philanthropic Initiatives

Daniel Lubetzky has taken a leading role in charitable initiatives concentrating on education, peace-building, and community development. KIND has been praised for its social impact activities in addition to its commercial success. The company has appointed an action team to lead diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and forged partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities.

KIND has pledged to donate $150,000 through its “Snack & Give Back” project, which will this year be split between organisations supporting homeless LGBTQ+ youth, the families of war veterans, and school food-equality programmes. The KIND Foundation has distributed $1.1m to people “transforming their communities through kindness”. It has donated $100,000 to organisations addressing systemic racism, such as the Equal Justice Initiative and the NAACP Legal Defence Fund.

In 2022, the Lubetzky Family Foundation launched a $1m programme to support displaced Ukrainian scholars in the US. The initiative is co-organised and sponsored by Michelin-starred chef and humanitarian Jose Andres, global human rights and pro-democracy activist Garry Kasparov, and retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman. The four all came to the US as emigrants or asylum seekers, and urge global citizens not to take their freedoms for granted. They hope to educate peers on the fragility and importance of democracy, and to encourage proactive public engagement.

Fostering Entrepreneurship

“Over the years of building KIND through every stage of its growth, our team has amassed tons of experience building a formidable culture, beloved brand, and highly successful business by focusing not just on where we are going, but also how we are getting there,” Lubetzky told Retail Brew.

Now Lubetzky and some of KIND’s founding members are putting that experience to use at the start-up incubator and investment platform Camino Partners. Lubetzky established the firm, previously called Equilibra Partners Management, in 2018 and serves as its chair. He remembers how he built KIND up with a $5m initial investment, and he’s eager to pay it forward through Camino Partners. Lubetzky intends to deploy $350m over the next five years, supporting and shepherding the next generation of transformative companies.

According to Forbes, the serial social entrepreneur has an estimated net worth of $2.1bn as of May 2023. Lubetzky also co-founded a luxury fashion line that partners with artisans from the developing world and a food company specialising in Mexican cuisine.

Lubetzky was a frequent guest on Shark Tank, an American reality TV show where aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to investors. He warns entrepreneurs not to approach investors without a compelling product and a strong team. “Both are necessary — and neither is sufficient without the other.”

Daniel Lubetzky wrote about his Shark Tank experiences in a 2020 article for Fast Company, and highlighted what he calls “the three phases of entrepreneurship”: creative, critic, and crusader.

“At the outset, you want to think outside the box, brainstorm and dream big. Then, once all the crazy ideas are out on the table, you need to be honest with yourself, question and scrutinise. Play devil’s advocate and poke all the holes you can before you head out the gates and become the crusader.

“It is in the critic phase when you have a unique opportunity to pause and make your product, and your team, the best they can be.”


The ‘Miracle’ Plant Once Hailed as a Cure for Cancer: Tobacco’s Rise ... and Fall

We’ve come a long way from the first importation of nicotiana tabacum, through early praise and TV ad campaigns to its eventual unmasking as an addictive drug. Tony Lennox puts that in his pipe... and writes.

Aruggedly handsome man stands on the docks of Hong Kong harbour. He lights a pipe and a dozen pretty girls appear from nowhere, apparently drawn by the manly aroma of tobacco smoke.

A hefty minder holds the girls at bay as the pipe-smoker leaps aboard a speedboat. Glancing back, he gives a nod — and the minder allows a lone fan to slip through and join him. The pair speed off into the sunset. “A pipe does something for a man,” says the silky voiceover. “St Bruno does something more…”

Fifty years ago, it was not unusual to witness such advertising on prime-time television. And no-one would have batted an eyelid at the sexism either. In the intervening half-century, the world has witnessed astonishing social transformations, and as the Baby Boomers totter towards their dotage, it’s the little things which most vividly illustrate those changes.

Where have all the pipe-smokers gone?

Tobacco took Europe by storm in the early 1500s as explorers returned from the New World bearing cured leaves of nicotiana tabacum. It was named for French scholar and diplomat Jean Nicot de Villemain, who in 1560 sent tobacco and seeds to the queen of France, Catherine de Médicis. He promoted their medicinal use and believed that the smoke could protect against the plague and other illnesses — including, ironically, cancer. It was, he maintained, a medical miracle.

The supposedly beneficial effects of tobacco were not seriously questioned until the 1950s, when doctors began to link smoking with lung cancer. It was also established that nicotine was a highly addictive substance. At the time, an estimated eight out of 10 UK adults smoked. In following decades, tobacco came under attack, leading to bans on smoking in public indoor spaces in Britain by the early 2000s. Advertising tobacco products was also banned.

Cigarettes and cigars bore the brunt of the health offensive, while pipe smoking managed to maintain its comparatively benign status — for a time. Fictional characters from Sherlock Holmes to Gandalf the wizard had, after all, smoked pipes to aid their problem-solving abilities. The image was hard to shift. Pipe smoking was not a habit or an addiction, its devotees claimed; it was an art. Albert Einstein once said that puffing on a pipe “contributed to a somewhat calm and objective judgement in all human affairs”. Other great men known for their meditative nature were also fond of a pipe: Franklin D Roosevelt, JRR Tolkien, Bertrand Russell and Bing Crosby, among others.

Some have even suggested that the Labour leader of the 1960s, Harold Wilson, held on to his premiership during political turbulence because he was a pipe smoker. It gave him an air of contemplation and deliberation which resonated with the electorate. The British Pipe-Smokers’ Council named him Pipe Smoker of the Decade in 1976. The annual award, introduced in 1964, was presented to politicians and celebrities including Peter Cushing, Eric Morecambe, Magnus Magnusson, JB Priestly, Patrick Moore, Tony Benn and Ian Botham. It was finally snuffed out in 2004; the last celebrity winner was Stephen Fry.

There is a suggestion that certain Millennial hipsters are returning to the pipe — but in general society it is a thing of the past, a relic of a time when it was acceptable to suggest that if a man smoked a particular brand of tobacco, he’d be instantly surrounded by adoring women.

LP Hartley's novel The Go-Between begins with the line: “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” Indeed they do: they smoke pipes, for a start.

By Tony Lennox


UNCDF: Secrets to Easing Funding Process for Less Wealthy Countries’ Climate Battle

Qatar’s under-sung conference shared the limelight with larger international events — but it provided some key points for decarbonisation...

[caption id="attachment_25042" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Qatar: Doha[/caption]

A high-level conference addressing climate change was convened in March — and we aren’t talking about COP28. It was a high-level event, focusing on economic security, global growth, and sustainable development. We’re not talking about the World Bank-IMF Spring Meetings, either.

The event in question was the Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5), which took place in Doha, Qatar. Leaders from the private sector, civil society and governments convened to raise resources and cement partnerships to implement the Doha Programme of Action, a new generation of renewed and strengthened commitments for sustainable development in the 46 least-developed countries (LDCs).

The conference is one of the most important gatherings to address climate change as well as economic security. Not as two distinct development themes, but as a single, existential challenge to be overcome — if sustainable development is to be achieved where it is most needed.

A recent report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) looked at the low-carbon transition of LDCs, and its implications of structural transformation. The causal relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and structural economic vulnerability may not yet be clear, but the relationship is intimate and acute.

LDCs are among the most vulnerable to damage from extreme weather events due to lack of capital for climate-resilient infrastructure. The resulting economic harm of disrupted commerce, reduced trade and infrastructure damage translates into higher costs to access credit markets. “LDCs pay nearly 10 percent more on overall interest costs for development finance as climate change effects are transmitted to sovereign credit profiles,” according to the report. The insult to this financial injury stems from the fact that LDCs are responsible for just four percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions.

"LDCs are among the most vulnerable to damage from extreme weather events due to lack of capital for climate-resilient infrastructure."

Another example involves exposure in global supply chains. The UNCTAD report found that FDI flows to LDCs went mainly to natural resource sectors, and those vulnerable to aggregate demand shocks, especially fuels and minerals. The mining and quarrying sector showed consistent growth in terms of foreign value added. Such FDI flows have positioned LDCs as global exporters of high carbon-emitting commodities. The trade volatility experienced by LDCs diminishes the budgetary space that local and national governments have to invest in if they wish to de-carbonise their economies — they are largely limited to commercial opportunities tied to carbon.

With every climate-related disaster — more economic activity disrupted, infrastructure damaged, businesses decimated — the capability of LDCs to support sustainable economic development becomes compromised. That means the ability to finance their own climate resilience and cut emissions is compromised. This vicious cycle shows how LDCs are being left behind. They lack access to development finance and remain vulnerable to global trade shocks, while developed countries reap lion’s share of the economic security benefits of decarbonisation.

As it was stated in the UNCDF report, Local Government Finance is Development Finance: “The road forward can only involve a green transition. An alternative ‘dirty’ route with increased greenhouse gas emissions and continued environmental degradation is no longer possible.

“Emphatically, the reality of climate change makes any carbon- and petrochemical-fuelled development path untenable.”

Two critical elements to success are sustainable and inclusive trade regimes that advance low-carbon transitions, and give access to international finance to fund climate resilient projects and infrastructure. The United Nations can play a critical role in both respects. It can take a leading role in cultivating the global trade environment that supports low-carbon transitions. Through its singular convening power, the United Nations can support a powerful network of partners—national governments, multilateral institutions and non-governmental organizations—to fully leverage the power of intellectual property rights, trade agreements, and multilateral frameworks to advance climate objectives. The UN can also help the LDCs to unlock climate finance through the UNCDF, the UN’s Catalytic Finance Entity for the World’s 46 Least Developed Countries. Via the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL), the UNCDF is working to increase climate financing by providing performance-based climate resiliency grants and technical support to local government authorities. The LoCAL facility provides a country-owned mechanism for channelling climate finance to 34 countries across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Pacific. LoCAL’s performance-based climate resilience grants enable local governments to access climate finance for small-scale infrastructure projects that provide a lifeline for communities. Through the inclusion of community experiences and knowledge in the regular sessions of local consultative councils, LoCAL supports local governments by listening to voices and needs of communities in relation to investments. The facility also provides an internationally recognised standard that gives investors and donors the confidence to finance locally led adaptation projects, while enabling local governments to access international funds. A new standard issued by the International Standard Organization, ISO 14093, was launched at COP27. It is based on the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility and offers a country-based mechanism to increase local government access to climate finance for adaptation. The ISO cements LoCAL’s position as the accepted approach to gaining climate finance-delivery at the local level.

The LDC5 conference may not have the profile of the COP or the World-Bank IMF Spring Meetings. But it may do as much, or more, to achieve the promise of sustainable development — and leave no one behind.


AccountAbility CEO Sunny Misser Leading the Charge in a Changing ESG Universe

[caption id="attachment_25045" align="alignright" width="300"] AccountAbility CEO: Sunil (Sunny) A. Misser[/caption]

The days of turning a blind eye to the impact of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters are over. Today, organisations of every scale, across industries and in all geographies are active in moving the ESG agenda forward in ways that are transparent, meaningful and have genuine impact.

Against this backdrop, corporate purpose, social impact, stakeholder engagement, environmental action, geopolitical implications, and good governance are all intrinsically tied to a company’s economic performance. Certainly, in the year ahead, sustainability will be impossible for business to ignore.

AccountAbility is at the very centre of this ESG universe. After close to three decades helping organisations meet their sustainability goals, the international advisory and standards firm has seen a transformational operating shift from a well-intentioned environmental and social movement to a de-facto global business priority. Today, the sustainability agenda is central to business operations, and ultimately performance. Leaders recognise the financial imperatives of moving to a more sustainable economy and the commercial opportunities this presents.

“At AccountAbility we believe that doing well and doing right are not mutually exclusive outcomes”, comments AccountAbility CEO Sunil (Sunny) A. Misser, a pioneer in the field of mainstreaming ESG back when sustainability was a developing academic platform that few companies recognised. “With decades of global experience in helping organisations meet their strategic goals, we understand how to deliver practical, effective and enduring ESG solutions that enable our clients to succeed.”

Today, the consulting and standards firm is recognised around the world as an award-winning leader in the ESG ecosystem. The firm has a centred purpose – to innovate and advance the global sustainability / ESG agenda by improving the practices, performance, and impact of organisations – and operates globally with businesses, investors, governments and multi-lateral organisations through a highly qualified team from offices in New York, London, Riyadh, and Dubai.

“At AccountAbility we believe that doing well and doing right are not mutually exclusive outcomes… However, we need to adopt a mindset – to plant trees under whose shade future generations will rest.”

- AccountAbility CEO: Sunil (Sunny) A. Misser

The firm has been the recipient of multiple business and finance awards and was recognised by the CFI.co Judging Panel for a second consecutive year as a Trusted ESG Global Consulting and Standards Firm and Best ESG Strategy Development Partner, 2022.

Importantly, Misser distinguishes AccountAbility’s proven corporate mandate. "We are not an advocacy platform or an activist forum – we are an expert ESG advisory firm that provides objective counsel to CEOs and Boards on how to improve their business performance."

The firm’s Advisory services provide specialised expertise and practical solutions to clients across industries and geographies that want to assess, establish, and/or implement leading practice sustainability initiatives that deliver tangible ESG impacts and drive long-term value. AccountAbility helps clients to identify, map, profile, and engage the stakeholders that matter, in order to define and prioritise material ESG issues, design robust and relevant sustainability strategies and programmes, and review and improve corporate governance to ensure effectiveness, transparency, and accountability.

While the urgency for ESG action has never been greater, much has changed in the past three years to impact business and its relationship with the ESG agenda. How and where employees work is disrupted, markets are more volatile and unpredictable, supply chains have been hobbled, inflation seems universal and military hostilities are reshaping the world’s energy supply.

Alongside these challenges a raft of new international regulations and frameworks are helping guide our global ESG future. But for business, the pace and scope of this change can be dizzying and confusing. As a leading ESG advisor to business executives, investors and other stakeholders, AccountAbility provides the expertise and resources needed for leaders to address risk, seize opportunities, and achieve returns from their ESG strategy.

The firm’s advisory services help organisations interpret changing regulations, factor sustainability issues into their decisions and embed ESG into business strategy and value creation. With broad expertise and experience across all facets of sustainability and corporate responsibility they provide the full context needed to craft an optimal ESG strategy.

A key question stakeholders are asking today is whether they can trust corporate disclosure of sustainability information and what framework or standard to adopt. First launched in 2003, and frequently updated, AccountAbility’s Assurance Methodology (AA1000 AS v3) has been adopted as an essential tool used by sustainability professionals worldwide for reliable, credible, and trustworthy sustainability disclosures.

The firm’s long legacy in the standards space, and trusted sustainability standard and ESG frameworks helps ensure organisations deliver on their strategy, governance, reporting, and disclosure goals. The firm’s Stakeholder Engagement Standard (AA1000 SES) is amongst the oldest and most widely used global guidance of its kind.

The company recently expanded access to its Assurance Standard with translations for the Spanish, Korean, and Chinese language markets (in addition to the existing German, French, Italian, and Portuguese language standards) and in the months ahead will expand further with versions that serve business communities in other languages.

Misser is a tireless and passionate advocate for leadership and collaboration to address the challenges before us and the opportunity to create a more sustainable future. “A successful ESG strategy is more than a “tick-the-box” exercise. We are living in a changed world, and the leaders who step up with clear thinking, smart ideas and practical solutions will shape and architect the successful organisations of the future. We need to adopt a mindset - to plant trees under whose shade future generations will rest”, says Misser. Inspiring words indeed.

Leveraging its global research and advisory experience, AccountAbility has identified 7 priority trends for 2023 to help leaders stay ahead of the curve on sustainability matters for the years ahead.

7 Sustainability Trends That Will Shape Business In 2023

Navigating the Net-Zero Landscape – Against an unprecedented volume of climate pledges and commitments, net-zero has taken centre stage. But what is it, and how can organisations take meaningful, effective, and transparent climate action?

Stakeholder Activism is Getting Louder – As businesses face increasing pressure to take a stance on a range of sustainability issues, investors are leveraging their influence to demand that companies act on ESG matters. How can business leaders best respond to this reality?

Geopolitics: The New “G” in ESG – As Geopolitical instability increasingly cuts across the ESG landscape, how can businesses deal with this additional "G" while staying focused on their sustainability goals?

Building a Diverse, Prepared and Future-Focused Board – Driven initially by stakeholder activism, how can changes in board composition unleash the power of re-framed governance - to improve effectiveness and shape corporate action?

Next Generation ESG Disclosure and Reporting – Consolidation of global ESG standards, and a shift from voluntary to mandatory disclosure are set to heighten attention on corporate sustainability disclosure practices. How will these changes impact ESG reporting?

The Road to a Sustainable Value Chain – For value chains to create competitive business advantages, they must incorporate ESG transformation towards a viable and sustainable future. How can sustainable procurement help value chains responsibly adapt to this next normal?

Nature Based Assets will Drive Valuations – Nature based reporting, target-setting, and asset valuation frameworks are coming. How will they provide a path forward for companies as they consider the impact they have on Earth’s natural systems across their value chains?

In a perfect world, corporate purpose, strategy and ESG would be approached sequentially. But large, established companies and those growing at pace, operate under a range of priorities, urgencies, and constraints, and as a result they don’t have this luxury. Their business reality is one of constant change, where everything must happen – all at once, and right now.

ESG implementation that aligns with a clear purpose and well-considered strategy recognises this reality and can be effective in advancing a company’s business model.

Consumers and society, as a whole, are expecting more (and different) from business – in an atmosphere of low trust and high expectations. This is compounded by a pace of sustainability change that can be dizzying, and sometimes confusing.

Yet, it is possible to advance the Sustainability/ESG agenda – with careful consideration of focus and balance.

Enough said…


New World Development: Leading Disruptor in Real Estate Industry

Founded in 1970, New World Development Company Ltd (“the Group”, Hong Kong stock code: 00017) was publicly listed in Hong Kong in 1972 and is a constituent stock of the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index.

The Group’s core businesses include investment in property and property development, and investment in and/or operation of roads, construction, insurance, hotels and other strategic businesses, boasting operations in Greater China, particularly in the Greater Bay Area. As at 31 December 2022, the Group had a total asset value of HK$621.9 billion and a landbank with a total attributable gross floor area of 8.81 million sq ft in Hong Kong available for immediate development.

A Revolutionary Brand Revamps a Half-century-old Business

K11, the revolutionary brand founded in 2008 by Dr. Adrian Cheng, Executive Vice-chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Group, is now the driving force of the Group. One striking embodiment of K11's vision is K11 MUSEA. Located in the heart of Victoria Dockside, K11 MUSEA is Hong Kong's pioneering cultural-retail landmark. It greets visitors with its rotating world-class, museum-quality art collections and offers immersive experiences in retail, art, culture, entertainment and gastronomy, all under one roof.

K11 is expected to attain a footprint of 39 projects with a total gross floor area of 2,906,000 sq. m in 11 major cities across Greater China, including two highly anticipated projects, 11 SKIES and K11 ECOAST. Located right next to the Hong Kong International Airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, 11 SKIES is within easy reach of the 86 million people living in the Greater Bay Area. The HK$20 billion project, which is scheduled to open in phases between 2022 and 2025, will house more than 800 shops and 120 dining concepts, offer unprecedented entertainment, and provide access to world-class financial and medical services. A one-hour boat ride from 11 SKIES takes us to K11 ECOAST, another project that also serves the residents in the Greater Bay Area. K11 ECOAST is K11’s first flagship project in Mainland China located in Prince Bay Area, Shenzhen. The project has a total gross floor area of 228,500 sq. m, and includes a K11 Art Mall, K11 HACC multi-purpose art space, K11 ATELIER office building and the Promenade. K11 ECOAST is expected to open by the end of 2024, and will serve as a new cultural and retail landmark and a pioneer in circular economy in the Greater Bay Area.

[caption id="attachment_25051" align="aligncenter" width="900"] 11SKIES[/caption]

Thrive Against Market Headwinds

Despite a challenging housing market in China in 2022, the Group bucked the trend and, most notably, notched up impressive sales for the New World Arts Centre in Hangzhou. The accumulated sales of the residential part of the project have surpassed RMB11 billion, demonstrating the Group's resilience and strong market appeal.

As one of the first Hong Kong-based companies to expand into mainland China, the Group has been a key player in shaping the cities and revitalising urban areas, taking a leading role in numerous signature developments and urban renewal projects. Today, the Group is the most active Hong Kong developer in the Greater Bay Area and has established a strong foothold in the Greater Bay Area and the Yangtze River Delta.

New World Development Creating Shared Value

As a leading sustainable cultural enterprise, New World Group recognises the importance of sustainability and is committed to "Creating Shared Value" for communities. By curating and providing products, services and various initiatives that align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and its own Sustainability Vision 2030, and that address environmental and social needs, the Group aims to foster a sustainable culture to have a positive impact on society and create a better future for our next generation.

The Group will keep enhancing the ties with stakeholders, further incorporate ESG factors into business operations and dedicate itself to support the partners so as to create shared value to all the stakeholders.