CHAIRMAN'S REVIEW
NBI Chairman Cas Coovadia |
During a year in which companies have had to take careful stock of their financial commitments, NBI members have remained steadfast in their support for our organisation and the sustainable development agenda we are developing and implementing with them.
Their commitment to sustainable development is clearly reflected in the results of the latest Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) survey undertaken by the NBI and its partners. The 2009 survey of the South African Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s (JSE) Top 100 listed companies generated a response rate of 68%. This is up from 59% in the previous year, and ranks our country as having the fifth highest CDP response rate internationally. |
Companies’ commitment to the NBI clearly indicates that they continue to regard our organisation as their valued partner on the road to sustainability. The NBI showed great foresight by introducing some seven years ago the issue of sustainability as the most fundamental challenge and opportunity facing business. Since then, the NBI has clearly positioned itself as the foremost organisation promoting the role of business in sustainable development.
Through its partnerships with the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), the NBI offers companies access to international best practice. The NBI enables them to cut through the theory and perceived complexities of sustainability; share local experience and expertise; engage in debate; and shape national policy. This, in turn, places them in a better position to define their role in sustainable development, and to implement sustainability measures throughout their businesses.
The NBI is their nodal point: it is involved in sustainability in its broadest sense, from human resource development through to climate change, energy and water challenges, and enterprise development enabling marginalised businesses to enter the mainstream economy.
The NBI’s role in the business arena is also clearly demarcated. It defines critical issues and implements
priority national development programmes in partnership with companies and government. Lessons that are learned from these experiences are fed into Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), which engages with government at a policy level. This also illustrates the synergistic relationship between BUSA and the NBI.
Vision 2050
As the regional partner of the WBCSD, the NBI is committed to Vision 2050: The New Agenda For Business, which envisages a world well on its way to sustainability by 2050. The NBI has traditionally focused on working with business and government, but Vision 2050 challenges us to engage with broader society to develop a common vision for sustainable development.
We need, for example, to engage with poor communities and define what sustainability means to citizens who are fighting merely to survive, who are forced to cut down trees just to keep warm or to cook their food. We need to interact with stakeholders ranging from labour unions to civil society groups in order to take the debate on sustainability to a higher level, and to place African issues squarely on the table.
The NBI is well positioned to stimulate this dialogue and, in doing so, to add greater value for its members by enabling them to embrace a more encompassing vision of sustainable development. Challenges such as these are coming at a time when leadership at the NBI is changing. There is potential for a new chief executive officer (CEO) to take the issue of sustainability to the next level, and even to look beyond our borders to shape an African agenda for sustainable development.
The NBI has recorded these significant achievements because of the passion, professionalism, expertise and dedication of its management team and every member of staff. I take this opportunity to thank them for their commitment.
André Fourie
Our out-going CEO, André Fourie, has positioned the NBI as the pre-eminent facilitator in shaping the role of business in sustainable development. He surrounded himself with top calibre managers and staff, and built the most constructive relationships with business, government and other stakeholders.
People I talk to remark on his passion and commitment, and a testimony to his leadership is the calibre of people who engage in NBI activities.
His appointment as head of sustainability at a major corporation is a plaudit for him as an individual, for the NBI, and for the company that has engaged him.
The Board
The Board of the NBI continues to maintain the highest standards of governance, and I wish to express my gratitude for their support and for the time and attention they give to our organisation.
Cas Coovadia
Taken from the NBI Annual Report 2009/10