Aruna Narayanan On The MEA’s Drive Towards Sustainable Businesses

Q: Please give us an example of a company that helps integrate sustainable values with its peer, stakeholders, customers and suppliers?

A: One of the companies I am associated with is The Partnerships Advisory (TPA) is an execution-focused, Dubai-based advisory firm particularly focused on financial services and real estate. 

One of TPA’s clients is Tanzania-based CRDB, which has recently received a financing commitment from the United Nations’ Green Climate Fund. 

A recent study reveals that close to 75% of Banking CEOs believed their future growth will be largely determined by their ability to anticipate and navigate the shift to a low-carbon, clean-technology economy and since sustainable agriculture is a very relevant topic and can directly contribute towards reducing emissions and accelerating decarbonization, it was important for the CRBD’s leadership team to step outside the confines of its board room and gain an experiential understanding of this industry. 

TPA’s team curated an entire experiential program for the CRBD leadership team comprising of Group Chairman, Board of Directors, Group CEO and Executive Committee that also included physical on-site Study Tours in countries like Turkey focusing on Sustainable Finance in Agriculture. At the end of the session, the team went back with an experiential and realistic understanding of the subject that would enable them to ensure the funds towards sustainable projects flow in the right direction. 

Q: Kindly elaborate more on how you are involved in supporting sustainability and Agenda 2030 within the region through your volunteering work?

A: I see engaging youth and empowering women as two key areas that can accelerate the achievement of these global goals – hence a significant portion of my volunteering time is invested in these two areas. 

To increase awareness among youth and enable them to understand the real role they can play in achieving the SDGs, I had the fantastic opportunity to partner with Dubai-based Capital Education. We created an interactive, fun and engaging online course on “understanding the role of youth in achieving sustainable development”. Through this program, we have the opportunity to reach out to more than 50,000 students in the region and motivate them to actively participate in the journey to 2030. 

My work in the area of women empowerment is driven through the Alumni Network for Harvard Women. My role as the President of the UAE chapter of ANHW gives me a chance to collaborate with distinguished alumni from the region to deliver the goals of empowering women. Creating awareness and meaningful conversations around climate change, net-zero strategy is critical in accelerating the action. 

Q: How does sustainability fit into the industry agenda? Also, as we are already at the fag end of 2021. Please tell us about projects that you are connected with, particularly with start-ups and SMEs that are positively contributing to achieving Agenda 2030 over the next decade? 

A: In simple terms, sustainability is the “ability to sustain” or “prosperity in perpetuity”. This very easily fits into the industry agenda because every industry, every company and every individual ultimately wants to sustain over the long term. Hence sustainability is not just a ‘feel-good factor, if adopted and implemented genuinely, it can greatly contribute to the success of a business. 

SMEs have a crucial role to play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), by accelerating inclusive and sustainable economic growth, creating employment opportunities, fostering innovation, and reducing inequalities. ‘Monshaat’ is an initiative in Saudi Arabia by the General Authority of Small and Medium Enterprises that aims to organize, support, develop and sponsor the SME sector in alignment with global best practices, to increase their contribution to the GDP from 20% to 35% by 2030. The UAE also announced that it aims to be home to 20 unicorns (valued at more than US$1 billion) by 2031 as part of a programme to back start-ups and SMEs. Currently, I am collaborating with a UAE based private equity to help start-ups and SMEs in the consumer brands space to adopt and embed sustainability. 

Q: Could you tell us how you got into the sustainability industry, and what makes you passionate about the cause? 

A: I started my career 20 years back. Like most aspiring professionals of that era, I got into the IT, Tech and Consulting industry as a marketing professional. The turn of events happened when I joined a UAE based waste management company. I got to see and experience waste as a problem and also waste as a potential. I got more actively involved in awareness campaigns, recycling and other environmental initiatives. 

My work was energizing me. So after that, there was no looking back. I decided to shift my career focus from marketing to sustainability. I went back to being a student and took up a course in Sustainable Value Chains at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (University of Cambridge, UK). During the program, I got to learn and discover that there is so much more to sustainability than waste management and recycling. Today, I work with business leaders of many companies, to genuinely implement these business-oriented sustainability strategies and find that the results we see are truly priceless. 

Q: Tell us about your favourite city and book of all time and why?

A: While I have visited many cities across the world, my favourite places will always remain the countryside small towns and villages. I am an avid eco-trekker (picking trash while trekking). One of my most memorable eco treks was to Tarsar Marsar in Kashmir (India). In particular, the small hamlet called Lidderwat. The settlers there are so blissfully in sync with their ecosystem. Though they may not understand complicated terms like ESG, they truly live a sustainable lifestyle.

Another place close to my heart is the quiet town of Drapanos (Greece), home to the European Sustainability Academy (ESA). Powered only by Cretan sunshine (yes it's completely off-grid), ESA is a beautiful building rooted in the earth amongst ancient rocks and olive trees, surrounded by nature. I had the pleasure of delivering my TEDx talk in the beautiful setting of ESA. 

I rarely buy books. I only read books that come my way, mostly as gifts. One such book that I enjoyed reading is ‘The Surrender Experiment' by Michael A Singer. This book found me at a very interesting point in my life. By learning to surrender and let go and focus instead, on the present moment I was able to experience life in its most beautiful form. It helped me focus on whatever is within my sphere of influence. Applying what I read in the book in my daily life and interactions, continues to help me professionally and personally.