AFRICA: for six months, company executives will be trained in sustainability

Between mid-October 2023 and March 2024, the United Nations Global Compact via its French office and hub in Nigeria will be training entrepreneurs and investors on the African continent to take sustainability into account in their management planning. This will be done through its French office based in Paris.

Launched in 2003 by Koffi Annan, the former secretary-general of the United Nations (UN), and Jacques Chirac, the former French president, the UN Global Compact France network promotes economic and sustainable development. To mark its 20th anniversary, the platform is organising training sessions on corporate sustainability from 17 October 2023 to the end of March 2024. The programme in partnership with the Nigerian UN Global Compact Hub is entitled “Foundations of corporate sustainability: fostering the sustainable transformation of businesses in French-speaking Africa.”

The initiative is aimed at executives from public and private institutions, including banks, industries, schools and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in North, West and Central Africa and the Indian Ocean. Over a six-month period, learners will be equipped with the social, economic and environmental indicators they need to implement the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at their decision-making levels.

“For example, companies can support a precautionary approach by communicating the risks to consumers. Support for the precautionary approach includes obtaining prior authorisation before certain products, deemed potentially dangerous to health and nature, are placed on the market”, says the Global Compact France network headed by Nils Pedersen. Nils Pedersen is well known in the world of CSR (corporate social responsibility) for his legendary expression “social and ecological go hand in hand”.

Throughout the course, the Paris-based institution, whose members include French environmental giant Veolia, energy company Schneider Electric and multinational pharmaceutical company Sanofi, will be focusing on SDGs 5, 9 and 12 on gender equality, resilient infrastructure and sustainable production respectively, which are key issues for competitiveness. The “Anticipating the effects of climate change” module (SDG13) will enable managers to adapt their investments to areas often affected by flooding and drought.

For more information on the course, click here.