Every future focused business is measuring themselves against the globally important SDGs… Including us.

September 2nd 2019

This is part of a series of thought pieces to celebrate the launch of AxiaOrigin – a values driven consultancy dedicated to creating a more prosperous and resilient world through the differentiated use of data and analytics.

It’s part of our Why…

We are not short on big ambitions here at AxiaOrigin and as we started forming our company we knew that we wanted a framework to keep us focused on delivering on those ambitions. Our team shares so many values and they all join together around making the world a more prosperous and resilient place.

A wonderful articulation of our ambition is held within a set of global goals developed by the United Nations. When we carried out our String Wall exercise* we realised just how varied our personal interests are and yet they’re all still articulated beautifully by these goals. By using these goals as our foundations we’ll know we’re always delivering on our really big ambition. We’re also really excited about making these goals come alive for our clients, turning lofty ambition into a business reality.

A quick reminder (or an introduction) to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 

So what are these goals? Well if you need a quick reminder, or an introduction, let me introduce the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals or UN SDGs as we’ll refer to them from here on in.

“The SDGs are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice. The Goals interconnect and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve each Goal and target by 2030.” (UN, 2019).

You can find out more about each of the goals at un.org so I won’t list the full set here.

As a team we’ve talked about which of the SDGs resonates strongest with us personally and there’s an interesting mix. With a career spent predominantly in the water sector I’d expected I’d select Goal 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation, as my primary driver. On reflection, actually it’s Goal 12 – Responsible Production and Consumption that resonates most strongly these days. I’m spending an increasing amount of time thinking about how we can apply circular economy principles to transform our current approaches to production and consumption; Goal 12 feels like it’s driving in the same direction.

Helping organisations to see the opportunities that appear by thinking beyond their own boundaries is something I’m really passionate about. By connecting beyond their own supply chain and thinking again about their business model you never know what might be possible. Most importantly the opportunity to move beyond a linear ‘take-make-dispose’ model and into a more circular one is a much more resilient long term business model. I’m really looking forward to working with clients to help them apply this transformational thinking in their organisations.

So how will we use the SDGs? 

The SDGs provide a framework for measuring the impact our work will have. They are knitted into the fabric of AxiaOrigin helping establish our strategic direction, determining the clients we want to work with and finally appraising the effectiveness of the work that we have collaboratively delivered. Our re-investment in delivering pro bono projects with social benefit will also be a direct opportunity to deliver the ambition of the goals.

Such a broad set of targets could seem overwhelming but for us, they provide the perfect framework to ensure our big ambitions become extraordinary realities for our clients and the communities we live and work in.

 

Niki Roach | Co-founder