Emcee Singapore: Charmaine hosted an Ayden podcast titled “Making a Sustainable Impact”, together with experts from businesses in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region on integrating ESG, that is environment, social, and governance standards, into a merchant’s strategy to win and maintain the loyalty of customers and grow a business.

In this episode, Charmaine explored why merchants need to take sustainability and ESG seriously, and how a greater focus on these issues is changing and enriching the way companies interact with their customers, as well as creating new opportunities to grow.

As Claudia de Pieri Carrazza, Impact Manager at Adyen, explains, there is a greater understanding that if we’re going to successfully combat climate change, companies have an incredible capacity to make a difference, and also influence others to do the same.

Claudia added, “And while traditional business was all about profit, the view of a successful business has changed and successful businesses these days don’t just care about profit, but also look at people, planet, and of course, purpose. That is the model of a new successful business.”

For Scott Meneilly, former CEO of restaurant chain, Sushi Sushi, and food franchise experts, Retail Zoo, this is a trend that is here to stay.

He said, “So consumers want to buy from places that are aligned with them, and their thoughts, and beliefs. And people in the corporate world understand that at one point, but we also understand our role in the world. So it’s not just about making money, it’s about doing the right thing. So your brands are conscious about: Are they using materials that are recycled?”

Emcee Singapore Charmaine said. “Consumers in APAC are seeing the brands they shop at as an extension of themselves and an important reflection of their own beliefs. We know that the best brands put the customer experience at the heart of what they do.”

And how do companies begin? Whether you are just starting on your sustainability journey, or your plans are more advanced, Shalini Samuel, Director of Certification and Standards Learning at B Lab, the non-profit network that provides the well known B Corp certification to companies that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, has some advice for brands wanting to develop a sustainable business strategy.

One company that has embraced this philosophy is Australian furniture company, Koala. Here’s Belinda Judd, Koala’s Director of Group Financial Control, to explain the brand’s principles. As an illustration, Belinda said, “So we are working with organizations such as FSC to find sustainable timber for our products. We’ve just released a rug that’s made out of reclaimed plastic bottles. We are looking at alternative fabrics, we’ve released a cork sofa previously. We’re looking at different alternatives too, that are much more sustainable, not only from the point of where we are putting them into our products, but through that entire lifecycle.” 

To emcee Singapore Charmaine’s point that Adyen’s Impact product is also constantly evolving, to meet changing customer needs, and the desire to create more opportunities for people to support the causes that matter to them the most.

Claudia chimed, “We decided to create Moments that Matter, and Moments that Matter was born due to the overwhelming demand that our merchants had when the Ukraine war broke out. Our merchants were coming to us and saying what we want, we want to do something and we want to do it quickly. And we were able to facilitate this global partnership on behalf of our merchants. We saw that there was an appetite from our customer base that they like to either respond quickly in moments of crisis.”

Charmaine concluded the podcast stating, “Small steps can make a big change. And that’s true, whether you’re a customer adding a charity donation when you settle a bill or a brand taking its first steps to have a more positive impact on the planet.” 

Listen to the latest episode of our podcast, Behind the Figures : Behind the Figures Podcast S2 Episode 2 | Adyen – Adyen