Organisations Should Ensure Sustainability to Drive Innovation, Says Prof. Ogbechie

Sustainability is needed to drive innovation, says a professor of Strategic Management and the Dean at Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, Prof. Chris Ogbechie.

A keynote speaker at the Association of Sustainability Professionals of Nigeria’s inaugural induction in Lagos, Ogbechie spoke on the ‘Importance of professionalising sustainability in Nigeria’.

He charged the practitioners to brace up and create the necessary opportunity to give organisations more recognition to the sustainability sector.

“Practitioners need to level up and have a great necessary impact that would ensure that professionals are elevated to the board level where decisions concerning the organisations are taken. This will help deepen the sector and reposition the industry,” he said.

The ASPN had its first induction ceremony with the theme ‘Together we can and will deliver a sustainable Nigeria’ at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Victoria Island.

Dr Kenneth Amaeshi, the President of ASPN and director of Scaling Business in Africa

Consortium at the University of Edinburgh Business School, United Kingdom, noted, “Our induction ceremony is a major milestone for us being the maiden edition. We also consider this a major milestone in Nigeria in view of our role in nation-building. We are determined to seek to redefine corporate responsibility and economic, environmental, social, and governance practices in the country.”

In addition, the association’s director of communications, Omobolanle Victor-Laniyan, explained that ASPN would drive professional ethics standards for sustainability professionals, drive best practices and long-term thinking amongst individuals and businesses.

Forty-four persons were inducted at the ceremony.

ASPN is a non-profit organisation established in August 2019 and officially launched on November 26, 2020, to redefine and improve the practice and profession of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Nigeria.

The platform provides easy access to resources required to build capacity to transform businesses and the private sector through networking, certification, and advocacy.