Sustainable Start-Up Handbook

For socially and environmentally committed entrepreneurs and SMEs in the Middle East & North Africa

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Sustainable Start-Up Handbook

2

About Being a responsible business that has a

positive impact on the community is no

longer a do-good exercise for big corpora-

tions with deep pockets. We have designed

this handbook for you, the smart entrepre-

neur, to show you how to build a thriving

business around sustainable practices. Mak-

ing sure your employees are happy, your

products are environmentally friendly, and

your customers are satisfied all add to you

becoming an envied and successful player

in the marketplace - someone who is here

to stay. Being innovative by acting sustain-

able is about seeing opportunities first and

about developing new products that people

really need.

It’s about thinking outside the box. It’s

about making money, not giving away

money. It’s simply good business.

Together for a prosperous future

This handbook is the result of a collabora-

tion between international and local Egyp-

tian actors to promote sustainable business

as a tool for development in Egypt as well

as the whole region of the Middle East and

North Africa (MENA). We would like to ex-

press our gratitude to the German Govern-

ment, which supported this handbook via

the Deutsche Gesellschaft für International

Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). giz.de

i Welcome

Further support

If you need additional help with implemen-

tation of your sustainability activities, you

can turn to the organisations who have

published this handbook :

Responsible and Inclusive Business

Hub (ice_ribh): For sustainable de-

velopment and innovation manage-

ment, look no further than ice_ribh

which powers a paradigm shift towards

sustainable development in the MENA re-

gion. The hub is the GIZ focal point for re-

sponsible and inclusive business based at

icecairo, a coworking and entrepreneurship

space in downtown Cairo. The joint centre

can assist you with both product and busi-

ness-related issues of your good business

journey. Feel free to also join the LinkedIn

Group for our Sustainable Business Circle.

icecairo.com

Global Compact Network

Egypt: The GCNE, Egypt’s pre-

mier sustainability and CSR hub,

helps with CSR strategies for

businesses of all sizes. As Egypt’s local net-

work of the Global Compact, the GCNE ex-

perts can give you advice or organise a

workshop for you. Meet us at the Egyptian

Corporate Responsibility Center!

ecrc.org.eg or unglobalcompact.org

https://www.giz.de/en/

http://www.unglobalcompact.org

3


Contents

4 Sustainable Business in a Nutshell

7 Glossary 8 Useful Links 9 Editorial 10 Implementation Cycle:

14 Accept Responsibility 18 Know Your Impact 24 Think Long-Term 30 Walk the Talk 34 Talk Your Walk 38 Egyptian Case Studies

The journey

begins here.

Ahoy!

Creative Commons

We hope that you will use this document for your own business or as an inspiration for oth-

ers. We would also like to encourage anyone working in the field of Responsible and Inclu-

sive Business, entrepreneurship or innovation to create similar handbooks for your respec-

tive markets. This handbook may be reproduced for educational and non-commercial pur-

poses provided the source is acknowledged. We strongly believe that companies of all sizes

should and can make meaningful contributions to a better world.

Feel free to share the handbook with fellow entrepreneurs and sustainability practitioners !

More brochures for start-ups similar to this one The Namibian Business and Innovation Center published various

brochures on innovation, leadership and change management issuu.com/nbicnamibia


4

Sustainable Business

in a Nutshell

5


Sustainable Business in a nutshell

What, why and how

Why sustainability? Businesses do not operate independently

from their surroundings, rather they in-

fluence them in negative and positive ways.

For example, by producing garbage in small

to large quantities every day, Egyptian com-

panies enlarge the dump sites, as well as

pollute the air by moving material, products

and people around. Of course firms have

positive impacts, too, especially increasing

the wealth of the society by providing jobs,

and mandating upstream manufacturing.

At the same time, society has also an impact

on the private sector, just think of the shor-

tage of skilled labour making human resour-

ces a critical issue, and high costs for lo-

gistics due to dense traffic. That means, if

you want to run a successful business, you

need to know your impact and develop miti-

gation strategies – that is what we call

sustainable business practices.

The idea of contributing to the welfare of

those who are in need is not new but a

longstanding and important aspect of Arab

cultures. However, being a responsible com-

What is sustainable business? A start-up turns into a sustainable business

when it is able to adapt to changes over

time. It survives shocks because it is entirely

connected to healthy economic, social and

environmental systems. In this state, it crea-

tes economic value while contributing to

maintaining natural ecosystems and to buil-

ding strong communities. The aim is to meet

the needs of today without limiting the abi-

lity of future generations to meet their own

needs.

Accordingly, sustainable business is about

two things:

a) what you do with your profits,

b) how you make your profits.

You might have noticed that the term

sustainable business is often used inter-

changeably with corporate (social) responsi-

bility, inclusive business, corporate citizens-

hip, social business and triple bottom line.

Though these terms are defined differently,

they all point in the same direction: throug-

hout the world there has been a sharp inc-

rease in the social roles businesses are ex-

pected to play in order to support govern-

ment in the development of the country.

MAXimise Minimise

CSR = your + your

positive impacts

negative Impacts

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6

pany does in no way mean neglecting the

business purpose of making profits. It is

important that social or environmental initi-

atives result in a win-win situation, i.e.,

where the business benefits AND the socie-

ty or environment benefits.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not

only about charity, and it is definitely more

than just complying with Egypt’s labour or

environmental laws. The concept refers to

how companies manage their financial, so-

cial and environmental impact and relati-

onships with workers, customers, suppliers,

communities and government.

Consider the graph above: sustainable value

is only created where society and business

benefit equally. If only society benefits,

then you are engaging in charitable pro-

jects, for example cash or in-kind donations

without any expected returns. Vice versa,

your highly branded sponsorships are public

relations (PR) exercises, and important as

these (golf) days may be, they have a limi-

ted positive impact on the wider society.

>> Value creation with CSR

Charity Sustainable

value creation

Compliance with legal

obligations PR

Social benefit

Business benefit

Sustainability makes business sense!

Competitive advantage (product innova-

tion, employee involvement and cus-

tomer education)

Cost reduction (e.g. energy, water and

paper consumption)

Relationship with unions, government,

regulators

Business reputation

Ease of doing business in your commu-

nity, city and country

Staff and customer satisfaction

Access to funds (investors)

i

7


Crowdfunding

Entrepreneur

Good Governance

Inclusive Business

Shareholders vs.

Stakeholders

Social Business

Start-Up

Sustainability

Triple Bottom Line

Value Chain Analysis


Glossary

Any individual can propose an idea that requires funding, and inte-

rested others can contribute funds to support the idea usually

through online platforms.

A person who organizes and manages any business, usually with a

pronounced attitude of taking considerable initiative and risk.

Being guided by human rights and by the principles of the rule of

law and democracy, such as equal political participation for all,

when operating as a business, organisation or country.

A company that integrates poor people into the value chain as

consumers, producers, employees and/or business partners.

A shareholder owns parts of a company, while a stakeholder has

an interest in the company. (see page 18)

A company that addresses social problems such as poverty by us-

ing methods of profit-driven businesses but reinvesting all profits

into the business and thus increasing social impact.

A business that is in its early stage, i.e. in the phase of develop-

ment and research for markets.

The potential for long-term maintenance of well-being in ecologi-

cal, economic, and social dimensions.

The profit and loss account is expanded by people and planet, i.e.

measuring the social and environmental impacts of a company.

Looking at every step a business goes through, from raw materials

to the eventual end-user.

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Global and regional networks for business sustainability

Accountability

www.accountability.org

Arabia CSR Network

arabiacsrnetwork.com

Corporate Register

www.corporateregister.com

CSCP

www.scp-centre.org

CSR for SMEs

www.csr-in-smes.eu

CSRwire

www.csrwire.com

Endeavor Egypt

www.endeavoreg.org

Egyptian Junior Business Association (EJB)

www.ejb.org.eg

Global Reporting Initiative

www.globalreporting.org

ISO 26000

www.iso.org

Jeune Chambre Internationale www.jci.cc

Morrocan CISE

www.mcise.org

United Nations Global Compact

www.unglobalcompact.org

WBCSD

www.wbcsd.org


Connect your business!

The 10 Principles of the UN Global Compact

Human Rights 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally pro-claimed human rights; and 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.

Labour 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recogni-tion of the right to collective bargaining; 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour; 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and 6: the elimination of discrimination in re-spect of employment and occupation.

Environment 7: Businesses should support a precau-tionary approach to environmental chal-lenges; 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and 9: encourage the development and diffu-sion of environmentally friendly technolo-gies.

Anti-Corruption 10: Businesses should work against cor-ruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

www

http://www.accountability.org/

http://www.corporateregister.com

http://www.scp-centre.org

http://www.csr-in-smes.eu/

http://www.csrwire.com/

http://www.globalreporting.org

http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/management_and_leadership_standards/social_responsibility/iso26000


http://www.wbcsd.org

9


About the authors This handbook is based upon the Handbook

“CSR for Entrepreneurs” published by the

Global Compact Network Namibia (GCNN).

The Namibian version has been edited by

the same authors as this handbook (see

below) as well as Silke Feldmann, former

GCNN project manager. Also to this edition,

Akram Marwan, Global Compact Network

Egypt officer, provided contacts and links to

Egyptian actors in the field of sustainability

and entrepreneurship.

Anita Demuth

Anita graduated in Economics and Political

Science. She has gained professional experi-

ences in media, international cooperation,

and consulting, especially in the area of

promoting sustainable economic develop-

ment as well as of climate change and en-

ergy politics.

[email protected]

Bernhard Rohkemper

As Coordinator of the ice_ribh, Bernhard

assists the private sector in making a mean-

ingful contribution to economic and social

development. Before this he supported

start-ups at the Namibia Business and Inno-

vation Centre, and worked as a CSR strategy

consultant for corporations in Europe.

[email protected]

Special designer attribution: Announcement: Proletkult Arrow: Matt Scribner Bottle: Jakob Vogel Box: Travis J. Lee Checklist: Michael Young Cup: Brandon Hopkins DNA: Darrin Higgins Drafting: Jacob Eckert Sign Language: Jakob Vogel Earth: Francesco Paleari Feather: Plumer Firecracker: Max Becker Food: Rob Lavender Flash Cards: Rohan Gupta Jar: Gulio Bertolotti

Library: Plinio Fernandes Newspaper: Connie Shu Poster: Dima Yagnyuk Ribbon: Nathan Driskell Ship Wheel: Renar SC Stopwatch: Irit Barzily Sun: Adam Whitcroft Target: _Lo Team: Umbra2 Design Tree: Hernan D. Schlosman Tools : Dolly Vu Croissant: Nicolas Molès Satellite: Pedro Ramalho Carrot: Ricardo Moreira Shopping Bag: Ben Rex Furneaux


Connect your business! Behind the scenes

Editorial

About the graphic designers The illustrations of Ahmed’s Oriental

Kitchen were made by Natalie El Assiouty.

The layout has been developed by Bernhard

and Anita. Natalie designed the Arab ver-

sion’s layout.

Natalie El Assiouty

Graduated in design, Natalie has specialized

in product and graphic design in her profes-

sional and academic career. As project man-

ager at ice_ribh she organizes workshops,

and does the hub’s marketing and visual

communication.

[email protected]

The Icons used in this booklet are from The

Noun Project: thenounproject.com

http://thenounproject.com/


10

Implementation

cycle

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Implementation cycle

How to use this chapter

Toolbox

There are hundreds of tools

out there to get your sustain-

ability initiatives off the

ground. We introduce you to the most help-

ful, easy-to-apply favourites from our ex-

tensive toolbox. Apply them and you will be

through the first step of the implementa-

tion cycle in no time. They will certainly

help you to run all aspects of your business

more successfully.

Ahmed‘s Oriental Kitchen

To make the theory and tools

presented in this handbook

concrete, we have invented a

fictitious start-up company, »Ahmed’s Ori-

ental Kitchen«. Ahmed Rashid wants to

open the small restaurant in Cairo soon. For

years, he has been dreaming of having his

own food place where people can mingle

while enjoying Lebanese and Egyptian deli-

cacies. His idea is to tweak very well known

daily dishes by adding interesting ingredi-

ents, as well as revitalizing nearly forgotten

traditional recipes.

After having saved some money, he is ready

to make his dream come true. Ahmed is

thrilled to become his own boss and to in-

vest his entrepreneurial energy in the de-

velopment of Egypt towards economic

growth, and social and political stability.

From theory to implementation To give you the most practical lowdown on

sustainability for your business, we have

divided all implementation parts of this

handbook into three areas. For each of the

five steps to success, there are sections on

theoretical background and tools, as well as

examples from our fictitious case study.

This is supplemented by a number of real-

life examples from Egyptian companies at

the end of the booklet.

Foundations

Although we obviously want

to assist you in getting things

done, a certain degree of theo-

retical background on business

sustainability concepts will make implemen-

tation of your efforts much easier. Best

practices for business sustainability are

based upon the concept of Corporate Social

Responsibility (CSR), for which reason we

will use both terms interchangeably. We

will introduce you to the reasoning behind

the steps in the implementation cycle and

what’s to be kept in mind.

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When embarking on a path of making your

business more sustainable in an environ-

mental, social and economic way, we sug-

gest you follow five steps. How you want to

approach each of these steps depends on

your business and your preferences. On the

following pages you will find ample inspira-

tion. However, we suggest you do the jour-

ney one step at a time.

i

>> The implementation cycle

Walk the Talk

Talk Your Walk

Think Long-Term

Accept Responsibility

Know Your Impact


5 steps to succes

13


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lab to produce green tech products wait for you! www.icecairo.com

1 - Accept responsibility

First of all, it is important to accept the

responsibility you have as a business for

your employees, your community and the

environment. Make sure everybody in your

business knows what you stand for and that

the entire team works together to make

your CSR activities happen. This way, you

will reach your goals much faster.

2 - Know your impact

To improve what you do as a business, you

first have to find out both the positive and

the negative impacts your operations have

on society and the environment. Knowing

all these will enable you to plan the right

activities in the next step.

3 - Think long-term

What direction will your efforts take? It’s

wise to think about your vision and mission

for sustainability and draw up a plan for

whatever you intend to do. Become part of

a recycling scheme, launch a green product,

or do a staff volunteering day.

4 - Walk the talk

Now that all the rough planning is done,

you can finally get going and implement

your projects. Decide what exactly you

want to do, by when it’s supposed to be

done, how much money is available for it.

And of course, who is responsible? Get your

employees on board from day 1.

5 - Talk your walk

Congratulations! Your first initiative for

sustainability was a great success. Don’t be

afraid to talk about it. It will make your

employees proud and convince customers

to come back for more of your products or

services. Lastly, it will leave your competi-

tors green with envy.

http://www.scp-centre.org/fileadmin/content/files/6_Resources/1_Publications_pdfs/48_SMART_52_Weekly_Business_Action_en.pdf


14

Foundations Did you know that…

...in Egypt, well over 80 percent

of the unemployed are below age 30,

and 80 percent of the unemployed have

never worked?

...MENA‘s population is projected to

double over the next 40 years, whereas

per capita water availability is said to fall

by more than 50 percent by 2050?

...the Zabbaleen, traditional garbage

collectors in Egypt are able to recycle

nearly 85% of garbage, a diversion rate

that is much higher than most cities in

Europe?

...due to climate change, rising sea will

probably swallow up low-lying coastal

areas, deserts are expanding, and

groundwater resources are drying up in

MENA?

These and many more national and global

challenges are making it increasingly diffi-

cult for companies to continue growing whi-

le claiming their right to operate. Govern-

ments and societies are demanding that

businesses start to account for their impact.

Managers and entrepreneurs alike need to

rethink business models as well as products,

technologies and processes.

You can choose to ignore the challenges

that Egypt faces, or to accept the responsi-

bility you have as a business person. This of

course doesn’t mean that you will have to

take on the challenges all by yourself and

fight a lonely battle. If every company keeps

its own house in order and tries to become

more sustainable, we’ve achieved a lot. For

those that do it right, there is a world of

business opportunities out there!

By publicly announcing your commitment

to keeping the environment and the people

in your community in mind when making

business decisions, you will generate a lot

of goodwill from customers and employees.

At the same time, they will of course also

start to monitor whether you practice what

you preach. This in turn will keep you and

your team going to implement activities

that put you on a path to becoming the

good business you commit to be.

After all, who wants to be associated with

exploiting people, polluting the environ-

ment and supporting corruption?


1 - Accept responsibility

Is sustainability a burden?

Many entrepreneurs and even large com-

panies believe sustainability is a burden on

the bottom line. Is that true? For example,

saving energy can lower your costs, and

selling products that people really need

will increase your revenues – it’s all about

taking the right actions.

15


Toolbox So, how can you act? Start by ac-

cepting responsibility for your im-

pacts. As a business owner, you should lead

the process by committing the company

and its resources to adhering to sustainabi-

lity practices as a core component of your

business strategy. That means, as a first

step, you can commit to recycling, saving

energy and water, anti-corruption, fair la-

bour practices and respecting human rights.

Become a Global Compact member

As an advanced step, you can become a

signatory of the United Nations Global Com-

pact at www.unglobalcompact.org.

In doing so, you commit to the organisati-

on’s philosophy and the 10 principles in the

areas of human rights, labour, environment

and anti-corruption. To prove your commit-

ment you would have to submit an annual

Communication on Progress (CoP), i.e., wri-

ting a report on your sustainability activi-

ties. The Global Compact is the world‘s lar-

gest CSR network.

If you prefer a more local approach towards

the Global Compact, you can contact the

Global Compact Network Egypt focal point

via their website at www.ecrc.org.eg and

get the opportunity to network with and

learn from other sustainable businesses.

Commit to the outside

Put up a poster: Activate your

creative self and design a poster

that tells everyone what your

start-up stands for. Fill it with

your CSR promise or your company values,

or draw a picture that shows your company

and how it contributes to a better commu-

nity and environment for all.

Make an announcement: If you

like it a bit more formal, put your

commitment in a few well-

formulated sentences. You can

use those as first content for a section on

sustainability on your website. And why not

post the commitment on your Facebook

page together with a fitting picture?

Let your products speak: There’s a

lot of printed matter you will pro-

duce at the start of your business.

Use all those labels and flyers and

business cards to renew your commitment

again and again. Just include something

along the lines of »Committed to Sustaina-

bility« on packages, on the bottom of let-

ters and in your email signature to reach a

high number of people out there.

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http://www.globalcompactnamibia.org


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Identify champions: Identify

sustainabi l i ty champions

amongst your staff members and

encourage them to come up with

new ideas. They can also help you to imple-

ment your activities once you have a clear

plan.

Commit to the inside

Do a staff event: Launch your

green commitment with a staff

event. Invite your employees for a

nice lunch at the local café and

explain to them what sustainability means

for your company and how each staff mem-

ber can contribute. Get them excited about

it.

In the mug: Order a bunch of

Egyptian-made mugs for your

employees from the local potte-

ry shop. Have your commitment to sustai-

nability inscribed on the mug to remind the

team of the common journey at all times.

Some examples of things you can commit to as a business: Building a prosperous community.

Promoting local trade.

Employee well-being.

Caring for the environment.

Good governance principles.

Providing safe products.

17


Ahmed‘s Oriental Kitchen In a meeting with a bank clerk,

Ahmed presents his business plan

based on sustainable business practices. He

targets fast growth of his business in the

first year by getting things right from the

get-go and creating a real buzz around his

company by committing to sustainability.

He plans to hire three more people by the

end of the year. Because he would like to

employ eco-friendly appliances and proce-

dures he would need a bigger initial amount

of financial means than with conventional

equipment. But he is sure that the business

would prosper in a highly competitive in-

dustry because the fresh food would con-

vince customers at their first visit to come

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www.nahdetelmahrousa.org

again, while at the same time saving re-

sources (and money) and creating jobs. He

is able to convince the bank to give him a

larger loan.

During the course of preparations for the

start of his business, Ahmed includes his

commitment to sustainability in business

cards, invitations to the launch event, and

job advertisements. He puts up a poster in

the restaurant. In addition, he becomes a

member of the Global Compact Network

Egypt. To prove his commitment to the

Global Compact’s principles and to doing

things differently right away, he decides to

employ a female cook. Principle n°6 states

that discrimination with respect to employ-

ment and occupation should be eliminated.

Ahmed decides to

be a responsible

entrepreneur.

With his business

he joins the

Global Compact.


18


2 - Know your impact

Foundations As a business you are not acting

in isolation. Everything you do has

an impact on other people, be it your

suppliers that depend on you, the custo-

mers you provide products to, or the people

from your community that you employ. All

those are referred to as your stakeholders,

people or groups that are affected by what

you do.

Your impact on those relationships can be

positive or negative. As a responsible busi-

ness you want to make sure you maximise

the benefits these people have from your

business operations, while minimising the

negative effects.

Don’t forget, your business is equally sha-

ped by your stakeholders’ actions. If they

don’t agree with how you conduct business

and work against you, you will have a hard

time making your company a success story.

Identifying and engaging relevant stakehol-

ders is a challenge faced by many compa-

nies, from small enterprises to large corpo-

rations. Knowing your stakeholders and

managing your relationship with them is

critical for the credibility and growth of your

business activities. To develop meaningful

sustainability projects, you need to be awa-

re of your impact on stakeholders.

Some easy steps you can follow

Step 1: Identify your stakeholders

Think of your stakeholders in terms of

workforce, market, community and govern-

ment. The environment is considered a sta-

keholder too, as your business depends on

it. Ask yourself one simple question: Whose

lives do we touch through our operations or

our products, now or in future?

Here is a list of some possible stakeholders:

Workforce Management, full-time staff, temporary staff, interns, students

Market Current and future clients, suppli-ers, investors, competitors

Community Families of employees, neighbour-hood, media, NGOs

Government Educational institutions, minis-tries, public infrastructure

Environment Wildlife, water, air, soil, natural resources

19


Step 2: Rank stakeholders

As you will find out you have a large num-

ber of stakeholders, you will not be able to

give equal attention. It’s important to iden-

tify the most relevant stakeholders. Which

of the above stakeholders do you have the

greatest responsibility towards? How de-

pendent are they on your business or your

products? Are they directly or indirectly

impacted by your business and, in turn, how

interested are they in what you do?

Step 3: Capture your negative and positive

impact on stakeholders

Here you need to do some brainstorming

with your team or ask stakeholders directly.

Develop a table and then list all the good

things you do. For example, as a business

you create employment for people, you

provide great products that make life easier

and you are an active part of the local com-

munity.

In addition to the sunny side of the busi-

ness, also be honest about all the not-so-

good impacts. Those are the things we like

to ignore and sweep under the carpet, like

the excessive amounts of water you use in

production, the pollution it creates to trans-

port your goods, and the unhealthy ingre-

dients in your products that might cause

obesity, addictions or even worse.

A CSR smorgasbord The Guardian assembled case studies and dossiers around sustainable business on

www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business

Step 4: Identify ways to increase positive

and decrease negative effects

Now comes the most exciting part of the

exercise. Earmark the most promising areas

of action you want to tackle first.

Look at your positive effects and choose

those, which you are most proud of and

which have the highest impact. Talk about

these successes and make sure more and

more stakeholders can benefit in the future.

Plus, don’t forget the potential positive ef-

fects you can have in the future with new

ideas, products and processes.

On the other hand, you need to identify the

most damaging negative impacts to develop

strategies to minimise or, even better, eli-

minate them. Otherwise they will haunt you

later when you least expect it.


20

Toolbox Don’t be scared! When it comes

to engaging with your stakeholders

to identify impacts you will most likely en-

counter some frustrated people that don’t

like your business or its products. Be open

to their suggestions and ideas, because you

will only be able to become a more respon-

sible business if you have people that are

honest and tell you what they think. So,

enjoy the good stories, but listen carefully

when people approach you with criticism or

new ideas. It might be an opportunity to

create a new, better product or to improve

customer experience.

Identify and rank your stakeholders

Before you talk about impacts on or by sta-

keholders, you have to get to grips with

who your stakeholders are. Here are some

simple tools to help you:

Do a team brainstorm: Your

employees are working with

suppliers, customers and authori-

ties all the time. They all have dif-

ferent stakeholders they deal with on a re-

gular basis. If you take the time to sit with

your team, you will develop a long list in no

time. To structure the brainstorming, pro-

ceed group by group. First, capture internal

stakeholders, namely your employees

themselves, then move on to capture other

market-related stakeholders, then the com-

munity, etc. It will help to have a flip-chart

at hand and ask someone to write down all

stakeholders on a list as you engage in dis-

cussions.

Read local papers: There might be

people who have an interest in

your business or feel affected by it,

which you and your team are una-

ware of. It doesn’t even need to be connec-

ted to your particular company but could

relate to your industry in general. For

example, if an NGO expresses concerns that

in Egypt, the agriculture and fishing industry

make majority use of cheap and vulnerable

child labour and you happen to be in the

fishing industry, you should take this NGO

very seriously as a stakeholder. By reading

the papers and regularly checking the Inter-

net you can monitor who says what about

either you or your area of business. Make

sure you include those people or organisati-

ons in your list of stakeholders immediately.

Ask an industry expert: If you are

lucky, you know someone with a

lot of expertise in your area of

business. Set up an informal mee-

ting with that person to get his or her view

21


Examine your value chain: Think

about it, even if you produce a

very simple product, this involves

many steps and processes. Imagi-

ne your business at the centre and what

operations take place there. Then add all

things that happen before. Where do your

supplies come from, how are they being

transported, etc? Afterwards, list all the

actions that take place after a product lea-

ves your company. How does it reach custo-

mers? What happens during use of the pro-

duct? You’ll find that your value chain is

quite complex, meaning that with one sin-

gle product you can have quite an impact,

both positive and negative. Be honest and

list ALL these impacts on ALL the different

stakeholders at ALL stages of the value

chain. Mark positive impacts with a green

and negative ones with a red marker.

on who is important as a stakeholder in the

industry. If your network is not as establis-

hed yet, you could also approach someone

working at a local university in an area rela-

ted to your business. If you want to open a

guesthouse, why not talk to a lecturer at a

hospitality school? There might even be

research that you can tap into.

Create a power-interest grid:

Once you have an exhaustive

stakeholder list, you can locate

all your stakeholders in a power-

interest grid. Prepare this like in the illustra-

tion below, then decide for each stakehol-

der what their interest in your company is.

If they are easily affected by what you do,

place them high on the interest axis. The

second dimension, power, is determined by

how heavily the same stakeholder can im-

pact your company. This way you will end

up with a comprehensive overview of your

stakeholders. Obviously, stakeholders with

high power and high interest in your com-

pany should be your number one priority.

Positive and negative impacts

Read, ask, talk, listen. You can’t know all the

impacts you have with your business. That’s

why you need to be open to suggestions

from your stakeholders.

>> Power-interest grid

High Power

Low

Keep satisfied

Manage closely

Monitor Keep

informed

Low Interest High

Listen to the Green Prophet He will keep you up-to-date on green investment

and growth in the MENA region. See yourself: www.greenprophet.com


22

Capture information: Make sure

you capture all information gath-

ered in a comprehensive table

that you can use for further action and to

develop your CSR activities. Here is one

suggestion for such a table:

Read CSR reports: It’s never

wrong to check out what your

competition does. Even better if

it’s not direct competition from

companies that are far away. The discussion

around CSR and the impact of companies

on society, the economy and the environ-

ment is a global one. Especially bigger com-

panies from around the globe publish so-

called CSR or Sustainability Reports on a

regular basis. They are a great source of

inspiration for smaller businesses. One of

the world’s largest collections of CSR re-

ports can be found free of charge at the

Corporate Register website at

www.corporateregister.com

Do an online survey: Once you

know all your stakeholders, you

can compile a short survey to find

out what they think are the most

important issues your company should look

into. There are easy-to-use online tools

that allow you to create your free online

survey in no time. Use your company’s

Facebook page for a simple poll or try

Google Documents (docs.google.com) or

Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com).

Source from the crowd!

As a smart entrepreneur you obviously see

your stakeholders as an inexhaustible

source of inspiration. Often they are the

ones that provide you with much better

ideas than those that you come up with by

yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask them ques-

tions in person or via your Facebook page.

S t a k e -holder

Social Impact

Ecological Impact

Economic Impact

+ - + - + -

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

http://www.corporateregister.com/

http://docs.google.com

http://www.surveymonkey.com/

23


Ahmed‘s Oriental Kitchen As a next step, Ahmed would like

to know who his stakeholders are to

compile a guest list to the launch event.

Together with a friend, who is a company

owner himself, he arranges for a brain-

storming session. They use the power-

interest grid for categorizing the stake-

holders and decide the following:

potential customers in the neighbour-

hood as well as suppliers of agricultural

products should be managed closely;

the commercial registration office and

the bank should be kept satisfied;

environmental NGOs and other poten-

tial customers should be kept satisfied;

and competitors need to be monitored.

Good and honest American apparel brand Patagonia is open

about its successes as well as problems: www.patagonia.com/us/footprint

Through interviews with his potential

neighbours and a lecturer at the nearby

hospitality school, he discovers that he

should keep a sharp eye on the source of

fresh produce, on hygiene standards in food

preparation as well as on waste manage-

ment. The highest positive impact of the

Oriental Kitchen could potentially be on job

creation along the value chain.

Besides the external stakeholders, he wants

to do good to his internal stakeholders, his

employees. Salma, the cook, has not gone

through formal vocational training, but he

knows from friends that her talent in the

kitchen is extraordinary. In addition, he em-

ploys a young waiter, Karim. Ahmed will

have to give him on-the-job training.

Ahmed‘s Oriental

Kitchen staff

Karim and Salma,

as well as their

customers

belong to the

stakeholders.

http://www.patagonia.com/us/footprint/


24

Foundations Congratulations! By now, you

should know your immediate im-

pact on stakeholders. That means you can

start thinking about projects that mitigate

the negative and enhance the positive ef-

fects: your very specific sustainability pro-

jects that make sure your conduct does not

compromise the well-being of current or

future generations. This way, you will make

sure that your business will be prosperous

now and in the future. This is what we

mean by thinking long-term.

In a world that is increasingly challenged by

globalisation, resource scarcity, population

growth, ecological decline, poverty and

other challenges, you can play a vital role,

even as a small business. All that it takes is

to pick the worst and best impacts from

your company assessment and make them

your priority in whatever you do.

Your journey takes shape! Instead of com-

mitting to sustainability in general, you can

now develop a more pronounced plan, inc-

luding vision and mission as well as values.

Working together, your mission, vision and

values can provide a powerful directional

force to achieve a more sustainable way of

doing business.

Think about values that guide you along the

way. Once your plan is ready and written,

communicate it to your stakeholders, espe-

cially your investors, shareholders and

(future) employees, to show them what

they can expect from you in the future.

A long-term sustainability vision represents

your future purpose as a company, provi-

ding a mental picture of the goals that your

business is working towards. Therefore,

think about how Egypt can be enriched by

your products and services in the future. As

a further step, you should then think about

your mission, which will state how you in-

tend to achieve your vision.


3 - Think long-term

>> Vision, mission & values

Vision Your future purpose

Mission Ways to achieve your vision

Values Your guiding principles

25


United Nations Development Programme The nine ‘messages’ of the Egypt Human Development Report

provide great input and ideas for your vision and mission: www.undp.org.eg

invite your employees for a discussion to

see if everyone can agree to these top 5

values as values for the company. Double-check values:

Now that your team had its say,

make sure the values identified go

well with what you personally be-

lieve your business should be guided by.

The new company values should never clash

with your own values, because you as the

boss will have to champion these values

and make sure everyone adheres to them at

all times. Plus, when thinking about your

commitment to sustainability that started

this whole process, your values should of

course go well with your good business

journey. Once satisfied, communicate your

five or six company values to all stake-

holders, especially employees.

State your vision

For your vision, imagine all the good about

your company and try to combine it into

one catchy sentence. If you think you can

achieve the most for the world by focusing

on going green, that’ll be part of your vi-

sion. If your stakeholder analysis has shown

a beneficial social impact to be your strong

point, let your vision mirror that. Remem-

ber, you have a lot of input to base your

vision on already!

Toolbox You need to set aside some time

to think about and define your

long-term sustainability vision, mission and

actions. It will surely pay off to take this

time. It will make implementation of your

actions much easier as everyone will know

why you’ve come up with them in the first

place and what they will contribute to the

business itself. If you take it step by step, it

will be done quicker than you think.

Define your values

First of all, make sure you know what your

company's values are. They will tell every-

one in your team how to behave when do-

ing business.

Distill personal values: An organi-

sation is not an abstract entity but

one that is defined and redefined

by the people working for it on a

daily basis. Especially in a small team like

yours, the corporate culture and values that

your business as a whole stands for, and is

guided by, are determined by its people.

Search the web for a list of values and hand

it to each of your employees. Tell them to

(anonymously) tick the five most important

ones for them and hand it back to you.

Combine them into a list with those values

ticked most often on top. Once that is done,


26

Do the count: From your stake-

holder analysis you have a long list

of possible negative and positive

impacts sorted into social, ecologi-

cal and economic categories. Revisit that list

and find out which of the three areas fea-

tures the most entries. If people have a lot

to say about your role regarding the envi-

ronment, this could be a focus in your vi-

sion. If there are equal amounts of com-

ments in two or all three areas, your vision

can mirror that, too.

Be inspired by other institutions:

To get further inspiration beyond

your stakeholder analysis, find out

what your country’s national vision

or development goal is, and in which areas

your country cooperates with international

organisations.

Think positive, and only positive:

Now, with all the information

gathered and direction given, try

to think only in the most positive terms

about your business. Even if stakeholders

mainly mentioned negative things about

you, think in reverse and find a way to turn

your bad impacts into something positive.

Formulate your vision to tell everyone the

good you aspire to do. It could sound like

this: »The vision of ... is to play a significant

role in preserving Egypt’s natural resources

through our production and products.« or

»Our vision is to make a positive contribu-

tion to employment and social upliftment

for the Egyptian people.«

Decide on your mission

Decide what’s key to work towards that

vision. Think small steps. A vision is there to

inspire, not to be made reality tomorrow.

Your mission statement(s) will constantly

remind you of your areas of engagement to

become more sustainable.

Revisit your stakeholder analysis:

You can choose whether you’d like

to have one mission statement

that combines all your focus areas

or whether you want several short state-

ments with one focus area each. In any

case, your mission should focus on what you

A good vision statement meets the following criteria:

Gives a picture of future purpose.

Acts as a strategic guide.

Activates imagination.

Shows something desirable.

Allows flexibility.

Is easy to communicate.

27


Add actions

To make your mission a meaningful one, it

has to be accompanied by some real-world

action. Take a look at your mission state-

ment(s) and find out what you can do on

the ground.

Think outside the box: Now comes

the creative part. There are nu-

merous ways to make your mission

work. Of all the hundreds of projects you

can possibly conceive, you want those that

have the biggest impact at the lowest cost.

Even better, you want those that make

money. Be innovative in your approach and

don’t think along old lines and norms. Busi-

ness as usual won’t help an awful lot with

today’s challenges.

A very helpful way to think outside the box

is to involve people from different areas of

expertise. For example, if you want to re-

duce water consumption, don’t only talk to

an engineer. Also consult a teacher, a soci-

ologist and a chef. They might have com-

pletely new ideas. Be open to ideas from

everyone. We especially tend to ignore

young people, people with lower education

or at lower job levels. However, those are

potentially your most powerful sources of

ideas because they deal with the nitty-gritty

all the time and have the real world experi-

ence.

can do best and with most impact. If your

vision is around social impact, have a look

at this section of your stakeholder analysis

table and, together with your team, pick the

most promising areas. For example, to de-

crease unemployment, you can of course

employ more people yourself. But maybe

you can also encourage other entrepre-

neurs to use your products to create a busi-

ness for themselves.

To finalise, mould all focus areas into your

mission. Here are two examples that go

with the vision statements on the previous

page:

»Our mission is to reduce consumption of

water and electricity in our operations,

while at the same time providing products

that can be fully recycled by customers.«

Or »We provide affordable products for

everyday Egyptians via a network of self-

employed sales people that bring our prod-

ucts closer to the people.«

Compare to peers: When you and

your team are satisfied with the

mission and you feel that it goes

well with and helps you to achieve

your vision, check what other companies in

your area have come up with. Just make

sure your sustainability vision and mission

didn’t ignore something very important to

the industry.

Staff volunteering If you or your employees want to find a NGO

to do pro-bono work for, register here: www.sharek.org


28

Do a World Café: For every focus

area in your mission statement(s)

try to identify one or two projects

that you and your small team can

implement over the next couple of months.

For this purpose, get a good mix of people

together. Your employees should be in-

volved, but you can also ask some good

friends, a family member or experts you

know. Invite all of them for a so-called

World Café. You can have a real coffee

break with it. This is how it works:

>> World Café

Area 1

Area 2

Area 3

Area 4

Guests

Count your focus areas, for example water

consumption, electricity consumption and

recycling, and arrange as many tables in a

room. Write each of your focus areas on a

large piece of paper and put one on each

table. Then distribute people among tables

and ask them to come up with as many pro-

ject ideas for the area as possible. Rotate

after 15-20 minutes and repeat until every-

one has worked on every area. Then review

all project ideas and choose one or two very

promising actions per topic.

29


Ideas from millions of experts Seattle-based café chain Starbucks gives its

customers a say. With amazing success: mystarbucksidea.force.com

Ahmed’s Oriental Kitchen Together with his staff Ahmed

decides on the following values for

the business: hospitality, professionalism,

and reliability. For their vision they determi-

ne this statement: »Ahmed’s Oriental Kit-

chen restaurants all around Cairo will create

better lives in a clean environment for the

communities they operate in.« Once that is

settled, they think about where they can

have the biggest impact. That‘s why they

decide the mission should be »We serve

healthy, safe, and delicious food at reaso-

nable prices, while creating job opportuni-

ties in Cairo as well as providing a clean and

pleasant environment for all.« Coming up with project ideas is easy now.

As a first step, Ahmed wants to negotiate

with his suppliers: he receives the freshest

vegetables, dairy products and meat they

can deliver, and in exchange he will pay

above-average prices.

Prepared food that hasn’t been sold by the

end of the day and is still perfectly fit for

consumption will be donated to poor peo-

ple. Cairo’s informal garbage collectors, the

Zabbaleen, who come by anyway, might be

interested in taking the food for free for

their families and the impoverished Zabba-

leen communities.

Their vision state-

ment: »Ahmed’s

Oriental Kitchen

restaurants all

around Cairo will

create better lives

in a clean

environment for

the communities

they operate in.«

http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/


30


4 - Walk the talk

Foundations As an entrepreneur you have

accepted responsibility for your

business impacts. You have also defined a

sustainability vision, your mission and ac-

tivities. Now it’s time to implement your

plans, because a strategy or a vision, even a

great one, does not implement itself – you

need to walk your sustainability talk. Just in

case you need some additional inspiration,

here are a few suggestions for sustainable

business activities listed per stakeholder

group for easy reference:

You can start with identifying some short-

term and some long-term goals to achieve

the sustainability vision. Remember, goals

should be SMART, i.e., Simple, Measurable,

Achievable, Reliable and Time-bound.

Implementation is about seeking better

ways to align day-to-day operations with

your specific CSR activities. To do this, you

also need to evaluate the ability of each

process, person or department. For exam-

ple, to help the environment you can look at

the product development, procurement and

sales process – and identify opportunities

for sustainability (waste management, client

education, greener products, local sourc-

ing). Some entrepreneurs may find it useful

to manage their products’ environmental

footprint. Others may need to provide addi-

tional benefits for workers, or they may

want to work exclusively with suppliers that

only employ workers of legal age.

During the implementation phase, it is im-

portant that your business engages and em-

powers employees and business partners to

execute the strategy and vision. As a leader,

your »Sustainability mindset« needs to

trickle down into all the operational proc-

esses. You need to develop a set of cultural

beliefs about the importance of sustainabil-

ity to the company’s long-term success. This

can be enhanced by developing codes of

conduct for your stakeholders.

Environment

Green products Water & energy efficiency Waste reduction Environment education

Employees

Better working conditions Improved work/life balance Creating a diverse team Staff volunteering

Community

Investments in infrastructure Education and training Job opportunities Affordable products

Market

Local sourcing Good supplier relations Anti-corruption Business alliances

31


Toolbox Before you jump straight into

implementation, you need to fol-

low key project management steps for suc-

cessful execution of your sustainable start-

up strategy. Focus on a handful of projects

you have identified to work towards your

vision. Don’t overburden yourself with too

much too soon. No matter what you choose

to do, it is important to understand that all

activities follow five basic processes.

Initiation: Use your sustainability

vision and mission to launch the

first (few) project(s). If people un-

derstand how any given project

helps to achieve your vision and mission,

they have a sense of purpose and will be

much more determined to make it happen.

If you can’t lead the project yourself, pick

one of your employees. Ask for volunteers

among staff to find someone who is eager

to work on your CSR project. Then commu-

nicate the launch of the project to the en-

tire team so people know what’s going on

and they can contribute according to their

abilities.

Planning: You (or the project man-

ager in charge) have to generate a

plan for the project in terms of

what exactly you want to do/

change, who is part of the process, what

budget is available, what timeline you are

working with, and what has to be achieved

in the end. Think of it as an action plan. This

can be a simple table with columns showing

task, responsible person, deadline and cost.

Most importantly, all the people involved in

the execution of the project will have to be

part of the planning too. There’s nothing

worse than other people making plans for

you without actually asking first.

The project manager has to get the team

together on a regular basis to discuss neces-

sary steps and make sure everybody knows

what to do and when to have everything

completed.

By the way, don’t forget to establish what

basis you are starting from. If you want to

increase the amount of packaging you recy-

cle, you have to know your current recycling

rate to have a comparison at project end.

Execution: This is the fun part! You

roll up your sleeves, or »walk the

talk«, and adjust your business so

that you can reach your sustain-

ability vision. As you progress with your first

CSR project, you and your employees will

see the impact bit by bit. That should keep

you going throughout the implementation

phase. Make sure you acknowledge and

celebrate these little successes.

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development support to Egyptian innovative businesses www.innoventures.me


32

Monitoring: This step is done in

parallel to the other processes. It

is where you are constantly check-

ing to make sure whatever you do is in line

with your original plan. If not, you will have

to take action to get back on track. Meet

with the implementation team on a regular

basis to monitor progress and define new

tasks when others can be ticked off. Once

the project is fully implemented, a final

evaluation is due. If you said you want to

reduce your water consumption by 20% at

the beginning of the project, you have to do

the maths and find out if you did. Is your

water bill really lower now than it was at

project inception? Only then can you really

say whether or not the project was a suc-

cess and contributed towards achieving

your vision.

Closing: Time to celebrate! This is

when you complete all the work of

a certain project or after a time

period previously set, tally up the

total bill and sit back and enjoy the fruits of

your (and your team’s) hard work. Well

done!

9 points to make your sustainability projects work:

Plan properly! As Dwight D. Eisen-hower once said, plans are worthless, but planning is everything.

Manage your time! Make sure you get things started early so you don’t run into trouble later.

Communicate! Listen to people and be open to what they say. At the same time share your ideas with others to get feedback.

Don’t be afraid to ask! There are enough mentors and experts out there who are willing to share their ideas and help (free of charge).

Lead by example! It’s your business and you are responsible for its success. You will have to make it work.

Be determined! And ask others to do the same. Things will only happen if everyone pulls their weight.

Take small steps! Projects can seem overwhelming. Chop them up into smaller tasks for ease of mind.

Stay focused! Once you have decided on a project, stick to it and get it done. You can embark on more afterwards.

Make an exit if need be! Don’t try for-ever if you know your project won’t work. Rather start a new one.

33


Ahmed’s Oriental Kitchen Ahmed’s targets of offering dishes

at reasonable prices while at the

same time paying in a fair manner for the

best fresh ingredients to suppliers are a real

challenge. To achieve both, the kitchen has

to avoid food going to waste by planning

preparation and sales very carefully. A week

after the very successful opening party, the

whole restaurant team comes together to

work out a sustainability action plan. Every-

one takes over at least one task including a

budget. Salma will come up with a changing

menu every week according to what’s in

season. She will procure only the exact

quantities needed for any given week. As

business owner, Ahmed is going to negoti-

Crowdfunding in the Arab world Let the crowd fund your sustainability projects!

Present it on www.yomken.com or www.zoomaal.com

The restaurant

team manages

food and waste

carefully.

ate with the suppliers, while Karim is going

to ask the garbage collectors if they are

interested in picking up left-over food every

evening, wrapped up in environmental-

friendly, reusable boxes.

After one month, they have figured out

food management procedures that reduce

waste. Before they start to think about new

projects, they analyze what went well and

what did not go as expected. They realize

that they did well in realizing their action

plan, but that it’s a challenge to make cus-

tomers understand that their sustainable

business activities make them unique. Most

people haven’t heard of the concept yet.

Therefore, it’s time to invest time in com-

municating their concept and actions.


34


5 - Talk your walk

Foundations During the past decade, »CSR

expectations« from governments,

NGOs and consumers have been on the

increase, putting business under pressure

to perform, not only financially, but also

socially and environmentally, to think about

a triple bottom line. Coupled with the tech-

nological impact, especially social media, it

has become increasingly difficult for compa-

nies to hide their negative impacts, but also

more easy to show their positive contribu-

tions.

It has come to a point where stakeholder

don’t want to be informed only by polished

press releases any more. Stakeholders to-

day are seeking greater transparency, or-

ganisational accountability and good gov-

ernance – and this trend isn’t just for big

businesses but includes SMEs through the

supply chain.

Therefore, business is shifting from:

the shareholder to the stakeholder

identifying to engaging with stakeholders

informing to reporting

Communicating your sustainability activities

is key to your business success. Your cus-

tomers want to know what you are doing.

Consumers expect goods and services to

reflect socially and environmentally respon-

sible business behaviour at competitive

prices. A good business reputation has a

significant impact on the brands customers

choose. If organisations are to survive in

the rapidly changing global environment,

they must embrace and increase their com-

munication.

After all, if customers, employees and in-

vestors don’t have the necessary informa-

tion to compare different companies and

products, it is difficult for them to make the

right choices. Help them to lead a more

sustainable lifestyle by keeping them in the

loop!

Business communication can be classified

into two types: internal and external. Inter-

nal documents circulate within the com-

pany. External documents are shared with

stakeholders outside of the business.

So, start talking about your CSR efforts!

Contents of sustainability reports An advanced step of your sustainability

talk could be to report on your CSR efforts

in a brochure. The following are typical

chapters of CSR reports:

Statement of principles and intent

Identification of relevant sustainability dimensions

Stakeholder mapping and engagement

Discussion of activities

Measurable results and statistics

35


Getting the message across Try videos to communicate your CSR efforts.

Start by watching this inspirational movie: »HOME« available for free on Youtube

Toolbox Here’s how you get the word out

to your internal and external

stakeholders.

Internal communication

In the modern business world, people com-

municate by text, phone, email, written

correspondence and verbal communication.

In effective communication, you must

choose the communication method best

suited for your staff. However, it is impor-

tant to:

announce your sustainability vision and

implementation roadmap early on

continuously update your staff on pro-

gress regarding sustainability activities

encourage two-way communication and

be open to feedback and ideas

talk about challenges during the process,

just as much as you celebrate milestones

Here are some ideas for your internal com-

munication with employees:

Weekly Sustainability Tea: Infor-

mal gatherings are important in

any company. This is where new

ideas are born. Get your employ-

ees together for a weekly tea break to talk

about CSR matters. Of course, you should

serve organic tea to go with the theme. Or

try locally roasted coffee and baklava.

Suggestion box: Sometimes people

are afraid to talk about their ideas

because they don’t know how they

will be received. To gather those great

ideas, put up a suggestion box in the office

where everyone can drop project ideas

anonymously. This way you can also gather

feedback on completed projects. Let people

have their say!

Let them vote: Once a month,

open the suggestion box and list

all the ideas, however small or

weird, on a wall poster. Then ask

team members to (anonymously) vote for

their favourite idea by sticking a red dot

next to it. The project with the biggest sup-

port wins and can be implemented as the

project of the month.

External communication

Communicating your CSR projects to your

external stakeholders is very important.

Part of your social engagement is because

you want a good business reputation, which

can give you a competitive advantage. On

the other hand, you also want to tap into

your stakeholders for new ideas. Therefore

you need to let people know what you are

doing well and what you are working on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU


36

Local media: You can easily create a

little press release about your pro-

jects. Or you can place a small adver-

tisement, emphasising your CSR com-

mitment and/or project(s). During a staff

volunteer activity or a cheque hand-over,

you can take photos and send them to

newspapers for publishing. Papers are al-

ways looking for a good story.

Website: Creating a website these

days is easy and inexpensive. You

can use this platform to talk about

sustainability efforts – and of course about

your products and services, too. A very user

-friendly and free online tool to build your

own website is www.wordpress.org. If that

still seems too difficult, you may want to

start a blog to create some buzz around

your company and latest developments.

Check out www.blogger.com to create one.

Social Media: If you are not part of

the tweeting generation – no wor-

ries. Ask any one of your younger

employees to set up an account

and keep it updated. They’ll be thrilled to

get an excuse to check out Twitter or Face-

book as part of their job! Social media is on

the rise and the next generation of clients

will use it to check out your products as

well as sustainability efforts.

Let your products speak for them-

selves: As a business you produce

or sell products on a regular basis.

Make use of them as a communica-

tion tool at no extra cost. You print labels

for your products anyway, so you can in-

clude information on their positive ecologi-

cal or social properties or your CSR activities

on the back. Even if you sell services, the

letters and documents you send out can

contain little bits of extra information on

your sustainability projects, as can your

business cards and flyers.

International reporting

If you are more established in your sustain-

ability activities, think about a proper sus-

tainability report. It doesn’t have to be a

lengthy book with dozens of pages. A small

report in the form of a brochure could be a

great start towards professional sustainabil-

ity reporting.

Thankfully, there are international guide-

lines you can use to structure your report-

ing activities. Each of these organisations

has plenty of reporting tools available for

both corporates and SMEs. If you are plan-

ning to grow internationally or work with

big multinational corporations you’d better

be comfortable preparing in-depth reports

on your CSR. It’s the stuff that they look for

when choosing new suppliers from abroad.

http://wordpress.org/

http://www.blogger.com/

37


Transparency: Let your products speak German fishmonger business “Followfish” allows customers to track products online with a code:

www.followfish.de/en

UN Global Compact: The United

Nations Global Compact is an in-

ternational network and frame-

work for sustainability management and

CSR with a membership of about 7000 so-

cially and environmentally conscious com-

panies from around the world. The UN

Global Compact also provides guidance if

you’d like to report on your sustainability

progress at www.unglobalcompact.org

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI):

This network-based organisation

has produced and regularly up-

dates a comprehensive sustainabil-

ity reporting framework. It allows you to

report according to your CSR maturity level

and is therefore quite useful for small com-

panies, too. All relevant documents, news

on the latest trends in sustainability report-

ing and more information are available free

of charge at the GRI website under the link

www.globalreporting.org

ISO 26000: The ISO 26000 stan-

dard provides harmonised, glob-

ally relevant guidance on social

responsibility management for

private and public sector organisations of all

types. An overview is available free of

charge, but the full document has to be

bought at www.iso.org

Ahmed’s Oriental Kitchen Being proud of having succeeded

in their first sustainability project,

the restaurant team wants to tell its cus-

tomers and its community about it. Karim is

keen on setting up a Facebook page for the

business. The first posts are about the high

quality of their dishes, the management of

food waste and a brief introduction into

the concept of sustainability.

Since all three team members write mes-

sages to their friends, customers, and busi-

ness partners, one hundred people »like«

Ahmed’s Oriental Kitchen profile after only

one day. They have many more customers

in the following week than ever before.

Ahmed appoints Karim as communication

manager to keep the Facebook page up-to-

date and bring up new communication

ideas in the future. Apart from improving

his social media skills, Karim gets a pay rise.

http://www.followfish.de/en

http://www.unglobalcompact.org/COP/communicating_progress.html

http://www.globalreporting.org

http://www.iso.org


38

Egyptian Case Studies

39



Oasis Renewable Energy

The business

The company with 11 employees was

founded by Egyptian professionals and en-

gineering professors operating in the field

of renewable energy in 2010. Its services

include feasibility studies, construction,

commissioning and operation of renewable

energy installations as well as technical ad-

visory services for small to large renewable

energy projects.

The model

Oasis supports micro enterprises to develop

prototypes of small scale renewable energy

installations for small farmers like 100 US-

Dollar solar water heaters. Oasis provides

interim management, coaches staff, and

provides hands-on train-

ing at the Oasis Commu-

nity Centre. Moreover, it

connects the start-ups to

research centres and

funds partially their capi-

tal expenditure. The start

-ups are all contributing

to the main stream busi-

ness of Oasis, by either

providing products re-

placing export, or devel-

oping a product with a

higher local content and

lower budget.

The drivers

Most of the existing available technology

does not match the performance character-

istics of the harsh environmental conditions

in Egypt. The few technologies that would

withstand the said conditions, are normally

at price levels that are not affordable for

SMEs in the agricultural sector, especially

smallholders. Business owner Amr Farouk

explains his motivation: “I prefer to support

people to derive an income on their own

over charity, even as the mentored entre-

preneurs may actually be our competitors.”

The results

Currently, Oasis is contributing to 5 start-

ups, and aims at supporting 10 in total dur-

ing the pilot phase. Parallel

to the technical develop-

ment of the prototypes, the

development partner AW-

TAD develops a capacity

building and microfinance

scheme for women in se-

lected villages. An aware-

ness campaign that aims at

disseminating knowledge

about the benefits of re-

newable energy is also un-

derway.

[email protected] A US$100-wind turbine


40


Schaduf Urban Micro Farms

The business

Schaduf Urban Micro Farms sells urban far-

ming systems and offers a whole package of

support to rooftop farmers: from the loan

to invest into a tailored irrigation system to

technical support up to marketing the fresh

produce. Sherif and Tarek Hosny started the

business two years ago. The brothers now

employ 7 people.

The model

The model is an inclusive business model

where low-income households are ad-

dressed as customers and producers at the

same time. To increase commitment to

rooftop-gardening, the installation of the

irrigation system is not for free, but Schaduf

connects the urban poor to organizations

that manage micro finance funds. Besides,

Schaduf trains their customers in micro

farming, and provides services such as stra-

tegic market analysis and quality control.

Five weeks after sowing, the crop is ready

for harvesting. Schaduf buys the fresh pro-

duce from the urban farmers, re-sells them

in big quantities to wholesalers or delivers

them to customers via the Internet. De-

pending on the harvested quantities, the

micro farmer receives EGP 100-300 per

month starting from the second month.

The drivers

Since the 1950s, more and more Egyptian

rural families have sold their modest par-

cels of agricultural land to move to the cit-

ies in the hope of getting a job in manufac-

turing. This decision has turned out to be a

poverty trap for most people when they

can’t find a job in the city. Furthermore,

agricultural skills are being lost. Plus, the

decrease in agricultural land leads to in-

creasing food prices.

The results

After Schaduf successfully built several pro-

totypes, the company started implementing

its solution in low-income neighborhoods.

One of Schaduf’s first customers managed

to increase her income by 30% compared to

her pre-gardening income.

+201 0017 75224,

[email protected]

41


The business

A.P.E. stands for Association of for the Pro-

tection of the Environment. Legally an NGO,

the social business helps Cairo’s garbage

collectors, called the Zabbaleen, to recycle

scrap and to compost organic waste. Rugs

are woven and patchworks are sewn from

fabric remnants, recovered paper is being

recycled and re-used for paper crafts.

The model

Around 100 girls and women, all daughters

of informal garbage collectors, work within

the association in craftsmanship or admini-

stration, receiving a monthly salary. An-

other 300 girls and women sew clothing out

of remnants in their homes. On behalf of

them, A.P.E. markets the products in Egyp-

tian shops, and occasionally abroad. Addi-

tionally, A.P.E. offers training in manufac-

turing, health care, and literacy programs

for children and their mothers.

The drivers

The Zabbal collects waste from each apart-

ment on his route and then takes it home,

where it is sorted into different types

(plastic, glass, metal, etc.) and then sold to

other families or companies that recycle it.

The sorting work was traditionally done in

the home by women and girls, resulting in

high rates of diseases such as tetanus and

hepatitis, as well as high rates of infant

mortality. The aim of the social business is

to help the traditionally marginalized group

find innovative ways to support the envi-

ronment and aid themselves.

The results

Through the many programs in 25 years of

A.P.E., women have become empowered to

build better lives for themselves and their

families. Through comprehensive develop-

ment, including health, education, social,

economic and cultural programs, garbage

collectors become agents of change for a

better environment.

People in the U.S. love A.P.E.’s products.

A.P.E. sold its products of a value of

$46.000 at the last Christmas fair in New

York City. Fashion designer Marc Jacobs was

inspired to include A.P.E.’s colourful bags in

his stores worldwide and on his website.

+202 2341 2723, [email protected]


A.P.E.


42


Diwan Bookstore

The business

Hind Wassef, Nihal Schawky, and Nadia

Wassef introduced a new kind of bookstore

in Egypt where people can buy books, films,

music, magazines, stationery, or just have a

cup of coffee in a relaxed and friendly place.

Books are available in Arabic, English, Ger-

man, and French. The first bookstore

opened in 2002 with 15 employees. Today,

the business operates with 145 employees.

The model

Diwan’s mission is to bring back a culture of

reading to adults and children. By hosting

events for local writers, providing work-

shops and lectures, screening the works of

emerging artists and filmmakers, as well as

promoting alternative and independent

musicians, Diwan contributes to the revival

and celebration of different aspects of Arab

and Egyptian culture. The range of articles

for kids does not only include entertain-

ment but age-specific education and knowl-

edge.

Diwan is supporting NGOs actively in diffe-

rent fields of education, empowerment,

and health by donating the proceeds of its

Diwan Bag sales. It is also a consumer

driven brand in the sense that it listens to

what its customers want and try to act ac-

cordingly, e.g. when it comes to the intro-

duction of new titles in Diwan.

The drivers

As the three partners delved into the world

of literature throughout their college years,

they came across classic Arabic texts that

were not being celebrated in mainstream

studies. The first branch opened to revive

and celebrate Arab and Egyptian culture,

and to be an active platform of cultural in-

teraction - bridging the boundaries between

East and West.

The results

The business has been featured and widely

acknowledged for its continuing impact in

Time Magazine, The Bookseller, and The

Wall Street Journal. The founders have re-

ceived The Veuve-Clicquot Initiative for Eco-

nomic Development 2011 for their efforts in

creating a business that supports and devel-

ops cultural production and life in Egypt.

+202 27546349, [email protected]

43


The business

The three childhood friends Tarek El Nazer,

Basel Mashhour and Sameh El Sadat started

TBS - The Bakery Shop in 2008. Since then,

TBS opened 13 local bakeries across Egypt

that serve everything from bread to pas-

tries, with the croissant in different varie-

ties undoubtedly being their signature

product. From 9 employees at the start, TBS

grew to 260 within 5 years.

The model

TBS runs four different CSR projects. Besi-

des sponsoring and a recycling project, TBS

engaged into the political transition Egypt

experiences. During the „Got Ink!“ cam-

paign, all TBS branches offered free pro-

ducts to customers

who had ink on their

finger. A bright purple

index finger served as

proof that they cast

their vote at the presi-

dential elections in

2012. Furthermore,

TBS managers mentor

students on how to

succeed in the private

sector by participating

in a business competi-

tion organized by the

Egyptian NGO Injaz.

The drivers

The “Got Ink!” campaign aimed at encoura-

ging people to be part of the historic presi-

dential elections in 2012. The founders

wanted to get involved in the political tran-

sition without promoting one particular

candidate for the elections. “We wanted to

show that TBS believes in your vote”, says

Basel Mashhour, one of the founders.

The TBS founders do corporate volunteering

because they are grateful for the past and

on-going mentorship they received from

their family and friends, as well as from

business support institutions. The primary

goal of the supported initiative Injaz is to

make sure the leaders of today can create

leaders for tomorrow.

The results

During the „Got Ink!“ cam-

paign, TBS gave away alm-

ost 16,500 free products,

resulting in much traffic in

the shops. People did not

only go for the free prod-

uct but bought two or

three more pieces.

+202 2380 3339,

basel.mashhour@

tbsegypt.com


The Bakery Shop


44

The business

DCS Telecom is a service provider in the

area of network and satellite telecommuni-

cations such as satellite internet (VSAT) and

VoIP. The Egyptian-based company’s main

customers are from the marine and petro-

leum industry. 13 years after founding the

company, CEO Essam Khalil employs 50

people within Egypt. The company has an

outreach to several African and Arab coun-

tries through small partners.

The model

DCS Telecom invites college students to

work at its premises during the students’

summer break. The beneficiaries receive on

-the-job training for 3 months and gain an

insight into business with state-of-the-art

technologies. In order to find applicants for

this program and to to excite a bigger group

of students about their industry, DCS Tele-

com holds presentations at public and pri-

vate universities in Cairo.


DCS Telecom

The drivers

Egyptian students hardly have the opportu-

nity to gain professional experience at local

companies, especially small ones. Intern-

ships as seen everywhere in Western coun-

tries and international corporations are not

very common in Egyptian companies. In

contrast, DCS Telecom does not only see

the additional work in training the incoming

students, but also appreciates their contri-

butions. In the medium to long term, the

business hopes to acquire former summer

training students to join their team. The

business expects to grow substantially in

staff numbers under the condition that sat-

ellite communications will be the future

first choice communications technology.

The results

During the 3 years of running the program,

20 students have been trained and one of

them joined DCS Telecom after graduation.

The staff has seen the students progress in

committing to the rules of the workspace

like being there on time and working 8

hours a day.

DCS Telecom also joined the UN Global

Compact to show their commitment.


Photo: Mr. Kamalo, DCS employee and former intern

45



RE: Genuine Plastic Bags

The business

RE: Genuine Plastic Bags is a fashion line

founded this year by two design graduates

from Egypt, Yara Yassin and Rania Rafie. By

ironing several layers of standard plastic

bags together, they create a material that is

water and sand-repellent. The final out-

come are colorful handbags and purses as

well as cell phone and tablet covers.

The model

The two young designers started to upcycle

plastic shopping bags during a semester at a

university in Berlin. Upcycling is the process

of converting waste materials into new

functional material or products to prolong

its lifetime.

Since the graphical elements of their prod-

ucts depend on the available raw material,

each design is only made once and thus

serves as unique fashion item. Customers

can also bring along their own old plastic

bags and Yara and Rania help them to pre-

serve memories related to a certain bag.

The drivers

The two founders aim at raising awareness

for the high quantities of plastic produced

and used every day. “We have the bad hab-

its of buying things all the time and using

plastic shopping bags only once. Plus, God

didn’t pack water into bottles!”, says Yara.

These habits would harm the environment

and unbalance our ecosystems: Huge

amounts of plastics are eaten by fish and

other animals and make their way into the

human food-chain. Yara and Rania want to

spread the idea of reusing materials and

want to encourage the start of other upcy-

cling projects in Egypt and the MENA.

The results

Prototypes of the bags are finished and du-

rability tests showed positive results. A few

bags have been sold in Germany and Egypt.

As a next step, they are going to start an

awareness and marketing campaign in

hypermarkets. In the future, the two young

business women want to teach the upcy-

cling technique to Egyptian crafts women,

so that they can produce the bags in a

higher quantities.



46

The business

Wasla Outsourcing provides call center and

technical support services, marketing re-

search solutions, and outsourcing solutions.

The company has 3250 employees in Egypt

and Saudia Arabia. The company is a mem-

ber of the UN Global Compact.

The model

The company’s approach to support the

community is to integrate disabled individu-

als into its workspace. In cooperation with

Al-Noor & Al-Amal Association, WASLA pro-

vides trainings and jobs for blind or partially

sighted individuals in one of the call cen-

ters. Currently, there are 20 agents working

for WASLA.

There is no difference made in the wages

between blind and non-blind staff, since

both groups do their own special contribu-

tions to the business. The disabled staff

inspires the rest of the employees and pro-

vides them with fresh ideas. To overcome

particular barriers for the blind in their daily

work, special support schemes like ongoing

skills and knowledge trainings are in place.

Besides this initiative, Wasla promotes en-

trepreneurship in partnership with the In-

formation Technology Institute by enabling

university graduates to start their own com-

panies. Wasla and ITI supported graduates

in establishing a first call center in Assiut.


WASLA

The drivers

Disabled persons face serious challenges in

finding jobs. Assistance programs are often

complicated and poorly coordinated, forc-

ing individuals to piece together informa-

tion and to develop work strategies on their

own. Employers are often reluctant to hire

the disabled, which can discourage them

from looking for work. Wasla strives to help

disabled individuals to get jobs.

The results

Hiring disabled persons gives Wasla access

to a larger talent pool and exposes the com-

pany to new viewpoints that enables it to

improve its service quality. These individu-

als have proven to be as highly skilled and

efficient or even better as the fully sighted.


Islamic leader Mostafa Hosny visiting blind call agents

47



Blue Moon

The business

Global Compact member Blue Moon sup-

ports the fresh produce industry in MENA

to meet legal and customer requirements of

the European Union. Its services include

capacity building and consulting, self-

assessment and internal audits, second

party audits, as well as an independent resi-

due monitoring program.

The model

In a two-year project funded by USAID, Blue

Moon trained small growers of Northern

Egypt in earning the trust of the interna-

tional fresh produce supply chain. The focus

of the integrated capacity building program

lay on the adherence to the requirements

of GLOBALG.A.P. and FAIRTRADE standards

as well as consumers’ expectations. The

small growers also acquired skills in strate-

gic planning and marketing agricultural

products. Blue Moon planned and imple-

mented the “Premium Project for Egyptian

Small Growers” as well as provided training

and consultation services.

The drivers

The challenge was “good practice” not

“farming”. Egyptians have been growing

fruits and vegetables for 7,000 years but

they need guidance to meet international

expectations. Blue Moon believes that by

helping Egyptian small growers meet the

requirements of international standards,

Egypt could potentially be one of the largest

exporters of fresh produce around the

world.

The results

In the fields, pollution has been reduced

through collecting bags, personal hygiene

has been increased through the provision of

field toilets and hand washing facilities, and

work safety has ben improved through pro-

tective clothes. A first UK-based trading

company started to buy fresh produce from

Egyptian small growers and a traceability

system has been installed. Almost 1200

Egyptian small growers are now certified by

GLOBALG.A.P. in Behera & Mersa Matrouh

Governorates.

+201 0698 1112,

[email protected]

HOW TO BUILD COMMUNITY TURN OFF YOUR TV LEAVE YOUR HOUSE

KNOW YOUR NEIGHBOURS PLANT FLOWERS • GREET PEOPLE PLAY TOGETHER • LEND A HAND

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESSES SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE • HONOUR ELDERS

RESPECT YOUNGSTERS FIX IT EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T BREAK IT

HAVE A BARBECUE TOGETHER • PICK UP LITTER SHARE YOUR SKILLS

LISTEN TO THE BIRDS • PUT UP A SWING HELP CARRY SOMETHING HEAVY

START A TRADITION • ASK A QUESTION ORGANISE A BLOCK PARTY BAKE EXTRA AND SHARE

ASK FOR HELP WHEN YOU NEED IT SEEK TO UNDERSTAND

Published in 2013 in Cairo by

32 Sabri Abou Alam First Floor, Apartment 8, Downtown, Cairo Egypt e [email protected] I icecairo.com

Egyptian Corporate Responsibility Center (ECRC) 9 Hayaat El Tadress Square Dokki, Cairo Egypt e [email protected] i ecrc.org.eg