At the Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN) Conference 2023, James Ong, Head of M&A and Strategy, IMC Ventures, delivered a compelling message on achieving sustainability through corporate governance and portfolio management. He emphasised IMC’s commitment to our Well-Being Mandate where we create wealth while doing good. With clear sustainability goals in place, IMC establishes a direction and framework for our investment arm to work towards.
A key aspect highlighted by James was the importance of robust corporate governance. This framework enables sustainability considerations to be integrated into corporate policies and decision-making processes. The framework is supported by three factors:
- Transparency, which ensures ethical practices and accountability in decision-making. By aligning actions with sustainable goals, companies can reduce the risk of reputational damage and regulatory non-compliance.
- Being management-driven, where leaders hold the important role of setting the vision and direction for an organisation’s sustainability efforts. By integrating sustainability considerations into strategic planning, resource allocation, and risk management processes, leaders can guide their teams and companies to create long-term value while addressing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges.
- Accountability for all employees, as achieving sustainability requires collective action. When employees take ownership and understand the sustainability agenda, all business decisions are made based on the same principles.
As James mentioned, organisations and companies need to work towards achieving sustainability as a collective, thus, it is important to also share the knowledge we have to enable others to begin or improve their efforts towards being sustainable.
