Sustainability Management and Strategy: An African Casebook

With Africa predicted to emerge as a leading market in the coming years, the debate on sustainability, especially on the mitigation of business impact on the continent’s environment and society, cannot be underestimated. Prior to the worsening impact of climate change, the continent has historically been struggling to consolidate sustainability efforts in driving social and environmental protection caused by both foreign (majorly) and local business activities in the region. To capture current social and environmental injustice plaguing the African continent, Secretary‑General Prof. Petteri Taalas of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) opined that "Africa is responsible for less than 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but it is the continent which is the least able to cope with the negative impacts of climate change. Heatwaves, heavy rains, floods, tropical cyclones, and prolonged droughts are having devastating impacts on communities and economies, with increasing numbers of people at risk."

Sustainability Reporting Frameworks have empowered sustainability leaders, most especially Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs), in organizations to develop practical strategies for leading sustainability‑related issues while driving systemic change for collective thinking towards mitigating the impact of climate change on society and the environment. While there is undoubtedly a plethora of standards, codes, and toolkits to help frame the sustainability drive, with leading CSOs around the globe sharing their lived experiences, the narrative for best practices, and what the content of sustainability initiatives and reporting should be have been skewed to the Western or advanced economies’ narrative. This reporting has drowned out other continent‑specific narratives that offer a diverse pool of perspectives and locally rich content on some sustainability actions and achievements, especially from CSOs.

The role of business sustainability leaders and CSOs in Africa in positioning the continent as the "market of tomorrow" with sound and robust sustainability practices needs to be spotlighted. Owing to the gap, this book brings the urgency to light through case studies and stories from leading African businesses, while capturing their sustainability strategies and achievements. This book moves beyond the experience and context of business in advanced economies and responds to the need for an alternative narrative of sustainability leadership in Africa. The focus of this book is on the role of sustainability leadership over the last decade and discusses the contributions and challenges of navigating this multi‑disciplinary function in different sectors. The authors share their insight into this under‑researched and under‑reported perspective highly relevant to business and sustainability, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting in a growing region like Africa.

Igazeuma Okoroba is a Sustainability business leader and sociologist whose diverse experience spans civil society, media, energy, telecommunications, and manufacturing sectors. She has a master’s degree in sustainable development from the University of Exeter, UK, and a PhD in development sociology from the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Driving business ethics and compliance has been central to her role as a corporate governance leader. She manages integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) in at least eleven African countries where she has applied her expertise in sustainability standards and industry-specific frameworks. She has been recognised for implementing Africa’s best sustainability reporting practices, receiving personal and corporate awards yearly since 2021. Igazeuma writes in the non-fiction, academic, and business writing genres. In 2023, she published her first fiction novel, Chipped Off. When not engaged in sustainability advocacy, she spends most of her time promoting active citizenship through a non-governmental agency she founded, the GoFuture Network. She can be reached on igazeuma@gmail.com.

Enoch Opare Mintah is an Associate Lecturer at the University of Lincoln, UK and doctorate student at the Kingston University in the United Kingdom. He holds an MBA (University of Liverpool, UK), MSc Governance (University of Lincoln, UK) Cert. Hospitality and Tourism Management (Florida Atlantic University, USA) and a BA English (KNUST, Ghana). His research interests revolve around ESG disclosures, Sustainability Reporting, Corporate Social Responsibility, Nonprofit Leadership and Education. Enoch is a member of the British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA), European Accounting Association (EAA), and the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (ICRS-UK). He can be reached at eomintah@kingston.ac.uk.

Professor Robert Ebo Hinson is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa and a Professor of Marketing at the University of Ghana Business School. He has acted as Pro Vice-Chancellor at the Ghana Communication Technology University, having joined that University from the University of Kigali where he acted as Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academic with additional responsibility as Interim Vice Chancellor.He has as 34 originally authored and edited volumes to his credit, details of which can be found on his website www.robertebohinson.com and he can be reached on email at robert@robert@robertebohinson.com.