Bain & Company, a global consultancy, continues its collaboration with the World Government Summit as a knowledge partner sharing thought leadership with government officials from around the world.
Bain & Company surveyed 100 organizational leaders across 11 countries and 8 industries to learn how the MENA region can advance its sustainability agenda. Bain’s research highlights key challenges, best practices and four essential steps to help organizations take a global LEAD on sustainability.
Samer Bohsali, Senior Partner who leads the Public Sector practice at Bain & Company Middle East, said: “We found that while 70% of organizations in MENA say they integrate sustainability into their business models, only 3% are on track to achieve their sustainability goals.” Bohsali observes: “The gap between ambition and action occurs despite universal agreement on the case for change. More than 90% of executives believe their core business and operating models need to change to operate more sustainably.”
Wissam Yassine, partner and leader in the Sustainability practice at Bain & Company Middle East added that: “As we asked ourselves ‘how do we bridge this massive gap between ambition and action’ we identified 4 things that best-in-class companies are doing differently which we summarized in the ‘LEAD’ framework.” Yassine further elaborated: “L stands for Linking sustainability to strategy. E for Engaging the full organization from the board to the frontline. A is about Activating sustainability through clear implementable missions. And lastly, D encourages Driving innovation.”
Finally, Bain’s research revealed that governments play a key role in enabling the adoption of sustainable practices. Lana Kahaleh, a senior manager at Bain & Company Middle East observed: “The majority organizations surveyed believe government policies and interventions are critical for them to improve their sustainability practices, examples of which include capacity building and training and national standards.”
