Private firms need to remodel their businesses to incorporate the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, Industry and Trade CS Adan Mohamed has said. He urged business leaders to include SDGs in their strategic plans to enable the government to achieve the goals.
The CS spoke at the launch of the Business and Sustainable Development Commission’s report on Thursday. “Having worked in the private and public sector I now understand that the two entities should work together,” Mohamed said.
The BSDC report indicates there is urgent need for the government, civil society and the private sector to cooperate to eradicate poverty, tackle inequality and increase financial access.
“Business leaders need to strike out in new directions to embrace more sustainable and inclusive economic models,” co-founder of the BSDC Mark Malloch Brown said.
The SDGs are intergovernmental initiatives, but most companies treat them as corporate social responsibility projects which they ride on to boost their brands.
“Unless private companies seize the opportunities they open up and advance progress across the whole range of goals, neither business nor the rest of the world will gain the benefits derived from the goals,” the report stated.
The SDGs have the potential to boost the global private sector by at least $12 trillion.
