Sustainability Toolkit
Start your journey towards sustainability
The sustainability toolkit is a strategic tool for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (especially small-sized) to contemplate the various ways in which sustainability can be introduced into your business. It incorporates sustainability at each decision point of your business and marketing plan, whether you are a START-UP or an established business. It helps you articulate and consider where you are right now in terms of sustainability and where you want to be in the future.
Using the toolkit is completely free of charge.
You will also get a certificate that confirms that you have successfully completed the sustainable business development toolkit.
More than 160 SMEs have already used this toolkit. Every day new SMEs across the globe are utilizing it to develop their sustainability.
Watch the video on the left, and read more below on why you should use this toolkit and how it works.
Why do SMEs need a sustainability toolkit?
Most small businesses want to be more sustainable and contribute to a better future. That is great!
However, small businesses often find it difficult to fully grasp the scope of sustainability in terms of applying UNs sustainable development Goals (SDGs) and other sustainable ideas, designs and objectives. It is generally difficult to find the time to get a clear understanding of what sustainability entails.
Furthermore, companies often consider the notion of sustainability when it is too late, i.e., when the business plan or strategy has been created and ready for implementation. Thus, sustainable measures are added at the end of the process and often do not make much of a difference to the business operations.
In order for sustainability to truly work, it has to be incorporated into the business strategy right from the beginning so it becomes an integral part of the company's core values and strategic thinking.
This sustainability toolkit enables small businesses to develop their start-up business plan and/or marketing strategy while taking sustainability into account at every step of the process. Hence, sustainability is fused into the business approach.
What does the sustainability toolkit do?
The toolkit is a tool for your small business or Start-Up to become familiar with the sustainable development Goals (SDGs) and other sustainability approaches and begin contemplating the various ways in which sustainability can be introduced into your business. Hence, you can begin articulating what you are doing in terms of sustainability and what you can do to further integrate sustainable measures. You take the first steps towards integrating sustainable thinking into your business model.
There are two toolkits. One toolkit is for Start-ups and one is for established businesses who are working on their marketing strategy.
The toolkit makes you contemplate sustainability issues at each step in the strategic decision process. For instance, when considering your target market, you are asked to contemplate issues such as the distance to the target market or whether the product/service encourages a healthy lifestyle and safe to use among consumers. Hence, you repeatedly have to evaluate whether the decisions you are making for your business or marketing plan are truly sustainable.
After you have submitted your answers, you will get a nice outline of these answers send to you; this outline is your toolkit. You can use it for presenting and discussing sustainability with your colleagues. And you can start prioritising which sustainable steps you should take nor or later.
Interested? Get started on either the Start-Up Toolkit or Marketing Strategy Toolkit.