Creating +Change - June 2024 Round Up

Welcome to the seventh edition of Creating +Change Series, a monthly publication covering the latest in sustainability and ESG. Plus, what’s happening behind the scenes at Paragon Impact. 

Attending AfricaArise & Pitching Paragon Technology 

This month began with Paragon+ Impact attending the AfricArena London Summit in Techspace, London. 

AfricArise is an African tech accelerator that runs Corporate Open Innovation Challenges throughout the African continent. They aim to foster the African tech environment by conducting events that connect entrepreneurs, investors, and corporates. 

Our Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) Amy King had the opportunity to attend the event and pitch Paragon Impact’s impact management and SDG grading platform to the judges. 

Speaking about the event and her pitch, Amy said: 

“It was a pleasure to present at the AfricArena event in London. I was extremely impressed by the panelists and speakers. There is clearly a huge wealth of talent and innovation both within and linked to Africa that will solve a lot of global challenges.” 

We hope to bring strategic transformation to the tech investment space in Africa with the Paragon Grading System which integrates SDG Grading and global sustainability standards into one robust platform. 

Keen on becoming a Paragon Impact Partner and supporting your clients to manage, measure and grade their impact? Reach out to amy@paragonimpact.com for guidance and demo. 

Speaking At SAICA On Integrated Reporting

Last week, our co-founder and Director Brett Wallington attended an event organised by SAICA. 

Brett was part of a panel discussion, sharing the stage with reputed founder Viwe Tini, CEO of Vunani Securities. The topic was “Unearthing Value Creation Ability In Integrated Reporting.”

Brett spoke on the integrated reporting landscape, sharing insights on strategies and challenges in information connectivity; limiting the loss of value and defending a company’s financial and non-financial position beyond all doubt. 

Awards & Accolades: IoD Jersey Awards

We are thrilled to announce that our co-founder Philip Faure has been nominated for IoD Jersey’s 2024 Director of the Year Award in the category of Sustainability.

The Director of the Year Awards celebrate individual talent and is recognised as Britain’s most prestigious leadership awards. Members of the public, business leaders and employees vote for worthy individuals who they feel should be duly rewarded for their contribution and be recognised for their leadership this past year.

                             Winners of last year’s awards 

The last few years will go down as a time of unprecedented challenge and change, with leaders drawing on all their talent and resilience to support staff, collaborate and innovate.  This award celebrates those individuals who have pulled their organisation through these extraordinary times — repositioning or evolving their products to meet customer demand. 

Huge congratulations to Philip on his nomination. 

Simplifying ESG: Double Materiality 

At Paragon Impact, we are constantly striving to simplify the complexities around sustainability to help organisations navigate their way through this ever-evolving field. It’s why we built our system. 

Nevertheless,  the ESG landscape remains inundated with a mosaic of concepts and jargon. 

This month, we want to highlight an important concept: double materiality. 

Double Materiality is a fundamental principle guiding organisations to report on sustainability topics that impact economic, environmental and social aspects. It is a key driver behind strategic decisions for short, medium and long term growth, assessing risks and influencing stakeholder outcomes. 

Needless to say, understanding double materiality is pivotal for businesses to confidently communicate their sustainability strategy to stakeholders while addressing issues that impact their triple bottom line.   

Launching Paragon Double Materiality 

Speaking of double materiality, we are pleased to announce our latest offering:  Paragon Double Materiality Training & Workshops. 

Our tailored Double Materiality Assessment clinics and assessment workshops are designed to help businesses align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Furthermore, they will support you in getting buy-in and strategic alignment across your organisation.

Our clinics include:

The Discovery Call: An initial one-hour session to understand your needs.

The next step is to undertake training and education across defined stakeholder groups.

Training & Workshops: Detailed sessions analysing your organisation’s risks and impacts through the lens of the 17 UN SDGs. These can range from half a day to over a few days depending on the size of your organisation.

Materiality Assessment: A comprehensive evaluation of your company’s impacts across environmental, social, and governance aspects.

Strategic Alignment: Helping your executives and stakeholders align business operations with global sustainability frameworks.

Our impact analysts and sustainability experts simplify the complexities of sustainability reporting, enhancing your company’s reputation and aligning business goals with sustainable practices for a competitive advantage.

You can read more about Double Materiality Assessment, the why and the process here.

Clients & Partner News: Accuro, SACT 

Good news 🎉  Accuro, one of Paragon’s esteemed clients, has just finished their first impact assessment with us! 

The world-renowned private trust partnered with us earlier this year to measure, manage and report on their impacts and get an SDG grading. Our Impact team worked with Accuro to help them identify their core and peripheral SDGs, laying out a framework to improve their net impacts across the board and align their efforts with the relevant Global Goals. 

We want to congratulate Accuro on finishing this important milestone in their impact journey and getting one step closer towards achieving Agenda 2030. 

In addition, Paragon had the pleasure of conducting an impact assessment for the SA College for Tourism (SACT), a registered non-profit determined to uplift and empower young individuals from rural communities through higher education. 

Our team of impact analysts conducted a double materiality workshop, concluding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were most material to SACT’s operations. 

As such, SACT received a highly positive rating in their Paragon +Impact grading assessment, which speaks to the immense impact they have concerning the realisation of their core SDGs, despite their small size.

Want to get an impact assessment done for your organisation with Paragon Impact’s leading team of sustainability experts and impact analysts?

Reach out to our founders Philip, Amy and Brett. Or visit www.paragonimpact.com to request a demo. 

That’s all for this month. See you in the next one!