CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY
SUSTAINABILITY
MALLEABILITY:
It Is A Farce. It Is A
Fad. It Is Breathtaking
Awesome
By Sheida A. Mutambi-Mutuku
I was but a lump of shapeless clay
Until I was touched by the potter one day
With his hands, he started molding me
Into what he would have me to be
The Potter’s Clay by Deborah Smith
Plemmons
I
f sustainability were to be gifted
with verbal skills, it would sing
itself hoarse to these lyrics. And the
preferred genre would probably be
heavy metal … just for effect.
Since the hand of Corporate Africa
to uched sustainability, the various
outcomes have been nothing
short of fascinating…falling along
the continuum of farce, to fad, to
breathtaking awesome. Alas! The
population tends to thin out alarmingly
as one moves towards ‘breathtaking
awesome’.
The fundamentals of pottery
counsel that there is need for a basic
understanding of the properties and
techniques of working with clay.
The basics of sustainability echo this
advice. The diverse sustainability
outcomes that are on full display across
Africa’s corporate landscape reflect the
08 MAL 12/16 ISSUE
degree to which the players took this
advice to heart, or a complete disregard
of it; coupled with the level of creativity
at play.
As Michelangelo said, ‘Every block of
stone has a statue inside it and it is the
task of the sculptor to discover it.’ He
overlooked to mention the emerging
statues would fascinate with their
unique differences. Was that meant to
be a logical deduction exercise? Artists.
This applies to sustainability as well,
which can be described broadly as a
farce, fad or breathtaking awesome. The
unique differences at play determine
the category.
Sustainability is a Farce
A few years back, a leading, wellrespected listed firm signed off its social
impact activity – To distribute and issue
desktop computers to recommended
institutions across the country.
Thousands of computers were
procured. The field sales teams were
tasked with the individual responsibility
of identifying deserving institutions,
and subsequent delivery of the same.
The true portrait of pillage and plunder
emerged as only a handful of these
units reached the intended recipients.
Field audits and follow-through to
confirm deliveries and impact were not
effected.
To further aggravate the situation, the
majority of the few lucky recipients
disposed off of their units to the highest
bidders. They had other priorities, and
had absolutely no clue on how to work
‘thiz thingz’ anyway.
Shortly thereafter, the leading business
publications regaled Corporate Kenya
and the country at large with colorful
accounts of this Farce. I literally lost
feeling in both legs.
The top leadership of this
organization featured prominently.
The accompanying narrative was
peppered with such words as
‘successful campaign’…’caring for
the community’….’ conscietous
leadership’… ’setting a precedent’...
huh?! Who does that? Who are these
people? Our erstwhile First Lady, the
Late Lucy Kibaki used to have a most
pertinent question for individuals
of high social standing whom she