Shownotes: 

It is phenomenal to meet with women who refuse to conform to stereotypes, are not averse to risks and are very confident of the space they occupy (or seek to occupy). As a Black, Arab, female founder of an ESG Consultancy Communique. Gihan A.M Hyde جيهان هايد wants to use her skills to work on what she is passionate about, challenging stereotypes is not why she does what she does.

Was it necessary or important to mention her race/ethnicity instead of just talking about her expertise? Yes it is…..because people from diverse backgrounds are still not recognised for their capabilities but are more likely to be rejected for what they look like or sound like.

It is widely recognised that ‘racism’ is an ESG problem but the bigger problem is that there is very little diversity amongst the ESG fraternity - the people who advise on ESG (Technical or communications). So, It is great to see Gihan carve out her own space as an ESG communications expert.

As an advocate for equity and inclusion I like to celebrate every win (big or small) so it was great to discover our alignment on things that matter to us and how we can contribute to making a difference. In the episode of The Elephant in the Room podcast we spoke about Gihan A.M Hyde جيهان هايد's journey to ESG, what the 'S' in ESG stands for, the importance of ESG for business, why stakeholders should ask for it, triple top line, social impact, skills for communicators and the people who inspire her. 

#sdgs #ESG #esgreporting #inclusion #equityforall #TheElephantintheRoom

Memorable Passages from the Podcast: 

👉🏾 Thank you, Sudha for having me. What a pleasure. I've been such a fan of your podcast so it is surreal that I'm in it right now. So thank you.

👉🏾 So hi everyone, I'm Gihan and I'm originally from Sudan, however, I am based in the UK at the moment. If I am to introduce myself from a human point of view, I am known amongst my friends and peers to be very curious, very bold and very, how do I say it......? Courageous, if that makes sense. I am a risk taker by nature and I am not scared of trying new things. Other than known for these three traits, I am also the founder and CEO of a consultancy called CommUnique. We are an environmental, social and governance, in other words, ESG consultancy. We specialise in ESG communications and ESG business model reshaping.

👉🏾 Our job and our purpose, if you may, is to help you all, who wants to navigate the world of ESG, which is going to be the new reality to help you to do it in a very easy way, and a very simple way, but that would result in the most impactful way as well. 

👉🏾 Okay, before I say anything about the, why did I do that, I will tell you more about, when did I do that? How about that? Let's start with that. So yes you're absolutely correct. I do have 20 years under my belt when it comes to marketing and internal communications roles. In the majority of the roles, I was always the lead in the department in doing all of these change projects, whether it was with HSBC, Barclays, BP, for example, Phillip Morris, the WHO and the list goes on.

👉🏾 But then when the pandemic hit, I was angry I got really angry. Angry with myself, angry with my peers and angry with the society that I'm living in the UK and the employers as well. The reason I was angry is because… so as I said, I am from Sudan and I am married to someone whose job requires us to leave the UK every three years and then come back to it.

👉🏾 So it was extremely difficult to find roles when I came back to the UK, despite the fact that I've always worked in multi global organisations when I was abroad. But the UK employers just didn't see it as a positive move and instead they couldn't put me in a box, so I was never able to be placed in a box.

👉🏾 So when COVID hit, I faced the same problem. Employers wanted to put me in the box, but they didn't know how. I have a marketing background with PR work involved and internal communication. So they didn't know which box they should put me in. So that made me super angry. The other thing as well, is the beauty of the UK is that it has the most intelligent communication professionals you will find the world, it's a small community. And if you disappear from the community for a couple of years, you are forgotten by the community.

👉🏾 So every time I used to come back to the UK, I used to have to prove myself again and cement my expertise again and again, and again. I don't need to do that. I have nothing to prove. So that was the second reason I was angry. The third reason I was angry is because, if it wasn't for George Floyd incident, the sad incidents, and the Me too movement.

👉🏾I was always disregarded as a candidate, purely because of my name and my ethnicity, even though they wouldn't have a clue what my ethnicity is, you would not know who I am for my name. But I always felt that something was stopping me from getting these high roles and I couldn't put my finger on it.

👉🏾 So these are the three reasons why I was super angry during COVID. I mean I was always angry about it, but as I said to you before we recorded, I am not known to focus a lot on the negatives. I'm very optimistic. I'm an optimistic character,

👉🏾 I focus extremely on my work. I am as a Hawk when it comes to work, but when it comes to the social aspect, I'm extremely absent minded when it comes to these things. So COVID allowed me to sit back and think deeply about it. And this is when I decided to, you know what, enough is enough and I have to create a company. And what I didn't tell you in the introduction is that we're a team at the moment of nine And the majority of us are for underdeveloped countries and underrepresented communities. And the reason I chose to do that, so my business model is all about allowing my fellow communication professionals who are like me from underdeveloped countries to have a platform.

👉🏾 So they come in, they helped me develop the work for our client, but then they can actually use that as a case study towards their portfolios and CVs. So in other words, I do not judge them according to whoever background, whatever ethnicity they're from. Because even if you're a junior, even if you're still starting out, you're more than welcome to join CommUnique and I will train you and mentor you because that's my passion.

👉🏾 And I will prepare you as a communication professional to deal with the developed world, because the way the developed world operates and works, and the mindset is completely different than the Arab world, for example. So my job is to prep you as a communication professional. So that was why I created CommUnique.

👉🏾 Why did I decide on ESG? Basically, it's because I got introduced to it during my time in BP. Without realising that I had been communicating elements of the E the S and the G throughout my career, but I never realised it was called ESG. You know? So it made no sense for me to deviate from my passion and it made no sense to follow whatever everyone else is doing. So what I did is I looked into it. I up skilled myself, so I spent two years studying profusely and taking numerous certificates, so I can understand what it really entails. I don't want to be the technical expert.

👉🏾 I'm not the one who's going to physically calculate your carbon emission. I am the one who's going to ask you, why do you want to calculate your carbon emission and what is the benefit behind it when you do that? What are you planning to do with that? So this is why I decided to pivot and focus on ESG internal communications, but also when I got introduced to it properly and up-skilled, I also realised, gosh, I really need to play my part.

👉🏾 It's a threat, it's going to be a reality and I want to be ahead of the curve, I want to be ahead of my peers. I want to spot the gap and I want to do it. I'm sure you would relate to it as well, where our parents would instil the value of money in us, instil the value of thinking differently.

👉🏾 So that's what my parents have done to me is, rather than giving me a Barbie, I used to follow my father and shadow him in his board meetings, for example, So this is where the entrepreneurial mindset came along and this is why I said, you know, I'm going to take a risk and I'm going to create it.

👉🏾 But yeah, it opened new possibilities for me. It opened new passions. I didn't realise I was so passionate about the planet until I looked into it deeper. And this is why we decided to go and try our luck at becoming a B Corp certified. We're in our last process, we have got it. We're just waiting for the final approvals and if I'm not mistaken, I have been told that we are the first Arab - black female founded consultancy to be certified. So I'm really, really pleased with that really pleased with that.

👉🏾 You're absolutely right. I think Greta Thunberg has a lot to be thanked for when it comes to the E the E is very defined and it's clear, what's not clear about the E is, how would you get the data? So that's what's not clear yet and people were still trying out different ways. The G is definitely, absolutely defined because of the regulations and the regulators and the reporting side. So that's fine. The S is a bit unclear, purely because it was never at the forefront of organisation's mind. The only reason it's now becoming at the forefront again, it's because of the Me too movement and the Black Lives Matter movement.

👉🏾 So government has a lot to answer for in a positive way when it comes to the S. So what does the asking entail? The S is basically it's everything to deal with, how an organisation, handle its relationship with its stakeholders and shareholders. So think of it this way, any human interaction or human impact an organisation will have on its people, on its society, on its economy would be the S. So some elements will include employee wellbeing, gender pay gap for example. It will also include community work or charity work in the communities. It will include diversity, equity and inclusion within a workplace. So it's the human aspect of how we operate as an organisation and that's how the S really is defined.

👉🏾 Communication is very, very important for organisations because it's the mechanics that would help an organisation define and shout how they are implementing and saving people and planet. So the reason communication is key is because without communication a company will not be ahead of the curve from its competitors, it will not stand out for its customers and it will not be an investible business. And these are the three reasons why organisations focus a lot on communicating ESG. But the other reason is also the pressure that organisations are facing when it comes to ESG reporting and ESG embedding within their business model. So I'll give you some stats to show you why communication is super important. 

👉🏾 So for example 76% of consumers around the world said that they will not buy a product that does not showcase how it is sustainable. So 76% that's a huge number, okay? 53% of revenues, another one, this is my favourite one out of five companies who are small to medium organisations are using ESG as a standard. One in five okay? Three out of four are currently linking their purpose to their sustainability efforts. So great work is being done when it comes to ESG. So why not shout about it? And that's why communication is key. Communication helps you protect your reputation, it also helps you put yourself ahead of the curve. But be aware there's good communications and there bad communications.

👉🏾 For those of you who don't know what the story is (STUART KIRK, HSBC). This person is, if I'm not mistaken, he's the head of the ESG arm for HSBC or at least one of them. And in his speech that he was presenting, he said that there are a lot of nut cases. I E crazy people out there speaking about climate change. Automatically when he said that he got attacked because it's not about crazy people talking, it's the reality. We have data to prove that we all going to lose this world if we don't act fast. So he went under huge time and as a result, he lost his job. But again, there's also an attack against his comms team, because they're saying, why you as the communications team, you would have seen his deck. You would have read his notes. Why did you not stop it? Why did you not highlight that you are going to be using? And again, language plays a huge role when you're communicating ESG because ESG as a topic is a very technical topic, it's a very dry topic and not everyone can relate to it.

👉🏾 So if you're living, for example, let's say in England. You won't be affected as much with the climate change as much as you would be if you're in Madagascar, for example. And if you have been, you're oblivious to it because it's not something we're thinking about at the moment, because we're too busy from a civil war point of view.

👉🏾 So when you talk to Sudanese and you say, "oh yeah, the world is ending, climate change", they're going to look at you and say, what are you talking about? I don't care, I just want to survive, I don't even have water to drink in my country. So you have to be very careful when you are communicating, ESG to make it a localised communication and to make it relatable.

👉🏾 And this is why sometimes a lot of people do think it's a fad and it's just a trend. I personally don't think so. I can see the term ESG disappearing. I can see that. But I can't see the elements within each one of them disappearing, in my opinion, this is going to be our new reality.

👉🏾 And this is why I joke a lot when I try to pitch CommUnique I sometimes say, "oh yeah, we help you navigate your new reality". Because it is the new reality, whether we like it or not, it is coming our way and it's not going anywhere. 

👉🏾 Okay, so the podcast that you heard me speak in, it was by a Lithuanian incubator accelerator called Catalystaventures. And as a disclaimer, I'm one of their mentors. So what they do is they help technology companies, they help incubate them and accelerate them and help them go to market.

👉🏾 And I'm actually the only one who is mentoring them on ESG communications. Catalystaventures, the reason they're really big and well known in Lithuania is because they came up with a new concept called triple top line. So for those of you who are not aware of triple top line, I will tell you why should I ask this question.

👉🏾 So there is this triple bottom line. A triple bottom line is the well-known business model that helps businesses to not only focus on profit, but also focus mainly on people and planet along with profit. Because previously companies, they serve the shareholders. Their focus is completely shareholder focus and sales and growth focused. But then in the eighties, a new concept came up and that was mainly the focus on, no profit is important, but you won't get profit if you don't have the right people in place and if you don't focus on planet. So this is where the triple bottom line model came to life. Triple top-line is mainly, rather than just focusing on the operational side of a company and how they operate to focus on business and people and planet. It also looks at how do you manufacture your products as well to be sustainable?

👉🏾 So for example your company and all your operations. So from your workplaces, from your employee rights, from your governance; you're doing everything right according to according to the standards of becoming sustainable. The one part that a company never used to do is actually to look at the ingredients and the way they manufacture products to make it also sustainable. They would look at elements of the products, but they wouldn't tie it with the journey from the beginning to the end. Does that make sense Sudha? 

👉🏾 So this is what triple top-line comes in. It factories in the products and the services that an organisation provides as part of your sustainability journey as well. And this is where the triple top-line came into place. 

👉🏾 It's very interesting. So the idea is, we've already alluded to it when I spoke about ESG as a fad. But the idea is that if you talk sustainability or if you're spending too much time talking about ESG that you are going to be impacting or sacrificing the company's returns, you know, the business's profit. This is clearly not true like I think some of us who are already on board of this whole idea, we don't believe this to be true. But for comms professionals, how do you convince your leadership and C-suite that this is important to communicate, and this is not only important to communicate it is also important to embed within the organisation 

👉🏾 There's several ways you can do that. First of all, my optimistic mind is saying you don't need to convince them because they're already going to be pressured by the investors and the regulators to do that. But realistically, if you really want to convince your leadership team to focus on ESG, And focus on communicating it. You need data with you to support your argument. You can't go to a C-suite and say to them, "oh yeah, I have a feeling that the employees wants us to talk about ESG" that's not going to...