9 minute read
INTERVIEW
People, planet, profit
Dr Audrey-Flore Ngomsik explains why sustainability in business is about much more than ‘saving the planet’
Advertisement
✶By Paula Dear
Photos by Bart Dewaele
Two decades ago, back when “nobody cared”, Dr Audrey-Flore Ngomsik was already applying sustainability to science. Initially taking an environmental slant, she used her knowledge – including a PhD in physical and analytical chemistry – to help companies de-pollute, later developing ways for them to prevent pollution at source.
Influenced by her father’s job as a judge, then as an advocate for people working in poor conditions, as a manager and leader Dr Ngomsik says she has always focused on getting the culture right for the organisation’s employees.
Early in her career the dots were joined and she realised that the concept of sustainability goes beyond making ambitious speeches. Buzzwords now swirl around the sustainability sphere – be it corporate social responsibility (CSR), green innovation, diversity and inclusion or ethical business practices – but for Dr Ngomsik they are one and the same and boil down to this: looking after people and the planet may well be the right thing to do, but it’s also the profitable one.
The Parisian scientist, whose work and wanderlust has taken her to Malaysia, the Netherlands and Northern Ireland, has brought her experience from the academic and corporate worlds to SMEs via her new Brussels-based firm Trianon Scientific Communication, a management consulting agency specialising in CSR. Co-founded with a partner, the company offers to help businesses “incorporate CSR into their DNA” and increase earnings as a result.
Her passion for diversity and inclusion – and, more importantly, belonging – has also seen her become active in the Brussels Binder, a collective of women experts that aims to improve the gender balance in policy debates. She talks to ING’s Dave Deruytter about some of the things she’s found in Belgium, including
the need for nuance, the silent joy of a monastic weekend, and “discovering I was black”.
When, how and why did you start mixing science and sustainability?
I started looking at it when nobody cared, 20 years ago, by doing green chemistry. I was de-polluting what companies were putting into nature, and then I moved upstream to help them produce without polluting. As I grew, I realised that sustainability is not only about “saving the planet” – people, profit, the planet, everything goes together. And as director of a company, I saw that it’s completely possible to do it. It’s something I’ve been implementing from the beginning of my career, even when it wasn’t called CSR. As a leader, I always made sure my employees were OK, that they were trained, that they felt engaged, that the culture was right. And then really working with my stakeholders – for example, to make sure a certain percentage of my procurement is local. Through your actions, you make your whole ecosystem sustainable along with you, and you realise that in the long term it brings you a really good return on investment.
What kind of scientist did you want to be?
I was always more of an applied scientist. I knew I’d work in companies. Take one example – if nobody had worked on discovering UV, infrared etc, we wouldn’t remote controls and wouldn’t have the microwave. I would have been the one to find the application. And it’s also what I wanted to do with sustainable development. I’m not very patient so I really wanted to see customers have the innovation in their hands and watch how they react; it gives me joy.
How do you help companies be more sustainable?
We target smaller companies and educate them, to show what it means for their business. We show them how much money they can save, with software we invented to calculate it using their own data. Then we show them what could be improved to be more sustainable within their operation. If they don’t have the resources, we help them to implement, and we follow up. Our experience has shown that the first step is to understand that sustainability is a way of having a competitive advantage. And the last step is that you need to communicate your journey. Even if you say, “I will achieve 30% waste reduction in two years” and you only reach 20%, you have to say it.
Why should companies take the social side of their responsibility seriously?
They’re starting to get the environmental aspect. When I work with companies, the first step is to educate them that it’s not only about the environment. If you have diversity, you innovate more. You know your customer better, so you expand your portfolio. If you want to be more environmentally sustainable, you need to take all the actions you can by being diverse; if everybody’s the same you don’t take those actions. And there are hands-on consequences because if the culture is better, that means you have less staff turnover. Taking care of your employees means reduced absenteeism, so it’s also a saving. All of it is linked. It took a while, but people have started to realise it.
What key things should people focus on?
First, remember that CSR, sustainability, and diversity and inclusion are not different things. CSR is not for “hippies”, it’s a real business concept. During the Covid lockdown, the companies that were the most sustainable fared better. Companies also need to realise that sustainability is absolutely not the way you spend your money, it’s the way you earn it. Having factories where people work in bad conditions, and then giving money to an association to make up for it? That’s not sustainability.
And as consumers, we need to realise that sustainability is not bad, it’s a way of innovating, of consuming differently. There are companies making money by renting clothes, which wasn’t possible 10 years ago. We, as consumers, have power. When we ask for less plastic in the shop, that has an effect. There were companies who during the George Floyd protests said they were against racism and people shamed them because they were not living what they claimed. That had and continues to have an impact.
Diversity and inclusion has many aspects – is there a key to it?
We need better representation. You cannot become what you don’t see. But the aspect that I’m more passionate about is belonging. Diversity is a fact – on my board I will put, say, 50% women, that is data. But if there’s no belonging, what does it mean? I have a voice, because I speak loudly... I can be allowed to speak, but it doesn’t mean
that you hear me. Belonging means we listen to you, and we want to at least try to understand.
You started Trianon just before the first Covid lockdown. How was that?
We thought it was the right time because people would have to reinvent themselves, and would have time to think, “how am I going to get out of the crisis?” So we started by writing the blog Science by Trianon so people would realise that it’s not that difficult.
And Brussels is a great place to create companies. People talk about the taxes and everything but there’s lots of support around. It’s not centralised so nothing is easy to find! But I’m a newsletter addict so each time I go to a new country I subscribe to everything to figure out what’s happening.
What brought you to Brussels?
My husband will tell you that I have a problem as a human. I don’t anchor anywhere. I enjoy moving. I like being a foreigner, because the way the country welcomes you tells you who the people are. I had lots of friends who lived in Brussels and told me, “you should try it, you’ll like the city”. So Belgium was on the list.
What are Belgium’s pros and cons?
I like the internationality of Brussels. It’s a neutral country for me and my [German] husband. And what I really like in Belgium is that all the cities are cities. I grew up in Paris; in France (in my very Parisian mind) there are five cities and all the rest is countryside. In Belgium, I have the impression that I could live in all the cities I have visited – they have culture, they have transport.
What I like the least… I do understand regionality but the Walloons and the Flemish, for me it’s strange – your difference should be your force to be together. The other thing is that I am a very direct person. In Belgium, people work around things, they never go frontal. Voilà, it’s a different way of working, and I had to learn it.
How would you rate the country on diversity and inclusion?
Despite all the things that I like here, I discovered I was black in Belgium. I think there is a problem with the way the history is taught at school. I’ve been to the new Africa Museum [in Tervuren] and it’s terrible. I was surprised during the George Floyd thing that people asked me “why is it a problem all of a sudden?” I said, “it’s not all of a sudden, it’s everywhere all the time”.
When we look at Belgian TV the representation is not there. I’m starting to realise it’s systemic. I’m French, I’m European, I’m black, I’m educated, but I still don’t feel represented, which is weird.
What do you like doing outside of work?
I’m a planner. It’s very important for me to make quality time with my partner. I like meeting friends; I really like listening to them. I like creative writing, and I’m a culture addict. For holidays, I’m a city girl so you won’t see me on the beach. I go to the countryside sometimes because my husband likes it. Sometimes you need to just calm down. I will do crazy things like going to a monastery – you can do that in Belgium for a weekend. You don’t speak, you just have the calm and you stop your brain for a couple of days.
Tell us more about your creative writing
I go to a workshop and write mainly essays and short stories. It’s good for my mental health; my brain is always thinking and writing allows you to take a step back. I also like to write to people. I’m the only person who sends letters on the planet! I think it’s important to tell the people you like that you like them, and why. Also, I write to my husband when I’m angry! I put it on his desk when we have a disagreement. I say, “I’m unhappy because of this”, so we can discuss it.
