$12,000 billion of opportunities for your company

Being an entrepreneur primarily means creating value and managing risk. This involves constantly adapting, always assessing the impact of challenges and risks. Companies that fail to do so are jeopardising their future.

But sustainable entrepreneurship goes a step further, requiring entrepreneurs to have a positive impact on their environments. It means creating value not just for your company and customers, but also for the planet and its inhabitants. A sustainable entrepreneur asks two questions: how could the changes that are happening in the world open up new markets for me? And how can my products and services contribute to the positive changes that are needed?

From this point of view, sustainable entrepreneurship means factoring in one or more of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into your business plan and business model.

Contributing to development

The UN has calculated that sustainable entrepreneurship does not just represent $90,000 billion of investments, but also at least $12,000 billion of economic opportunities.

These opportunities include contributing to: the development of sustainable cities; circular production processes; sustainable infrastructure; the health of people, plants and animals; a viable environment with fewer nitrogen, carbon and fine particle emissions; energy efficiency; the restoration of land and marine ecosystems; intelligent mobility; and thousands of innovative methods and techniques.

How can you, as a business leader, take full advantage of these opportunities? Installing photovoltaic panels is a good start, but you need to go further. If you really want to make your company more sustainable, you will have to address many other challenges.

Expertise in sustainability

To help you with this transition, BNP Paribas Fortis gives you access to its Sustainable Business Competence Centre (SBCC). The centre can help you in several areas.

Firstly, the SBCC’s experts can assist you with all of your investments in innovative technologies such as clean tech, green tech, bio tech, health tech and ITC. We help you determine both the technical and financial viability of your innovation and/or sustainability projects.

But our experts go even further: they help you to design a sustainable business model. How can your company act in solidarity with our planet and its inhabitants? How can you reduce your environmental footprint and increase your positive impact? And how can you develop new commercial opportunities to strengthen your brand and increase your revenue, while also reducing your risks and costs?

Taking part in the debate

We also take part in your discussions about innovative ways to finance new business models, such as those based on the service economy.

You can also call upon our very broad network of companies, associations and institutions focused on innovation and sustainability.

But our support is not just for companies. We also work with universities, hospitals, professional federations and various authorities to create a better world that offers greater social and economic value.