Future business problems have financial solutions today
As an entrepreneur, thinking about the future is a fine balancing act.
You always have to stay on top of some immediate concerns: unstable legal and taxation contexts, increased inflation, higher competition, lower margins or the constant pressure to find the right marketing strategy.
On the other hand, not taking future developments in consideration is also a sure recipe for disaster and financial hardship.
Social Media has long since passed from the marketing of the future to an almost ubiquitous necessity.
Artificial Intelligence in all forms is the present, not the future, and it increases competitivity of businesses that started with less resources and know-how than you do.
And the same goes for sustainability practices. You hear everyone talking about them and you tend to think this is something that you need to take care sometime in the future.
The truth is pressure to introduce and communicate sustainable practices on businesses of all types is the highest there ever was and this is evident in three key aspects:
1. Public opinion – We have a choice here. Either we quietly lose clients as a result of bad perceptions about eco-friendly practices or impact on communities, OR we slowly attract the new generation of customers with products and services that show care for more than just profit and commercial transactions. Perceptions drive subtle but long-term effects here and trend conscious businesses need to take sustainability into consideration as either an opportunity or a liability.
2. Laws and regulations – Basically every month we see new legal requirements that have to do with the business carbon footprint, supply chain, recycling practices or capabilities and overall impact on the environment or community. Every month local, national and European authorities come up with new initiatives in this regard. And again, businesses can either try to keep up with the announcements or they can naturally include sustainable practices into their process which makes it easier to comply.
3. Investments and financial pressure – This is the pain point. Change is expensive. New practices, processes, materials, suppliers all amount to new and higher expenses(for now). We will not pretend it’s currently cheaper for all the businesses to adjust their impact on the environment, but then again what choice do we have? Public opinion trends are irreversibly shifting and the regulatory pressure is obvious.
Academia de Sustenabilitate, the sustainability educational platform for SMEs, says we do have a choice. And one of the best ways to mitigate future business problems in this area is to understand there are green financing options available TODAY. Businesses can access funds and loans to increase their sustainability as we speak. It is a clear, concrete solution that prevents future problems
The Green Financing module available for free on www.academia-de-sustenabilitate.ro is presented by top experts from BCR, one of the most important Romanian banks. And the way that they helped build this module is looking to solve exactly the problem we started with: financial solutions available right now for business challenges about sustainability that are no longer something far away in the future but something that needs to be addressed right now.