JAIME Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman and chief executive officer of Ayala Corp. and known as “Jaza”, has been recognized by a United Nations body for his company’s sustainable business strategy and operations.
The UN Global Compact also named Zobel de Ayala as one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Pioneers, the Philippines’s first.
Zobel de Ayala is also one of 10 individuals from around the world recognized for championing sustainability through their own companies and mobilizing the broader business community to take action in pursuit of the 17 SDGs.
“The 2017 SDG Pioneers is exhibiting how companies and pioneering individuals can be a force for positive change in addressing the issues we all face today,” said Lise Kingo, UN Global Compact CEO and executive director.
“[Jaza] has been impactful in reaching a wider segment of the business market through innovation and diversification,” Kingo said. “He has been a pioneer in the inclusion of long-term sustainability in business strategy and operations.”
Apart from reinventing its business models to meet the needs of a wider segment of the population, Ayala Corp. has entered sectors critical to national development, such as in power, infrastructure, health care and education.
Under Zobel de Ayala’s leadership, Ayala Corp. drove the shift to the integrated reporting framework, which captures in detail the group’s positive impact on society through its contribution to the SDGs, Kingo said. Ayala, Asia’s oldest company, is the first firm in the Philippines to produce an integrated report.
Ayala Corp. moves to include long-term sustainability targets for its businesses—which will form part of the companies’ and management’s key result areas, a statement from Kingo’s office said.
Each year the UN Global Compact celebrates a group of SDG Pioneers—business leaders doing an exceptional job of taking action to advance the Global Goals. Hundreds of nominations were received from diverse regions of the world, from which 10 finalists were selected, exemplifying how business can be a force for good in addressing the challenges we face as a global society. Each Pioneer will be recognized during the UN Global Compact Leaders Summit 2017 on September 21 in New York.
“I believe that now, more than ever, a deeper engagement with society is indispensable to the survival and success of private enterprises. From both a practical and moral standpoint, businesses cannot thrive in an environment rife with economic inequity,” Zobel de Ayala said. “Ignoring these issues threatens our ability to create long-term value and jeopardizes the sustainability of the enterprise and markets.”