Sustainable Businesses Attract Customers

Can sustainable business attract customers? According to the speakers at the 12th Global Business Conference (GBC) held on March 2, 2019 at De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, sustainable practices can attract customers and can make the business profitable. Dr. Donald Lim, Country CEO of the Dentsu Aegis Network Philippines, encouraged businesses to use digital marketing as this is environment friendly. Dr. Lim stressed that aside from attracting environment-friendly customers,digital marketing is cost-effective. Like Dr. Lim, Lyn Ola of DLSU pointed out that using digital marketing can make travelling sustainable as it reduces the use of paper and energy.  Ola also emphasized that travelers should be environment-friendly when they travel. Pocholo Espina, CEO of Sip PH and Jana Bunagan, Founder of The Good Trade spoke of how their businesses grew because of customers who want to patronize sustainable businesses.  Dr. Sweta Pandey, a researcher, showed that there are existing studies that show that there is a growing number of customers who patronize sustainable business.  She said that firms are now engaged in cause-related marketing, which can be a component of corporate social responsibility.

These insights on sustainable businesses were aligned with some of the the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)  for 2030 such as responsible consumption and production.  The other UN SDG goals include no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, decent work and economic growth, sustainable cities and communities and partnership to achieve goals.

The GBC was attended by  about 1212 participants who were mostly college students. Participating schools and businesses included  De La Salle University-Manila, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, De La Salle University-Dasmarinas, De La Salle Araneta University, Holy Angel University, Miriam College, Occidental Mindoro State College, University of Luzon, Asia Pacific College, San Beda College Alabang, Cavite State University and SME owners.This event would not have been possible without the following sponsors: BusinessWorld, Fastjobs, FranchiseManila.com, Nestle Philippines and Pacific Synergy Food and Beverage Corporation, SN Aboitiz Power Group, C and E Publishing, Inc., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, Mondelez International, Inc., Speedbytes Internet Café and GreatnessLab.