The Uniting Business Europe 2023 conference was held in Tbilisi

12.10.2023

On October 9, the UN Global Compact and the UN Global Compact Georgia held the flagship Uniting Business Europe event. This regional conference brought together representatives of businesses, government organizations, and local networks of the UN Global Compact to jointly discuss the progress of the European region towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and to identify what opportunities for partnership and cooperation can help Europe accelerate its movement towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The discussion of the event included the following topics:

ESG and regulatory changes in the EU
expansion of women’s economic opportunities
the future of sustainable financing
sustainable procurement practices in the business sector
work with supply chains to promote the sustainable development of SMEs
best practices of the hospitality business
Europe’s transition to renewable energy

Business response in times of crisis

The final activity of the conference was a panel discussion with the participation of Ukrainian companies, which focused on business response to crises. Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine began in 2022, leading to severe long-term humanitarian, economic, and environmental consequences. The Russian terror triggered a global spike in food, fuel, and fertilizer prices, further exacerbating the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SDG implementation. Blackouts, attacks on a nuclear power plant, attempts to shut down electrical substations in Ukraine, and strikes on the oil and gas system will affect millions of people and our environment for years to come. While multilateral solutions are being developed and political will is being mobilized, stakeholders should act now.

In February 2023, a devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 occurred near the Turkish-Syrian border. Tens of thousands of people died, and many more were injured. Thousands of buildings were destroyed, and countless people were left defenseless against the harsh winter conditions.

During the discussion, representatives of the private sector discussed opportunities to establish cooperation at the local and international levels to find solutions to these challenges.

The discussion was moderated by Tetiana Sakharuk, Executive Director of the UN Global Compact Network Ukraine. Starting the discussion, Tetiana noted:

“Why are we discussing the crisis at the conference on sustainable development? Because it is impossible to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals if we do not respond to crises appropriately. The private sector has the ability to respond instantly to crises, and we saw this when Russia started a full-scale war against Ukraine and a terrible earthquake occurred in Turkey”.

Tinatin Rukhadze, Managing Partner, ACT Global, explained how the company was able to keep the team and help partners during COVID-19:

“We live in a region where crisis is a daily phenomenon. To quickly respond to the crisis, it is worth increasing economic literacy, working with data, and always looking at the global map of what is happening worldwide. For us personally, the biggest shock of recent years was the COVID-19 pandemic. We reached out to people with the message “We need you all,” gave them hope, and then created an action plan with ambitious goals. We prioritized helping people and supported more than 1,000 businesses”.

Ukrainian business was presented in the discussion by Andriy Zakharkiv, Market Leader Ukraine, Caucasus, Central Asia, Signify, and Iryna Shynkarenko, CMO, Epicentr K, Board Member of the UN Global Compact Ukraine. According to Andrey Zakharkiv, every business can respond to the crisis effectively and in accordance with its area of expertise:

“Few people believed in a full-scale attack by Russia, but it happened. At Signify, we now understand the importance of preparing your team for all potential threats, even if they seem unrealistic. As a lighting company, Signify helped Ukrainians overcome the crisis caused by the war by reconstructing lighting in cities where it had been destroyed. Also, in cooperation with the state and foreign support, we transferred to Ukraine many lighting devices with high energy efficiency, which reduced the load on the Ukrainian energy system.”

Iryna Shynkarenko, as a representative of one of the largest retailers in Ukraine, told how “Epicenter K” reacted to the full-scale invasion of Russia. The company continued daily work despite the war and provided Ukrainians with the necessary goods. Epicenter lost five shopping centers but built two new ones in Kyiv and Lviv.

“We live in a world where cataclysms occur almost every day. But predicting and warning them is difficult. The experience of every crisis helped us to act more coherently, even at a distance. The manager’s personal leadership and the team’s unity, in which there is trust and support, were important. At the beginning of the war, one of the important tasks for the company was the rescue of people and employees from those cities where hostilities were already taking place. More than 500 employees moved from war zones and were employed in other shopping centers of the company. A chatbot was created to coordinate employees. “Hundreds of workers and their families found protection, accommodation, and housing in conference halls, sports centers, and hotels in shopping centers,” said Iryna Shynkarenko.

The earthquake in Turkey killed more than 50,000 people. Koc Holding, one of the country’s largest companies, responded quickly to the humanitarian crisis by building a modular town for people displaced by the earthquake. This was explained in detail by Ebru Tüzecan, Social Responsibility and Sustainability Coordinator of Koc Holding, Board Member of the UN Global Compact Network Turkey:

“Turkey is located in the zone of the greatest seismic activity in the world. 3.5 million people were displaced from the area where the terrible earthquake occurred. Our response to this tragedy is the rapid construction of 5,000 modular homes for people who have lost their homes. In total, 20,000 people have temporary housing for two or more years. Modular towns are also equipped with infrastructure, particularly leisure facilities for children. But the main thing we gave people is hope for the future”.

Michael Cowgill, Co-founder and President of the Georgian-American University, Vice Rresident and Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce, and Board Member of the UN Global Compact Network Georgia, touched on the aspect of leadership in times of crises:

“In times of crisis, people want to see strong and calm leaders who do not panic and can make informed decisions. As citizens, we also expect this from our governments. To achieve this, it is necessary to have high-quality crisis planning and well-established internal and external communication channels. But the most important thing is to be flexible and ready for changes.”

Tetiana Sakharuk, moderator of the event, summed up the event’s results. She emphasized that responding to crises requires building solid partnerships, being innovative, and caring about the communities in which companies operate. The modern world prepares many challenges that only proactive businesses can adapt to.