Sahara Group, UN, SDGF, launch sustainability report

Sahara Group, a leading African Energy and Infrastructure conglomerate will, join other stakeholders in New York for the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals Fund (SDG-F) new report, “Business and the United Nations: Working together towards the Sustainable Development Goals: A framework for Action”.

The UN estimates indicate that achieving the SDGs will require $3.3 to $4.5 trillion a year.

Sahara’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, Tonye Cole, SDG-F Director, Paloma Duran and other speakers are expected to give insight into the report, which provides a roadmap on how the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development can be effectively driven through collaboration between the private sector and other stakeholders.

A collection of company case examples and perspectives from Sahara Group, Microsoft, BBVA Microfinance Foundation, EBRO Foods and H&M, among others, formed part of the SDG-F report which is expected to serve as a manual for regional and global multi-stakeholder cooperation.

Cole, a member of the SDG-F’s Private Sector Advisory Group, said the report offers “a strategic and pragmatic direction for more coordinated private sector partnership with other stakeholders across the globe.”

The report, according to him, also reinforces good governance, transparency and best practice as principles that must guide alliances involving businesses, governments and non-governmental organisations to achieve meaningful and sustainable development.

Cole said Sahara was passionate about its involvement with the SDG-F, adding that the company’s experience with various governments and partners in countries where it operates indicate that effective collaborations often produce bespoke solutions that can be replicated.

“We have seen our intervention projects which are coordinated by Sahara Foundation transform lives and businesses and hope that our contribution to the report will inspire a new wave of private sector led partnerships that will promote inclusive economic growth, poverty eradication, capacity building, food security and access to potable water, especially in Africa,” Cole stated.