As awareness of climate change is steadily increasing, more people are concerned about the environment.
In Sarawak, we can see such shift as businesses and entrepreneurs are beginning to make small but significant changes in the way they operate to address these concerns.
These include charging additional fee for plastic bags to encourage customers to use reusable shopping bags, swapping plastic straws for biodegradable rice straws, and providing payment options for cashless transactions.
The push for sustainability has created a new type of entrepreneurship that emphasises environmental responsibility in conducting business, especially among youth who are more open to leading an eco-friendly lifestyle.
As young entrepreneurs, you can find many environmentally conscious ideas to make your business greener. Here are a few of them:
Go online
These days, it is normal for businesses to go online, more so with Sarawak moving to the digital economy.
Regardless of the nature of their business, more young entrepreneurs are considering of running their businesses online as a way of becoming more eco-friendly enterprises.
Going online also involves using digital technology instead of paper for record keeping and data collection, as well as working remotely to save time, energy and resources.
Support environmental organisations
Nowadays, more entrepreneurs are supporting environmental organisations on various environmental issues affecting the world, within the country or their communities, including water and air pollution, harmful waste production and hazardous materials.
Examples of these organisations that can be found in Malaysia are World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia, Malaysian Nature Society, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, and Sarawak Eco-Warriors.
Whether by providing products and services or participating in conservation projects, supporting environmental organisations can boost your business reputation as being environmentally conscious.
As a result, you are able to attract new customers, obtain financial support, and raise more awareness of these organisations to your employees, associates, and followers.
Use local resources
Choosing local resources from local suppliers over imported ones not only means supporting local businesses, but also protecting the environment by opting for fuel- and time-efficient transportation and delivery.
For longer lasting products, you should consider ordering in large amounts with less frequency to minimise trips. Meanwhile, setting a minimum order size for customers and using common carriers would be best to reduce the frequency of deliveries.
This is a weekly column by SarawakYES! – an initiative driven by Faradale Media-M Sdn Bhd and supported by Angkatan Zaman Mansang (AZAM) Sarawak – to provide advice and stories on the topics of education and careers to support Sarawakians seeking to achieve their dreams. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
First published in the Borneo Post in print on 17th October 2020.
Photo by ready made from Pexels.
