Member Article

SunnyMoney wins at the 20th annual Responsible Business Awards

Dr Dorothy Maxwell, Head of Sustainability at House of Fraser also named The Prince’s Ambassador for London at highly respected awards evening

Hackney based business SunnyMoney is celebrating today after being crowned a winner at one of the most prestigious corporate prestigious corporate awards programmes, The Responsible Business Awards, run by the charity Business in the Community (BITC).

SunnyMoney won the Unilever Global Development award for combatting poverty and climate change in the poorest and most remote communities in Malawi, Uganda and Zambia.

SunnyMoney is a social enterprise with a mission to eradicate the kerosene lamp from Africa by 2020, said to be responsible for more deaths then HIV and Malaria combined. The company has introduced affordable solar light to the continent where 600 million people still do not have access to electricity – helping 10 million people to date access clean, safe light and averting 1.9 million tonnes CO₂ and CO₂ equivalent emissions.

Today’s news coincides with the announcement that Dr Dorothy Maxwell, Head of Sustainability at House of Fraser, has been appointed by HRH the Prince of Wales as The Prince’s Ambassador for London.

Each year, HRH personally appoints an inspirational business figure in each of the UK’s regions to represent the responsible business movement and lead other businesses to take action to address key issues. Ambassadors are chosen for their personal impact and for demonstrating leadership within their own business.

In a recorded video, played to guests at the Awards Gala at the Royal Albert Hall in London last night, HRH the Prince of Wales said: “Over the years my Ambassadors have shown that with the right leadership, creativity and persuasive determination, people can work together to solve problems, to meet challenges and to create constructive change.

“There is certainly no shortage of challenges needing their talents and vision. It still remains the case that in many communities opportunities and resources are not accessible to all. In such a situation business has a unique and essential role to play in creating resilient communities where talent can be discovered, incubated and developed.”

Dorothy has 24 years’ professional experience working in the environmental and sustainability arena both with government and industry in Europe, USA & Asia. In 2006, she founded the Global View Sustainability Services think tank & consultancy, specialising in supporting business and government on sustainability in products, services and their supply chains. She has worked on sustainability projects across a range of sectors including food, retail and construction.

Dr Dorothy Maxwell, said: “Becoming a Prince’s Ambassador presents a wonderful opportunity to champion the significance of sustainability in business today.

“At House of Fraser sustainability means becoming a truly responsible retailer. It’s integrated as a core value in our business. The aim is to manage our environmental footprint, responsibly source and support the communities we engage with while maintaining sustainable growth. Success will mean greater awareness of what responsible retailing really means, especially for a brand with such a strong British heritage and a developing international portfolio.”

The headline sponsors of the 2017 Responsible Business Awards are Aviva, Barclays, Experian, Fujitsu, Hogan Lovells, UBS, Unilever, The Unipart Group For more information and a full list of all winners, visit www.bitc.org.uk/awards and follow @BITC on Twitter #BITCawards.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Business in the Community .