According to the latest GEM report, GenZ-ers (individuals aged 18-24) presented a pattern of high entrepreneurship rates and entrepreneurial intentions. Sustainability is important to them, with 67% emphasizing a focus on environmental sustainability and 58% highly likely to take actions to maximize social impact and positively impact their communities. The GenZers also had high entrepreneurial intentions (20%), high entrepreneurship rates (19%) and also high business closure rates (6.2%).
The Sustainability Lens (SL) and the Sustainability Lens Game can assist GenZ (and others') start-ups and student enterprises in setting a path forward by providing a framework to diagnose areas for improvement and integrate sustainability into their core business models. The SL is not prescriptive, but it acts as a diagnostic tool that inspires action. The SL and the Business Model Canvas (BMC) together enable a company to focus on complex relationships and possibilities for building more sustainability within a business.
Here's how the Sustainability Lens Game can help start-ups and student enterprises:
Provides a Comprehensive Approach The SL offers a comprehensive and systematic approach to building sustainability.
Highlights Actionable Steps Once the Sustainability Lens is applied, it makes "to do" items visible, allowing enterprises to prioritize, strategize, and strengthen their practices.
Encourages Innovation The SL inspires creativity, prompting enterprises to ask difficult questions and commit to developing innovative solutions.
Builds Community The SL aids businesses in aligning more with the community, fostering a stronger client base, happier employees, and mutually beneficial partnerships.
Reduces Risk and Strengthens Supply Chains The SL can be used to reduce risks, strengthen supply chains, and improve workplace conditions.
Offers a Common Language It provides a common language to recognize and understand sustainability within the enterprise and its community.
Defines a Unique Selling Point The SL helps businesses build their "unique selling point," differentiating themselves from competitors in the market.
The Sustainability Lens combines indigenous knowledge, Circles of Sustainability, the solidarity economy, and permaculture into a four-quadrant tool. It works with the Business Model Canvas to integrate sustainable solutions into every aspect of an enterprise while highlighting the supply chain, human resources, product development, marketing, and customer relations. The four quadrants include Resources, Health, Policy, and Exchange.
By applying the Sustainability Lens to the Business Model Canvas (BMC), enterprises can identify ways to build sustainability by examining key partners, activities, resources, value proposition, customer relationships, channels, customer segments, cost structure, and revenue streams. This facilitates a comprehensive strategy for sustainable development and helps student enterprises and start-ups to navigate the complexities of an uncertain world while remaining focused on long-term sustainability goals.
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