UN Global Compact Academy Changemakers

The Academy Changemaker series provides an exciting opportunity for companies around the world to learn from and connect with some of the most innovative and influential people working in or with business to make the world a better place. Companies join these sessions to understand trends, new ideas, and innovative strategies for corporate action in an ever-evolving sustainability landscape and expect to leave with key takeaways that they can apply in their work and roles. In this Changemaker session, Cynthia Muffuh, Head of Human Rights and Gender at the UN Global Compact, speaks candidly with Lucita Jasmin, Director for Sustainability & External Affairs at APRIL Group, on putting human rights at the forefront.

Dinali Peiris is the Group Director for Human Resources at MAS Holding overseeing more than 100,000 employees. She is a keen advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion and draws from her own progressive career journey to provide leadership to key empowerment challenges.

In this Changemaker session, Rathika de Silva, Executive Director of UN Global Compact Sri Lanka, speaks candidly with Dinali about what holistic action plans for gender equality look like in practice and what business leaders can learn from her personal experience of tackling gender-based stereotypes in the world of work.

Join the Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the United Nations Global Compact Sanda Ojiambo for a one-on-one conversation with Solange Ribeiro, Former CEO, Vice President of Neoenergia and Vice-Chair of the UN Global Compact Board.

A pioneering woman and global business leader, Solange had more than 30 years of experience in the electricity sector, and has demonstrated her long-standing commitment to the SDGs through her pivotal role in transforming Neoenergia’s business model toward sustainability.

During this candid 30-minute discussion, viewers will learn from Solange about:

• What her experience tells us about the role of sustainable business as a priority for all business leaders as we work towards a just transition
• How to make transformation change happen, including how to overcome barriers and the power of collaboration
• What future-proof leadership skills and characteristics look like

In this Changemaker session, hear from Hiba Khan about the importance of including the younger generation’s voices in decision making and how to accelerate business innovation towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Sustainability leadership is needed at all levels. Hiba Khan is a civil engineer and project manager at Mott MacDonald, leading the integration of sustainability and social outcomes at an international level. She is also a UN Young SDG Innovator, currently developing a breakthrough tool that maps projects to, and shows the interlinkages between, the UN SDGs.

In conversation with Global Compact Local Network UK Executive Director Steve Kenzie, Hiba speaks openly about the role of the younger generation in the transition to a more sustainable world for all, taking on the world as a female engineer and what generations — younger and older — can learn from her experience so far working in the private sector.

In this Changemakers episode, Sharan Burrow shows how we can simultaneously address the climate crisis and the social crisis, which is marked by record levels of inequality and distrust. A commitment to both environmental sustainability and shared prosperity means abandoning economic patterns that fail people and the planet, but it also translates to more sustainable business, a reinvigorated license to operate, and other strategic advantages.

Sharan Burrow has been the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation since 2010, representing 200 million workers around the world. In her role, she advocates for the essential role of labor movements in shaping a just transition to a low-carbon economy. In this Changemaker session, Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the UN Global Compact, speaks candidly with Sharan about what a just transition needs to look like, the political and social momentum needed to make it a reality, and what business leaders can learn from her experience

During this session you will learn about:

• Sharan’s background, how it informs her perspective and inspires her work
• What just transition means, and what drives Sharan toward this goal
• How our climate and social challenges are interrelated, and practical ways in which businesses can apply just transition principles to address them in a coordinated and just way
• Sharan’s take on what future-proof leadership skills and characteristics look like

In this second Changemaker session, UN Global Compact CEO & Executive Director Sanda Ojiambo speaks candidly with Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, Chairman of the Global Compact Foundation and former Director of Saudi Aramco and Advisory Board Member of Envision Energy about leadership in turbulent times.

During this session you will learn about:

• What his experience tells us about why responsible business needs to be a priority for all business leaders
• What responsible leadership looks like in troubling times like this, and key considerations for your own response to current crisis
• What future-proof leadership skills and characteristics look like

In this inaugural Changemaker session, UN Global Compact CEO & Executive Director Sanda Ojiambo speaks candidly with United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed about her personal insights, experiences, and thoughts on how to facilitate radical and sustaining innovation to advance the Sustainable Development Goals.