“We want to leave better children for the planet not only a better planet for the children, because we know our environment suffers mostly under the growing demands of human consumption and misuse. We need to give kids time to connect with nature and love the Earth before we ask them to save it.” Ambuya John, Greyfos Chief Sustainability Manager

Tell me a bit about Greyfos consulting and how you began?

I had just come out of college with a Bachelors in Environmental Studies and Community Development and I was a fired up about environmental degradation in Kenya. I wanted to provide solutions that I felt decades of government and NGO interventions were not addressing. So, I started Greyfos Consulting purposefully as a for profit enterprise to use disruptive market-based approaches to tackle the myriad of environmental and social challenges facing our planet.

What kind of Projects do you undertake?

We leverage our unique blend of both business and technical expertise to provide custom solutions to solve our clients short-term pain points, as well as to build a foundation for their long-term success. As such, we provide strategic environmental advisory and implementation support services, sustainable branding, feasibility studies, environmental and social impact assessments. We believe that sustainability is the biggest economic opportunity of our time. And the innovation imperative will unlock the promise of a smarter, more collaborative and more meaningful way of delivering value.

Tell us about one of your most interesting projects?

That has to be the annual GO GREEN KIDS FESTIVAL we host every year. At Greyfos we always say “We want to leave better children for the planet.” Many people talk only about leaving a better planet for children but at Greyfos we think the opposite. We see children as actors ready to make their contribution to a better planet, what they need is to be empowered. We give them time to connect with nature and love the Earth before we ask them to save it. Every year we bring over 1500 primary school kids to natural environments for a full day festival providing infinite opportunities to learn, connect and co-create together. The festivals have themes like T is for Trees; Sustainable Development Goals: What Can You Do? Stay Clean Embrace Hygiene etc. Every year we are amazed by the impact of the festival. We are now working on taking this same impact to high schools, colleges and university.

 How did you become a B Corp?

When I was starting out, I was following and learning from a lot of businesses around the world that were in the same line of work. One that resonated with me a lot was BBMG, a globally recognized brand innovation firm dedicated to creating disruptive business solutions and delightful brand experiences that help clients drive revenue and positive social impact. I later discovered they were a founding B Corporation and sought to know what that meant. I started the B Impact Assessment over three years ago but never really finished. Its only after B Lab East Africa was established that I decided to revisit the Assessment and complete the process. We are very proud to be part of the B Corp community.

What are you looking forward to as a B Corp in East Africa?

We want to grow the Sustainability Movement in our country, change the mindset of Kenyans because here people and businesses more so, will only do what is required by law and nothing beyond that. People are still on the CSR bandwagon. B Corps are leaders wanting to change this narrative, acknowledging there is a better way to do business that takes into account the impact of business holistically financial, social and environmental. We completely resonate with this idea. We want to be part of this global community of like-minded individuals taking leadership in harnessing the power of business to solve societies greatest challenges. What keeps us going is our vision, we appreciate that this is the vision of the future and so we keep on going.