The initiative, which is the first of its kind in the UK, was established at the end of 2019 when sustainability entrepreneur Daniel O’Connor, who runs an international reuse network, couldn’t find a suitable mentor for his own professional development.
“I had promised myself that I would finally sort out a mentor to help me move forward on certain issues at work,” Daniel said, “but I just couldn’t seem to find someone who could help me. So, my usual attitude of ‘if I can’t find a solution, let’s create a solution’ kicked in, which led to the idea of Sustainability Mentors.”
Since then a core team has been collaborating to validate and scale up the initiative, while demand swiftly gathered pace as over 1,500 individuals joined from across the UK and further afield.
The rapid uptake is fuelled by the growing trend that many companies and organisations around the world are now taking sustainability seriously, viewing it as key to reduce risk, increase resilience, boost competitiveness, and unlock new opportunities.
“Our expectations have completely been surpassed, “commented Daniel, “which clearly demonstrates that sustainability professionals want support and a way to share advice and give guidance on the often complex and daunting task they have to embed and improve sustainability strategies in their workplaces.”
Further uncertainties, including economic fragility, the Covid-19 pandemic and the race to achieve net-zero, are all adding pressures for the sustainability sector. Daniel said:
“No individual country, company or institution can achieve the necessary changes alone and accelerate the action that is urgently needed, so it is more important than ever that sustainability professionals remain resilient in the face of a multitude of challenges; this is a key reason Sustainability Mentors is so popular.”
Collaboration is at the heart of the mentoring service, a value reinforced by the team who meet regularly in a bid to scale up the initiative. Along with Daniel, the core team comprises, Virginia Cinquemani, Bianca Doenicke, Doug Morwood, Jennifer Robson and Jill Tellier. A supporting group of people in a variety of roles and experience and from varying sectors are also involved on an ad-hoc basis.
“The team have been collaboratively working together for over six months, each bringing their own viewpoint and area of expertise in order to finely tune the service,” said Daniel, “and this reflects the ethos that Sustainability Mentors is an inclusive professional, driven, and friendly community for like-minded professionals.”
“We are incredibly proud to be the first mentoring initiative that is specifically for the sustainability sector – there is truly a need to focus on magnifying the impact of sustainability and making mentoring in this sector normal.”