Olowola Appointed GRI Board Member

Olowola Appointed GRI Board Member

Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the world’s leading sustainability impact measurement and reporting standards body based in Amsterdam, has appointed the founder and Chief Executive of Nigerian-based CSR-in-Action, Bekeme Olowola, as a member of its board of directors.

Olowola, who is the first West African member on the Board of Directors, would be commencing her 3-year appointment on 1 January, 2019.
She was appointed alongside Mr. Jack Ehnes, Chief Executive Officer, The California State Teachers Employees’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), USA and Dr. Jianzhong Lu, China President of Weir Group, China.

Current board members of the organisation include Tim Mohin, Chief Executive, GRI; Prof. Alexandra Watson, Vice-Chairman, GRI Board; Girish Ramachandran, President, Tata Consultancy Services Asia Pacific, Singapore; Mr. Peter H. Y. Wong, Chairman of General Fiduciary Company Limited, Hong Kong SAR; Dr. Roberto F. de Ocampo, OBE, Founding Partner of Centennial Group International, Philippines and Sandra Guerra, Managing Director, Better Governance, Brazil.

“They are joining at an exciting time, as GRI navigates towards the consolidation of its strategy and uncovers new opportunities for growth,” the Chairman, GRI Board, a former Partner at Deloitte, who led their global sustainability reporting and assurance practice, Eric Hespenheide said.
Also, a statement from the organisation explained that the latest “appointments reflect GRI’s multi-stakeholder nature and commitment gender, regional and background diversity.”

Commenting on the appointment, Olowola expressed her delight, saying, “I am humbled by this appointment. It tells me that the GRI is committed to engaging its most crucial stakeholders honourably and to pursuing an African agenda.
“I remain convinced that Africa is ripe for advancing and embedding sustainability practices and that the GRI is a valid partner to work with to drive the sustainability agenda even more than ever.”

Under Olowola, the CSR-in-Action has promoted sustainable measurement and reporting using the GRI framework, specifically, since 2011, and has catalysed the growth of sustainability adoption and transparency through corporations’ production of annual report.
CSR-in-Action produces the pioneer sustainability investment report in Nigeria.
Olowola helped to establish the Business Coalition for Sustainable Development Nigeria (BCSDN) in May 2014, an initiative affiliated with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), made up of a coalition of leading businesses across all sectors to drive collective development.

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