The first eight companies participating in Impact Nation are presenting the results of the sustainable development programme. The programme, in which the bank partners with The Next Web and Impact hub, focuses on the practical side of making the transition to sustainability. Impact Nation identifies sustainability challenges and explores possible solutions to these challenges worldwide. Thanks to Impact Nation, a company like Vrijdag Premium Printing is making leaps in the transition to a more sustainable business model.
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“We want to support our clients in their transition to sustainable products and business models,” Robert Swaak, CEO of ABN AMRO says. “Many entrepreneurs want to make the shift to sustainability, but research* shows a staggering 89 per cent of them experience difficulties in doing so. As part of Impact Nation, we help our clients look for solutions which will allow them to achieve their sustainability ambitions.”
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As a connector and driving force in sustainable progress, ABN AMRO is using Impact Nation to focus mainly on SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises). “This is rather unique,” Niina Pussinen of ABN AMRO says. “Comparable programmes are generally only available for large organisations. Impact Nation is the only one of its kind that really helps entrepreneurs with their sustainability issues. The programme focuses on the question of ‘how’, which is what SMEs especially need.”
Take Vrijdag Premium Printing: they wanted to know how they could make their paper and cardboard packaging more sustainable. “Our company has a long history and serves customers in branches such as cosmetics and retail,” Henk Nota, CEO of Vrijdag Premium Printing, says. “We want to become even more sustainable so we can serve other end markets as well.”
Pussinen: “To help Vrijdag Premium Printing, we went looking for a company that produces packaging materials from natural resources obtained from renewable sources. Thanks to our network of partners, we found Bio4life, which specialises in compostable materials. The first production tests with paper and ink look very promising.”
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