In Good Company

ManageMents are integrating their corporate Milestones with what is good for people and the planet too

- SONAL KHETARPAL

P Venkat Rao, 46, a resident of Dantelaboru village in Bhadradri Kothagudem district, Telangana, started cotton farming after Class XII. The work was fraught with challenges. The yield was poor. The crop would get infected every now and then. The income was just enough to pay for basic needs of his family. His life changed when he saw a neighbour, Ramana, turn his cotton farm into a eucalyptus plantation and supply to ITC. In 2005, he did likewise, with ITC supporting him with knowledge of eucalyptus farming, soil testing and fast-growing clonal saplings. When he harvested the crop four years later, he earned ₹3 lakh. The second harvest, in 2013, got him ₹18 lakh. There has been no looking back after that. “I own five tractors that I give on rent,” he says. His income is now ₹ 7,000 a day, from ₹ 500 a day in 2005. He works with ITC as part of the company’s forestry programme which helps marginal farmers grow eucalyptus that is used to make high-quality pulp for its paper business.

Companies across sectors are redefining their raison d'etre or ‘reason for being.’ While revenue and growth milestones are still an integral part of their existence, more and more of them are linking their corporate strategy with goals driven by higher purpose – be it targets on livelihoods impacted, diversity, inclusion or sustainability, and making leaders accountable for meeting these goals. “Companies can no longer look at brand purpose as an advertising campaign that will be soon forgotten. It has to be a better way of doing things that is integrated in all facets of the business,” says Namrata Rana, Director-Strategy and Brand at sustainable experience transformation agency Futurescape.