Hillsborough County wants smaller businesses to increase their sustainability efforts and is putting money behind it.
The county donated $25,000 to the Sustany Foundation, a nonprofit focused on advancing sustainability initiatives in the Tampa Bay region. The pair created the Sustainability@Work program, which comprises of eight workshops for startups and small business owners to learn about sustainability.
The workshops go beyond becoming more environmentally friendly and will also discuss social and economic changes businesses can implement to become more sustainable.
"It's not just environmental sustainability — it's social, economic and environment," Lorrie Belovich, executive director of the Sustany Foundation, said. "It's little things like diversify your board. Some of these things [when implemented, help] avoiding risk. They not only help you, but help you avoid some potential pitfalls when and if you do want to go public but let's say you have no women on your board."
Belovich said the added benefits of sustainability go beyond helping the planet: It saves money not only internally, but can also create a business more appealing to consumers.
"People should think about it in the early stages while they're developing the employee handbook," she said. "In addition to helping the planet, obviously there's a cost benefit. There's a huge potential to market sustainability. More and more consumers are looking for it. And those who have it baked into their culture have a better story than those who have jumped on the band wagon."
On the business end, many who work with the Department of Defense or larger companies have environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics that are required to be met.
"The reality is if you're wanting to partner with a larger company or the government, they do have ESG metrics they need to meet," Belovich said. "If you're building that into your small business and plan to be a contractor, consulter, sell to or work with these companies, telling them you understand those metrics or are aligned with those certainly helps you. That's a trend that's going upward and we will only see that growing more and more."
All the workshops are free and participants can choose which sessions to attend.
A list of the workshops are below. Each one will be held from 6-8 p.m. at the Entrepreneur Collaborative Center, 2101 E. Palm Avenue.
• Workshop 1: Wednesday March 11, 2020
SUSTAINABILITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES: WHY YOUR START-UP SHOULD GO GREEN
• Workshop 2: Wednesday April 8, 2020
ENVIRONMENTAL PILLAR I: UNDERSTANDING YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT
• Workshop 3: Thursday May 14, 2020
ENVIRONMENTAL PILAR II: REDUCING WASTE – REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE RIGHT
• Workshop 4: Tuesday June 2, 2020
THE SOCIAL PILLAR: CREATING YOUR CULTURE AND BUILDING A GREEN TEAM
• Workshop 5: Thursday July 16, 2020
GOOD GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE INVESTING: ESG FOR START-UPS AND SMALL BUSINESS
• Workshop 6: Wednesday August 12, 2020
MARKETING YOUR SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS: WHY HOW YOU TELL YOUR STORY MATTERS
• Workshop 7: Wednesday September 9, 2020
SEEKING VALIDATION: A LOOK AT VARIOUS GREEN BUSINESS CERTIFICATIONS
• Workshop 8: Wednesday September 30, 2020
THE GREEN ECONOMY, GREEN TECH AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISES: HOW TO GET INVOLVED
