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Ilham Rhamanda should have been one of the most contented men in Bandung. As a successful young entrepreneur, he and his brother ran an established and thriving sportswear factory, with a reputation for original designs. They employed 12 people and supplied a number of department stores in the city, the capital of Indonesia’s West Java Province. But when he looked to the future, the 34-year-old father of a 2-year-old daughter wasn’t satisfied.
He saw the waste water running from his workshop running into the little streams in his neighborhood. He knew his sportswear factory, like many other small and medium-sized businesses in Bandung, was thriving at the expense of environmental quality, producing large amounts of sewage, garbage and industrial pollution. But making his business profitable and environmentally friendly appeared to him as a “complete puzzle”.
So, when the opportunity arose to attend a Start Your Green Business (SYGB) training, organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO), Ilham jumped at the chance. “Good business practices should take planet and people aspects, instead of only profit, into consideration,” he said. “Because they are critical for our business to grow sustainably.”
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Source & Copyright: ILO