Entrepreneurs' Talk: AdornPay's Anouk on sustainable & ethically responsible business practices

In our ‘entrepreneurship blogs,’ we take you through topics related to entrepreneurship: what does it involve? What do we learn the most from? And which topics do we encounter along the way? This blog focuses on sustainable and ethical entrepreneurship. Anouk, founder of AdornPay, addresses a number of frequently asked questions. 

What does sustainable and ethical entrepreneurship mean to you?
To me, sustainable and ethical entrepreneurship means running a business responsibly. Ultimately, as a company, you naturally want to be profitable, but I would never want to make money at the expense of others. And, of course, not at the expense of the world we live in, with its beautiful nature and all the animals that inhabit it. To me, sustainable entrepreneurship means thinking about the consequences of every step you take. For example, the people who make our products must work under the right conditions and receive fair pay, our shipments should produce as little CO2 as possible, and we want to create as little waste as possible in our business processes. These are just a few examples of what sustainable and ethically responsible entrepreneurship means to me.

Why is this topic so important to you?
From a young age, I have believed that you should take good care of everything around you: the people you love, but also everything that may seem more distant from your everyday life. It is sometimes very easy to focus only on everything visible to you, since you are confronted with it every day. But to me, it is very important to look beyond that. In the Netherlands, we generally have things quite good, but this is not the case everywhere. I think we could be a little kinder to one another. And that we could take better care of everything around us. There is only one planet, and we must cherish it. Of course, as a company, we alone do not have enough influence, but we hope to inspire others to think more carefully about the impact of their decisions as entrepreneurs. A better world starts with yourself.

In your view, what progress can AdornPay still make in the area of sustainable and ethical entrepreneurship?
Of course, we are doing everything we can to do the right thing when it comes to this topic, but there are always still steps to take when it comes to responsible entrepreneurship. In the short term, I would like to write more about sustainable entrepreneurship. I hope this will raise awareness of the topic among more people. In addition, I hope that in the future we will be able to make our packaging and shipping even more sustainable.

What would you like to tell other companies about the importance of this topic?
Wow, good question. Actually, quite a lot. It naturally also depends on the company. But my advice to any company that is not yet consciously engaged with this would be: just start! Every step you take is one step forward. You really do not need to have all the answers right away when it comes to this. As management, put your heads together, write a plan, and just go for it!