RHT Bus Services Ltd and LEAL & Co Ltd recognised as the winners of the first edition of the AfrAsia Bank Sustainability Awards

The second edition of the “AfrAsia Bank Sustainability Summit 2019” was launched today at the Caudan Arts Centre, in partnership with IBL Together and with the support of the United Nations (UN). This two-day summit, scheduled on 14 & 15 October, welcomed over 200 participants from around the world with the aim at creating discussion opportunities with a broad group of stakeholders, about how businesses impact on the economies, societies and environments in which they operate and establish the urgency for action. 

 

The highlight of the 2019 edition, the “AfrAsia Bank Sustainability Awards”, a first in Mauritius, looked at rewarding local companies for driving sustainability efforts. RHT Bus Services Ltd bagged the “Best Sustainability Project” while LEAL & Co Ltd was recognised as the “Best Sustainable Business”.

 

The awards welcomed entries from businesses of all sizes and from all sectors to recognise and support the innovators who are accelerating progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The awards were judged by an independent jury panel, made up of high-level professionals from diverse fields of expertise and reputed institutional bodies, including the UN, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Indian Ocean Commission (IOC).

 

H.E. Christine N. Umutoni, UN Resident Coordinator for Mauritius and Seychelles from the jury panel highlighted that “All participants demonstrated the strategic importance of sustainability to their business or organisational activities. It was extremely inspiring. I would like to thank my fellow co-judges André Pouillès-Duplaixm, Director of AFD, and Raj Mohabeer from the IOC for their hard work in reviewing the submissions!"

 

The category “Best Sustainability Project” looked at rewarding companies that implemented a project related to one or several SDGs. Super U, RHT Bus Services Ltd and Sun Resorts featured among the shortlisted nominees and ultimately RHT Bus Services Ltd won the best project for its initiatives undertaken in environment preservation. On the other hand, Beachcomber , Archemics  and Leal & Co Ltd were shortlisted for the Best Sustainable Business and Leal & Co Ltd successfully demonstrated an overall commitment for adopting sustainability principles in their approach today to achieve a sustainable future.

 

Commenting on the award win, Ashwin Ramchurn from RHT Bus Services Ltd, said that “We are extremely honoured to be receiving such a prestigious award recognising our green efforts in energy saving, water management and CO2 emission control initiatives. Winning this award reinforces our commitment towards our sustainability journey.”

Christian Ferrière from Leal & Co Ltd , added that , “ At Leal & Co Ltd we realized that we produced a lot of waste and we needed to do something about it and we had to find ways of having it recycled to make Mauritius a better place to live.”