ACTIS SPOTLIGHT ON HASSAN EBRAHIM, SVP OF SUSTAINABILITY AND CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT AT YELLOW DOOR ENERGY

Yellow Door Energy’s SVP of Sustainability and Corporate Development Hassan Ebrahim interviewed by Actis, our majority shareholder, as part of their podcast series on sustainability leaders. The full podcast is available here.

How is sustainability integrated into your projects, and how does it drive customer relationships and value?

At Yellow Door Energy, we always used to just assume that we were sustainable – we are, after all, a solar company. So we used to think we didn’t need to prove our sustainability credentials. But after getting guidance from Actis, we understood that just being a solar company did not exempt us from putting in the effort to become a sustainability leader.

We also believe that sustainability initiatives enhance the value of the company. For example, the community investment strategy we are implementing ensures that wherever we are investing we also invest in the community. This generates buy-in, and a social license to operate. This facilitates our work, and mitigates the risk of any disruption to our business.

How important is the Just Transition? Does this come up in your regions, and is it part of your strategy?

In South Africa, we are designing a community investment strategy that involves training the coal miners or people associated with the industry to transition to a role in solar energy. There are people in the energy industry who would potentially be left behind by a transition, so we need to find ways to ensure they benefit from it.

What has it been like to work with Actis on sustainability?

The fact that sustainability is very high on Actis’ agenda has enabled us to put it high on our agenda. Facilitating that cross-pollination of ideas is probably the most important benefit: learning from companies like Serena Energy is vital, and Actis helps us do that. Overall, Actis has put sustainability high on our agenda, and given us the tools to implement it.