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For this role, Business Leader introduced a company in the UK that is growing exponentially. The Anthesis Group, a sustainability consultancy, spoke about how attitudes towards more environmentally friendly alternatives are changing and where the company fits in with them.

As the business world enters a new post-COVID era, the search for “greener” alternatives and ideas has risen on the agendas of many companies as the UK seeks to achieve its “Net Zero” target by 2050.

One of the leading companies is the Anthesis Group. The London-based consulting firm was founded in 2013 and has seen incredible exponential growth over the past few years. With a year-over-year growth of 30% over the past three years, the company now has sales in excess of £ 40 million and employs over 500 people in 14 locations worldwide.

The employee-owned company works with some of the world’s largest brands to help them meet their sustainability goals and green alternative goals around the world.

UK managing director Brad Blundell has over 30 years of environmental consultancy experience. He describes the company as “The Sustainability Activator”.

He said: “As we step into what the UN is calling the crucial decade, we recognize that companies and government organizations need more than advice if we are to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement and ensure that there are sufficient resources for it future generations left on the planet. Therefore, Anthesis transforms strategy and advice into commercially relevant measures – often made possible by technology. “

Who is the Anthesis Group?

As a consulting firm, the company follows a three-stage method that uses the “Activator Approach”. First, it uses its innovative technology to analyze a company’s environmental impact. Anthesis develops an insightful diagnosis of business and sustainability issues, builds engagement, and identifies opportunities and risks. Through its research, it combines big data, scenario modeling, and qualitative multi-stakeholder research to develop a solution.

Anthesis often finds that in a greener age, the solution itself can pose many challenges – as most companies have never looked at sustainability before. Anthesis had to overcome this in order to achieve its growth. The company provides ideas for new tools, methods and approaches for daily business in order to “unlock sustainable performance”.

Ultimately, the company implements changes to meet its environmental goals. He said, “From power generation to public engagement campaigns and from program management to on-site deployment. Where clients need implant support, our specialist teams help turn plans into reality and get results. “

While they’re still a relatively new company, they have an impressive list of customers. These include Tesco, Gap, Costa Coffee, The North Face, J&J, CaixaBank, Cisco, and Unilever. In the public sector, they work with city and local governments in Spain and the UK including Defra, BEIS, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Westminster City Council, Southwark London and the Birmingham City Council, to name a few.

Inspirational change

Although Anthesis was only eight years on its business trip, it has established itself as a leader in its field – but what was the inspiration for its creation and rapid growth?

Blundell said, “At the beginning of the last decade, we saw that sustainability was gradually becoming mainstream and that many global corporate customers were looking for seamlessly integrated international sustainability specialists. At that time the market was offering global “generalists” and local niche specialists, and we realized that there was a gap for sustainability specialists with a global presence.

“Similarly, we realized that companies and government agencies need to embed sustainability into all of their operations, and to make that happen they need tools. Therefore, we started the Anthesis journey with the conscious intention of providing high-performance, high-tech solutions as part of our service portfolio. “

Green growth

Many companies in recent years have claimed to be sustainable or to have been debating green alternatives in business circles, but much of it has proven to be untrue. However, as a consulting company focused in this industry, Anthesis was a driver for changes towards a greener future.

How did you achieve this in a steadily growing market? Blundell explains, “Anthesis grew on a buy-and-build basis. So far, this strategy has resulted in 13 acquisitions and achieved organic growth of 20 to 30% over the previous year. Six years later, the Anthesis Group consists of over 500 employees with legal entities in 14 countries. Sales are £ 40m with 80% private and 20% public customers. Here in the UK, over 140 people work in our offices in London, Manchester, Oxford and Bristol. “

The main differentiator that helped the company expand was that it has become an industry leader, offering more services than others in the industry.

“The range of integrated services from Anthesis is unique – there is no competitor with whom we can be compared based on the breadth of our offering. Anthesis also eschews a “best athlete” approach to providing professional assistance. We ensure that regardless of the advice or technical assistance required, we will assemble the best team of professionals to deliver the result no matter where they are in the world. “

This approach has resulted in international expansion – a major driver for an exponential expansion of its services around the world.

“We are fortunate to have a number of founding members of Anthesis who are based internationally – particularly in North America. When the company was founded at the end of 2013, there was a basic need for “boots on site” in the Far East and Southeast Asia as well as in Europe in order to support the expanded supply chains and global activities of our customers. Thanks to our expanded network, we were able to quickly build an international profile through team lift-outs and small tuck-in acquisitions. Within 6 months of launch, Anthesis had started trading in the United States, the Philippines, China and Germany, as well as in the UK. “

Sustainability Revolution

It is clear that Anthesis has grown in an industry that will become increasingly important to the business and the global community in the years to come.

But how did they achieve this growth in an increasingly crowded market?

Comments Blundell, “Recruit the most talented people you can find in the market and help them develop their careers within your company. We have strived to retain our best talent by offering them the opportunity to move to other professional service teams, work from our overseas locations and pursue a career path other than a sector or key client, etc. With young talents who Be ambitious to pursue others On career paths it has never been more important to ensure that their needs can be met in your organization, unlike in a competitor’s organization. Finally, make sure that the company culture and purpose are understood by all coworkers, and that they can see how their role affects achieving the impact and change we all crave. “

This desire for a greener business world is the cornerstone of the company’s recent expansion. Over the past few years there have been several factors that have led this platform to continue on its impressive growth path. However, changes at government level are still needed to meet the UK’s net zero targets.

Blundell said, “There has been a significant change in the past five years. While this year the headlines were rightly dominated by the global pandemic, the interest of the financial services sector in ESG or environmental social governance has increased significantly. The principles of responsible investing are now being applied by funds and investors at all levels to ensure long-term resilience and security. While legislation still lags behind in sustainability performance in many areas, pressure on customers and supply chains are now powerful drivers for change. “

Future trends

Riding at the height of the wave that has become increasingly popular with business leaders looking for greener alternatives in their own businesses – there are innovations and ideas that could help create a better future for all. But what can we expect and who should companies watch out for?

Comments Blundell, “It is only in the past few months that ambitions for a transition to a low-carbon economy have changed dramatically. Some of the changes we’ve seen include: the UK’s reduction in its gasoline and diesel car ban by 2030, Mitsubishi no longer taking orders for coal-fired power plants, the New York State Pension Fund’s commitment to divesting fossil fuels, and much more. With more millennial and Generation Z policymakers and business leaders taking over the leadership of business leaders and governments at all levels, the pace of change will accelerate over the next decade. “

And where does Blundell see his company’s role in this future? He sums up: “We have a very open, collaborative and entrepreneurial approach to interacting with the market and with each other. Anthesis is well placed to support this transition by building on the solid foundations we’ve laid over the past six years. “