Environmental, Social, Governance

Our name Houbara is inspired by the Houbara bustard, a bird that was brought back from near extinction due to widespread conservation efforts in the region as it is essential to the art of falconry that is so intrinsic to Arab culture.

When I started Houbara in 2020, our name inspired us to help brands communicate authentically, and with purpose. Authenticity is at the very heart of what we do to drive impact, whether it is in our honest consulting to our clients or in the way we run our business. Our goal is to achieve growth that is sustainable, equitable and all encompassing.

The market tells us it’s no longer about being small or big but that it’s time for us all to step up our ESG efforts because it is the right thing to do to achieve balance after the consequences of climate change and the exploitation of natural resources, as well as the human rights and inequity issues laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the last two years brought about the biggest disruption, it also gave us innumerable opportunities to learn and evolve.
As part of our Impact Programme in 2021, we match funded our client, Aurora50’s budget dollar for dollar to drive awareness and understanding of the vital work they are doing in the area of gender balance at board level.

I am also delighted to share that we also completed our first carbon footprint report, for the year 2021, which gives us a comprehensive overview of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as characterised by the GHG Protocol. This report will serve as a benchmark upon which to measure our future impact, performance and improvement.

Quantifying our organisation’s emission was made possible with the help of our friends at elementsix, who not only made the whole process simple but also an engaging and thought-provoking one.

Our staff are fully on board in now tracking our progress, and all of it feeds directly back to not only reducing our impact on the planet but also on our bottom line.

I am confident that having fulsome ESG measures and policies in place will be central to our success and key in making us truly resilient and fostering the culture within our business that our name continues to inspire in us all every day of every week.