Reputation and Communications Leader, Ricardo Adame, has called on communications practitioners to harness the power of storytelling to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to him, they need to spend time with Senior Leadership Teams to discuss the way forward.

This, he said, would help organizations to create more value for the environments they operate in. 

Ricardo Adame was speaking at the 2022 first quarter edition of ThinkStories on the theme "Sustainability Storytelling," where he shared insights on the methodologies, learnings, and best practices to sustainability storytelling garnered from his over 30 years of experience as a global executive communications leader.

Drawing from his diverse experiences around the world, Ricardo indicated that sustainability provided communicators with “a fresh opportunity to tell different perspectives of their organizations’ stories beyond profitability and must be taken seriously.”

This was due to the fact that investors were inclined to divest from companies that appeared to be failing in delivering on their Environmental Social Governance commitment.

“As communicators, you have the opportunity to bring your creativity to bear to tell the sustainability stories of your organizations. Sustainability provides enormous opportunities to do that,” he added. 

Nearly 100 selected communications professionals from Africa and other parts of the world, including the US, UK, Peru, and Belize, participated in the first quarter 2022 edition of ThinkStories.

Participants were selected based on their career experiences, aspirations and relevance of the discussed topic to their current roles.

Throughout the session, participants had the opportunity to listen to a presentation on sustainability storytelling, ask questions and seek clarifications from the resource person.

There was also a breakout session, where participants worked in smaller groups to discuss a case study on sustainability storytelling, tease out lessons learnt and share their experiences with fellow communications professionals.

For first-time participant Ihuome Ike from Nigeria, that was the highlight of the webinar. 

“It was almost as if we were business owners and taking charge of the situation. There were a lot of strategies, thoughts, and critical thinking that went into the case study. I hope to be admitted for the next event”, she said.

Founder of ThinkStories, Samuel Osei, was excited about the level of participation and engagement during the session.

“It is encouraging to see colleague communicators embrace the critical role of storytelling in driving the narrative of their organizations. Through ThinkStories, we want to raise a new generation of African storytellers who will tell the world about 'What is right with Africa.' Beyond this, we are aiming at impacting global brands and influencing the bottom-line of our organizations”, he said.

The next edition, scheduled to take place in the 2nd quarter of the year, promises to be bigger and will further strengthen the storytelling capabilities of communications professionals across Africa. 

About ThinkStories

ThinkStories Africa is a knowledge sharing, networking, and skills improvement platform for African communicators, foregrounding the continent’s multiplex narrative by promoting the art of storytelling and broadening the conversation on how to build and influence global brands.

The past four events have drawn over 300 participants from across Africa with webinar topics centered on Storytelling and Brand Narrative and Reputation building and Transmedia Storytelling.

Through ThinkStories, we want to raise a new generation of African storytellers who will tell the world about "What is right with Africa." Beyond this, we are aiming at impacting global brands and influencing the bottom line of our organizations.