Strathmore University, in partnership with Capital FM, hosted a Sustainability Town Hall on June 11, 2026, bringing together executives, academics, students, business leaders, corporates, and individuals keen to explore what sustainability means. Throughout the conversation, one message stood out clearly: sustainability is not just a slogan, a logo, or a statement tucked away in an annual report. It is about real impact. 

The discussion zeroed in on the “S” Social in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) frameworks, a pillar often overshadowed by flashier conversations about carbon footprints and climate targets, but which speakers argued is the glue holding the whole sustainability agenda together.

The town hall opened with remarks from Prof. Izael Da Silva, Strathmore University’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation and UNESCO Chair on Climate Change, Resilience and Sustainability. He distilled sustainability into a simple but powerful framework of three Ps: Planet, People, and Prosperity. By placing prosperity at the centre of the conversation, he challenged the audience to think beyond profit alone. Sustainability, he noted, must ultimately be measured by whether it improves people’s lives, protects the environment, and creates lasting value for communities. Prof. Da Silva’s challenge to the room was direct: organisations have spent years producing reports, planting ceremonial trees and running awareness campaigns. The time for talk, he argued, is over,  it is now time to implement. 

His line about not just “preaching water” but “drinking it too” captured the spirit of the day, and it wasn’t just rhetoric. Strathmore has built a reputation as one of the greenest universities in Africa, having cut its energy consumption significantly through a rooftop solar installation feeding into the national grid, alongside long-running recycling and green-building initiatives championed by its student-led Social and Environmental Sustainability Club.

Capital FM Managing Director, Symon Bargurei, picked up that thread, framing the media’s role in the sustainability conversation. He said the media has a responsibility to deepen public understanding of sustainability and to move conversations beyond awareness campaigns, adding that the next step is to ensure practical action on the ground so that sustainability becomes part of everyday life. His point was that despite years of ESG terminology entering boardrooms, the concept remains poorly understood, not just by the public, but sometimes by the very communicators tasked with explaining it.

People Are the Business Case

The first panel brought together voices from banking, manufacturing and technology, and the message was remarkably consistent: sustainability isn’t a side project bolted onto a company’s operations; it has to live inside the business itself.

Judith Sidi Odhiambo, Head of Sustainability at KCB Group, argued that sustainability creates value for business, communities and the future alike, and that every product and service decision a company makes ultimately traces back to people. Her broader point was that organisations get more out of sustainability, in terms of both impact and longevity, when it is woven into strategy and governance rather than treated as a standalone initiative sitting outside core operations.

From the manufacturing side, Peter Ndichu, Manufacturing Director at HACO Industries, spoke about technology as an enabler rather than a replacement for people. He described partnerships with universities to train young people in practical skills, creating talent that can become employers in the future while generating economic impact. His framing was simple: a workforce that thrives is the foundation of a business that lasts, and investing in capability and growth pathways for employees is what gives technology its purpose.

Samsung East Africa’s Head of Corporate Marketing, Nyawira Muraguri, brought the conversation into the digital realm. She argued that access to technology alone isn’t enough without the practical skills to use it meaningfully, pointing to initiatives that teach artificial intelligence, coding and hands-on device repair to build sustainable employability. Her closing thought echoed the room’s broader concern about generational inclusion — that as conversations about youth and technology dominate the sustainability space, older generations shouldn’t be left behind in efforts to build digital literacy.

From Compliance to Culture

The second panel widened the lens, pulling in voices from telecoms, academia, energy infrastructure and youth advocacy and it is here that the “S” in ESG came into its sharpest focus.

Karen Basiye, Safaricom’s Director of Sustainable Business and Social Impact, offered a memorable framing: balance the Environmental pillar, strengthen the Governance pillar, but start with the Social pillar. She said social sustainability encompasses diversity, inclusion and equity, and that businesses must address societal needs while creating economic value — pointing to Safaricom’s own origin story as a company that emerged to solve a real communication gap when very few Kenyans owned mobile phones. For her, the “S” is what brings everything together, and no organisation can sustain that work without partnerships that help drive the agenda forward.

Dr. Mumbi Wachira, a lecturer at Strathmore University Business School, pushed the conversation toward accountability. Social responsibility programmes in education, healthcare and community development are essential, she argued, but they are a starting point, not a finish line. The harder, more uncomfortable question is whether the people these programmes are meant to serve are actually living better lives as a result. That, she said, is the measure that matters, and it calls for genuine systems change rather than isolated projects, ideally tracked through a clear theory of change with measurable qualitative and quantitative outcomes.

Representing Kenya Pipeline Company, General Manager for Strategy and Commercial Services, Zilper Abong’o, brought the discussion back to leadership and lived experience. She said sustainable growth cannot be achieved unless people are protected, empowered and included in the development process. For her, leadership means walking the talk — placing people at the centre of major economic projects and ensuring those projects create spaces that are not just economically beneficial, but physically and mentally safe for the communities around them.

Perhaps the most pointed remarks of the day came from Joseph Nguthiru, UN Young Champion of the Earth and founder of HyaPak, a venture that turns invasive water hyacinth into biodegradable packaging. He argued that one of the biggest gaps in current sustainability discussions is the limited involvement of young people in shaping solutions, noting that most solutions handed to youth are top-down rather than co-created with them.

Nguthiru also drew a sharp line between philanthropy and shared value, arguing that the real difference lies in measurable impact. He extended the conversation to mental health, reminding the room that a single positive message shared today could shift someone’s perspective or change the course of their life, and that companies have a responsibility to consider how their actions affect the mental well-being of the young people who form their audiences and user base. For him, the role of corporates in social responsibility is fundamentally about building and maintaining trust, because young people look up to large companies as institutions that should model responsible leadership, and when that trust is broken, it affects them directly as both users and citizens.

The Takeaway

Strip away the acronyms, and the town hall’s message was refreshingly simple. Sustainability, for the leaders gathered at Strathmore, isn’t primarily about glossy reports or tree-planting photo opportunities — though those have their place. It’s about whether businesses are building skilled, included workforces; whether technology is genuinely empowering people rather than leaving them behind; whether communities are safer and healthier because of corporate activity; and whether young people are being handed a seat at the table rather than a finished plan.

As Capital FM’s Bargurei noted, the next phase of Kenya’s sustainability conversation isn’t about raising awareness — most organisations have already absorbed the vocabulary of ESG. The harder work now is proving, in measurable terms, that the “S” translates into real outcomes for real people. If the energy in the room at Strathmore is any indication, that shift from talk to tracked impact is already underway.

Article written by: Jemmy M. Kamau