Economy Middle East speaks to Carl Manlan, vice president of inclusive impact and sustainability at Visa Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) about how the company is enabling sustainable choices and sustainability practices to thrive.
Manlan highlights how consumers can make sustainable choices and the younger generation’s impact on driving climate action and sustainability.
Alp Sarper: Why is sustainability so important to Visa? What actions are you taking to ensure that it filters through the entire company and your consumer base?
Carl Manlan: We need to think about the environment in which we live and operate. Visa, a company that enables 6,000 transactions per second, has the ability, every second, to change the behavior of the individuals who are making these transactions. So, we take it very seriously because we believe that the invisible infrastructure that Visa enables allows individuals to make sure that they can get food on the table.
So, the connection between farmers and restaurants is made possible. In that transaction, individuals can make a choice. Do I buy locally produced or do I buy exported? That choice is made by small and medium businesses, banks, and fintechs that we work with. Therefore, we make sure that those options are available to individuals when they make those transactions.
Alp Sarper: Are consumers becoming more conscious of sustainable practices? If so, what are some of the main challenges that they face?
Carl Manlan: The study that we did in the GCC, focusing on behavior change, indicates that about 50 percent of individuals see climate change as an important issue. In that context, what can be done?
Number one, thinking of small and medium businesses, we see that many of them are starting to run sustainable-led businesses. They are giving consumers an alternative to what already exists. The second element is that banks are seeing the importance of consumers demanding cards that are made of better products for the environment.
Environmentally friendly cards are a signal to banks that things need to change and we have to respond to it. If you take these two elements, climate change is at the intersection of individuals, businesses, small and medium businesses, banks, and financial institutions. Thus, it’s always about behavior change and moving from one position such as the core to understanding that we are accompanying all of these entities into the change.
Alp Sarper: If you could expand more on banks and merchants, how can they entice the consumer to move into more sustainable practices? How can they make it easier for them to get into sustainability?
Carl Manlan: We have ecolytiq, which is a fintech that has collaborated with Visa and now with Mashreq in the UAE to ensure that individuals can start calculating their carbon footprint. What does this mean? We spoke about behavior change. When you know that the choices you make have an impact on the environment, you can quantify. This data is readily available in your hand and you can then make an informed decision as to how you change your behavior.
Thinking about small and medium businesses (SMB), we run an initiative called She’s Next. We’ve seen over the past three years, the numbers of SMBs that are in the sustainability space. I can think of a waste lab that invites you to think about how you use your food waste because it can be turned into compost.
We can think about Thrift for Good which won this year. It invites you to bring your clothes to the store so that they can resell them. Hence, we’re seeing the whole concept of reusing and reselling more and more. In fact, the study highlights that this behavior change is more entrenched in the younger generation.
When we think about small businesses, they are run sustainably. We also realize that because of consumer demand, they starting to be profitable businesses. Therefore, we want to see more of this shift in society to ensure that sustainability is not just a word that is used, but it’s an action that people take.
Alp Sarper: You mentioned the younger generation, what is their outlook on sustainability? What are some key trends that you’re noticing? How will the world evolve when they grow up?
Carl Manlan: My daughter is 11 and I went to her class last year to observe what they’ve been taught. The knowledge of sustainability is much more advanced than it was. This means that the school curriculum has been adapted.
I also met a grade 12 student last week who is running her own business. In her view, she can continue to be a student and lead by example. She demonstrates that you don’t necessarily have to be older to run a business. You can bring that change to your community.
Gen Z sees this as important to them because they believe that the future will be very different if no action is taken now. When we think of the younger generation, organic products are one of the things that they think is important. According to the study, 36 percent believe that we need to think of bringing more of these products.
In the UAE, when you go to the supermarket, you’re starting to see tomatoes that are produced locally. That’s an additional way for small and medium businesses to bring this forward.
The grade 12 student that I was speaking about earlier is running a business for young people to think differently about the stationery that they buy for school. She saw a problem, identified it, and implemented a solution. Therefore, the future is better. We have younger people who realize that they can take action and we can support them.
Read: Dr. Saeeda Jaffar on Visa, revolutionizing payment processes in GCC
About Carl Manlan
Carl Manlan is vice president of inclusive impact and sustainability at Visa Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA).
His focus is on enabling community impact with local, regional, and global partners. He seeks to co-create partnerships that support small and medium businesses, individuals, and households to thrive in the CEMEA region.
Before Visa, Carl served as the chief operating officer at Ecobank Foundation. Carl held various leadership roles at the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), the Economic Commission for Africa, The Global Fund, and UNDP. He is a Project Syndicate contributor. He sits on education, health, and civil society organization boards.
Alp Sarper is Economy Middle East’s editor-at-large.
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