Ian Wilding, CEO of Hangar 75, a Global Venture Accelerator focused on sustainable impact, presents a strategy for governing boards to ensure that their corporate acceleration programs deliver real value, promoting sustainable development and a thriving venture ecosystem. The strategy emphasizes the importance of setting clear, holistic objectives, establishing rigorous measurement and verification processes, fostering a culture of transparency and continuous learning, fostering collaborative ecosystem engagement, prioritizing adaptive strategy and management, avoiding greenwashing and overestimation, mitigating negative outcomes, and aligning with corporate strategy.
The key elements of the strategy include crafting a unified framework for impact verification, beginning with setting SMART objectives that encompass ESG goals and venture ecosystem enhancement. It is crucial to implement rigorous measurement and verification processes, utilizing both quantitative and qualitative metrics, and engaging independent third parties for objective verification. Embracing transparency and continuous learning, boards should openly share successes, challenges, and lessons learned from acceleration programs to build trust and foster continuous improvement.
To ensure a comprehensive understanding of the program’s impact, governing boards should engage with all stakeholders, including startups, investors, industry experts, and NGOs, through structured feedback sessions, surveys, and innovation showcases. It is essential to prioritize adaptive strategy and management to respond to changing needs and challenges in sustainability and the venture landscape. Boards should also be vigilant about potential pitfalls such as greenwashing and negative impacts on the venture ecosystem, implementing safeguards and monitoring processes to address and rectify issues.
By aligning corporate acceleration programs with overarching ESG and venture ecosystem objectives, engaging with external stakeholders, applying insights for continuous improvement, remaining adaptable and responsive to changing needs, governing boards can drive meaningful change and ensure that their corporations fulfill their promises of being forces of innovation and sustainability with integrity and evidence. This commitment to verified, positive outcomes can enhance corporate reputation and stakeholder trust while contributing to sustainable development and a resilient, dynamic venture ecosystem. Through diligent oversight and a strategic, evidence-based approach, governing boards can lead their corporations to not only participate in the market but also improve it for future generations.
