Three Avenues
Influenced by the movie “Armageddon”, the founder of Sustainable Lab, Renji Hirase, yearned to become an astronaut who saves the Earth. He had pursued his dream at Osaka University studying physics; however, he started to lose his interest. Then he entered a student venture community, where he met many young entrepreneurs who were so passionate about making a positive difference to the world. “I supported them with all my heart, but they were often not rewarded”, says Renji. Their passions to incorporate social and environmental sustainability into a successful business model proved to him what it takes for a to lead a good company. Yet, somehow it did not reach stakeholders and investors. So what can we do to make these good companies to stand out? This was how the initial and fundamental idea of the company came to be out.
The encounter with Professor Yasuyuki Kato, a member of the Management Committee of GPIF, in 2018 gave the company a great push. Professor Kato, who is a specialist in ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) investment and financial engineering, advised Renji that the rapidly developing ESG trend would largely change the way of financial investments, and create a new demand for a database of Sustainability-focused data. This convinced Renji that ESG investment is the right field to dedicate his life.
Finally, with his background in physics, Renji already had knowledge of physical statistics, which is similar to the basics of data science. This coincidence also greatly helped kick start the company.
AI-powered big data platform focusing on Sustainability
SusLab offers a means to visualize the degree of sustainable business practices of each firm. They have launched their Sustainability-centered, big data platform, called TERRASTβ, for investors. They collect various types of data related to Sustainability on each firm which largely consists of non-financial information, such as CO2 emissions, water consumption, renewable energy usage, percentage of female managers, overtime hours, and board member meeting attendance rates in the business. Suslab further analyzes the data using AI and computes each firm’s ‘Sustainability Score’, a quantifiable value used to measure a company’s sustainable practices. Through data visualization, investors can compare the current state of many firms with regard to Sustainability, while firms themselves can subjectively grasp their current state and plan their “ideal” state. SusLab aims to increase the number of ‘strong’ and ‘friendly’ firms in the world. While ‘strong’ means profitable in the business world, ‘friendly’ refers to social and environmental contributions that the firm provides.
What you really love gives your life meaning
When the founder, Renji, became part of a student venture community, he had known nothing about business. But soon, he learned that it was not ideal to enter what it seemed to be profitable a business. Profit will inevitably attract smarter, larger competitors. Even if you manage to build competitive advantages, under the natural flow of time and market trends, those advantages will only be temporary.
Renji came to understand that entrepreneurship was a real-life game that players dedicated all their strength towards perfecting. When he realized this, he recalled what he wanted to do with his life. So his advice to you, budding entrepreneurs, is simple: Find what you are truly passionate about and pursue it. It can fulfill your life. It will give your life meaning.
