Maciej Gałkiewicz is the CEO of Ragnarson, a purpose-driven software agency and angel investor, investing and co-creating products with founders. We've asked him five questions about how Ragnarson defines #NachhaltigkeitimUnternehmen and already puts it into practice today.
Gemeinsam mit PNZ haben wir die Interviewreihe #NachhaltigkeitimUnternehmen aufgesetzt. Unser Ziel ist es, das Thema Nachhaltigkeit greifbar zu machen und anhand von Beispielen aus anderen Unternehmen aufzuzeigen, wie #NachhaltigkeitimUnternehmen schon heute gelebt wird und jede:r selbst aktiv werden kann.
Can you describe your company in a maximum of 7 words?
Ragnarson is an impact angel investment company with strong technical expertise. We support early-stage founders fighting climate change, improving sustainability, and decreasing socio-economic inequalities.
What does sustainability mean for you/your company?
There are three main pillars of sustainability at Ragnarson:
We reinvest our profit into impact-driven startups. Most of the solutions aim to decrease CO2 emissions and the usage of other crucial resources like freshwater.
We engage with software development projects that build solutions increasing sustainability. An example would be Global Changer, a company helping SMEs reduce their CO2 emissions.
We hold monthly presentations followed by discussions about different topics e.g.: CO2 footprint, personal ecological footprint, food waste, or emissions stemming from agriculture and food production.
What were the first concrete steps you took to make your company more sustainable?
One of the first steps in creating a healthy organization was shaping our company culture. We have a strong foundation based on transparency and self-management. Our team is well-informed on various company matters, engaged, and motivated.
With a solid groundwork, it was relatively easy to spark a conversation about impact and sustainability. We did it through different kinds of company-wide presentations followed by discussions.
We also invite portfolio companies to present in front of our team. It deepens our understanding of problems and solutions within various industries.
On top of it, we interview various people active in the impact space in our podcast - Founding Impact.
Have you already had any successes? What has been your greatest success so far?
We engaged our team in many conversations. It increased the understanding of what climate change and sustainability actually means. Our employees are now more aware and knowledgeable about best practices they can apply on a company, and a personal level.
We invested in 3 companies improving sustainability in their respective industries.
We developed Global Changer's CO2 reduction software product.
What is your top tip for other entrepreneurs to take the first step and get started??
My suggestion would be to start the conversation with your team early on. Discussing the importance of sustainability and what it means to every employee is crucial. We initially skipped this step which made it difficult to move forward without the understanding and support of the team. Only later, we realized how crucial it was and got back to discussing sustainability with the entire team.
Thank you for the interview, Maciej!
Find out more about Ragnarson on their website and podcast Founding Impact.