Sustainability through Engagement, Empowerment, & Mobilisation

Seema Sutradhar is a qualified Electrical Engineer, and in her profession, she aspires to become a servant leader. She solves strategic problems with a systems approach. She is a keen culture sense maker and a process & data expert. She has lived in Singapore for over 14 years now and prior to that she was based out of Mumbai for around the same time. She is a mother of two children who are in their early twenties. Her interests include our planet, nature and cultures. She is a regular yoga practitioner and prior to the pandemic she was also a half-marathon runner. 

She became an entrepreneur after having honed her craft on the job through various roles with corporates for 18 years, with three career transitions and multiple job losses. She had started in software development and worked with Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra and Atos origin across technology, people and processes. She was based out of Mumbai for about 13 years and served international clients both onsite and offshore. In 2009, she moved to Singapore and with her process and data expertise and exposure to National Stock Exchange, Mumbai project, she got to work with ING Bank (through IBM), Singapore Exchange, SITA Aero and finally, Deutsche Bank, Group Audit, where her work got noticed, but her journey became very difficult, and she became an entrepreneur by necessity. The first three years were random, but at the end of 2017, she found the direction she wanted to take, and that is when she co-founded SEEM - Sustainability thru Engagement, Empowerment & Mobilisation, with a mission "to create an ecosystem that nurtures entities to thrive, grow and become sustainable for the future". SEEM is a management consultancy and regTech startup. It is helping leading Financial Institutions and real-economy large Corporations undergo systemic change for their Just NZ Transition, also leading to their longterm sustainability. It is deployed through standardised NZ Transition Plans including Purpose, Universal ESG Metrics, etc based on the std. Transformation Methodology CTM (Change through Movement) and with variations for leading FIs and real-economy large corporations. This methodology also has provision to integrate requirements, recommendations and guidelines from GFANZ and TPT; leverage on standards from ISSB and other such bodies; as well as incorporate other expert knowledge as needed to achieve their NZ goals in alignment with their sectoral pathways directly or as financed. Additionally, outside of the std. NZ Transition Plan, the regTech product CBD (Compliance by Design) for the corporate & investment banks, further enable them to deliver towards their purpose more powerfully. It solves these bank’s challenges in complying with regulations, solves their core issues of data silo, measures credit risk and compliance risk more accurately and discretely, integrates ESG metrics alongside financials in measuring businesses' creditworthiness, brings more agility to the bank in responding to their own business requirements, creates a bank-wide MIS etc and thereby helps the bank to become more robust, clean, purposeful and sustainable for the long term. 

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In 2021, she also founded TREEBANK with a mission “to value each tree as a true asset to own”. It resolves most of the underlying issues that prevent us from effectively preserving and growing trees on our planet.

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"She believes the financial system has the responsibility & power to steer the economy towards one that is climate-friendly, inclusive and sustainable for the longterm."

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"She also believes that climate change is not a standalone problem; the issues behind the SDGs are intertwined into the problem of climate change."

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"She has learnt that if an entity in the financial or real economy is sustainable for the longterm, then it is doing certain things correctly and that it contributes directly or indirectly towards the bigger ecosystem that it is a part of; it has an outward look, not just inwards and it is multi-stakeholder focused."

 

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For economy-wide just NZ transition, she also imagines for those entities in the financial & real economy that SEEM does not support, CTM extended in full to many and in part to the remainder with Discovering Purpose and standardised NZ Transition Plan templates with universal ESG metrics version for these entities, through other companies, provided at least part CTM is mandated across countries, say through G20 or so. Then SEEM provides DP deployment documents and std. NZ Transition Plan templates (a simplified & part-CTM version) with ESG metrics for these entities; trains the first-level of trainers; and certifies all trainers & DP practitioners of company X only.

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What led her to the founding of SEEM and the journey so far?

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It was her observation from her role as an internal process consultant with large IT systems integrators that people resisted processes. Although when explained to them the risk, they were happy to come up with a solution on their own that met the intent. She realised that people knew best how to solve a problem. They disliked being told how to solve it. It was common sense, and the same is true with kids too. This was the core of her discovery of “Change through Movement”, which was further solidified when she attended the training course "Designing for Change" with the design company Ideo in 2017. There she learnt how to design a change through movement, and she thought, what if entities could be helped to discover their organisation’s purpose beyond just making a profit and a movement could be created across the organisation for culture change, innovation, digital transformation etc.? She knew it could solve big problems. She imagined what if problems like financial crisis, money laundering, challenges in complying with regulations faced by leading global banks etc., could be solved and thereby create a financial system that is robust, clean, purposeful and sustainable for the long term. Coincidently, at that time, she got exposed to a business software that gave her an idea to bring about business process transformation in a DIY manner, and she started outlining the transformation methodology, Change through Movement (CTM), to enable the same and allowing development in a unique way.

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Later in her career, after her role as a process consultant, she faced a different kind of issue. It was about difficulty aligning with certain objectives. It was not about the quality of deliverables but somewhere a disjoint in intent. This made her think harder - how could we be in alignment more happily? A situation where everyone gives their best feels motivated, and is willing to go the extra mile. She discovered that it happens in moments when people are doing things for others. A service that has an impact on others and where they are truly engaged in it. She realised this was the bigger purpose beyond just making a profit and had some impact on real people. Such a purpose unites people, and there are no disjoint intents, and people participate enthusiastically and wholeheartedly. To this, later she also attended the training from Ideo on the Power of Purpose in 2018, which helped her in creating the transformation methodology CTM.

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Finally, having worked in software application design & development and worked at the forefront with users, she had experience solving problems through computer applications. She had observed how computers could bring transparency, simplicity, thoughtful control and, of course, efficiency. There is enormous power in computing that can be harnessed to our benefit. This desire to use computing powers and technological advancements to solve bigger problems convinced her to include integration, automation, AI, etc., as part of the application ideation.

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These three key experiences, events and the further realisation that an entity is sustainable for the long term when it contributes directly or indirectly (which also means less negative direct or indirect impacts and more positive direct or indirect impacts) towards the bigger ecosystem that it is a part of; it has an outward look; not just inward; and that it is multi-stakeholder focused led her to the co-founding of SEEM - Sustainability through Engagement, Empowerment & Mobilisation with a mission "to create an ecosystem that nurtures entities to thrive, grow and become sustainable for the future” at the end of 2017.

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To bring about the business process transformation in a DIY manner, she wrote the transformation methodology Change through Movement (CTM). 

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She had very limited knowledge of banking compliance but has in-depth knowledge and experience in process assurance towards the software industry standards. She had written PIIDs for CMMI, wherein they had to map each requirement with the business processes, artefacts etc., during assessments. She thought, what if she could bring that concept to the banking space? And she imagined creating a unified compliance data universe across the bank and building business processes on top of that as a Base. Leveraging on other technological advances, including Data Science, thus she imagined a product that would solve the bank’s challenges in complying with regulations, solve its core issues of data silo, enable it to measure credit risk and compliance risk more accurately and discretely, incorporate non-financial aspects alongside the financial numbers in measuring businesses’ creditworthiness, bring more agility in responding to its own business requirements, create a bank-wide MIS etc. Thereby she envisioned the product Compliance by Design (CBD) for the corporate and investment banks that further enables them to deliver towards their purpose more powerfully. She also developed a methodology for executing Data Science Project for the use cases in CBD.

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Later in 2020, she focused on self-initiated projects other than those for digital transformation. These projects contributed towards the purpose of the bank, which also meant the direct or indirect impacts of these projects aligned with one or more Sustainable Development Goals. So she incorporated SDGs into this transformation methodology CTM. These projects also included the transactions of the bank, which created a mechanism to bring the bank’s focus on the direct or indirect impacts it creates towards the bigger ecosystem that it is a part of. Therefore, CTM's new version became a standardised methodology enabling entities to achieve their long-term sustainability. 

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With the pandemic in force and a major focus on climate change across the financial sector and all other sectors, she started envisioning how this CTM would help entities address their challenges of climate change while becoming sustainable for the long term. She knew climate change is not a standalone problem. The issues behind the sustainable development goals are intertwined into the problem of climate change. Hence it was imperative to start measuring these direct or indirect impacts towards each of the SDGs and incorporate the well-known cycle of plan-do-check and act to make it more objective.

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So in 2022, she updated CTM further and added three more points:

1. She had noticed that we are tied up with GHGs' reduction dir/ indirect measurements only, and we are nowhere closer to discussing other parameters that determine how an entity is doing across SDGs. As CO2 reduction and other individual GHGs reduction are the impact parameters for SDG13 - climate action, she imagined having many such impact parameters for each of the SDGs and standardised by sector along with their standardised %contribution in an SDG. Also, their goals would be objective and against some standard (eg. SBTi), and their pathways would be standardised too. So she introduced the concept of standardised Sectoral Impact Parameters and the need for their periodic baselines and targets in alignment with their sectoral pathways directly or as financed.

2. The second item she introduced was the entity’s periodic relative focus across the SDGs and the need for their ideal, actual and targeted values. The argument behind this is that the entity’s total dir/indirect impacts towards its one purpose is equal to the sum of its dir/indirect impacts towards the 16 sustainable development goals leaving aside the 17th, which is actually created to support the achievement of the other 16. Now, to arrive at the relative focus across 16 SDGs for leading FIs from its underlying companies' and assets' IP values and the funds invested into or planned for it requires standardisation of the FIs into categories and, for each category, standardisation of the ideal relative focus across 16 SDGs, IPs and their %contribution in each SDG and the ideal value of IPs per unit of FI's turnover planned or actual.

3. The third thing that she added to it was the project governance framework at the entity level for the self-initiated projects and their non-financial outcomes (the dir/indirect impacts towards SDGs) to govern them and ensure their credibility. This framework would also enable process verification and certification of the non-financial dir/indirect impacts created by the self-initiated projects right at the source level before they are consolidated and disclosed for external use.

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With these three things added into this framework, CTM's improved version was ready as a standardised transformation methodology. It would help the bank undergo systemic change to achieve its NetZero goals (SDG13) in alignment with its sectoral pathway directly or as financed and, while doing so, achieve its other SDGs through its multi-stakeholder focus while simultaneously becoming sustainable for the long term. But at that time, it was written with the generic term "impact", which meant they were indirect in the case of leading FIs. So she made one more adjustment to distinguish that leading FIs make indirect impacts mainly as they are also responsible for the other companies and the assets making those direct or indirect impacts due to the funds they invest in them in proportions ((thus the IPs' targets are in alignment with its sectoral pathways in the case of businesses in the real economy and both the baselines and targets are derived from their underlying companies and assets in proportion to the funds invested into or planned for in case of leading FIs)). Standardisation of the FIs into categories would prevent FIs from divestments and ensure the actual transition of real-economy companies directly or indirectly.

 

The CTM methodology was then ready and extendable to any entity in the financial and real economy, irrespective of size, theoretically. To make it more practical and limit the scope, she decided to focus on the leading FIs and large biz. in the real economy only, in sectors like energy, steel, cement, aviation etc. The project plans that she had written for CTM then were nothing but the standardised NZ transition plans with variations for the leading FIs and large businesses in the real economy. The qualitative measurements from this project and the quantitative metrics derived from the direct or indirect non-financial impacts created by the self-initiated projects also become universal ESG metrics.

 

CTM also has a provision to incorporate GFANZ's and TPT's requirements, recommendations, guidelines, the NZ Transition Plan framework etc., leverage on standards from ISSB and other such bodies, as well as incorporate any other expert knowledge as needed to achieve their NZ goals in alignment with their sectoral pathways directly or as financed.

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So, together with the standardised NZ Transition Plans with variations for the leading FIs and large businesses in the real economy, including Purpose, universal ESG metrics, etc. and the regTech product Compliance by Design (CBD) for the Corporate & investment banks that further help them to deliver towards their purpose more powerfully, they become the systemic change to help these entities undergo their Just NZ Transition, at the same time become sustainable for the longterm.