The agricultural industry sits in a particularly delicate position in the conversation on sustainability — being crucially important as it provides mankind with the means for survival while also being a core contributor to the climate issue. In a recent Earth System Science Data study, it was estimated that agriculture contributes to roughly a third of global greenhouse gas emissions.

With this revelation, organisations and nations active in agriculture are looking to innovate, using bleeding-edge technology as a key driver to achieve sustainability goals. At the forefront of this shift stands the Brazilian cotton industry. It provides an exciting showcase for the role that technology can play in finding innovative solutions in a sector where sustainability is crucial.

Cotton — Traditional industry, modern problems

As with many other agricultural goods, cotton faced a global supply chain crisis in 2022. According to McKinsey’s fashion industry report, businesses in Asia especially felt this sting, with many citing material shortages as a key disruptor.

Creating a sustainable cotton supply while facing ever-increasing demand proves a daunting challenge. This is especially true in the case of Brazil: the world’s second-largest exporter of cotton.

Brazil’s cotton industry has experienced explosive growth, increasing its exports by 15 times in the last two decades alone. Despite this heavy expansion, the Brazilian cotton industry has established itself with a firm focus on sustainability. It is now the world’s largest producer of sustainable cotton, with at least 84 per cent of total production certified by the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), an internationally recognised non-profit group.

Also Read: How companies can pursue tech-led sustainability in APAC

To achieve these accolades, Brazil has fostered transparency across all nodes in the cotton supply chain. This comes with a firm understanding that sustainability can only be ensured when there is accountability and proper backing by scientific data. By recognising this key pain point, Brazil is continuously innovating and deploying technological solutions to address this age-old issue.

Tech-powered transparency

As with all industries, transparency is driven by accurate and readily available information. In Brazil, this translates to the traceability of cotton bales from start to finish. The nation has employed the use of QR codes and barcode systems to track cotton bales and provide easy access to crucial information. This would include information like the bale’s field of origin, sustainability certifications and in-depth quality details just to name a few.

The use of technology for traceability was especially highlighted this year. In 2022, the Sou de Algodão (which means “I’m made of cotton”) movement launched the SouABR (ABR being the Brazilian acronym for Brazilian Responsible Cotton) programme.

This was the first large-scale tech-driven traceability initiative in Brazil’s textile chain and was designed to offer all members of the supply chain transparency and to encourage more sustainable choices from consumers.

The SouABR programme heavily utilises the latest in blockchain technology to record, track and store immutable data on cotton. This data can provide information on the fibre’s origin and the production processes of each item all the way down to the end consumer. Furthermore, this data will communicate that the cotton has ABR social and environmental certification, which acts as an endorsement that the product adheres to the highest standards of sustainable cotton.

Additionally, users on all levels of the supply chain will soon be able to access information like this through the Brazilian Cotton Growers Association (ABRAPA) smart app, set to launch in the near future. The app enables bale-by-bale tracking via bar code and QR code, offering full transparency of Brazilian cotton from farm to port to cotton growers, textile industries, traders, and retail brands worldwide.

A brighter future for all to see

We can only begin tackling the issues of agriculture’s damaging effects on the environment once we can track and assess all the processes which contribute to them. Using the Brazilian cotton industry as a role model, we can see that the implementation of tracing technology has provided invaluable and widely visible insight into sustainability.

The digitisation of information makes it easily accessible and auditable — which ensures efficiency, reliability, and sustainability at all stages of the supply chain. With the more widespread adoption of innovative tracing technology across agriculture, the sector can reinforce accountability and take responsibility for the sustainability of not only the human population but the planet.

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Startups disrupt traditional business landscapes, so when the landscape for startups itself faces disruption, you can expect consternation and caution to abound.

As reported by startup ecosystem market intelligence platform CB Insights, 2021 was a remarkable year for global venture capital investment, with deal values doubling over the previous year as investors poured money into some of the world’s most innovative startups.

But like all periods of rapid growth, this level of investment can’t be sustained indefinitely, so this year, we have seen a contraction in both deal volumes and values.

CB Insights data also shows as of Q3 of this year, global venture funding reached US$329.2 billion, with a projection to hit US$438.9 billion by the end of 2022. This means we could see an approximate 30 per cent decline in value compared to the US$630.3 billion invested globally in 2021.

These declining numbers have caused concern among startups across the Asia Pacific region. However, there are strong reasons to believe that this situation, widely referred to as venture capital or ‘tech winter’, is something that many startups will be able to weather.

Weathering the tech winter

While the overall numbers are down compared to a year ago, they show that significant volumes of venture capital are still being invested – numbers that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago.

For instance, total global funding in 2020 reached US$298.2 billion, and this year’s figures have already surpassed that amount. Furthermore, CB Insights also reports that 66 per cent of overall deals year-to-date have happened at early-stage, which should give new founders confidence that funding for fresh, innovative ideas is still available.

Running a startup in any economic climate isn’t easy, and at Amazon Web Services (AWS), we are committed to supporting startups to optimally run a business in the cloud.

Also Read: How blockchain companies are surviving the bear market

For startups at the earliest stages, our AWS Activate programme offers numerous benefits to help founders get up and running quickly and efficiently, such as by providing technical support and training, business mentorship, and the option to apply for cloud computing credits. Through this support, startups can use the credits to obtain one or more of the 200+ cloud services AWS offers while they are navigating the early critical steps of proving their concept and testing product-market fit.

Since launching Activate in 2013, we have seen hundreds of thousands of startups around the world benefit, including Carsome, The Lorry, and Zagana in Southeast Asia. In just the past two years, AWS has provided more than US$2 billion in AWS Activate credits to assist early-stage startups in launching their businesses and accelerating their growth.

Optimising spending

There’s no doubt that in times like these, investors are apt to focus on the fundamentals, with an emphasis on revenue rather than growth and an accompanying desire to see costs streamlined and more conservatively managed.

Some of the highest costs a startup takes on when starting out include people, marketing, and the cloud infrastructure the business is built on, so we encourage founders to assess if they are using cloud services in the most efficient way.

We take active steps to help startups building on AWS to save money on their cloud expenses. This includes regular reviews to ensure that our customers are using the most cost-effective pricing models and aren’t using more services than they actually need.

One of the services we offer is our Trusted Advisor online tool, which helps startup customers reduce costs, increase performance, and improve security by checking their use of AWS and making suggestions to help optimise performance. Initiatives such as these have helped our customers save up to 40 per cent on their cloud costs.

While it may seem counterintuitive, our team is actually tasked with reducing our customers’ cloud bills. An example is Indian AI-based data solutions startup iMerit Technology, whose revenue growth has nearly doubled every year for the past five years.

Also Read: Winter for tech startups is here? Here’s how to deal with it

To ensure they’re managing their tech costs as they scale, iMerit has taken advantage of AWS’s Cloud Financial Management support to dive deep into their cloud spend analysis, uncover opportunities to run more efficiently, and right-size their service usage. Through a variety of cost optimisation exercises, the startup has reduced its cloud spending by about 20 per cent per month.

Building capabilities and community for lifetime success

Heightened motivation to save on costs does not mean that startups should forgo their ambitions for growth and learning. Upskilling is as critical now as it’s ever been, which is why we work closely with our startup customers to help them equip their teams with the most in-demand digital skills.

AWS Skill Builder, for example, offers more than 500 free courses to enable learners to build their cloud skills and knowledge, which fosters a growth-oriented culture primed to operate at the pace of innovation that startups are known for.

We also work closely with startup customers to help ensure their people and processes are optimised for success. One way we do this is by sharing knowledge of Amazon’s own culture and processes – something we call our Culture of Innovation.

We often talk about “every day being day one” at Amazon, and this gives us a unique appreciation of the challenges and opportunities that startups face and has enabled us to consistently anticipate and deliver for their needs.

An example of how Amazon’s cultural guidance has supported one of our startup customers is Vietnam’s Bizzi, an AI-powered accounts payable automation company that secured its seed funding in late 2021 and has doubled its team size year on year for almost three years running.

A “people first” startup that’s mindful of setting strong cultural foundations from the start, Bizzi have adopted a version of Amazon’s “two pizza team” methodology, which limits the number of staffers on any given project, ensuring teams remain fast and agile and empowered to bring new and innovative products and features to the market.

Our dedication to understanding the needs of customers and working backwards to fulfil them has helped AWS uncover numerous opportunities to build new revenue-generating services. This approach has helped AWS become the innovative and multifaceted organisation we are today, and it is something we are happy to share with many of our startup customers.

Stay focused on ideas and opportunities

So, despite the concern and conservatism in the ecosystem right now, we are still confident that this is a great time to launch and grow a startup. While no one has a crystal ball to see what challenges lay ahead of us, there continues to be an opportunity for entrepreneurs with great ideas to obtain funding.

AWS remains committed to supporting our startup customers to continue to innovate and solve the world’s biggest problems, and we are excited to see what big ideas come out of these unique times.

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The workplace is constantly evolving, and so must companies to stay competitive and attract and retain their workforce. Now more than ever, businesses and organisations are evaluating how their employees want to work, with people working in more and more places outside the traditional office.

In APAC, 62 per cent of employees say they are less inclined to quit their jobs because they are free to practice hybrid work. They have improved work-life balance, are less stressed, and more likely to build better relationships with their colleagues.

The only problem is that three out of four employees believe that their companies are not equipped for the future of hybrid work in the long run due to the lack of support in terms of company culture and access to technology and collaborative platforms.

Successful companies will adapt the office to provide environments for tasks and activities that cannot be done at home, and very successful companies will be those that shape those workspaces to enhance company culture, improve team cohesiveness and offer the workplace experience lacking when working remotely.

The office reimagined

With hybrid working arrangements, the reasons why an employee comes into a physical office change and the role of the office will need to be optimised to accommodate new working patterns and maximise the use of space available.

Businesses have the opportunity to significantly reduce the number of individual workstations and instead assign “neighbourhoods” that are customised to the needs of each team, offering formal and informal areas to encourage creative discussions and dialogues. Adding different colour schemes and team-related pinboards can enhance an employee’s sense of belonging without the need for a permanent workstation.

Also Read: How to make remote work more seamless and less distributed

The home office

Creating a sustainable home workspace relies on understanding what types of work are best performed when working remotely and constructing an environment to best support those tasks.

Companies implementing a long-term work-from-home regime should assess the ergonomic risks of their employee’s home workspaces. This includes equipment such as an office chair, one of the most important tools an employee will use.

Choosing intuitive designs with easy-to-use features becomes paramount in ensuring employee safety and comfort at home or at the office. That is why at Flokk, we believe that everyone deserves to be healthy, happy and productive whilst at work, which is why we offer a wide range of stylish, sustainable and, above all, comfortable seating perfect for every working environment.

The hub

With the freedom of hybrid work still preferred, going to the office full-time is definitely not the first choice. But this is where collaborative work happens, and niche co-working spaces that meet the various needs of companies and employees are key to that.

The wide availability of co-working spaces that offer flexible leases with short-term or daily workstations allows organisations to reduce costs and be able to hire employees from all over the world. And at the same time, it can provide employees access to collaboration tools within their local vicinity.

The new workspace ecosystem currently taking shape is a big challenge for organisations when it comes to reimagining their workspace designs, but it should also be treated as a golden opportunity to reap the benefits presented by a more flexible way of working.

Focused on user-first and inclusive designs for the workplace and home, Flokk continues to serve as a total furniture solutions provider in Asia with 50 per cent annual growth from 2020 to 2022. The company offers a wide range of flexible and sustainable furniture solutions that are designed to improve the well-being and performance of its users based on comprehensive insight into the needs and work of real people.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing views from the community. Share your opinion by submitting an article, video, podcast, or infographic

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