SWEDISH CEO OF THE YEAR: "BUSINESS AS USUAL IS OVER"

London, UK, October 1st, 2013.

Hans Hassle, a pioneer within CSR and CEO of Swedish innovation company Plantagon International AB urged businessmen, entrepreneurs and NGOs at the Economist Sustainability Innovations Summit in London to create profits by being accountable to society at large and not only to their shareholders.

During the Summit, Hassle challenged the audience to take action against the myth that greed is good and stressed the importance for businessmen and entrepreneurs to change the shortsighted capitalistic perspective and also focus on taking responsibility for coming generations.

“I personally believe that the main challenge for creating a sustainable future is changing the limited capitalistic perspective into a more long-term one and to get rid of the myth that greed is good!”, Hassle said.

Last year, Hassle was awarded CEO of the Year by European CEO and included on the World Finance 100 list. That same year, the Red Herring Global acknowledged Plantagon as one of the world’s most innovative companies.

Speaking to over 250 high level executives from NGOs and private companies from Europe and the United States, Hassle in his remarks stressed how environmental degradation, vast population growth, and expanding mega cities will require long-term innovative and sustainable solutions. As part of this challenge, Plantagon is globally known as the innovation leader within the field of urban agriculture.

“Food Security has become a matter of Urban Agriculture; one of the main challenges for the future, as the degradation of land and urban sprawl force us to move part of our food production into cities.”

The company’s success, however, Hassle argues, stems from both a global demand for urban food production and the positive solution Plantagon represents by responding to the fast growing demand for companies to be transparent and inclusive.

The Plantagon organizational model, the Companization, blends an action oriented commercial organization with a more inclusive and democratic non-profit association.

“The demand for ‘a market with a human face’ is a value change that offers great opportunities for every company ready to accept its responsibilities – not only towards the shareholders but to society at large. Business as usual is over.“