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Starting up with a Quadruple Bottom Line

19 June 2009

Experienced Investment Banker and Start-up CEO Justin Robinson talks about why he is making the Social Justice and the enviornment fundamental to his ventures

Everyone knows about the triple bottom line, but it’s rare to see a start up adopting the model, let alone expanding it to embrace a fourth bottom line. Enter Justin Robinson – CEO of start up tuscon – who is delivering a sustainable business by valuing social justice, making a serious environmental stand and nurturing a creative culture while simultaneously focusing on financial return for his investors.

Justin explains it simply,  “If tuscon is considered to be a model of sustainable business practice, it is only because it made sense and was consistent with our vision for the business. As a start up, my prime focus is to get the business off the ground. Survival is always at the forefront of my mind, however it was clear early on, sustainability is key to survival.”

Valuing social justice
Justin claims he didn’t intend to become a champion for university talent. In his mind, matching talented individuals with resource-hungry industries was a worthy exercise with the potential for wins all round.

“When I was finishing my MBA at QUT in 2006, I saw companies battling for talent and yet, at university, I saw an incredibly talented pool of post-graduates – many with multiple undergraduate degrees and several years of international work experience – who were struggling to connect with an industry.”

2 years down the track, Justin’s business launched Australia’s first national database of university talent through a sophisticated Web 2.0 interface called Lode, to help address this disconnect.

Making a serious environmental stand
Despite running a greenhouse-friendly start up, Justin says he is not what you would call a traditional environmentalist. The move to become carbon neutral was as much about 'walking the talk’ as it was about saving the planet.  The vision for tuscon (and Lode) is to improve business efficiency by creating seamless connections between industry and university talent. It’s about making the best use of available resources.
“So what better way to demonstrate our commitment to efficiency than to minimise our own environmental impact?” Justin says.

Nurturing a creative culture
Acclaimed Economic Development Innovator Jon Hawkes considers culture to be the “fourth pillar of sustainability” – or the quadruple bottom line – it should be valued as the “glue that holds a society together." Creativity itself is seen as the great hope of the future by leading educationalists such as Sir Ken Robinson.

But away from academic discussions, Justin is actively nurturing a creative culture to deliver rewards for his customers, his backers and the millions of university-trained individuals who stand to benefit from Lode.

“Working in a start-up demands that you surround yourself with innovative people and ground the business in a culture of doing things differently. Our success will be determined by our ability to make a positive improvement in the way that industry connects with university talent, “We’re adopting a creative culture to revolutionise the recruitment of talent from Australian Universities,” he says.

Focusing on financial returns
Justin is what you might call a pragmatic optimist. He’s taken on the challenge of launching a national database of university talent in the midst of a world-wide financial crisis – which tells you something of his tenacity – and he projects a contagious enthusiasm for the potential of Lode. However, Justin's left-brained thinking ensures his ambitions are firmly grounded in reality.

In the current economic climate, Lode becomes a valuable tool for candidates, universities and employers. Students wanting an opportunity to apply what they are learning, can sign up to Lode for free and gain immediate exposure to national and international employers. Universities too can sign up to programs for Work Integrated Learning and can deliver better student outcomes through Lode. Additionally employers under pressure to reduce recruitment costs have an alternative, efficient process to identify and shortlist candidates from Australia’s universities.

For more information about Lode, visit www.lode.com.au or email Justin directly justin@lode.com.au.

Justin is an entrepreneur with 12 years experience in global financial markets and corporate consulting. His areas of expertise include corporate strategy, business improvement and innovation. Before returning to study in Australia in 2004, Justin spent eight years in London, working with investment banks including Credit Suisse First Boston, Nomura International Investment Bank and Mercury Asset Management (part of the Merryl Lynch Group). He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Deakin University and is qualified as a Certified Practicing Accountant.

Written by: Jon Tanner

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