Vivek and the directors at Aditya Birla, one of India's largest conglomerates, with over 140,000 employees and revenues of over $45 Billion, asked Matthew to show them the future of a wide range of topics, all with re-invention and sustainability at their core. The group makes everything from aluminium, concrete and precious metals to consumer goods, fabrics, fertilisers and financial services.
The discussion ran from new, environmentally friendly ways to package and produce cement to Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) waste water technologies. Again and again, Matthew showed how even the most mundane parts of a company's operations are being re-invented, by new technologies and by good old fashioned human grit and ingenuity.
"Even the most mundane aspects of a company's operations are being re-invented right in front of our eyes, using new emerging technologies but also good old fashioned human grit and ingenuity."Matthew Griffin, India, June 2022
He then moved beyond those areas to carbon negative building materials and techniques, new energy and energy storage, and carbon capture. For leadership teams from 36 countries, he set out new revenue streams outside the core businesses, and showed how many of them could reinforce the group's leadership in key markets while lowering operating costs and helping it embrace the circular economy and sustainable business practices.
His closing theme was that the only thing changing is everything: producing green aluminium, mining lithium from sea water while cutting the cost of desalinated water by over two thirds, and storing electricity in bricks and compressed gas. He framed the session as the start of a longer journey with the group.
