CCB Magazine

Kathrin Jungehülsing: "Today not at the expense of tomorrow, here not at the expense of somewhere else"

Photo: © Privat

What sustainability consultancies are there in Berlin? In Part 4 of our series "Sustainability consultancies in Berlin", we introduce sustainable natives eG, which supports companies in shaping the sustainable transformation.

INTERVIEW  Jens Thomas    

CCB Magazine: Who are you, how long has your consulting service existed and what is your focus?

Kathrin Jungehülsing: We are the sustainable natives eG. We founded ourselves at the end of 2017. Since then, we have been accompanying companies and organizations in their sustainable transformation. The focus is on all areas related to sustainable development of companies and organizations. At the core, these are mostly strategy, communication, culture and climate topics. What distinguishes us is that we are a cooperatively organized community of independent consultants who develop sustainable solutions in a cross-disciplinary and co-creative way. This allows us to offer both a very broad range of disciplines and very deep expertise in each topic area.

CCB Magazine:Can you describe a classic case, please? I am person XY and want to get advice from you: What service do I get? 

Kathrin Jungehülsing:A classic case often concerns inquiries from sustainability or leadership managers in companies. To do this, we first find the right experts who can identify the customer's exact needs, because these are often hidden somewhere other than those mentioned by the customer. Depending on the challenge, we then put together a team that can also examine the issue from different professional perspectives and develop solutions. Our work is geared on the one hand to keeping an eye on the holistic transformation of the organization, and on the other hand to empowering the customer to shape this development with his own forces. 

We are a cooperatively organized community of independent consultants who develop sustainable solutions in a cross-disciplinary and co-creative way. At the core, we focus mostly on strategy, communication, culture and climate topics

CCB Magazine:Who are you specifically targeting with your consulting services and what are the main topics?

Kathrin Jungehülsing:We tend to focus on medium-sized companies, but we also work at the corporate level or for NGOs and other organizations. Basically, everyone can make use of our services - as long as they have real ambitions for sustainable transformation. To this end, we cover a very broad spectrum of services and expertise related to sustainability and transformation (see above).

CCB Magazine:On what issues can you not advise - and then to whom do you refer?

Kathrin Jungehülsing:We have a number of partner companies that offer complementary services in specific areas or industries. What we definitely do not offer is pure business consulting or even legal advice in any form.

CCB Magazine:How often can I get advice from you? Is your consulting service one-time and fee-based?

Kathrin Jungehülsing:Our mandates are mostly long-term. Nevertheless, we try to enable our clients to design essential processes on their own. And yes, we do charge for our services. In total, we have already carried out around 250 consulting projects. Last year alone, there were about 80 projects.

We try to enable our customers to design essential processes by themselves

CCB Magazine:How do you finance yourselves? And how long is your project financed?

Kathrin Jungehülsing:We finance ourselves entirely on our own, with the exception of small amounts of public funding. In the founding phase, there was an initial investment by the NWB publishing house, from which we exclusively offer a strategy methodology for sustainability program development.

CCB Magazine:How are you staffed? What are your professional and/or academic backgrounds?

Kathrin Jungehülsing:In line with our many service offerings, our consultants bring a wide variety of professional backgrounds to the table. From experience in the major consulting firms to scientific backgrounds and cultural or creative industry backgrounds. What is special about us is that all consultants are independent entrepreneurs and can realize the bundling of their strengths and expertise through the sustainable natives. In addition, we offer several languages: English, French, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and many more.

CCB Magazine:Do you have any other services or offerings for cultural professionals and/or creative businesses besides your consulting services?

Kathrin Jungehülsing:We do not have explicit offerings exclusively for these areas in our portfolio, but bring some experience and deeper understanding of these areas through the professional background of some of our consultants.

CCB Magazine:Finally, a statement please: For me, sustainability is...

Kathrin Jungehülsing:Today not at the expense of tomorrow, here not at the expense of somewhere else.

Read also Part 3 of the series: sustainability and cooperatively oriented companies

Category: Specials