Adrienne Doolan is the CEO of Green Touches, a professional consulting & environmental service provider of sustainable Facility Management (FM) in the Middle East.
Combining a genuine passion for the environment, promoting a sustainable way of life and working with integrity, Green Touches, was founded in 2015, striving to bring an entirely new concept to the Facility Management industry in the Middle East, creating awareness & ‘disruption’ within this industry by eliminating the use of toxic chemicals, promoting water saving, energy saving, recycling and working towards achieving environmental sustainability along with health & wellness in the workplace. CSR and Social Impact are high on Green Touches’ list, embedded in the business strategy and a “must” for every company.
Since 2017, Green Touches is an active participating member of the United Nations Global Compact UAE network, and Adrienne is a UNGC local network UAE Board member. Also, an active member of several committees and working groups on sustainability and business.
With nearly 27 years of experience in the region, Adrienne has worked as a Senior Consultant for Leadership trainings with many governmental bodies, such as DEWA, SEWA, Ministry of Higher Education Abu Dhabi, ADM and Ministry of Labour, KSA.
Red Crescent, Poland and UNICEF, Saudi Arabia –fund raising campaigns – 1996 – 2004.
Recipient of the Sheikh Hamdan Award for Excellence in 2014.
Your thoughts on what you are experiencing in your Sector/Industry in the region you operate in?
We are an environmental cleaning services company trying to focus on health, wellness and make changes in the Facilities Management industry in the Middle East to move them towards achieving sustainability. I am completely passionate about our environment and the planet we live on. I always like to say that I have sustainability in my DNA. I have spent many years in the Middle East and seen phenomenal changes since I set up the company in 2015. There is a great movement towards a lot of changes in the UAE, people are taking environmental issues very seriously. We see a lot of talk about eliminating plastic, renewable energy sources and trying to make changes within our lives to become more sustainable and I think that there is a much greater overall awareness surrounding sustainability.
The word sustainability gets brandished around a lot and I’m not sure that some people understand the word because everyone wants to sustain something. Be that a business, a way of life or a relationship. When we talk about sustainability, most people do think about the environment, but I like to talk about environmental sincerity. I feel this is really important if people want to make real changes. We don’t want ‘green washing’, we want to actually make the changes. Our planet is in a very serious situation and we need to make the changes now.
Why are you taking part as a judge?
I’m really happy to be participating as a judge. I myself have been involved in awards as an entrant and a judge in the past. I love what ARCET Global as an organisation is doing, their professionalism the level of entries compared to other awards are much higher from my experience.
What are you going to be looking for in the Entries?
Commitment, serious commitment to sustainability and looking at companies who are really making an impact on the 3 P’s (People, Profit, Planet) rather than simply hitting their KPI’s
Any advice for the finalists?
Be super prepared, committed to your entry and once you are prepared and committed that will come across to us judges and of course Good Luck to you all.
