What led you to establish Onyen, and what are the company’s milestones?

My experience with complex systems in the finance industry led me to tackle the challenge of ESG analysis and reporting, and inspired me to establish Onyen. ESG is ethically and financially necessary for companies in the current environment, so we wanted to help them navigate the complexities of reporting. Rather than having the company align with ESG frameworks worldwide, we take a system profile of the company and extract the standards that align with the company – it is an opposite but more precise approach.

The Americas are our primary market, but we are receiving attention from the UK, Europe and Australia. In the future, we will enter the Asian markets. Our service is subscription-based but we also offer a concierge service. The Onyen team consists of multilingual capital markets, technology, mining and oil and gas experts; and our ESG analysts under the concierge service – which consist of geoscientists, CFAs, engineers, environmental and land surveyors and lawyers - support the customer throughout their onboarding experience.

How does the Onyen system collate all the international standards and rating agencies?

The Onyen system is automated to provide mass data sets and output to all the rating agencies and standard frameworks. We upload metrics and standards in an automated fashion.  Onyen prompts the customer to enter the relevant ESG information, analyzes it, and highlights potential issues.  ESG reports are updated and published on our customer’s websites

What pitfalls do mining companies fall into when navigating ESG?

All mining companies, regardless of their size, release big statements of ESG targets without providing the data and evidence to support them, also known as ‘green washing’. These statements are not quantified. ESG risks can be long-term and minor improvements towards measurable targets will illustrate the company’s sustainability journey. Onyen records performance against targets and helps management track progress on Onyen’s ‘Executive Dashboard’.  

Companies may work hard in securing a license to operate and invest in community development programs, however, this is not often captured and disclosed in a manner that highlights how important it is to the company’s success. Relevant documents, descriptions and pictures support disclosures on a scorecard accessible to all stakeholders. Onyen helps mining companies navigate their ESG journey and associated challenges.

What key goals or transitions do you want to attain moving forward?

Our vision is to first manage the ESG goals of mining and oil and gas companies globally in a cost-effective manner, and then tackle other global industry sectors. The system was built in six months. We launched in March 2021 and have exceeded every target that we set. The demand is overwhelming because companies have realized the importance of ESG disclosure to their financial wellbeing, and appreciate the Onyen systems’ ease of use and powerful features that drive investment dollars to their company. The challenge for us now is to meet this demand while keeping a high quality of support. Our rigorous recruitment standards ensure we get the most skilled members on our team.

Our goal is to continue to simplify and automate sustainability reporting by leveraging our technology. It is extremely rare for a company to launch a product that perfectly fits the needs of its times but Onyen is that company.

What success story can you share with us about how Onyen supported a client?

As companies are realizing that they must respond to the disclosures, demand for our services has skyrocketed. One of our guiding principles is to help companies access alternative sources of capital, so when the ESG report is published, the outcome should be a financial reward. In two instances, it increased financial commitment from investors. One case in particular I would like to highlight is Troilus Gold, who utilized our system and finalized their first robust ESG report. Their European investors requested specific ESG disclosures and because they were on the Onyen system they were able to provide the investors with the information requested, and exceeding their fundraising objective. An ESG report helps companies measure their improvement, communicate on their corporate citizenship, and importantly, it is a function of access to alternative sources of capital.