Owners' Directives

Stakeholders

While most private companies put the shareholders’ interest solidly first – Icebug choose to highlight Nature, Society, Customers, Employees, Suppliers and People involved in the supply chain. Of course, the shareholders have an important stake, but since Icebug’s business has great impact on so many other groups, all those interests are balanced. With a clear priority: Nature and Society are Icebug’s most important stakeholders.

The vision for Icebug is to be a changemaker for a society where people can thrive on a planet in balance.

This is our North Star on the horizon. It is a moral obligation to guide us in our daily work and our view of what the World needs.

To make best use of Icebug, in the context that we are in with an ongoing climate emergency affecting us all, we instruct the company to work towards systems change. A new paradigm where growth and profit are not prioritized above everything else. Towards a system where business is a driving force to improve the livelihoods of many and is not fueled by exploiting people or exceeding planetary boundaries.

We believe that capitalism can be a strong positive force. However, businesses should be properly reigned in and given fair rules of play that stay within what’s good for people and nature. While those boundaries are still largely absent in the World, we choose to set these boundaries for ourselves. The change is also a change towards a culture where we consume less but have a greater quality of life by connection and experience. We are creating a culture where we value resources and take responsibility for our footprint.

Commitment: To do the right thing – even when it hurts Icebug.

We strive for value creation in three dimensions: For the customer, for Icebug, and for the World. Most of the time, these dimensions are easy to combine. But not always. When there’s a conflict between putting what’s best for Icebug short term over what’s best for the world long term – we go with the world.

This is not about us being perfect. We won’t always know what is right – but when we know what the right thing to do is, we won’t do the opposite. That would be unethical.

We believe in building a society where people can thrive, and we are willing to do more than our part to get the planet in balance. We believe that this is our responsibility, and we are going to use our business to do it.

Financials

Icebug does not have a growth target. But since we make products that meet a legitimate need and add value to peoples’ lives, we will most likely continue to grow anyway. We are not opposed to growth per se - but responsible growth cannot drive consumption. Also, it is essential that our products have a smaller negative footprint than the alternatives.

Our profit target is 10-15% earnings before tax, with the dividend guideline at 10% of the earnings after tax when our cash reserve situation allows. The profit target and the dividend guideline are set to secure financial longevity.

The value derived is also distributed through 1% for the planet and a profit-sharing program with employees.