Worldwise: Soneva Resorts Founder Sonu Shivdasani’s Favorite Things

“My wife, Eva, and I believe that a company must have a clear purpose beyond turning a profit,” Shivdasani says. The couple decided to open a resort in the country after spending their honeymoon there, and the name Soneva is a portmanteau of the two of theirs. “It must serve and contribute to the society in which it operates and should not negatively impact the environment in which it is located.”

Through the Soneva Foundation, the resorts have helped fund over 500 projects and charities, ranging from the distribution of fuel-efficient stoves to over 230,000 families in Myanmar and Darfur, to a wind turbine project in Tamil Nadu, India, producing 80,000 MWh of clean energy. The Soneva Namoona initiative, meanwhile, is working to eliminate single-use plastics and to end the open burning of waste across the whole of the Maldives.

When Soneva discovered that 85% of its CO2 emissions were from what’s known as Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3, indirect external activity such as guest air travel and supply delivery, it was time to take another step. Shivdasani and his team decided that the best way to mitigate that impact was with a mandatory carbon charge the resorts add to guest bills in the form of an innovative 2% environment levy.

“It was a small change which we found our guests more than happy to accept,” Shivdasani says. While it may have been a small change, it’s delivered a massive impact, raising roughly $7 million over the past 12 years. Those funds led directly to the Soneva Forest Restoration Project, in which more than half a million trees were planted in Chiang Mai, Thailand, mitigating over 400,000 tons of CO2.

Sustainability efforts are furthered on-site at both the Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani resorts with multi-purpose Eco Centros, or what they refer to as “waste to wealth” operations involved in intensive reuse and recycling programs. These efforts have since expanded beyond the resorts’ own footprint to a partnership with an NGO supporting the recycling of waste from 13 local islands.

While the pandemic has had a terrible impact on the industry and the world at large, Shivdasani continues focusing on the larger, long-term matter of climate change. 

“The Covid-19 crisis is like most other crises; something that will eventually end,” he says. “Unfortunately, this will not be the case with global warming. We face huge challenges and it is essential in the 21st century for companies to be a force for good and to solve some of these challenges, not add to them.”

Shivdasani, 55, shared some of his passions and inspirations with Penta.

A childhood memory I treasure is… driving through the Alps between Geneva and Milan. My father used to do this very often. It is a stunning drive. 

The best book I’ve read in the last year is… I really enjoyed reading Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed as well as You Are the Placebo by Joe Dispenza. 

An artist whose work I admire is… the director Juan José Campanella, who directed The Secret in Their Eyes. This is the original Argentinian version of the film that was reproduced by Hollywood. The plot twists are absolutely fantastic.

A passion of mine that few people know about is… I love food and also wine. This is fortunate given the profession that I am in!

When travel opens up more freely, the first place I’m going is… I was hoping that my first trip would be skiing in the Dolomites, as I always look forward to this annual holiday. Another thing that (my wife) Eva and I love doing in the summer is to visit some of the great old cities in Europe. Budapest and St. Petersburg are the next two cities for us to visit. St. Petersburg is often referred to as the Venice of the East as it has almost as many bridges as Venice.

The thing that gets me up in the morning is… the opportunity to work together with my team to move forward on all our different goals and ambitions. I absolutely love what I do.  

A person who inspired me to do what I do is… my wife. She had first visited the Maldives in 1980 on a modeling shoot when tourism had just begun and there were only four resorts in the country. 

The one thing in my kitchen or fridge that I can’t live without is… dark, sugar-free chocolate.

If I could have a drink with anybody, anywhere, it would be… a glass of wine with my wife on the sun lounger at our villa enjoying the amazing sunset. I feel blessed that I can do this every weekend.  

The one thing I’m doing more of to help me get through this difficult time is… exercise, yoga, and meditation. I personally believe that it is negligent for a leader to start the morning without having fully grounded themselves and focus their third eye on the positive and the opportunities by either doing yoga or some fitness activity followed by at least 30 minutes of meditation