Melin Tregwynt: The Revival of Welsh Wool Production and Sustainability

Recently there has been a change in customer buying patterns with many also wanting to buy sustainable and local products” (Eifion Griffiths). While many businesses claim that sustainability does not fit with the business case and consumers do not demand…

Hiut Deim Company, the sustainable denim pioneers

Jean image Source: http://www.albionman.com/ “Companies with a soul are so much more interesting than companies motivated purely by profit" (David Hieatt) In 1995 at the age of 36,  David Hieatt co-founded Howies, a niche active clothing business that wanted to produce…

Crystal Doors Fostering Sustainability and Community Growth

We are a small company with a turnover of £3 million, but we are making an impact way beyond our size. The manufacturing industry is beginning to wake up and take notice of the climate and ecological emergency around us,…

Divine Chocolate that empowers

“We need a future for cocoa farming which is sustainable- not just for chocolate companies and chocolate lovers but for the people growing the crop” (Sophi Tranchell, MBE, Group CEO Divine Chocolate UK, 1999-2020) Each year, some $100 billion is…

Phool and Fleather: India’s transformative biomaterial company

image compiled from images from @ Phool.co FB “Sustainability goes across everything I do….For example, there’s no leather; it’s free from PVC. There are lots of woven materials, which means a lot less waste” (Stella McCartney, fashion designer). The global…

Winds of change – Modvion

“The fact that something has not been done before, does not mean it can’t be done at all” - (Modvion) Modvion, founded in 2015, is the brainchild of two engineers, Joakim Orneblad and Otto Lundman, who graduated from Chalmers University’s…

TerraWaste

“Towards a pollution-free planet with a pollution-free process" - Kristaps Cirius, CMO TerraWaste Largely as a result of man's entrepreneurial innovativeness, we produce 2.01 billion tonnes of waste a year, 86% of which is non-recyclable,  and, as a result of…

London Christmas Tree Rental

“Having a greener Christmas isn’t about making big sacrifices. If we each take small steps, collectively we can make a big difference” - Catherine Loveless, London Christmas Tree Rental At a time when deforestation is estimated to contribute some 10%…

CAT and Dulas Engineering

“In such seclusion, so far from the pressures under which most people live, I had the feeling that something new,  some fresh and saner way of living might be demonstrated” (Gerard Morgan-Grenville 1931-2009). Located in a 100-year-old disused slate quarry…

Oxwash: shrinking environmental costs and impacts

“Focus on the team first, then the customer, then the investor and expect from your team what you expect from yourself. You can achieve a lot, but you are only human” - Dr. Kyle Grant Each year the £70bn garment…

Zero Carbon Guildford

“We aim to build a strong resilient community that can cope with the challenges of a rapidly changing planet” - ZERO Carbon Guildford. On  21st November 2021, Zero Carbon Guildford was opened in the centre of Guildford, a university town…

Flawsome! Wonky, Wonderful and Wise on Waste

“Beautiful things happen when you distance yourself from negativity” (Karina Sudenyte) Mother of twins, 22 year old Karina Sudenyte and her husband Maciek Kacprzyk were students at the University of South Wales in Cardiff when they set up “Get Wonky”…

Gandaki Urja fuels Nepal’s green economy

“These are difficult times and we wanted to chip in where we could” - Kushal Gurun. Kushal Gurung of Nepal is not just a Carbon Management Masters graduate of Edinburgh University, but a serial entrepreneur back home in Nepal. He…

OLIO, the app driving a food share revolution

"The problem is much worse than we think. We have to wake up" - Dr. Monika van den Bos Verma of  Wageningen University, Netherlands Food waste is one of the major global sustainability problems.  According to the UN Food and…

Rosario Garden Project: urban regeneration seeds hope

“The best way to help a community is to give it the faith and knowledge to help itself” - New Scientist, 2nd August, 1962 Rosario, estimated population 1.7 million, is located 300kms (186 miles) North West of Buenos Aires, Argentina.…

LabCycle – revolutionising the recycling of Laboratory Plastic Waste

wastes pic: Bath.ac.uk While research is intended to identify solutions to problems, laboratory-based research can also contribute to them, in particular to the current sustainability challenge. Annually some 5.5 million tonnes of single-use plastic is produced by life sciences research…

Ocean Ag startup ALORA unveils ‘the most salt-tolerant terrestrial plants on the planet’

“I would encourage every person, from every age, every colour, religion, gender, location to ask themselves ‘why you are here? Why do you exist?’ It is so important to know the answer to that question”. (Luke Young) Luke’s answer to…

ZeLoop – the app that rewards for not littering

bottle pic: by tanvi sharma “If bottles were made of gold, nobody would litter them in nature” - Eric  Schaffner The damage that plastics can do to the environment is well documented. One million plastic bottles are produced a minute…

Pawprint – digital entrepreneurship with purpose

After graduating in 2001 with an M.A. in Modern Languages from the University of Oxford, Christian Arno set up “Lingo24” a B2B technology-enabled translation service which grew into a £10 million business employing 200 full-time staff in the UK, Netherlands, New…

Riding the Wayve for sustainable, accessible, and safer mobility

According to the World Health organisation, 1.3 million people die each year from car crashes caused by human error, while some 4.5 million people are estimated to die from the effects of air pollution and the particulate matter produced, particularly…

Nuddy: One gal. One shower. One big idea.

Nuddy isn’t just a word, it’s a feeling. To feel free + vulnerable, yet empowered. Not just when you’re ‘in the nuddy’, but all day, everyday - Nuddy Nuddy is a female-led startup. It was founded in July 2018 by…

Nexus Power’s bio-organic fast charge batteries

Nexus Power “Entrepreneurship is not only about everything we do physically…it is about the emotional strength the founders possess. It is about having the same enthusiasm throughout. It is about believing in yourself and your team, and most importantly, it…

Chelsea Rock – disrupting the diamond business?

In 2018 the market value of the 147 million carats of mined diamonds was $76 billion, and the industry employed some 10 million people in 50 active mines, found mainly in Russia (43 million carats), Botswana (23 million), Canada (23…

Vivobarefoot’s regenerative steps

"We believe the closer people are to nature, the more they will protect it" - Vivobarefoot Founded in 2012, Vivobarefoot is an innovative London-based shoe company whose pedigree dates back almost 200 years. In 1825 in the village of Street in…

BoomGrow – saving the planet one vegetable at a time

BoomGrow is an award-winning Malaysian farming company whose mission is to transform farming by producing 100 per cent clean and nutritious vegetables delivered directly to the consumer. It is located in Kuala Lumpur in the Klang Valley and was founded…

Volta Greentech – reducing cow methane omissions

"If all the cattle in the world joined together to start their own country, they would be the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases” - Bill Gates Globally methane is responsible for 30 per cent of global warming, and the world’s…

The House of Baukjen

“We care deeply about our people, our customers and our planet” (Baukjen de Swaan Arons). The House of Baukjen is a family-run women’s slow fashion business located in North West London. It comprises two branches, the core brand, Baukjen, and their…

Petit Pli – sustainable clothes that grow

Clothes Waste Photo by Tom Fisk from Pexels “We believe that designs which meet real human needs will never be thrown away” - Petit Pli The global fashion market is valued at around $3trillion or 2 per cent of the world’s GDP, and…

Optim Energy – piezoelectric energy harvesting

“Young entrepreneurs and innovators are working hard to create a low carbon energy market” - Jeremiah Thoronka Mankind needs an alternative to fossil fuels. Solar, wind and water-generated energy are all possibilities, but with the present technology, they can be…

Stella Vita –  world’s first solar powered mobile home

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes" - Marcel Proust (1871-1922) The Coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on international travel in general and international tourism in particular. With the…

GEW2021 interview: the mind behind the investing in others for sustainable futures

Kay Luan Tay, the recent Vice Chancellor of the International University Malaya-Wales and author of three book on Social and Business Sustainability has wide but unique experience in managing and delivering value across both commercial and non-commercial enterprise. A strong…

Welsh Manumit Coffee Roasters – freedom through coffee

image credit: girl: I.am_nah Another Wales-based case study to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship 2021 #GEW2021 “In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free”. ( Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865) While slavery was abolished in most countries 150 or more…

Float8, sustainable and cost-effective solutions to land shortage

“Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially along with our technical ability to change the environment for good or ill” (Stephen Hawking, 1942-2018). One aspect of the sustainability challenge, all too frequently…

Argan oil harmonious ventures

oil pic credit: Pixabay “The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield” - John-Baptiste Say (1767-1832) Today Argan oil is considered the most effective anti-ageing oil in…

“Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world” (Margaret Mead)

Antur Cymru (Welsh Adventure) is a social enterprise providing support for businesses in Wales. Owned by shareholders in the community who do not profit individually from their investment, they have agreed surpluses should be reinvested in the company. It was…

Small is beautiful (E.F. Schumacher, 1973)

“ To create a world full of giving” is the mission of Japanese serial entrepreneur Masami Sato. After attending college in Japan she traveled the world and was disturbed by the poverty and inequality she discovered. Eventually, she ended up in…

“May it be a light to you in dark places when all other lights go out” (J.R.R. Tolkein)

Originating in the 16th century, but not becoming commonplace until after William Murdoch’s invention of the gaslight in 1802, street lights are now regarded as an essential feature of modern living. Not only do they aid security but they contribute…

“He was a wise man who invented beer” (Plato, 427-347 BC).

Beer is one of the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drinks in the world. Its origin dates back some 5000 years, possibly more, and by 2018 188.79 million kilolitres were being consumed, the equivalent of approximately 298.2 billion bottles. However,…

Notpla: God created seaweed…The seaweed made the world”

Seaweed is an extremely versatile and important product. Amongst others it is a food, a fertiliser, a medicine, a fuel, a cosmetic and, significantly, a vital element in the ocean ecosystem, producing oxygen, absorbing nutrients and providing a habitat for…

“On a bicycle made for two”…or three, or more!

Despite its image of pure, unpolluted mountain air, the air quality in Nepal is one of the worst in the world, particularly in the country’s capital city, Kathmandu. Here the incidence of smog is five times greater than it was…

“There’s a way to do it better – Find it” (Thomas Edison (1847-1931)

Though a profound invention that has impacted significantly on modern society, plastics are a major sustainability challenge as they do not decompose and contribute to environmental problems both on land and in the sea, as well as to the health…

AD870 England, King Alfred may have burned the cakes, but in the 21st century, women and children…

It is estimated that in the developing economies some 3 billion people cook their food on open fires, using solid fuel, usually wood. Apart from polluting the atmosphere, the smoke from the fires kills an estimated 3 million people, mainly…

Tred: The Millennials Lead The Way

Water pollution: Brian Yurasits, 2019 How did a meal in Glasgow lead to the UK’s first green debit card made from recycled ocean plastic? Well, it is quite simple, over a meal with a friend, one of the co-founders of…

“Oh Food! Magical food! Wonderful Food! Marvellous Food! Beautiful Food!”

Despite Lionel Bart’s “Oliver” eulogy of food, it is a problem. We need it to live, yet both an excess and a shortage can kill us. Some 850 million people, globally, are believed to be undernourished and each day an…

Gjenge Makers: Build Alternatively, Build Affordably, Build Sustainably

“Build Alternatively, Build Affordably, Build Sustainably” – the motto of Gjenge Makers in Nairobi Between 1950 and 2017 the world produced some 9200 million tonnes of plastic waste, of which only 2700 million tonnes (29%) was still in use in…

Sustainability Education through the entrepreneurial recycling of glass bottles: Oseng-Rees Reflection

Reception desk, UWTSD. Photo: T. Oseng-Rees. Being brought up in 1980s Norway, “environmental awareness, frugality, creativity, independence and empathy for everything and everyone” is fundamental to Dr Tyra Oseng-Rees, an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Wales Trinity St.…

Affordable Sustainable Social Housing in Wales

As a result of urban-rural migration and the demand for second homes in the countryside, there is a shortage of affordable social housing in Wales, and, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, this is contributing significantly to the level of…

Too Good To Go

In 2016, three entrepreneurs from Copenhagen, Leeds and Paris co-founded “Too Good To Go” (http://toogoodtogo.org) a social impact company intended to address the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 12 Sustainable. Consumption and Production, also supporting 13 Climate Action. Globally 1.3 billion…

Solving one global problem but creating others: the need for Harmonious Entrepreneurship

The world population is growing at around 83 million people a year or 1.1 per cent. Apart from needing space to accommodate such a population increase, there is another major problem facing the planet. The topsoil responsible for supplying 95%…

The Renaissance of Cheese Making in Wales: The story of Caws Cenarth, a Harmonious Enterprise

Located in the lush valley of the river Cych in rural mid-Wales, Caws Cenarth is one of the most renowned artisan cheese producers in the UK. Like so much entrepreneurship its origins were founded in adversity. In 1984, the European…

Saltaire, a 19th century manifestation of Harmonious Entrepreneurship?

Saltaire The concept of harmonious entrepreneurship is perhaps not entirely new. Possibly one of the earliest proponents of it is the industrial entrepreneur Sir Titus Salt (1803-1876) who, in 1851, built Saltaire, now a UNESCO World Heritage site in the…