Richard founded Tread Light in 2017, when he realised the environmental impact of single use packaging in big business. Although we’re all familiar with the double-wrapped single-use cardboard coffee cups headlining our high streets, less obvious is the single use coffee cup explosion. Approximately 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups are used in the UK each year. That’s 7 million a day, which when lined up would wrap around the earth 5.5 times. 

Steve was 40 when he began shaping his business as force for good. A serendipitous trip to The Museum of Arts and Design in New York and immersion in a Sustainable Art Exhibition was the moment he knew he had to pivot his sales promotion agency and get involved in helping businesses solve big issues. So The House was born, a purpose consultancy that enables leaders to imagine a future they want to be part of before helping to make it happen.

Rob credits his father with the confidence to turn his side hustle into a business. That, and his desire for less politics in the workplace and more purpose and personal fulfilment in his professional life. Rob founded When in Rome in 2015 after quitting his job in commercial banking and is now on a mission to decarbonise the wine industry one glass bottle at a time.

Paul lost his mother in adolescence. He was left with nothing. Self-supporting from the age of 16, Paul enrolled at university just to get away. Sofa surfing his way through until he finally pulled out, his tenacity, resilience and optimism have led to him being the successful leader of a marketing communications and reputation management business in Bath & London. Building something nothing requires grit and determination, which Paul has in abundance.

Female founder of 3 e-commerce businesses, creator of 2 own brands and owner of a lifestyle store. The golden thread? Sustainable gifts and homewares, brought to the market through an ethical supply chain, in part inspired by empty wine bottles chinking in the kitchen bin! Find out about the time she worked with commercial brand luminary John McConnell and learn running a retail, wholesale and e-commerce businesses is a numbers game.

There is significance in the number nine. It’s an unconscious trigger for change. Robin started his business 21 years ago, and another 9-year cycle turns, there is a sense of shift. Tearing up more than once during our fika, Robin recounted the winding path and professional encounters that have brought him to this point, where he is developing more meaningful relationships with clients, and evolve his passion for visual brand storytelling.

Conscious consumption lies at the heart of Baed. Not only in the extensively researched, ethical ingredients, but in the making process. Inspired by a Bristol-based documentary that uncovered the horrifying amount of plastic we consume in everyday products, Helen set about finding a solution. Using her creative experience from years as a packaging designer Baed was born.

Fika is the Swedish practice of taking a break over coffee to relax, socialise and bond over shared experience. It’s a cultural institution deeply so deeply ingrained in Swedish society that reflects the Swedish ideal of slowing down to appreciate life's smaller joys. So what better way to connect and capture the stories of 50 founders over coffee.

Scientific studies show the more compelling a story the more empathetic the listener. Researcher Paul J. Zak, Ph.D discovered that oxytocin is the biological instrument that puts people in thrall to a story and that narratives that involve us emotionally are the stories that move us to action. Great news for marketers looking for ways to engage emotionally with their audience.