Karmic Capitalist Conversations - businesses with purpose iyas alqasem

This episode of the Karmic Capitalist tells the story of a company that stayed true to its mission while undergoing a substantial pivot, and a founder who left his own comfortable path in pursuit of his passion.
For sanitation!
Thomas Fudge was so incensed by our misuse and abuse of water that left his job in product design and marketing and went back to uni to complete a masters and doctorate in sustainability.
He then combined his newfound expertise with his passion for engaging with the water crisis and founded Wase.
Wase started life as a company tackling sanitisation challenges in the global South. They provided micro-sanitation facilities that could be distributed rather than depending on some massive centralised infrastructure.
But along the way, they discovered that a better fit for the capabilities they'd built up would be to address waste issues for companies in the food and drink industry. These companies were tankering their waste to send off-site at huge financial and environmental cost.
Wase now provides the capability to treat that waste on site, not only reducing the environmental impact of its transport, extracting valuable nutrients and allowing them to sell on the water, but also improving each company's energy resilience at the same time by turning the waste to fuel.
In this episode, Thomas talks us through the journey so far, including the details of the investments they've secured; the importance of focus especially when you have a very multi-faceted solution; the pivot and the importance of maintaining alignment with purpose while doing it; and the future he sees for the company.
Brilliant insight into a company tackling one of the world’s most pressing issues.
Enjoy.
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.

Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!

From Chris Froome to wellness in your office.
That's the journey that Phill Bell and Paul Smith undertook to co-founding ART Health, a company that helps employees and employers to improve workplace wellbeing using evidence-based techniques.
It was fascinating to have Phill join me on this edition of the Karmic Capitalist podcast to share the story.
Phill is a sports scientist. He earned his PhD in Exercise Physiology, and landed what would be a bit of a dream job working with international athletes the likes of Chris Froome, Jenson Button, and members of the national rugby team in the GSK Human Performance lab. 
(They also worked with extreme sportspeople - like the nutters who would do the marathon de sables. But that's another class of human entirely!)
The lab conducted exploratory research on how to improve their performance (ethically - exercise and physiology, not drugs!), with probably all the kit that a sports-scientist could dream of.
GSK eventually dropped that business, and Phill and Paul went on to co-found ART Health. Passionate about improving performance alongside health and happiness, they felt that workplace wellbeing  had become a bit of a tick-box exercise, and one that was more informed by fashionable trends rather than by fact and evidence.
By capturing and injecting data from 4 areas - physical health such as activity and sleep; cognitive performance and brain health; mood information through surveys; and environmental data such as lighting, acoustics and air quality - the co-founders knew that they could make evidence and research-based recommendations and interventions scientifically proven to improve wellbeing.
The company is evolving on a fairly well-worn path of going from primarily being consulting-based to one that is more heavily product-based. Phill talks candidly through what that's looked like, with investment along the way to allow them to develop product, rather than the bootstrapping involved in a consulting-based model.
He also discusses his own route to CEO, which wasn't their original plan. 
Sadly, Phill's co-founder and close friend Paul was recently diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and Phill has transitioned into the CEO role. The way Paul has continued his dedication and stoicism has been an inspiration to Phill and the team - but it remains a tough succession when you're also coping with the emotions of having your friend and co-founder dealing with the challenges of the disease.
ART Health is very values and mission based.  Their vision is of a happier, healthier, higher performing workforce. And they set about it in a scientific manner.
This is a real warts-and-all story, and Phill's story is fascinating.
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.

Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!

There’s a moral case for your company to give equal opportunities for your team regardless of gender (or background, or sexual orientation, or ethnicity, etc). And there’s a business-performance one in terms of the improved decision-making that results from cognitive diversity.

But although we are without a doubt making progress, it can feel slow.

Recruiting women into senior roles is welcome. But we need to go much deeper if we're to systematically right the balance.

For me, one of the key actions is to grow paths for women right from when they are young through into junior, mid and senior roles in business. So rather than recruiting at a senior level, companies create more opportunities for women to rise through the ranks, grow their own talent, and promote from within rather than having to look outside.

My guest as we launch Series 3 of the Karmic Capitalist podcast is The Girls'​ Network founder, Charly Young MBE.

Charly set up the Girls' Network because she saw how many talented girls were not seeing or given opportunities because of what she terms the "double disadvantage" of being girls and coming from less privileged backgrounds. The Girls' Network matches those girls with women mentors and organisations to give them support, guidance and critically, role models to grow their self-belief and open up their opportunities.

Charly’s an engaging and passionate speaker and advocate, and it is insightful to see the entrepreneurial way she started the organisation (think MVP), the trajectory it’s been on, the impact it’s making and the opportunities to work with them.

(Disclosure - I loved this so much, I've been asking many of the super-talented and successful women I know if they'd get involved. The first one, a CEO of a consultancy I work with, has just completed training, and her mentee will be in for a real treat!)

Enjoy.
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.

Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!

Giving to charity is one of the easiest ways to do good. But have you ever wondered what impact your donation actually has?
Enter my guest on the Karmic Capitalist podcast, Rachael Murray, founder of a company appropriately called Making Impact Matter (MiM).
Making Impact Matter helps charities figure out how to measure impact. But doing the work has more outcomes than just measurement.
Figuring out how to measure impact is essential to secure funding. So MiM's work helps charities get more funding.The process of working through how to measure impact itself can focus how the work is delivered. So MiM's work helps charities focus their efforts even harder - i.e. deliver more bang for the buck.There have been occasions when the measurement process itself has increased impact, such as when Rachel talks through the beautiful projects they've supported for kids who loved the engagement in the measurement cycle.And obviously, the measurement also allows charities to learn and continually improve their delivery.MiM also intentionally serves as a mechanism for analysts with a passion to engage with causes they care about. She and her network of associates engage with causes ranging from domestic violence to diversity to youth engagement to local communities.
We talk through some of the work that MiM has done, and you can see Rachael's passion for making a difference through the company and with her life.
Rachael’s actively evaluating next steps for the company, and we talk through some of the thinking for what that might look like. 
This is a fascinating insight into a very heart-driven business and its founder. And as a key enabler for charities to secure funding, Making Impact Matter is about as Karmic a business as you can get.


I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.

Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!

I remember in the early 90s being told to staple my photograph to any CVs I sent out applying for work. I'm no George Clooney, so I wondered why. I later found out it was so that people who only had my name to go on would see that I wasn't Pakistani!

So offensive at so many levels. If I were Pakistani, why would that be a problem? What if I were a white Pakistani? How about that I'm not Pakistani, but my name is still a Muslim name?

We've come a LONG way since. But we're still in the foothills.

And companies like Unleashed, founded by Martin Mason, are taking firm aim at equalising the playing field.

Martin is my guest on this episode of the Karmic Capitalist podcast, and he tells his own story of how he came to set the company up. His shock at finding the change in attitudes around him within the workplace to his coming out as gay, and his questioning as to why that should matter.

His trajectory on helping companies genuinely grow their talent, regardless of background, led to his being prompted to set up his own company focussed explicitly on this issue.

This is a fascinating episode, as we discuss what was happening in parallel in society at large which has increased realisation and response to the various bit of explicit and implicit discrimination that sit in companies.

We touch on the moral case and the business case for diversity, and the importance of where the motivation comes from.

And on how if you have the courage to embrace diversity, it adds beauty to the workplace.

We talk about the actual steps to look at in order to create a more diverse workplace, and critically a more diverse talent pipeline. And obviously, about how Unleashed helps by making it easier to do the right thing and support companies to become fairer and more accessible.

This is a fantastic episode, touching on the personal, the corporate and the societal in the evolution of a company that's aiming to "change the talent profile in organisations across the globe”.


I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.

Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!

When it comes to sustainability and human rights, Fashion has earned a terrible reputation. And mostly for very good reason.

But there are some shining examples who are showing what good can look like in the industry.

One of these is pre-owned luxury fashion retailer Sign of the times.

The original Chelsea shop was founded to media buzz in the 1970s. Antonia Johnstone trained there before founding her own shop in Berkshire.

And in a wonderfully circular story, some years later she went on to buy the Chelsea business and integrate the two together, keeping the feeling of high street chic while updating the business with a strong online presence.

It’s wonderful to talk in this episode of the Karmic Capitalist to Antonia. There's a strong values basis to her business, which originated Antonia's own beliefs on how people should be treated, then extended to her intent to democratise high-end fashion, and as she dived deeper, also became increasingly about minimising environmental impact not just through the reuse of fashion, but also in Sign of The Times's own supply and demand chain.

We discuss how her business has adopted a circular economy and human-centric approach to doing things. We also discuss where the values that drive the business come from, and how they surface in how Sign of the Times works.

And, for the geeks amongst us, there’s also an insight into how machine learning is used to prove a fashion item’s authenticity! I didn't know that!

Enjoy the episode. It's a wonderful journey that Antonia and Sign of the Times are on.
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!
I host a weekly workshopping conversation with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing this all in line with their values. Maximum 4 per session so we can have a real conversation. If you'd like to join me for a conversation, find a date that works for you here.

Only CEOs / MDs as above. Peer-level conversation!