The zero-packaging food shop
Frustrated by the effects of plastic pollution, Kate Robertson and her friends decided to take positive action. The self-styled “mums on a mission” set about creating a zero-waste shop in their home of Bridport, Dorset, launched a crowdfunding campaign and exceeded their £16,000 target by raising £17,000. But, by that point someone else had opened a zero-waste shop in the town, so instead they decided to create Dorset’s first mobile zero-waste shop, The Green Weigh. The women make seven stops a week in their repurposed van (affectionately named “Gertie”), visiting different markets and villages each day so people can top up on everything from beans and pulses to household goods and personal items.
The aim is to reduce single-use plastics by refilling jars and containers. Customers go along with their own containers and fill up from those on board the van. “People love it, they enjoy learning a different way to shop,” says Robertson. “It’s a huge change of habit, you have to really think about how you shop. It’s not like going into a supermarket and picking up a bag of pasta, it takes longer, but many people think it’s worth it.” And while perceptions are often that zero-waste shopping is more expensive, they work hard to keep prices down by ordering in bulk and selecting suppliers carefully.
The Green Weigh van helps shoppers in Dorset cut back on packaging
The shop has proved so successful that they now also sell online, operating a click-and-collect service. For a shop with no set location, being able to operate on the move is vital, says Robertson. From using iZettle to take card payments to keeping customers posted on where and when they will be in places thanks to social media, they rely on technology to run the business. “We want to make it as accessible as possible,” says Robertson. “Ideally, we want to see everybody shop this way and everywhere to have a shop like this.”
The sustainable fashion brand
When Lucas Barrow-Townsend left university, he knew he wanted to do something worthwhile. Rather than work for a charity or someone else’s business, he decided to start his own. “I saved up a bit of money and went to Gambia, and that was where it all started,” he says. Continent Clothing sells garments made from traditional African wax print fabrics, working directly with local Gambian tailors, seamstresses and fabric merchants in Ghana, Senegal and Ivory Coast.
Continent Clothing sells clothes directly from west African tailors
Barrow-Townsend, 29, started selling at Camden Market and went on to have a shop on Brick Lane. Seven years later the business is still going strong and he now has a shop in Reading, as well as selling at festivals, events and online. Barrow-Townsend calls Continental Clothing a “socially responsible business”. “I know every single person in the production chain,” he says. “I know the person who sells the fabric, I know the tailor who makes the clothing, I know the people who send it to the UK. For every single thing, I know where the money is going. I know how much they’re getting paid, which is much more than the average.”
When it comes to running a business that deals with people across the world, connectivity is vital, he says. “It enables me to FaceTime my tailors in Gambia, take card payments at festivals, and keep an eye on things wherever I am. Without mobile connectivity there’s no chance this would happen, or it would have been a much slower process. All of my tailors have access to phones now, even when I first started it was a lot harder to get hold of them, but now 3G and 4G is spreading across Africa so it’s a lot easier.”
The handywoman
After bringing up four children single-handedly, Yvette Curley learned to take on pretty much any practical job at home. So when she decided to set up her own business, doing the same thing for other people seemed a no-brainer. “I cared for my nan for the best part of 20 years. I used to think: ‘what would she do if she didn’t have me if, say, her lightbulb went?’ She’d probably call an electrician and then get charged a huge call-out fee.” Cue the creation of Tilly the Handylady just 12 months ago. “Tilly”, who sees no job as too small, will take on anything from painting and lopping trees to carrying out repairs and even defrosting freezers. She charges a modest hourly rate and once the job is done she will often see if there’s anything else that needs doing to make sure the hour is met. “I try to keep my prices as reasonable as I can,” she says. “I don’t charge for call-outs, I don’t charge for quotes. I do all sorts – I paint, decorate, hang shelves, and if it’s not on my list I always tell people to call me anyway because I can probably do it.”
Yvette Curley began her handywoman business just a year ago
A lot of Tilly’s customers in Rugby, Warwickshire, tend to be elderly, and she gets much of her business via word of mouth. They like having someone they can trust, she says, right down to being able to pay her by cheque that she can bank via an app in front of them. “I use my phone for pretty much everything,” she says. “Once you organise yourself and get everything set up, you can do everything from banking and payments to booking jobs in your calendar and obviously being contacted by people.”
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