Our aim is to solve a social and environmental problem. Domestic Abuse has been on a steady increase and spiked during the lockdown. We want to help these women, who often experience unemployment, low self-esteem and depression and being overlooked.
Providing them with a safe place and the opportunity to work, learn new skills, volunteer and connect with other women that understand and will not judge them is so valuable to help them rebuild their self-worth and confidence. I believe we can do this whilst also protecting our global ecosystems that will support the health and wellbeing of our communities. Sustainability is all of our responsibility to conserve our resources now and in the future.
Our solution is to provide a mobile community space and meet with the women weekly within their local community. The women will have the ability to purchase low-cost clothing, shoes, bags and accessories that would otherwise go to landfill. They can learn how to repair, reuse and upcycle clothing, gain employment and the opportunity to volunteer. They will also have access to domestic abuse advice and support, discounts and freebies.
When I first moved to London in 2008, I was welcomed into the lesbian community. Since then, hate crimes have increased, a staggering 58% of LGBTQ+ spaces have been lost, and there is currently only one lesbian bar in all of Soho!
Lily’s Cafe and Bar is an inclusive women-focused queer space where these groups will see themselves represented. As a bar and a cafe, they will be able to sell their own products, and as a space, they will be able to put on events for their communities and amazing allies. A circular economic system will be at the heart of the business through promoting reusable cups, sourcing food from local farmers and bakers, and composting food waste, and we will support events such as bicycle repair workshops, and clothing and electrical swapshops.
I wish to give back to my community by building a sense of identity through place and people, and, by following a circular economy, we will be contributing to a better future for our planet.
My business idea is a decluttering service for Londoners that encourages sustainable decluttering in line with circular economy principles. From my market research, there seems to be an increasing desire for this kind of service (e.g. recycle, upcycle, repair, donate), but it tends to add further complexity to a process that is already difficult, stressful and time-consuming for many people. For this reason, many people will not attempt to declutter in a sustainable way, and this may also prevent them from decluttering at all.
The solution will provide a clear structure for a sustainable decluttering process, will connect users to local businesses who can assist, and provide financial incentives to users. There are two potential arms to the business – digital (e.g. an app) or physical (e.g. a consultancy or bin and collection service), and more research/trialing is needed to determine which direction the business will take.
Many children and adults eat food that is lacking in essential nutrients and also contributes to unnecessarily high food GHG emissions.
Microgreens tackle both problems by providing high nutrient, hyper-locally grown, no waste, chemical-free food. In addition to growing, we also want to provide practical workshops to schools and communities on nutrition and growing their own microgreens at home with their families.
I have been working in the fashion industry for over 13 years. The experience has shown me that behind every garment is a story, a person that brings to life ideas and those that make it a reality. However, according to an OR Foundation report from 2022, some 15 million used garments get shipped each week from places such as the UK, USA and Canada to countries like Ghana. Unsold clothing from charities gets picked up from rag collectors and ends up in landfills.
As a solution, we created a learning platform to demystify the garment-making process. We will train and support aspiring makers through apprenticeship schemes with our partner alteration/tailoring shops. Customers will be able to book their items to be repaired/made, learn self DIY and appreciate craftmanship again through their maker.
We are creating a community full of makers to be united in the mission to prevent clothing from going into landfills.
I am Maya and I am currently a software engineer. With all the extreme environmental events that have taken place over the past few years, I became more concerned and am motivated to make a difference.
Every year in the UK, 350.000 tonnes of still wearable clothing goes to landfill. Whilst charity donation and reselling unwanted clothes remain popular options, many people, especially working professionals with busy lifestyles don’t have time to dispose of their clothes properly and are not aware of where their clothes end up after disposing or donating.
Twisted was found to offer a convenient solution to give unwanted clothes another life. It is a service that collects clothes and upcycle them into unique household items such as floor mats, pillows or home decor items. We then either resell them to their owners at a cheaper price or to new owners. Twisted’s customers will get small rewards when giving away their unwanted clothes and be informed of how their clothes are recycled.
I’m an energy industry professional by day, but my passion lies in my climate activism. Community sites in Croydon are affected by the problem of lack of access to cheap, locally generated renewable energy. The impact of this is many sites are suffering with high energy bills and risk going out of business, whilst being locked into non-green energy suppliers.
Our solution is to use the community energy model to provide energy generation projects in Croydon and invest profits back into the community to help alleviate fuel poverty.
I am passionate about trying to protect the earth, that’s why I have renewable energy technology on my roof.
With my engineering analytical background in the aerospace industry, I want to come up with a new solar PV thermal panel that will be more efficient, affordable, adaptable and retrofit able, thus giving the consumer even better choice for their energy solutions.
I’ve devoted the last 15 years supporting people affected by crime and efforts to support peoples’ rehabilitation of serving time in custody. People leaving prison face many difficulties finding work. At present only 17% of prison leavers are in PAYE employment after a year on the outside.
Our solution is to offer prison leavers flexible employment in our eBay store selling printer cartridges that businesses no longer need; with the profits funding a range of resettlement-focused grants that specifically help people find work and rebuild their lives. We want to see an end to wasted printer cartridges and the wasted potential of people leaving prison.
I am passionate about improving outcomes for prison leavers and you can learn a lot more about my work via my daily posts on my LinkedIn Page. I am recently married with one son and an avid fan of basketball and Stevie Wonder.
I’m from the US and I love connecting with people over games and activities.
Picnic Scout is a rental business that offers lawn games for hire inside London parks. This is a new hospitality concept that enhances our greenspaces with wholesome, low-impact activities that boost mental and physical health.
By highlighting convenience and quality, we offer busy Londoners fun ways to enjoy their precious leisure time while encouraging mindful spending on experiences over ownership.