Profit with Purpose

When we start talking with Grace O’Shaughnessy, managing director at Java Republic, you can quickly get the sense of a leader who has the experience, passion and a type of wisdom that only people who earned a few scars in the business world would have.

What made our conversation special is that it went beyond repeating lines from a well-designed company’s mission statement as a result of employee training.

It is needless for her to waste energy on painting a better picture than reality. Instead, she is just being upfront and direct about making money, preserving values without turning their story into a Hollywood movie. Grace now manages all aspects of the business with over 70 people working there, and she is committed to driving, mentoring this team on the Java Republic journey.

She shares some pure and simple truths about the pitfalls and triumphs of running a value-driven business.

Grace O’Shaughnessy, managing director, Java Republic

Building a company to become open and transparent

If you think about it, 20 years ago, when our story started, sustainable and ethical considerations did not play crucial roles in building a business. In our case, since our inception, we wanted to do more than making money as a coffee company who just drop a box at delivery. Our goal was to bring the coffee farmers story from the origin close to our end consumers.

So we were digging deeper, going further than anybody else in our market at the time. It has become part of what we do to educate our team, our market, our partners and consumers to make them understand what it takes to make a great cup of coffee.

Undoubtedly profit is something that drives the organisation, if we don’t make money, we can’t reinvest in innovation, development and our people, which is critical to get our message transitioned internally and externally.

We have the responsibility for all 77 hardworking people being employed at this organisation. Still, we also have to think about all of our farmers who produce the coffee beans, noting that their whole life depends on this single product.

It makes you, as a leader determined to achieve those sales numbers, allowing you to pay salaries and fair prices. However, I also enjoy finding ways how we can work smarter, do better and be an advocate of the values that we created here. I believe if we ever stop being content with what we have achieved, our competitors and the market will surpass us.

Connecting people through the coffee journey

From the beginning, Java Republic is focused on the connection with the farmers and bringing their coffee to Ireland.

That gave the foundation in building our philosophy and translating this journey into words: Coffee for the people by the coffee people.

Our ethos, which is ‘coffee with a conscience’ is in everything we do. These principles drive our actions, help us not to lose sight of what is really important. As we move through the years, dealing with challenges in the business – sales, people, strategy – it keeps us focused, keeps us grounded, so we don’t go off track.

Visiting the origins every year is part of our policy. Most of the coffee companies use coops or trading agents and never actually see where their products are coming. For us, it’s about the connection, the understanding and a reminder that we are not just dealing with a high-quality product but people.

Women working on coffee farms - Source: Java Republic

When you go to the origin and see what all this means to a farmer, it becomes more personal. David McKernan, the founder of Java Republic, visited Rwanda in 2018, and on his trip, a woman asked him in a village where we buy some of our coffee:

‘Could you send us some of our coffee back so that we can try it?’

We have some of our farmers who have never tasted their product in a single cup of coffee. They are growing the green coffee, they are selling it or delivering it to a co-op, but they don’t ever get to see it finished. They don’t know where Ireland is for the most part, but the premium price we are paying for the high-quality allows them to build a better life. And that’s what matters to us.

When bad times come…

For a very long time, coffee hasn’t been a sustainable product, and the end consumer knew little about the supply chain. It was a commodity that people would trade the same way they would trade oil or gold. Therefore you totally depend on markets determining if you had a good year or not and where prices could change any time. That’s a risk you’d always have in this industry.

When business flourishes, it is easier to focus on building culture and nurture values. But, changes in the economy can occur through huge curveballs, like this coronavirus pandemic that has a negative impact on the whole society. As a business, we had a similar experience with the financial crisis that caught us after investing a lot into our new facility, leaving us vulnerable without extra savings.

A situation like this puts your business under massive pressure from all channels possible, including internal stake holders, partners and end consumers. In the time of crisis, naturally, price becomes an issue.

It was difficult for us to navigate the business, especially that our partners were asking that we lower the quality of the products for better pricing position.

The Java Republic journey created by the founder, David McKernan - Source: Java Republic

It was a serious dilemma because in doing that we would have become a player on the market that fights on price. When that happens, that is a race to the bottom, and there is no turning back.

We made a tough decision to hold on to our values, not to sacrifice quality and with that our farmers, and our team.

It was extremely turbulent, we all had our doubts and had to work harder than we thought.

But had we not done that we might not be here today with a strong position on the market, being proud of what we stand for.

Our core values – passion, conscientiousness, expertise – served as a compass in the last two decades, and they are woven into our plans for the future.

It also gives us an edge and positioning on the market, which helped us not just survive but thrive as a business over the years.

We believe in this! It’s the right thing to do: our farmers deserve a fair price, our team deserves a fair environment to work in, and our customers deserve a quality product with all of the values we have to offer.

Leading the way in carbon neutrality

When you visit our headquarters in Ballycoolin, with the first purpose-built carbon-neutral roastery, you will find floor-to-ceiling glass walls right next to the café allowing visitors to see every stage of the roasting process. The roastery provides a great talking point to start a conversation about carbon emission besides the pro ducts.

This whole carbon emission issue is very complicated, and when people don’t understand something, they tend to shy away. Our way of handling this is through transparency, education and by breaking it down, telling our customers what we do in simple terms.

First carbon neutral roastery in Ireland - Source: Java Republic

We might not even use carbon neutrality as a term, but show the actions that lead to that end.

Like we do not send our coffee grinds to the landfill. Instead, we put them into bags and allow our customers to take it for free, use it in their garden as a natural fertiliser and slug repellent.

We do not throw away the coffee sacks either, but again customers can use them for various projects. In addition to this, 100% of our coffee chaff goes to compost which is about 3 tonnes each year. There is a wood pellet burner to heat our building and water, and this overrides the commercial boiler.

These are very tangible, simple elements that translate our efforts to become carbon neutral.

When our business partners visit our carbon neutral roastery, it’s a ‘wow’ factor. It’s a bit deceptive from the outside as a warehouse-style building, but once you get inside, you get an extraordinary experience.

In the end, when they understand more the ‘whole coffee journey’ they want to invest in that, and it’s not about price anymore, it’s about collaboration in delivering a top-quality product with a positive impact.

Translating values

I found a lot of companies can be doing great things but having difficulties in translating that and getting the right message to the right audience. Branding is an essential part of making our story accessible and engaging to all of our stake holders. It’s our job to tailor each message to each audience in a way that they would find it interesting.

Consumers are driving many changes in our industry to be more sustainable. It is fair to say that being sustainable is not a ‘nice to have’ factor anymore but expected.

You can deliver a positive impact, but if no one understands what you are doing, how would you expect them to care and even to pay a premium for it?

Back in the days, it would have sufficed to have an accreditation or affiliation with a third party, like Rainforest Alliance or Fair Trade.

You would still need that now, but you are challenged as a business to stand for so much more, especially by the younger audience who is demanding that you are transparent and operate responsibly.

However, it’s not just about consumers. Our market is a very competitive landscape for employees and being authentic is key to attracting and retaining talents. We live and breathe our values, and that’s a key factor for people joining Java Republic.

When I started here, the culture caught me on day one. I got a sense that it is more than a value statement on the wall.

One of the reasons I’m still here after 12 years is that these values resonate with me and keeps me passionate about my work.

Coffee is an all-inclusive industry

The great thing about the coffee industry is that you don’t have to look a certain way or be from a particular background to work here, and it is also a very trendy place to be.

We are collaborating with Oberstown Children Detention Campus where some of the young people would never have the opportunity for education.

We developed a pioneer training programme with Oberstown for young offenders in their facility to learn and become a barista.

As a result, these young people have an opportunity to earn an income when they leave the facility. Besides the physical skills, it also provides them with self-confidence and the soft skills needed to deal with customers and people in general.

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June 2020

Business SPIRIT Award supports innovators to make 'Profit with Purpose'

kiss.tamas — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 19:33:13 +0000

Business SPIRIT Award supports innovators to make 'Profit with Purpose'

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Profit with Purpose

entrepreneurship

Local Enterprise Office Dublin supports ethical business - case study

kiss.tamas — Sun, 12 Jan 2020 19:32:42 +0000

Local Enterprise Office Dublin supports ethical business - case study

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entrepreneurship

Profit with Purpose

From test lab to the market

Szilvia Szabó — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 21:23:00 +0000

From test lab to the market

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Trailblazer researcher becoming a business leader to help millions of people.

Report with Dr Conor Kerley founder of Setanta Nutrition Science

The issue is that there are so many supplements available on the market with little no science behind them. During my PhD, I uncovered how plant-based food components could lower blood sugar and blood pressure.

Creating a game-changer product

I have very personal reasons to become interested in nutrition and health.

Before I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2003, shortly after my 16th birthday, I was hospitalised with major balance issues. It was scary enough, but there was a middle-aged man in the bed beside me, he had a stroke while playing golf. The stroke caused by uncontrolled high blood pressure left him paralysed from the neck down. Although he could talk, eat, drink and was mentally very able, he couldn't move the rest of his body. When he needed a nurse, he would ask me to ring the bell for him.

One of my aunts has a long-standing type 2 diabetes. I don't see her too often as she spends 18 hours a week hooked up to a dialysis machine in a hospital. She travels one hour to dialysis and one hour back - three times per week. Also has heart failure, nerve issues and eye problems all caused by unchecked blood sugar levels.

All these experiences made me realise that prevention and awareness are key and inspired me to do something about it. After my honours graduation in dietetics and doctorate in nutrition, I was keen on helping people improve their diets.

My vision was to have a safe, natural, affordable option to help control blood sugar, blood pressure and brain health – however, this seemed to be very close to a fairy tale.

I won a major award from the British Hypertension Society which got me to attend as a presenter at the 2017 Australian Blood Pressure conference. Afterwards, I spent six weeks travelling around Australia and speaking at conferences, meeting with leading experts. I also spent a lot of time on planes and trains by myself, which gave me time to think:

As a single clinician, there is a limit to how many people I can see and help in a year. With a nutrition supplement, I can help millions!

So when I came back from Australia, I completed a “Start your own business” course run by the Local Enterprise Office. I also started a new job as a lecturer but spent my evenings and weekends finding out more about building a business.

I knew there was much potential for my business idea, so I left full-time employment to create a company. That's how Setanta Nutrition Science was born.

A simple but ambitious mission

I want to provide a solution to millions of people around the world by providing nutrition supplements, based on research, to help prevent and treat diabetes, and high blood pressure.

My preliminary research in tests tubes and on myself has shown a remarkable effect. As a crazy scientist, I started with self-experimentation, assessing my blood sugar and blood pressure responses to meals with specific added components.

I noticed some beneficial components, then I tried these components together, and they have shown an even greater response!

The breakthrough: Transforming research findings into a viable product

My strength is science and research, but to make this solution widely available, I have to build a business. That isn’t straightforward and comes with lots of learning.

At the moment I have many wonderful mentors, but practically I’m the only person working full time within the business. I’m building up a team although it takes time until then I try to keep my focus on the end goals and work towards them every day. Chasing funding is exhaustive, as are other elements of starting a business by yourself.

I’m naturally energetic and enthusiastic, also eat and sleep healthy, which helps. When there is a setback or a delay, I can think of the big picture: there is vast potential to help people around the world. Lots of supports are available. The real issue is trying to find the right one.

The Local Enterprise Office Louth, Ireland was a great starting point, they have been very supportive of me and my business idea. We obtained maximum feasibility funding which is helping to accelerate the process of building a company. Besides, I won Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur in the Louth region.

The other big help came from the Dublin Business Innovation Centre (BIC), namely Conor Carmody investor-ready manager, who has been so friendly, open, and honest. He was one of the judges at the Business SPIRIT Award and has helped me so much figuring out my strategy.

I decided to leave full-time employment in November 2018, just a few weeks after the Responsible Innovation Summit, where I presented my project, as a finalist for the Business SPIRIT Award.

This was a tough decision. It’s complicated enough to launch a business anyway and almost impossible to do while being employed. I am pleased with this decision although there are ups and downs, I am excited about the future!

Believing in the impact

Our product treats the underlying causes of diabetes and therefore, could help prevent diabetes and also treat it.

Worldwide there are 800 million diabetics and pre-diabetics at a treating cost of $727 billion. Only in Ireland, there are 250,000 people with diabetes and pre-diabetes which cost the Health Service Executive (HSE) $845 million per year.

Our product designed to improve diabetes control and decrease these risks, therefore the potential is massive. Making it available to people on a global level keeps me going.

Diabetes can lead to eye, kidney and nerve problem and even heart attacks and strokes. There are so many people at risk of diabetes that preventing or even delaying diabetes would reduce suffering and also costs.

We are about to start our first manufacturing run. Following this, we will conduct a human research study where we invite people who are overweight or worried about their health to visit our clinical facility while fasting.

We will measure blood sugar, cholesterol, inflammation in the blood as well as blood pressure. Breakfast with our supplement will be provided and we’ll measure the impact. On another occasion, we will repeat this but with a placebo instead of our supplement.

First will target diabetes prevention and treatment, later high blood pressure. In the future, we plan to expand our focus on solutions for brain disorders such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis.

We are more than open to get feedback, collaborate or share our findings. Please feel free to get in touch on social media - Twitter, LinkedIn.

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July 2019

Open call for collaboration!

Szilvia Szabó — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 16:38:48 +0000

Open call for collaboration!

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Responsible Research and Innovation

Business

Profit with Purpose

Date

30th October 2019 - 30th October 2019

Venue

Dublin, Smock Alley Theatre

Join the leaders of change at the 3rd Responsible Innovation Summit! Open call for collaboration

Now is the time to share your knowledge, network and drive positive change!

If you're an expert working on a project related Responsible Innovation or value-driven entrepreneurship you can apply to get involved at the 3rd edition of Responsible Innovation Summit, Dublin!

There are various options to contribute, such as joining panel discussions, leading interactive conversations, running workshops.

Leaders come together here from different sectors such as academia, business and policy to share knowledge and build a community of innovators who want to make a positive impact with their work. The aim of the conference is to promote the concept of Responsible Innovation and challenge the status quo of "business as usual".

Find out more and join the leaders of change!

Responsible Innovation Summit

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Life without traffic jams?

kiss.tamas — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 21:35:50 +0000

Life without traffic jams?

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Profit with Purpose

Rising Star

With a new Smart Mobility platform organisations can resolve their employees commuting pains and reduce emission at one go.

As a Wicklow resident living more than 50 km from Dublin but working in the city, Maurizio Sturlesi experienced all the negative aspects of everyday commuting. He got so frustrated that he wanted to tackle the mobility challenges that all commuters face every day: traffic and parking congestion and air pollution which all together have a negative impact on health and climate change.

Sturlesi teamed up with Carlino Gonzalez who was working at a multinational company outside of the city centre and spent 3 hours on public transport every day, therefore understood the challenge very well.

They both worked in the IT sector, so it seemed logical to create an innovative digital solution which will make it a lot easier for people to switch to smarter travel modes that are greener, save time and money.

The two founders envisioned an easy to manage data-driven application which enables users to find smart commuting options.

Founders of Sharo: Carlino Gonzalez (left) and Maurizio Sturlesi (right)

“I believe that the concept of transportation needs to be changed radically!

Public and personal transport systems were designed more than 100 years ago, and now with technology, we can revolutionize this industry and improve the lives of millions of people.” Carlino, Gonzalez, Co-founder of Sharo Technologies.

Smart Mobility

Modern transportations must have a positive impact on the environment, economy and society.

Smart Mobility is the promotion of sustainable mobility that guarantees accessibility, transport systems, parking management and the solution of related environmental problems.

The end result is that community members, such as employees or students, will travel smarter, quicker and cheaper while significantly reducing their carbon emissions and local traffic and parking congestion.

Key benefits of Smart Mobility for organisations:

Attract and retain talent: reduce stress level associated with commuting and make travel easier with additional fun challenges, rewards. Connect everyday actions with company culture and values.
Become active in tackling Climate Change: cutting CO2 emissions by reducing local traffic and parking congestion.
Save money: less spent on recruitment and savings on parking, fleets costs and carbon taxes.

The Sharo Smart Mobility platform provides a unique solution for organisations with a set of tools and a highly automated process to analyse their community’s travel habits and challenges.

Once they have a clear, always updated picture of the situation, this platform helps them to find the best smart mobility choices.

Insights from the founders

Taking care of business

Our belief is that the need for mobility will always be there. The only question is how to make it more sustainable and affordable at the same time.

We are on a mission to eventually help get rid of millions of personal vehicles and reduce our partner’s transport emissions by over 50%.

The foundation of our business is that we want to make major positive environmental and societal impact by making it easy for people to switch to Smart Mobility options.

Our partners who join the platform will identify options which are far more sustainable in terms of energy and resource efficiency while ensuring a better quality of life on a lower cost for their community members.

Recently, there has been more interest in improving transportation within organizations, but we would love to see more action taken by everyone.

Imagine having fun challenges within companies such as “Sustainable Wednesdays”, where people are encouraged to choose a greener way to commute and compete with each other.

The next big thing for us is to partner with organisations in Ireland, both corporates and institutions, who truly want to make a change and be a leader in sustainability and employee wellbeing.

We would love to meet leaders who are ready to take action and drive change in their organisation, district or campus and rollout Smart Mobility pilot programs involving their community members.

We are dedicated to promoting the concept of smart mobility and building a tech-startup at the same time.

For us is not just about scaling a business but creating a positive impact.

The Business SPIRIT Award was one of the first recognition which we had and really inspired us to move forward with our idea.

Ultimately, we envision Sharo Technologies will become a certified B Corporation to ensure that our operation meets the requirements of running a responsible business.

Smart Commute Day in Dublin

The European Mobility Week will be held on 16-22 September 2019. This is a campaign created by the European Union to improve public health and quality of life by promoting clean mobility and sustainable urban transport.

We are looking for partners to organise a Smart Commute Day in Dublin as part of the European Mobility Week.

The goal is to raise awareness about how Smart Mobility solutions can help tackle urban challenges such as traffic, air pollution and climate change.

Please get in touch if you are interested to come on board as a partner.

Become a partner for Smart Commute Day

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April 2019

Protecting public health and the environment!

kiss.tamas — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 21:35:08 +0000

Protecting public health and the environment!

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Urban communities spend a great deal of time and money cleaning Fat, Oil, and Grease (FOG) from the sewer network.

Ageing sewer networks are coming under increasing pressure from growing populations and decades of underinvestment which resulted in the growing number of Fatbergs.

A Fatberg is essentially a congealed mass which blocks sewer systems, building up of a combination of non-biodegradable pieces, such as grease, cooking fat or wet wipes and other materials we flash down.

Many cities’ sewer systems are filling up with Fat, Oil, and Grease (FOG) because not everyone is playing their part in controlling what they put down the drain.

The Thames Water company spends upwards of £1 million a month clearing fatbergs and blockages in the Greater London area alone, dealing with over 55,000 fatbergs and blockages a year.

Perhaps the most famous case was the Whitechapel Fatberg in London 2017, which weighed the same as 11 double-decker buses and took an eight-man crew and three weeks to clear.

A threat to our health and environment

The health hazards which Fatbergs present to residents are even more alarming since they contain potentially infectious bacteria including listeria, campylobacter, and E-coli. These strains were found to survive even when treated with drugs.

The damage to the environment is no less stark. When oils hit the water, they form a film at the surface, reducing the amount of oxygen in the water, which aquatic life depends on.

As such this pollution leads to continuous maintenance and clean-up which extremely costly and time-consuming.

It is very similar to the single-use plastic problem which was unrecognised for so long that now it becomes one of the biggest threat to the environment and local communities.

On a mission to protect people and nature

With a heart for innovation, sustainable entrepreneurship and background in catering Lily van Hende believe that there has to be an easy way for restaurants, cafes, and other food outlets to protect their business and community.

She has a passion to deal with modern environmental issues and a professional dedication to change everyday practices how food-service providers and governmental organisations are managing Fat, Oil, and Grease (FOG).

Lily shares some insights on her work at SwiftComply providing an innovative solution to tackle with the beast lying underneath our feet.

Changing Tides

We are on a mission to change the way foodservice entrepreneurs think about Fat, Oil and Grease (FOG) management. We combine our cloud-based smart solutions with continuous education and outreach to raise awareness and connect different stakeholders to drive positive change in this sector.

Many restauranteurs carry out sustainable FOG management practices but have no way of communicating this to the wider public or connect with peers. We believe that collaboration and continuous education is the key to changing how people think about and deal with FOG.

We organised the first ever European FOG Summit in Amsterdam early March 2019. Here we gathered like-minded people working in this sector, from industry professionals to regulators and food service entrepreneurs.

We gained so much insight from many different countries and water utilities, it was a real eye-opener about the different approaches to the same problem.

The feedback we got was beyond fantastic, this is something I am really proud of. One of the reactions that stick in my mind is: “I thought we were alone in our fight against fatbergs until I met so many people from all over the world doing exactly the same thing as we do.”

Personal dedication

I grew up in a restaurant, so I have literally been serving food since childhood. Despite that, a few years ago I began working in the tech industry. Still, the food sector will always be part of my life since my husband is a food and diet consultant.

First I worked for a start-up in Belgium, and shortly after that, I got my ticket to Google in Dublin. After a few months, I realized that Google is an enterprise with a huge ecosystem and it made me feel uncomfortable. I was looking for a role where my decisions create positive impact both for the business and the world around me. It didn’t take long before the offers came in my mailbox.

At SwiftComply I thoroughly enjoy having direct contact with the founder, being able to communicate with the person in charge and working closely with a tightknit and highly capable team.

I am a firm believer in using technology in our everyday life and work.

In a perfect world, every food service establishment would have a grease trap. And the grease collected from the device would all be processed to reuse as biodiesel. Food service establishments tend to easily adopt technology, but you’d be surprised how outdated the processes behind the scenes are. Paperwork is on the daily duty list of a restaurant manager.

Small company, big impact

Our CEO Michael O’Dwyer was working as an engineer at Dublin City Council when he developed Europe’s first Fat, Oil, and Grease (FOG) regulatory program to solve Dublin’s growing problems.

Michael set about creating a tool that would revolutionize how cities around the globe collaborate with the foodservice industry to solve this problem. Today over 450 Cities across North America and Europe choose SwiftComply to support and enhance their programs.

When you want to establish a mental and behavioural shift, you need the government to have your back.

Working together with governments, authorities, and regulators, allows us to influence and educate mainstream entrepreneurs on the dangers growing below our feet.

We don’t actually have our desk next to each other, we work remotely at a long distance and big time zone differences. Yet it feels so close thanks to the technologies nowadays.

Also, engaging with so many different stakeholders from small businesses to corporate and government institutions opens new perspectives which give me a greater understanding of their activities and how they relate to each other.

Don’t let Fat, Oil, Grease become the next plastic issue!

This isn’t a high priority topic on most of the European agendas, in fact, it’s so under-highlighted that we definitely need to open even more conversations with stakeholders from all levels.

Raising awareness about the issue with the regulators is our way to go forward.

We are planning to organize cross border roundtables in Belgium for example, where the situation is very similar to The Netherlands. Here water utilities are the requesting party to organize info evenings to open a dialogue with food service establishments in order to learn and understand more about challenges on both sides.

There’s no one single solution for an underestimated problem that impacts the entire society. That’s why we need to continuously collaborate, educate and communicate.

If we want to safeguard our urban communities and environment in the long term, we need to put FOG management higher up the agenda today and tomorrow.

We’re calling all environmental officers and regulators, water authorities and food service entrepreneurs to do their part before it’s too late!

I'd like to invite leaders who are working in a related field to join us at the upcoming FOG Summit! Please feel free to get in touch to learn more!

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April 2019

Building an ethical business brick by brick

kiss.tamas — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 21:31:21 +0000

Building an ethical business brick by brick

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It only takes passion and dedication to challenge 'business as usual'.

Report with Eva Power, founder of The Ethical Silk Company

The textile industry has a significant impact on the environment and, in many cases, inhumane treatment of its employees. I believe that it is possible to offer consumers an alternative and educate them to consider all aspects of their purchases.

We want our customers to enjoy beautiful, timeless pieces, with the knowledge that they were made to the highest standards, both in quality and throughout the production process.

I found a particular mulberry silk production that extracts the silk from the cocoon after the moth has left it. The result is beautifully rich mulberry silk which, because of the particular way it is produced, is more like fine linen with a lovely matt lustre rather than the shiny finish of traditional silk.

Entrepreneurial journey

My journey has been a bit of a rollercoaster… I’m running my business for a while now, and I’ve done it very slowly, it’s growing organically, no investors are involved, and I try to keep it that way. I’m proud of it that it started in 2009 and it’s still going, evolving and changing.

What I’ve learned so far is to trust myself and have faith in what I do and don’t be afraid to show what I’m doing. At each level, we try to be as responsible as possible. We’re constantly researching how to improve ways of creating our products and managing the business.

The support I received is countless, really. I’m always surprised how people relate with our story, how they try to help both professionally and personally.

Without my husband I’m not sure I’d be here, he kept me going many times I would have given up.

Starting and running a small business it’s hard enough, but I'd say: Go for it, trust yourself but watch your cash flow like a hawk! Finance is so tricky to handle, and every cent needs to be accounted for! You’ll need money to carry out your plans. I think it helps if you consider yourself as an investor looking for returns.

I received many supports from the Local Enterprise Office – Dublin City, which helped me financially and in learning how to run my own business.

For me, it’s important to make a positive impact on my business.

I just wanted to create something that I can personally stand over and be proud of.

We want to keep up with organic growth and improve our presence and sales online. We’re bringing in a new collection and continue to grow in the US to make a more significant impact there.

Respect and hard work

Tailoring silk is hard and challenging work! We are collaborating local NGOs and suppliers who train and promote local people, offering job security, fair wages and carrier options for woman and man in the area.

Our products are printed by hand at Mehera Shaw's unit in Bagru, Jaipur.

Block printing is a centuries-old tradition, and heritage craft of India passed down from generation to generation. Using simple tools, age-old techniques and years of experience, the designs are traced onto teak wood blocks and carved by hand. The blocks are then dipped in dye, and the pattern is stamped onto the silk, by hand, one at a time. Colours used are low impact, AZO-free dyes and all water used is treated and recycled.

One of the most challenging part for me is the public appearance, to put myself out there and be the face of the company, broadcasting the message. Naturally, I’d rather be working behind the scenes, but that’s part of the learning which is necessary to run a successful company.

To overcome my fear of public speaking and share our story, I applied to the Business SPIRIT Award in 2018. I made it to the final, where I received a professional presentation training.

First, it felt like I'm going to die on stage, speaking in front of a real live audience of about 200 people was my worst nightmare. But eventually, I have won, and it felt amazing, which encourages me to push myself, no matter how hard it is.

I commit to give back as I witnessed all the hard work of charities.

Having visited the Jeevan Jyothi AIDS Centre in Theni, and witnessed first-hand the tireless work carried out by the staff, I decided to pledge 5% of company profits to the centre.

Focus Ireland, a charity that works to prevent people from becoming, remaining or returning to homelessness, also receive 5% company profits.

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April 2019

Circular Economy training for SMEs

kiss.tamas — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 21:21:59 +0000

Circular Economy training for SMEs

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Circular Economy

Profit with Purpose

Business

Date

1st July 2019

Venue

Dublin

The first MODOS training programme was a 6-week Circular Economy primer for SMEs. It combined a wide range of expertise from business, environment, design thinking, marketing and communication.

The MODOS training is an entrepreneurship programme that encourages the development of innovative and sustainable business.

Businesses that rely on materials to create goods or products that are distributed through a supply chain can benefit most from the training. However, all suitable companies who want to be more efficient and which can potentially profit from the programme are encouraged to apply.

The course is designed for micro, small and medium enterprises to improve their environmental performance and explore new business opportunities at the same time. It provides the tools and knowledge to make this transition happen in the business community.

The training also offers an opportunity for creating competitive advantage, spot new market opportunities, build better customer relationships, and peer-to-peer networking. It also includes the introduction of financial support available for businesses who undertake sustainable and circular projects and the support offered by the Local Enterprise Office.

This programme is an initiative of the Economic Development Office, Dublin City Council (DCC) and the Eastern Midlands Waste Region Office (EMWRO), in collaboration with key stakeholders.

After the first rollout of the programme, the “MODOS Phase II” is coming soon. The goal is once again to facilitate the transition towards circularity by providing the sectoral knowledge and practical resources.

Learn more about Circular Economy and why business leaders need to get ready for upcoming changes.

More details about MODOS training

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