Green Business With Impact: Recent Episodes

Jasper Steinhausen

Green Business With Impact dives into the business side of a transition to sustainability using circular economy. How to do it profitably, where to focus, what others have done etc. Your host is Jasper Steinhausen and he draws upon more than a decade of experience in this field. Contact: js@bwimpact.com

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What is a good partnership and are they easy or hard to obtain? Do partners with a sustainability approach have advantages over “traditional” partners? And what is the D-A-N-C-Eframework? Lots of questions and just as many amazing answers when I partner up (pun intended) with the knowledgeable Dave Plunkett on the topic. He isthe founder of the company Collaboration Junkie and has developed hundreds of partnerships since the company started in 2020.

Dave walks us through his five step D-A-N-C-E framework that will help the listeners be strategic towards partnerships. Because you need a strategy behind your partnerships to be successful, whether your business is focused on sustainability or not. If you do have a brand with sustainability at its core, you have an advantage over your competition. So, join me and Dave and learn about D for Dance, A for Assembly, N for Nurturing, C for Connection and E for Engagement and much more.

You can hear:

  • Dave thinks it’s not our natural way to be in competition. It's our natural way is to collaborate and work together
  • When you're speaking to potential partners, you should talk about how you can help them deliver the result that they want to deliver
  • It’s important to schedule strategic reviews of your partners
  • Some great examples of partnerships - for example Spotify’s deal with Uber and Danish textile company Gabriel’s deal with Boeing
  • That partnerships are not about being in competition with other people. It's about being just where there's a right match

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Dave Plunkett on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/daveplunkett/
  • Collaboration Junkie: https://www.collaborationjunkie.com/
  • Danish fabric company Gabriel: https://www.gabriel.dk/

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick simple questions about your business. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com International Bestselling Book:If you want a recipe for how to work with sustainability in a way that is good for business and for the world then check out my Amazon international bestselling book “Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place”. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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In this episode, we take a deep dive into the connection between innovation and sustainability. My guest on the show today is Aileen Boyle who is the CEO of Fortro. For more than 20 years, she has helped companies innovate and create impactful businesses. A key take away is that sustainability and circular economy are effectful platforms for innovation!Aileen also breaks down the concept of innovation and gives a lot of great tips about driving a sustainable business. For instance, we discuss the basic rules you must look at when you bring a new product or a new service to market and you can hear Aileen’s take on the steps that well-established companies wanting to innovate their existing products or services can take.

You can hear:

  • Aileen demystifying the word “innovation”
  • The questions any business should ask themselves, whether new or existing and wanting to bring a new product/service to market:

-How do you know that this is exactly what people are looking for?-How will they use it?-What will they do when they're finished with it?

  • That it’s important to design “the sustainable element” in from the start
  • The importance of bringing in an external perspective - somebody that has grown businesses before, who has been involved in developing products and services

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Aileen Boyle, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aileenboyle-ceo-fortro/
  • Fortro: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fortro-ltd/

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick simple questions about your business. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com

International Bestselling Book:If you want a recipe for how to work with sustainability in a way that is good for business and for the world then check out my Amazon international bestselling book “Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place”. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores.

Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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How can we change the world for the better if we’re burned out and stressed? How do organizations make sure that they take the wellbeing of their employees serious? And what does being a “force for good” company do to create an organization where people thrive and perform?

All these questions and a lot more will be answered on today’s episode where I have Charlotte Stebbing-Mills as my guest. She is the co-founder of the company The Wellness Theory, a multi award-winning team specializing in stress relief and collaborative wellbeing solutions. She is also a podcast host herself of “Thrive in the Workplace and Become a Force for Good” and tries generously to answer all my million-dollar questions about wellbeing in today’s (sustainable) organizations.

You can hear about:

  • Values mismatch as one of the reasons why people leave organizations or don't join them in the first place
  • Understanding the state of the business and the employee's wellness being a good indicator of what's going on at a deeper level within the organization
  • That people will go a bit further for purpose driven businesses than for just a regular organization or a regular business
  • The difference between healthy and unhealthy stress
  • What organizations can do about stress – also stress coming from the top
  • The huge importance of an organization’s recruiting and onboarding process to secure value alignment
  • A recent study that shows how “force for good” companies is having a positive impact on wellbeing on the individual

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Charlotte Stebbing-Mills, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-stebbing-mills/
  • The Wellness Theory: https://www.thewellnesstheory.com/
  • The podcast “Thrive in the Workplace and Become a Force for Good”: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/thrive-in-the-workplace-and-become-a-force-for-good/id1710561815?kuid=be8825a3-4b4a-4634-b372-fc56484823df&kref=2hlk1Q0PewdT
  • The Deloitte Study, Charlotte mentions: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ca/Documents/about-deloitte/ca-en-about-blueprint-for-workplace-mental-health-final-aoda.pdf

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick simple questions about your business. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com International Bestselling Book: If you want a recipe for how to work with sustainability in a way that is good for business and for the world then check out my Amazon international bestselling book “Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place”. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores. Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact: Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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Why is operational excellence so important and what does it take to achieve it, especially in a sustainable company? All this and more will be answered when I have a great conversation with an expert on the matter, namely Marianne Page, author of several books on the topic. To Marianne, operational excellence can be as simple as “doing what you say you will, when you say you will, and to the standard expected”. And however easy that sounds, it's not always easy to deliver.

With fast-food restaurant McDonald’s as a recurring example of what it means in a practical sense, Marianne takes us through several aspects of how to practice operational excellence. You’ll hear about “sticky systems” and why a leader's values and the sort of business they want to build is key to getting and maintaining the right people to your (sustainable) business. Because however you may have a fantastic vision to impact millions of people, the first people you need to impact positively are the ones who work with you.

You can hear about:

  • The importance of hiring people who share the values you have about being a force for good company and how the right people can help your company achieve being just that
  • That trust is the glue that holds a business together – both the business to its customers as well as the leader to the team within the business
  • How you make a connection between having stability and systems and at the same time wanting to develop and change
  • The “3-1-90” system and how your business also can use this system to prepare for what’s coming
  • That you should start thinking about, implementing, and building your operational excellence from day one, whether you are a sustainable business or not
  • Why communication – both internally and externally is important

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Marianne Page website: https://mariannepage.com/
  • Marianne Page on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariannepage/
  • Marianne’s books: Simple Logical Repeatable, Process to Profit and Mission: To Manage: https://mariannepage.com/books/
  • The onboarding system Trainual: https://trainual.com/

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick simple questions about your business. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com International Bestselling Book: If you want a recipe for how to work with sustainability in a way that is good for business and for the world then check out my Amazon international bestselling book “Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place”. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores. Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact: Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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Is it a superpower to be a company with a “force for good” mindset when it comes to attracting investors in today’s world? Yes, says my guest on the show – as long as you’re not using it as a substitute for good, sound commercial business modeling. But if it is in addition to a sound business model, then it's a superpower and quite a massive one too, he says.

My guest is James Church, author of the international bestselling book, “Investable Entrepreneur”, and co-founder of the multi-award-winning investment readiness agency called Robot Mascot. James generously shares his great tips about investing, both seen from the investors’ side and from the businesses point of view. For instance, James takes us through the “two investment killers” as he calls them and the three critical fundraising assets you need to know about.

You can hear about:

  • Why the business plan, the business case, the financial projection, the pitch and the narrative are key factors to attracting investors
  • Whether or not it’s difficult to attract investments for sustainability if investors do not understand what it means
  • Examples of businesses that have utilized their sustainable impact to get access to some form of capital
  • Investment in businesses who are doing some good to the planet or society as well as delivering them a commercial return, will become more and more important
  • Female founding teams who deliver twice the return of male founding teams. Yet females still only seem to get 1% to 2% of total investment worldwide

Mentioned in this episode:

  • James Church website: https://www.robotmascot.co.uk/james-church/
  • His book “Investable Entrepreneur”: https://www.robotmascot.co.uk/investable-entrepreneur/
  • James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescchurch/
  • The VC power law: https://govclab.com/2023/08/09/the-power-law-in-vc/
  • Check how investor-ready you are by going to Pitchready: https://www.robotmascot.co.uk/pitchready/

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick simple questions about your business. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com International Bestselling Book:If you want a recipe for how to work with sustainability in a way that is good for business and for the world then check out my Amazon international bestselling book “Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place”. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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A great company brand is clearly highly valuable. As sustainable companies they got a huge advantage in this game. There are numerous examples of how sustainability can be part of leveraging and growing such a company brand. But how important is branding for a business to have success in the world of today? This is the topic I am discussing with my guest, Jeremy King from King Campbell and Friends. He has 30 plus years of experience with branding and will share some vital tips for you today.

One of the most important points, Jeremy makes, is the window of opportunity that you have right now as a business leader: If you are authentic, if you are taking a leadership role, if you are not just doing the minimum to comply with the EU regulations, you can build a brand and take a really strong position. If you sit back and wait, then you'll lose that opportunity, and the window will close!

Jump on board now and listen to this episode, where we also discuss:

  • How important Jeremy thinks branding is for a business success in the world of today
  • Focus on the smarter and better part in your solutions rather than the “green” part - examples used being Tesla, IKEA and even Ryanair
  • The risks of not meeting the own standards that you have set for sustainability
  • That you'll never have a bulletproof shield and it's never going to be perfect, but you can perfect it as you go – the key is what you announce and what your goal for sustainability is
  • What it takes to leverage your sustainability effort into a strong company brand
  • The internal change that will happen on the back of external change
  • The difference between brand and marketing strategy

Mentioned in this episode:

  • The Sustainability Brand Index: https://www.sb-insight.com/sbi please note that at new report is coming out for 2024 soon and that is the one that is on display at their site
  • Jeremy King on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyking-execcoach/

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick simple questions about your business. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com International Bestselling Book:If you want a recipe for how to work with sustainability in a way that is good for business and for the world then check out my Amazon international bestselling book “Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place”. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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Most business leaders have a focus on recruitment and very often it is a bit of an issue – sometimes even the limiting factor for growth and success.

We kick off Season three of Green Business With Impact with a great guest and super experienced expert named Alan Furley. He is the co-founder and CEO of ISL talent, which is a British recruitment company. Alan has worked within recruitment for “loads and loads of years” using his own words and says he’s from an era where the issue of sustainability wasn't front of mind.

But that has somewhat changed and today we discuss the connection between working seriously with sustainability in your company and recruitment of the right talent. What does it take to attract the right talent? Is sustainability a factor for talent or is it still salary, rewards and job title?

We talk about:

  • What business leaders should think about when they want to attract the right people for a sustainable business
  • Aligning recruitment to sales and marketing for a good result
  • The three key factors - Compensation, Career progression and Culture, that have flipped a bit when it comes to retention
  • Autonomy, mastery and purpose that according to author Daniel H. Pink is what motivates people to work and how purpose is becoming increasingly important
  • Startups and scale ups that are a big part of job creation compared to bigger businesses

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Kelpi: https://www.kelpi.net/
  • Daniel H. Pink: “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6452796-drive
  • Alan Furley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanfurley/

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick simple questions about your business. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com

International Bestselling Book:If you want a recipe for how to work with sustainability in a way that is good for business and for the world then check out my Amazon international bestselling book “Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place”. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores.

Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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What does it take to build and scale a circular business? What kind of mindset is needed? What are some of the dilemmas and discrepancies you will be facing? These are some of the questions I talk about with Director and Co-founder Wickie Meier Engstrøm from Kvadrat Really in this final episode of the second season of the podcast Green Business With Impact. Kvadrat Really creates solutions made from textile waste and their bigger purpose is nothing less than wanting to create a waste free society! But can a relatively small company like Kvadrat Really save the world from waste? Listen to my talk with Wickie Meier Engstrøm and learn why thinking big is key to helping save the planet. In the episode, you will also, once again, learn a lot about circularity and what you need to consider when wanting to drive a circular business. Wickie Meier points out that you cannot just decide that your company is “going to be circular”. Circularity is a different mindset, and you need to think it into all aspects of your company: Procurement, Supply line, customers, and the financial department. You can also hear:

  • The story of how having a company with a strong circular mission can be the ticket to being acquired by a larger company and thereby catapult your growth and reach
  • About the contradictions in being an innovator – you both need to be very structured but also anarchistic
  • How you ensure that you get everybody on board your mission, both those who are in favor, but also the naysayers.

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Kvadrat Really: https://www.kvadrat.dk/en/really/solutions
  • Kvadrat: https://www.kvadrat.dk/en
  • Wickie Meier, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wickie-meier-8347732/
  • Kvadrat Really, LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kvadrat-really/

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about your business. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com New #1 bestseller book out:“Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place” is the name of my new book. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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Today’s episode will underline the good old learning: That investing in quality pays. But here you get a different understanding of what is understood as quality. There is much more to the company Stykka than just another story about a company with a circular mindset within the kitchen manufacturing industry. I guarantee you, that when you hear about how Stykka works with data, traceability, replacement and makeover, you will be blown away! Stykka designs and manufactures circular furniture, kitchens for instance, for homes and buildings. But they regard themselves more as a tech-company than as a kitchen company. Listen to my conversation with founder Jarl Engelbrecht Vindnæs and learn from Stykka’s success! In the episode, we discuss:

  • That Stykka wants to rethink the role of furniture for the benefit of people, planet and climate
  • Their mission and why they wanted to create a company that takes responsibility for all the raw materials we use and consume
  • That the biggest advantage of their model is internally but also helps attracting investors
  • That their mission feels like an “inner superpower” that aligns with planetary goals
  • Stykka’s three main advantages over their competitors:
  • -Fully digital backend system
  • -Less SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) than other companies
  • -All products are designed for disassembling
  • The two opposing attitudes towards the “great green transition”: Is it a burden for the business community or a huge opportunity to create new and better solutions that are both cheaper and better for the planet?

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Poka-yoke means "mistake-proofing" or "error prevention" or as Jarl mentions it “Idiot proof” refering af slighly older verssin of the expresseion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poka-yoke
  • https://www.stykka.com/
  • Jarl on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarl-engelbrecht-vindn%C3%A6s-a328b52/

Do you know your Impact Business Score?Answer a series of simple questions in five categories based on what we’ve found are common markers for the understanding of sustainability in a business context, and the ability to turn it into business value and impact. When you completed the scorecard, you got an Impact Business score – a quantified rating of your approach in a sustainable business context, based on how you answered the questions.It takes just 3 min and will give you customized suggestions to next steps for you: greenprofit.scoreapp.com New book out: “Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place” is the name of my new book. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show in your podcast app.

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Today, I’ll invite you into a story from Malmo in Sweden, where a small sign producing company, Accus, has transformed and boosted their business via the circular business thinking. It’s an interesting story not only about more sustainable materials but also a story about the power of finding and living by one's purpose and mission. The result is a significant personal satisfaction, stronger client relations, a better environmental and human impact and the clarity to kindly rejecting customers, if they want a sign that Accus regards as “not needed”. My guest today is CEO André Zandelin from Accus, a company that designs and manufactures high quality signs on buildings. André tells the story of how Accus has become much more successful after changing their mindset and identity.“Before we saw ourselves as “providing a product” but today it is much more about everything around it: the solution, the service, the value, the function of the product. With this approach, you have a very different and much more meaningful conversation with your customers”, he says. You can hear about:

  • The process that Accus has been through while transforming into a more circular oriented business.
  • The relationship between Accus and their customers which has changed dramatically because finding a solution is now a collaboration between Accus and their customers.
  • The actual steps that Accus have taken to become more circular using for instance more recycled materials, more bio-based materials and also thinking about making sure signs are not emitting too much light and not giving information overload for the people seeing them.
  • Andrés general take on what it takes to make the green transition happen.

Mentioned in this episode:

  • André Zandelin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andr%C3%A9-zandelin-2b976565/ or contact him here: andre@accus.se

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about your mindset. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com New book out:“Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place” is the name of my new book. You can get it from Amazon and other major bookstores. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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“It looks brand new!??” This is the response that today’s guest most often gets when a potential new client gets a sample of their used laptops to play around with and test. Seeing is believing and this has turned out to be very true in the world of remanufactured computers where one thought is to remanufacture a laptop so it looks brand new, another is to get people to believe in it. That is probably because people have an image in their head of dirty fingerprints, someone else’s hair and a broken screen when you mention “used IT” to them. But today, you’ll learn about “re-manufacturing” that could both save your company money on IT, save the planet valuable resources and give you used IT in mint condition. Meet Conrad Mohr, who is one of the founders of Circular Computing, a UK company that is leading the European re-manufacturing business. Re-manufacturing is an alternative to “new” and is an intensive industrial process, which means Circular Computing take large quantities of three-year-old laptops and remanufactures them in their facility after which they put it back out to the marketplace, or even to the same company. They have customers all over Europe who are saving between 20-40% on costs and get IT that performs better and is carbon neutral. A great example of the circular economy. You can hear that:

  • Re-manufactured IT comes with the same warranty as new IT
  • More companies become aware of the term re-manufacturing – it’s just not “business as usual yet”.
  • Public Procurement will be an important part of making this change happen and why it is so
  • The traditional OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers like Lenovo, Dell, HP) are all doing well in trying to be more sustainable, because the customers demand it

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Conrad Mohr: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conradmohr/?originalSubdomain=uk
  • Circular Computing: https://circularcomputing.com/
  • BSI: https://www.bsigroup.com/en-GB/
  • Science Based Targets: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/
  • CDP: https://www.cdp.net/en/
  • RMA-rate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_merchandise_authorization
  • TCO: https://tcocertified.com/tco-certified
  • Nexthink: https://www.nexthink.com/

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about your mindset. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com New book out:“Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place” is the name of my new book. You can get it from Amazon and other major book stores. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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Today’s guest will open your eyes and ears to the business opportunities that go with a circular mindset. John Atcheson is Co-Founder/CEO at Circular Way, the first fully circular fashion retailer and he shares his experience and visions for a future building upon circularity instead of the usual mantra of selling more stuff.

It’s not easy though, because everything in an organization is programmed to sell more stuff, the systems are designed to make people buy more stuff, the infrastructure supports selling more stuff. It requires a shift from top to bottom to change this. It is really hard but doable.

You can also hear:

  • That a horrific amount of used clothes gets thrown away every year
  • That the average use of a garment has gone down 36% over the last 15 years
  • That education of consumers is a waste of effort! Show them the results of your circular effort – the superior solution - at the check-out, and they will move towards you.

Mentioned in this episode:

  • John Atcheson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnatcheson/?originalSubdomain=uk
  • CircularWay: https://circularway.com/
  • Sightline Institute: https://www.sightline.org/
  • Getaround (Airbnb for cars): https://getaround.com/
  • Ellen McArthur Foundation: https://ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about your mindset. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com

New book out:“Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place” is the name of my new book. You can get it from Amazon and other major book stores.

Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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Michael Bayer Thomsen, Zirq Solutions

When Zirq Solutions worked based on a linear mindset, their customers asked: “How much does it cost to produce this?” Now the company has changed to a circular mindset, and the questions have changed accordingly to: “How do we develop the best solution? How do we take care of the product during its lifespan? How we repair it? How do we best reuse it before recycling it?” The benefits of going from linear to circular are once again the focus of today’s podcast episode.

This part of Zirq Solutions (until recently known as Letbek Group) manufactures high-quality plastic components for the built environment, furniture and medical. They call themselves an “accelerator of the circular economy” with a higher purpose to cool the planet! Meet Senior Vice President of Zirq Solutions, Michael Bayer Thomsen, and hear his valuable insights as we discuss the benefits and challenges of transitioning to a circular mindset.

You can hear:

  • That Zirq Solutions have grown the business substantially through a circular mindset
  • Why it’s important to set up the value chain properly in order to succeed
  • That Zirq sees their customers as partners and part of their business also means enabling them to go from linear to circular
  • How their higher purpose to “cool the planet” has given them competencies within logistics of handling waste, recycling the waste and creating new materials from it
  • About the CO2 calculator they have developed

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Letbek: https://letbek.com/
  • Zirq Solutions: https://www.zirqsolutions.com/
  • MiCollect: https://www.micollect.io/
  • Scope 1-2-3 (Deloitte) https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/focus/climate-change/zero-in-on-scope-1-2-and-3-emissions.html
  • Michael Bayer Thomsen, LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/michael-bayer-thomsen-37662b11

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about your mindset. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com New book out June 5:“Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place” is the name of my new book. You can get it from Amazon and other major book stores. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

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When three friends one day were riding on noisy snowmobiles in the snowclad mountains of North Sweden, they realized two things; They had to turn off their machines in order to get the silent experience they wanted while visiting the beautiful Swedish nature. And they had to wear special clothes because of the bad smell from the exhaust from the snowmobile. This led to the invention of the silent, electrical snowmobile by the company Vidde.

Now the story could just end here – but it doesn’t. You see, Vidde has taken a decision to do so much more than just produce a new electric product in the old-fashioned linear way. Instead, they are utilizing the circular economy thinking to create a superior solution and a circular business setup.

In today’s episode, you can hear why they have taken this decision and how they are working on making it happen by entering important, strategic partnerships.

You can hear:· How the different partnerships are important to Vidde’s success – especially the partnership with RISE, Sweden’s research institute and innovation partner· Another partner is PaperShell, who creates material that is 100% bio degradable and that can be used to build the snowmobiles· How Vidde is regarded “the favorite kid in class”, because of their approach· That Vidde wants to make a bigger change to the world· How easy it is to fall back into a linear approach, if you’re not careful· How Vidde does the marketing and communication around a story like this

Mentioned in this episode:· Vidde: https://viddemobility.com/· RISE – The Swedish Research Institute: https://www.ri.se/en· PaperShell: https://papershell.se/ Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about your mindset. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com New book out June 5:“Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place” is the name of my upcoming book. If you like a heads up to get it at the incredible low introduction price, just go to https://www.bwimpact.com/books and sign up. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

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Picture this: A beautiful beach in the Caribbean. You head down for a dip – but the beach and a large part of the ocean is covered with invasive seaweed, that causes several problems: Marine life and corals are suffocating. Tourism is declining. Wouldn’t it be great if someone could turn this problem into something useful? Well, meet Mari Granström from Origin by Ocean. This is exactly what they do! My guest today grew up in Finland and her grandparents were practicing something that past generations usually are raised with: A circular mindset. This kind of mindset is a hot topic today, and also in this podcast. But a circular approach with complex products can often be a challenge to communicate and to attract investors to. However, after you have listened to this episode you will see why complex and circular is the right thing to do on many levels going forward. You can hear about:

  • Origin by Ocean, who rids the oceans of harmful algae and turns it into everyday goods, while working with locals and getting them engaged and aware of the environmental problems with invasive seaweed
  • How they are using feedstock 100% - materials that everyone else calls waste, to produce what they do
  • What their business model means for their cost structure
  • Mari’s take on the most important elements in succeeding in a circular business: Being open minded, lots of passion, positivity, dedication and patience
  • We also discuss communication and how Origin by Ocean have approached this. Mari is sharing valuable learnings that could help your business as well

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Origin by Ocean https://www.originbyocean.com/
  • Sargassum: https://www.originbyocean.com/blog/the-first-step-in-biorefining-seaweed

Looking for a competitive edge?Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about your mindset. Discover how well you are suited to get business success with sustainability: greenprofit.scoreapp.com New book out soon:“Making sustainability profitable – a leaders guide to growing a thriving business that makes the world a better place” is the name of my upcoming book. If you like a heads up to get it at the incredible low introduction price, just go to https://www.bwimpact.com/books and sign up. Contact Green Business With Impact:If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact:Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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What do products that help people with chronic bowel disorders have to do with the bigger picture on Sustainability? Well, after listening to today’s episode, you will know and have heard a lot of visionary thinking as I interview Lena Ehmsen Lachenmeier on this last episode of the season.

Lena is the CEO of medical device company Qufora and she says: “We humans are overall responsible for the survival of all species on this planet! We have to see things from a bigger perspective”. So, this is what Lena and the 80 employees in Qufora try to do. The main mission of Qufora is to ensure healthy lives for people. But not only right here and right now - they also want to ensure this for future generations and this brings sustainability into the equation.

We discuss:

  • Impulses – Lena thinks there are two. The correct things we say, the “reality”.
  • That the human quest to always keep on evolving, growing and pursuing the next big opportunity, means that we have to more forward – we can’t go backwards. Almost nobody wants to go back to living a simple life in the forest and harvesting berries.
  • That we have to combine the quest of growth with sustainability to ensure the life of future generations
  • How Qufora is working with four UN Goals to improve the conditions for the human race
  • About hiring the right people and partnering with the right people
  • That the word “Sustainability” is perhaps being watered down, because everyone uses it incessantly, without knowing what it really means

Links:

  • Qufora : https://qufora.com/

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about you and your business. Discover how to take your business to the next level using sustainability: https://greenprofit.scoreapp.com/

Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

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The future of the fashion industry and its innovation potential is the pivot of today’s podcast. We all have some form of relationship with the fashion industry, whether we choose to wear high fashion or go for fast fashion. Regardless, we all wear clothes. But as you probably know, manufacturing of clothing is considered one of the more problematic sectors from an environmental point of view. The industry produces approx. 10% of the greenhouse gases and is the second largest consumer of the world’s water supply. 85% of textiles end up in landfills and are incinerated. (* see source links below). So, what does a smaller Danish player, fashion brand Munthe, have to say on the matter?

Join today’s podcast where my guest is Frank Toft Nørgaard, CEO of Munthe. He believes that rules and legislations will be necessary for the industry going forward, that you cannot be in the textile business without acting more on sustainability and that the future for sustainable fashion among other things lies in using the products more and for a much longer time.

We also discuss:

  • Demands from key customers for fashion brands to document their sustainability results
  • Munthe’s upcoming platform where customers can resell their used Munthe clothing
  • The need for a deposit scheme on clothing, like there is with glass, plastic and cans in some countries, where you get money back upon return
  • The need for fewer fashion cycles (In Europe, fashion companies went from an average offering of two collections per year in 2000 to five in 2011 – source link below)
  • Munthe’s expectations for the future and the fact that they’ve created an ESG strategy, put it on paper and will try to map where they are
  • Whether or not you can earn money by being a sustainable fashion producer

Links:

  • Munthe: https://www.munthe.com/
  • Naja Munthe – Woner and Founder of Munthe https://www.instagram.com/najamunthe/?hl=da
  • Sources for numbers above from World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/fashion-industry-carbon-unsustainable-environment-pollution/

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about you and your business. Discover how to take your business to the next level using sustainability: https://greenprofit.scoreapp.com/

Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

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”A product can only keep its value if it also keeps its beauty, keeps its function, and that it is repairable. That you can sell it at auctions or vintage markets or pass it on to the next generation”.

These are the words of David Obel Rosenkvist, who is Chief Commercial- and Chief Creative Officer at the Danish lighting company Louis Poulsen. David, who has a solid experience and insight into long-lasting designer products from various companies, is my guest on today’s show.

We discuss a lot of interesting things about products with a solid “natural” sustainable element like high-end quality design products like Louis Poulsen. You can hear David sharing that Louis Poulsen is not communicating their sustainability efforts massively because they are afraid of being accused of greenwashing. He also has some great advice based on their key learnings in the area of sustainability, changing targets, admitting errors, and communicating about them!

We discuss

  • The “high standard mentality” that David thinks will spill over from high-end designer products to mid-market/lower-market production companies soon
  • That sustainability will be a changing norm for most in the future
  • It will be a competing factor and will evolve into a new set of standards
  • That being lazy and just claiming what you have always done will potentially give you problems.
  • That you must document what you are doing and back it up with data.
  • His key learnings when it comes to sustainability efforts

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Louis Poulsen: https://www.louispoulsen.com/en-gb/private
  • Fritz Hansen: https://www.fritzhansen.com/en/
  • The outdoor lamp ”Albertslund”: https://www.louispoulsen.com/da-dk/catalog/privat/udendoerslamper/albertslund-vaeg?v=90551-5743142709-01&t=spareparts

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about you and your business. Discover how to take your business to the next level using sustainability: https://greenprofit.scoreapp.com/

Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

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The building industry has a lot of challenges when it comes to becoming more sustainable. The material and energy consumption going into building a building is massive. Traditions and rules in the industry counteracts change. And even though there is a growing commitment to certifications, we here today that they often don’t result in significant change. However, it’s not impossible, which today’s episode will show you.

If you take a holistic approach (this goes for any business and not only the building industry) you will most likely suddenly see opportunities, you did not see before. In this particular episode, CEO of Bovieran Denmark and Project Development Director at Sjælsø Management, Lars Jacobsen, broadens his perspective to a more holistic one. And discovers new opportunities of increased sustainability. You will discover that how you potentially choose to communicate your initiatives, is a key element to succeeding.

We discuss:

  • How Bovieran looks a building sustainable houses for elderly people
  • Why focusing on “shared services” could be a key approach to building new homes with a smaller footprint
  • How Bovieran aims to increase the quality of life for elderly people by building them housing they can afford and thrive in
  • Why common facilities, shared services and making new friends, even as an elderly person, can actually be sustainable

Mentioned in this episode:

  • DGNB – Green Building Council Denmark: https://dk-gbc.dk/dgnb
  • Bovieran: https://bovieran.dk/
  • Sjælsø Management: https://www.sjaelsoe.dk/

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about you and your business. Discover how to take your business to the next level using sustainability: https://greenprofit.scoreapp.com/ Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

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Some companies tend to think they have limited impact on sustainability if they are small or medium sized company. But today, my interview with Claus Ishøy, CEO and owner of Plastic manufacturer Carmo, shows that if you have a high level of ambition and show your commitment to work on sustainability, you may just be the exact partner, other companies are looking to team up with.

Carmo designs, produces, and sells their own injection molded plastic components for various sectors. They have for instance managed to recycle 60% of the waste they are producing instead of incinerating it. We discuss increasing demands from customers, particularly in medical and pharma, who say they will only work with suppliers that are actively reducing their CO2 footprint and who take sustainability seriously.

We also discuss:

  • The “low hanging fruits” companies can start with when they want to do better on sustainability
  • The real challenges that lie in Scope 3 emissions, which Carmo is determined to work on
  • How to get to a more sustainable business when you realize three things:

o It is extremely complex o You can’t do it alone o It needs to be implemented much faster than anticipated

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Scope 1-2-3 definitions: https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/focus/climate-change/zero-in-on-scope-1-2-and-3-emissions.html
  • ”Klimaklar SMV”-initiative (in Danish): https://www.danskindustri.dk/klimaklarSMV/
  • Science based targets: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about you and your business. Discover how to take your business to the next level using sustainability: cetest.scoreapp.com Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/ Like what you hear? Please rate Green Business With Impact: Please help me spread the word about Green Business With Impact by sharing and rating the show on your podcast app.

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CO2 is a big problem for the planet. But not for Cold Jet. For them, it is a vital resource. For 30 years the company has used its dry ice technology to clean with CO2 instead of using water and chemicals. So not only are they providing more environmentally friendly cleaning methods, but they are also actually reusing CO2 in the process.

Arvid Nielsen is responsible for Operations in Europe at Cold Jet. On top of hearing about the clever method they use, we also discuss e.g. how much focus Cold Jet has had on circular economy and sustainability. It hasn't been part of their mindset until recent years and now more increasingly. During our conversation, I help Arvid Nielsen realise, that there are many possibilities in the circular economy for them and in communicating about all the good things, Cold Jet does e.g. putting recycled CO2 from waste streams to work.

You can hear:

  • That Cold Jet has been growing 10-15% yearly due to a higher level of focus on cleaning in a more environmentally friendly way
  • That the carbon footprint using CO2 opposite other cleaning methods is an improving factor for many of Cold Jet’s customers
  • About a case study with Rolls Royce Aerospace, who eliminated the need for cleaning with water and ozone depleting chemicals due to Cold Jet’s dry ice solution, which improved their cost savings by 90%

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Cold Jet: https://www.coldjet.com/

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about you and your business. Discover how to take your business to the next level using sustainability: cetest.scoreapp.com Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

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Taking sustainable initiatives and implementing them is important for companies today. A positive side effect of these initiatives can be lowering the costs on your products. But what is crucial and can give you both goodwill and save you money going forward, is that you start communicating your sustainable initiatives to your customers.

This is what I discuss on today’s episode with Erik Søe-Pedersen. He is Chief Commercial Officer, and co-owner of Icotera, a company that provides equipment to fiber optic internet connections. We talk about the initiatives Icotera has taken and what benefits these initiatives have brought the company. Though Erik does see benefits of communicating their sustainability initiatives, price is still important to their customers. But he thinks it will change in the very near future.

You can hear:

  • Why data about a company’s CO2 emissions and circular economy initiatives is becoming increasingly important
  • What you as a company need to be able to communicate
  • Why quality and thus longer lasting products will be an important sustainable benefit going forward
  • What challenges and advice Erik Søe-Pedersen has for other companies in the same situation

Mentioned in this episode:

  • Icotera: https://icotera.com/

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about you and your business. Discover how to take your business to the next level using sustainability: cetest.scoreapp.com Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

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Sustainability plays a large role in the leading Scandinavian crafts business Panduro, and my guest today is co-owner and B2B director Thomas Panduro. He believes that sustainability is going to be the “license to operate” in the future marketplace.

One of the tools for working with sustainability is circular economy, and on the show, Thomas tells us, among other things, how Panduro is working with the idea of using their arts and crafts products to upcycle or prolong the life of existing products in your home instead of throwing it away.

You can hear about:

  • Pandoro’s regulatory department where people work with sustainability
  • The Sustainability Report Panduro creates for their customers showcasing what they do to meet some of the 17 UN sustainability goals
  • The key learnings that have helped Panduro work with sustainability from a business perspective
  • Panduro’s current focus, challenges, and how they are solving them

Mentioned in this episode

  • Panduro Hobby website for your inspiration: https://panduro.com/en/about-panduro
  • Panduro Sustainability Report: https://panduro.com/en/sustainability-at-panduro
  • The book "99 hacks": https://panduro.com/en/products/create-decorate/books-entertainment/books/book-99-hacks-se-602337

Looking for a competitive edge? Invest 3 min answering some quick questions about you and your business. Discover how to take your business to the next level using sustainability: cetest.scoreapp.com

Contact Green Business With Impact: If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future podcast episodes please contact me at js@bwimpact.com or reach me via LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsteinhausen/

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Green Business With Impact is a new podcast that dives into the business side of a transition to sustainability using circular economy.

Through interviews with various business leaders, from small and medium-sized businesses, we will discuss how to do it profitably, where to focus, what others have done etc.

Your host is Jasper Steinhausen and he draws upon more than a decade of experience in this field.

Contact: js@bwimpact.com