KEY TAKE OUTS

Find the problem first. For Celia Pool, Co-Founder of DAME, her advice to those wanting to do something different or launch a new product is to “always attack it problem first.” “There’s got to be an actual pain point and a user base who want your product.” It’s that pain point that Pool advises people to keep in their sights.

Give back where you can. For Pool, running a B Corp business means it operates as a force for good. This is across everything from the lightbulbs in the office to the materials used in the reusable applicators and engaging with domestic abuse survivors and prison charities to create the products themselves. “Even though we’re a small company, we wanted to give back where we could,” she adds.

Be brave enough to tap into shifting habits. The coronavirus crisis has had a fundamental impact on consumer buying habits. Pool points out that the panic buying that proliferated as the UK went into lockdown showed that we “need to be more concentrated and concerned in the way that we buy,” she explains. And, as the habits shift, it creates opportunities for retailers looking for different ways to sell their products and market to consumers. But, says Pool, “they have to be brave enough to do it.”

Being environmental isn’t enough. Pool talks about the number of brilliant eco businesses that languish on eco websites because the branding doesn’t land with consumers or stack up against the rest of the market. What is apparent, she believes, is that “when push comes to shove, environmental [benefits alone] isn’t enough to sell a product.” “We needed to make this product look aspirational…[like] something they wanted to see on their Instagram feed and bathroom shelf,” she adds.

Start conversations and learn to listen. As the coronavirus crisis’s impact only looks set to be more devastating by the day on women’s careers, Pool believes that it is in starting conversations and beginning to talk that women can support one another. “We need to look at the difficulties that all types of women are facing,” she explains. This means, she adds, “educating yourself on what other women or non-binary people are experiencing right now.” The proliferation of online conversations around women’s experience in the workplace is vital, Pool feels, in the push for change.

To read a full write up of the event, visit the dedicated BITE page, Bleed red, think green