Kata Papunen, Perform Green Employee, shares her experience at the first ever B The Change Hackathon and being on the winning team.
In November, B Lab UK organised its first ever B The Change Hackathon with the theme around Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 – ‘Hacking the Future of Responsible Consumption & Production’. This two-day event held at General Assembly in London brought together over 40 members and friends of B Corp to pitch, hack and present business ideas that will lead to a more sustainable production and consumption of goods and services.
Becoming a B-Corp Member
B Corporations (B Corps) are a global community of organisations; certified by B Lab. Members need the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance along with public transparency and legal accountability. B Lab is a non-profit organisation that leads the B Corp movement and campaigns for the idea of for-profit businesses as a force for good.
We at Perform Green are currently in the process of applying for B Corp membership. As a values led company we believe in B Corp’s ideal of businesses as a force for good and that businesses have social responsibility to the community and society. We also share the same passion towards sustainability as the B Corp movement, so naturally we were excited when we learnt about the hackathon!
Kata shares her experience of representing Perform Green at the Hackathon
Kata said “As a total newbie into hacking I was slightly nervous of what was expected of me, but I love both a good challenge and learning so off I went on a very early morning train.”
Day one started with what felt like a slightly careful yet curios networking breakfast, followed by the opening and introduction sessions. Michelle Meagher from B Lab UK and the brains behind the hackathon, summarised it well by saying that B Corps have a lot of potential as they share the same core values, making cooperation easier. In essence, that is ‘what being the change looks like’. This shared understanding of values transformed into a lot of energy and laughter that for me made the hard work of hacking a lot more fun and truly rewarding. It was incredible to see what about 40 people, most of whom did not know each other, can achieve in just two days.
To get us all really going – which involved moving around, getting to know each other and sparking our brains to a top and healthily competitive form, the amazing guys of Pace Ventures, who facilitated the event, led us through a series of tester sessions and exercises. From there the pace of the event sped up through pitching and voting the top seven ideas, to creating the teams and getting the fun bit going. The business ideas varied from apps encouraging sustainable dining and corporate travel to flat-pack homes. Many of the ideas were appealing to me, but in the end I joined the group that not only had an idea I am passionate about, but maybe even more importantly; really felt like a team from the very beginning. So I joined Team Dame to hack the first-ever reusable tampon applicator.
I have to admit, I did not expect to be talking, unpicking and digging into the world of tampons at the hackathon. When I first spoke with Alec Mills, the man who with his business partner came up with Dame during the exercise rounds of Day 1 I was really surprised that he was there, ready and keen to talk about periods. But then again, why would we not talk about them? For Dame there are two key themes here:
- Empowering women – enabling them to have sustainable choices
- Reducing the amount pf plastic we produce and consume.
This really hit home for me, and throughout the hackathon I was also challenging myself about some of the every-day choices I make. We consume 9 billion plastic applicators in the world every year; creating tons of artificial waste both in terms of the applicators but also packaging waste. Dame’s response to that is to provide a reusable applicator. Sounds like a fairly simple idea to be hacked, which it is – but at the same time there were so much to unpick, think through, plan and then re-think before we were ready to present for the judges towards the end of Day 2. Despite some nerves (at least from my part!) we had fun and did well with our presentation, and I think our great team working came through whilst we were up on the ‘stage’. Despite knowing we did well and worked as a group even better, I was still slightly surprised that Team Dame were announced winners of the first ever B Lab UK’s hackathon! It topped off a great experience, and I could not have been happier for the team.
Inspiring & Incredible People
Throughout the two days we were spoilt with a variety of inspiring speeches and stories along with top hints and tips on hacking and presenting (spoiler alert – most important part of presenting is You!) from a variety of B Corp members, including Paul Lindley, founder of Ella’s Kitchen; Antony Ross from Bridges Fund Management; Joe Murphy from Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Kresse Wrestling of Elvis & Kresse. The speakers shared their stories and journeys into B Corps, what B Corp and SDGs mean to them and why they do what they have chosen to do.
Antony Ross and Joe Murphy were also on the panel of judges, along with Lord Michael Hastings (KPMG’s Global Head of Corporate Citizenship), Blandine Stefani (B Corp Director at Danone), Emma Ryan (London Waste and Recycling Board) and Katie Hill (Executive Director of B Lab UK), who after hard yet fun debating declared Team Dame as winners. Being part of the winning team was of course absolutely amazing, but even better has been to see that we still keep in touch with each other, and we very much look forward to seeing and supporting Dame to hit the market.
All in all, I am humbled and grateful that I got to take part in this hackathon. It was great fun, I learnt so much and met incredible people – all while trying to respond to one hell of a hard problem around sustainable production and consumption. It was also great to meet other B Corps, and I look forward to Perform Green joining that bunch of innovative businesses doing good. I am also keen to see and be part of what B Corp can be in Bristol and beyond in the South West, as we for sure have fantastic values-based attitudes around here!
Find out more about the motivation behind Perform Green here and our commitment to being part of communities that inspire change for the better here.
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If you would like to find out more about Perform Green, our values and company commitments please contact Lara Moloney on lara.moloney@performgreen.co.uk.
Perform Green has also recently welcomed Gavin Beckett as Chief Innovation & Research Officer, you can read some of his thought leadership series below:
Creating a model for Local Government as a Platform
From Smart Cities to Smart Societies — The Story so Far
Can We Still Talk about Digital Transformation?
In other news: