This week's episode of Bloom by Blue Cactus is with David Ward, Founder of @thenurturingco, the brains behind @love.bambooloo, the eco, bamboo toilet paper.

We love David's founder story!

Listen to find out:

🌵 How a chance chat in a bar led David to leave a 25 year career in fashion to pursue a new 'green' venture, back in the days when no-one was thinking about a plastic-free world.

🌵 How he walked away from his initial venture when its path started to divert from his values.

🌵 The journey of starting again and sourcing new suppliers

🌵 How The Nurturing Co. has expanded to incorporate a collection of sustainable hygiene products.

🌵 The latest business idea which is currently crowdfunding.

We love speaking to like-minded entrepreneurs who are always leading the way and helping change consumer perceptions and buying habits.

Are you ready for your tush to make the switch to bamboo?

This week's episode of Bloom by Blue Cactus is with Phill Kalli, Founder of @fillrefillco.

If you've ever stopped by a zero waste shop, the chances are you've come across Fill before. Suppling cleaning products in bulk either to brick and mortar stores, home delivery via partners such as @planetminimal and @freshmilkandmore and directly from their website, Fill are on a mission to eliminate waste in the cleaning supply chain.

Tune in to hear:

🌵 What inspired the idea behind Fill

🌵 Why and how Fill has grown organically

🌵 The biggest investment Fill have made in their business

🌵 How partnerships have shaped Fill's growth

🌵 Teaser of what's coming in the next 12 months

From a radical idea, when the concept of refilling was still in its infancy, to growing organically, without the need to market themselves. This episode is not one to be missed.

We were absolutely delighted when Kresse, Co- Founder of @elvisandkresse accepted our invitation to come and talk on our Bloom by Blue Cactus podcast, about how they started and their plans for the future.

Tune in to hear about:

🌵 How landfill visits and trips to the British museum sowed the seed for wanting to embark on a circular economy venture.

🌵 How decommissioned fire hoses sparked inspiration in Kresse and how a split decision shaped their business model

🌵 A thought-provoking discussion on how being self-funded allowed Elvis and Kresse to stay true to their values

🌵 How partnerships with @costacoffee @clipperteas and @burberry came about and why patience is important to make collaborations work (the circular economy doesn't work without them!)

🌵 Hints of what's to come for this incredible luxury brand

Such an inspiring episode and we love the mantra of 'rescue, transform, donate' which will continue to drive Elvis and Kresse in their growth and their normalisation of a circular economy.

This is such an inspiring start-up story and a brilliant example of how the mission and story behind the brand can be is the biggest asset in its marketing message. 

Sarah admits she never planned on being an entrepreneur but a trip to Uganda coupled with a broken leg helped forge her current journey.

Intrigued?  We learned so much from Sarah in the episode, not just about socio-economic injustice in Uganda and India but also about supply chains in the fast fashion industry and the lack of accountability we should all be aware of.

Listen to this episode to be uplifted and hear about:

🌵 How this brand came about - serendipity springs to mind!

🌵 How to source suppliers

🌵 What people don't tell you about crowdfunding

🌵 What access to underwear means to women in developing countries

🌵 How having a clear mission and adapting to unexpected curveballs can make or break your business.

After hearing how far this fledgling brand has come in the last 12 months, we are not surprised why it is trailblazing in the underwear sector.

This week's episode of Bloom by Blue Cactus is with Boyowa Olugbo, Serial Entrepreneur and Founder of @stennahandhopeofficial and @displacedfragrances.

We loved recording this episode with Boyowa, one of our longstanding clients.

His is definitely a tale of the rollercoaster of running your own businesses.

Listen in to hear:

🌵 How learning as you go is the daily reality of being a business owner.

🌵 How to bootstrap and self-fund your own brand and the benefits of growing your business this way.

🌵 The downside of bootstrapping - can you become overinvested in your own business?

🌵 Growing a brand slowly and steadily. How in 8 years they went from kitchen table to 4,000sq ft industrial space.

🌵 The challenges of wholesale/white-labeling - how do you market a product that doesn't have your brand name on it?

🌵 The exciting launch of Displaced Fragrances, Boyowa's new social enterprise aimed at combining his passion for candle making, education, and music. We can't wait to see more!

Key take away: 'Your journey is your business'. The interesting businesses are the ones with a story.

This week's episode of Bloom by Blue Cactus is with Glen Burrows, Co- Founder of @ethicalbutcher.

With veganism a hot and often polarising topic, we invited Glen to talk to us about the business he founded in response to the poor practices he witnessed in the food industry.

Their #Regenuary movement, now in its second year, picked up even more momentum on social media this January, as an alternative to #veganuary.

You won't want to miss:

🌵 What was involved in the crowdfunding campaign process?

🌵 What is 'ethical' meat?

🌵 Why having an external party define their brand was crucial to their business success

🌵 How launching their separate, complementary business, GROUND @greenredmeat, with very different audiences and branding can help both businesses grow

🌵 How to manage a campaign that suddenly blows up on social media

This week's episode of Bloom by Blue Cactus is with Lisa Lawson, Founder of Dear Green Coffee Roasters.

Dear Green are celebrating their 10th birthday this year and just received their B Corp status 🎉  .

Another business that is set to grow even stronger this year, despite the curveballs of the last 12 months.

We came away from this chat hopeful for the future. Well-established businesses as well as start-ups have needed to pivot this year.  We love how they've adapted and how dynamic and entrepreneurial Lisa is.

This week's episode of Bloom by Blue Cactus is with Claudia Gwinnutt, Founder of Circla, 'the milkman reimagined for beauty'.What an inspirational chat! Taking the hassle of refilling your beauty products away and delivering everything to your door.Convenience + sustainability, our favourite combo!From corporate life to following her calling to set something up of her own, tune in to hear:🌵 Why Claudia decided to leave corporate life behind and the planning that went into making it financially viable to walk away🌵 What lucky funding break Claudia received early on🌵 Hear which other ethical brands, which are now recognisable brands in their own right, first jumped on-board🌵 How thinking outside the box has helped funding stretch further🌵 How Claudia finds experts that have helped her grow since Circla launched🌵 The biggest lesson learnt along the wayThis episode really is a corker, the pivot was real during lockdown 1.0 and brought opportunities that have furthered Circla's growth

In our sixth episode of the Bloom By Blue Cactus Podcast, Clare chats to Sara and Alice from FRESH, a new wellbeing centre in Ely. The duo discuss  how a grant from Sport England helped them make their dream a reality, including the process of applying for a grant, barriers they experienced along the way and the advantages of working in a partnership.

*The podcast was recorded in December 2020 so some comments mentioning "last year" refer to 2019 and "this year" 2020.

Blue Cactus Digital founder, Clare Martin, talks to Lauren Derrett, founder and leader of Wear 'Em Out, a reusable sanitary pad brand that has absolutely smashed the last 10 months. The company launched in February this year and despite it being an awful year for small businesses, investing almost £40k in the right things (marketing, R&D and people!) has resulted in an absolutely staggering turnover for the brand.