The Entrepreneurs

This week we hear from two companies using good product design to help shift consumer habits in food and drink. We speak to Dan Black of London’s Black + Blum to hear about its range of stainless-steel lunch boxes, cutlery and water bottles that are inspiring people to think twice about wasteful packaging. Plus: we meet Justin Wang of Larq, makers of self-cleaning water bottles and pitchers that remove bacteria from water using UV light.

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Antoine Hubert is the CEO and co-founder of Ÿnsect, a French agri-tech company that farms insects to make high-quality feed for fish, plants and pets. Launched in 2011, the company is a leader in environmentally friendly products and farming techniques. To date it’s raised almost $200m and is in the process of building an automated insect farm in Amiens in Northern France, with plans to expand the vertical farming model around the world.

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Oliver Ripley is the co-founder and CEO of Habitas, a hospitality group he launched in 2014 with Kfir Levy and Eduardo Castillo. They dreamt up the idea to start a hotel group built around experience and impact following a trip to the Burning Man festival. With locations in Tulum and Namibia, Habitas is working to expand to Bhutan, Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica and further locations in Mexico.

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Using its carbon-neutral fleet of electric bicycles and vans, Foodlogica has been transforming the last mile of inner-city food delivery. Launched in 2016, the company has transformed from a small-scale experiment into a lucrative business across three countries by identifying a problem and solving it efficiently.This week, co-founder Francesca Miazzo explains how the idea came to her.

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Mat Hunter is co-founder and co-CEO of Plus X, the first purpose-built facility for technology, innovation and hardware pioneers in the UK, which he created alongside Paul Rostas. Their first location is in Brighton, on the UK’s south coast, with plans to grow across the country. We also hear from Josh Wyatt, CEO of NeueHouse members clubs, on creating work and cultural hubs to connect cross-industry creatives and entrepreneurs.

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Curra Rotondo is co-founder of Lefrik, a Madrid-based company that makes backpacks and travel accessories from recycled plastic bottles. Designed with commuters in mind, Lefrik backpacks are functional, light and waterproof – and stylish. Before founding Lefrik, Curra worked in the fashion industry for 14 years. She teamed up with David Ruiz Andrés, the founder of Grenergy, one of the largest renewable-energy companies in Spain, to found Lefrik in 2012.

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Bernhard Gademann, headmaster and director of Institut auf dem Rosenberg – an international boarding school in St Gallen, Switzerland – discusses entrepreneurial spirit in the education space. Plus: we meet Johannes Ariens, CEO of Loge Camps, which has breathed new life into outdoor-focused hospitality.

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Jill and Steve Henry are the founders of Meander, an Edinburgh-based outerwear brand. The idea for their minimalist and multifunctional pieces came after a charity ride from London to Paris, which inspired their mission to design a performance jacket to look good in the bar afterwards.

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Matt Alexander is the CEO and co-founder of Texas-based Neighborhood Goods, a modern take on the department store that opened its first outpost in Plano in 2018 and now has locations in New York and Austin.

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Alejandro Bethlen is the CEO of leading floral brand The Bouqs, a California-based company launched in 2012 by John Tabis and Juan Pablo Montúfar. Bethlen joined from Amazon earlier this year. Plus: we hear from Alan Mahon of Scotland’s Brewgooder about the importance of remembering your reason for starting a business.

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