The Impact Files

Meet Emma Wellstead, founder of Warwick Events and genius organiser of B Corp’s Louder Than Words festival, which pretty much took over my home town of Oxford for two days in 2024. I volunteered there and it was a highlight of my professional year – brilliantly organised and with an eye to detail and sustainability that’s rarely seen at corporate events.

In this episode we discuss Emma’s personal journey, her philosophy of designing events around people, place and emotion, and her B Corp journey. We also explore a challenge many event professionals will recognise: that few people notice when events work well, which makes it hard to prove value.

Emma offers a practical critique of waste in the events industry, from single-use “sustainable” materials (is a bamboo fork really better than a reusable metal one?) to habits that are rarely questioned (does your event really need merch, or a branded backdrop?). She shows how questioning these defaults can save money and create better events with fewer materials, less clutter, and a more human experience.

She’s also fascinating on the importance of using local suppliers, as a way of reducing emissions and keeping money flowing into local communities rather than faceless supply chains.

Emma introduces Eventkind, her newly launched community for events managers – created in response to burnout, loneliness, and the lack of practical peer support in the sector. We finish by touching on Eventkind’s longer-term ambition: giving a collective voice to the doers in the industry and helping drive meaningful change from the ground up.

Contact Emma at [email protected]

Find out more about Warwick Events here: https://warwickevents.co.uk/ 

Learn about EventKind here: https://www.eventkind.org/ 

Meet Andy Bedwell, owner and MD of Point of Difference Workspace, the boutique office and co-working business behind some of the nicest places to work in Bicester and beyond. From serviced offices to shared housing, Andy’s built a business that cares about people, place and long-term value.

We discuss Andy’s journey from consultancy into property, and how he’s grown the business while deliberately keeping it local, human and design-led.

We dig into the realities of making office space more sustainable – from LEDs, insulation and waste contracts to carpet recycling, bat boxes, beehives and bee-friendly planting. We also explore why Andy decided not to go down the B Corp route, and the importance of telling honest sustainability stories without overclaiming.

Andy’s 10-year vision for the sector? For it to become a bit like the brewing industry - good quality local operators, connected to their communities and suppliers, although he fears it’ll be mopped up by bigger corporate entities, standardised and with costs driven out.

And his one piece of advice for businesses juggling impact and profit? “Understand your landscape. Make a plan. Get on with it. Pick the first thing, do it, then move to the next. It’s not much more complicated than that.”

Contact Andy at [email protected], and visit https://pointofdifference.co.uk/

Welcome to the first episode of The Impact Files - conversations with leaders balancing purpose and profit. 

In this short episode you’ll hear how the podcast came about and the types of guests we chat with: business leaders working to meet near-term financial needs while creating lasting wellbeing for people and planet.

You’ll also meet Season One co-host Ally Dunnett. Ally’s a sustainability consultant with experience in deforestation legislation, responsible sourcing, and an interest in optimising the life of wood products through reuse, repair and recycle. 

Can businesses balance their short-term financial needs with positive long-term impact on people and planet?

And what's the role of marketing, media and communications in all of this? I'm on a mission to find out by talking to business leaders who are balancing purpose and profit.

I'm Ned Wells and this is the Impact Files podcast. 

Join me as I chat with leaders from across business, exploring their personal stories and the leadership challenges of balancing purpose and profit.

Here's a flavour of what's coming up in season one.