The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast

A lot of small businesses want to do something about sustainability. They just don't know where to start, or they can't afford a consultant. Umesh Kathirvel is building a way in.

Umesh is head of product and delivery at Teckollab, where his team builds software for purpose-driven founders, and co-founder of StepZero, a free app and nonprofit CIC that gives small businesses a practical action plan across eight sustainability pillars.

Erica and Becks talk to him about how a checklist from the Cotswolds People Planet Pint meetup grew into an app. He shares what a conversation with the Royal Agricultural University taught him about local procurement, and why StepZero now has a community space for pool buying and swapping surplus. He also explains why they chose GreenPT, a lower-impact AI, and how designing for short attention spans shapes everything they build.

Then Becks spins the Pinwheel and lands on Policies. Umesh explains why a good intention only sticks once it's written into policy.

Try StepZero free at stepzero.eco.

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at [email protected]

This week, Becks and Erica turn the mic on themselves: what does it actually take to find your purpose, and keep it once your business has grown past the person who started it? 

They trade stories about Bata shoes, a "poverty of perception," and why the fastest way to find your purpose is sometimes to figure out what you don't want. Plus: the moment Erica's past life as a bodyguard turns out to explain more about her business than she expected. 

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at [email protected]

⚠️ A note before you listen: this episode includes an open conversation about drug and alcohol addiction, recovery, and the loss of a loved one to relapse. If any of this feels close to home, please look after yourself while listening.
 
 - **FRANK** — confidential drugs advice, 24/7: call 0300 123 6600 or text 82111 (talktofrank.com)
 - **Addiction Family Support** — for anyone affected or bereaved by a loved one's addiction: call 0300 888 3853 (addictionfamilysupport.org.uk)
 
 Rick Mower spent his twenties building a career in advertising before addiction pulled him under — now he's MD of RAW, a social impact furniture company that trains and employs people the job market has written off, including many who've faced addiction, prison, or homelessness. We get into the car-park delivery that tested exactly how far his team will go for a client, the line from his colleague Hazel that reshaped how RAW works with at-risk children, and why Rick thinks "social value" should be a competitive weapon, not a nice-to-have. He also spins the purpose pinwheel and lands on Profit — his answer might surprise you.
 

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at [email protected]

 Behind the gates of a Grade II listed country house hotel, one woman is quietly rewriting what luxury hospitality can look like. Magaly Etter, ESG Manager at Whatley Manor, walks us through the journey from stripping single-use plastic out of the spa to an ambitious plan that could take the whole property off fossil fuels by 2028 — no small feat in a building where solar panels keep getting turned down. She shares how one skeptical hotel director became one of her biggest unofficial champions, why the vast majority of a hotel's carbon footprint might not even come from the hotel itself, and what she's learned trying to live sustainably with two young kids and a house full of plastic party favours. Plus: her answer when the Pinwheel lands on Processes. 

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at [email protected]

What does surplus bread, rainwater, and a car-park pop-up have to do with running a purpose-led business? 

Nick Hunt, founder of Cotswold Lakes Brew Company (and self-styled "Chief Beer Officer"), built his brand on unconventional ingredients and deep local roots, then had to rebuild it again after a forced relocation tested everything. Nick shares what actually held it together, plus his answer when the Purpose Pinwheel lands on "processes," and the one habit he says underpins purpose in life and business.

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at [email protected]

Purpose that lives only on your website — a badge here, a tree planted there — isn't purpose. It's a tick box. 

In this introduction to The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast, co-hosts Erica Mackay (marketing strategist, The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (brand purpose strategist, The Brand Naturalist) explain why they built the show and the framework behind it: the Purpose Pinwheel, six spokes — People, Planet, Processes, Policies, Profit and Performance — spinning around a central Purpose, driving toward real, lasting restoration.

Erica and Becks share how the idea grew out of years of comparing notes on purpose-led clients whose values never quite made it past a single page, and why articulating purpose is a process, not a perfect first draft. They talk candidly about their own backgrounds, what purpose means to each of them, and who's coming on the show — solopreneurs, SMEs, community groups and collaborators, all bringing honest, hopeful, down-to-earth stories of courage, challenge and creativity.

If you're a purpose-led business owner tired of good intentions that don't go deep enough, this one's for you. Subscribe now

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

Follow the show: [thepurposepinwheelpodcast.com] | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/purpose-pinwheel-podcast | YouTube: @PurposePinwheelPodcast

Want to be a guest? Get in touch at [email protected]