Episodes
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#84 Rewriting the script: How Ryan Dean is reinventing kids’ TV with purpose
This week, Tom meets Ryan Dean, founder of RD Studios and the creative force behind Treehouse, a beautiful new live-action TV series for preschoolers that’s redefining what children’s content can look like. As a father of teens, Tom reflects on the nostalgia of early kids’ shows – and how…
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#83 Carbon is not the enemy: Step inside Interface’s innovation engine
What does it really take to hit net zero – and stay there? For global carpet tile manufacturer Interface, the answer lies in a deep-rooted culture of innovation. In this episode, Tom sits down with Luca Achilli, Global Innovation & Sustainability Projects Director at Interface, to explore how the...
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#82 From farm to finished product: How to build a supply chain you can trust
What does it really take to build a transparent supply chain? In this episode of The Better Business Show, host Tom Idle dives deep into one of the most urgent and complex challenges facing brands today: how to create truly traceable, accountable, and credible supply chains – from the farm to the...
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#81 Building a better booze brand: How Sxollie is ripping up the cider sector
Cider doesn’t often make headlines in the world of drinks innovation. It’s a category that’s long been dominated by heritage brands, murky labels, and – let’s be honest – a fair amount of concentrate and sugar masquerading as nature’s bounty. But this week, we meet someone who’s rewriting the...
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#80 Chirrup: Measuring nature with a microphone
Biodiversity loss is one of the biggest, least understood risks facing our food system – and businesses are waking up to it. But measuring nature has never been easy. This time, we meet Conrad Young, founder of Chirrup, a startup using birdsong and bioacoustics to track biodiversity across...
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#79 Beauty and the bot: How AI is helping L’Oréal make better products, faster
AI is no longer just a buzzword – it’s fast becoming a core part of how businesses operate, innovate, and grow. But with so much hype, where do the real opportunities lie? And how do you separate practical value from overpromise? In this episode, Tom sits down with Oday Abbosh, Senior Partner at...
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# 78 Meet the man who was fired for being a Dad
What happens when businesses forget that their employees are human? In this episode, we’re talking about workplace culture, parental rights, and why companies are quietly rolling back their commitments to inclusivity and employee well-being. My guest, Glen Wood, knows firsthand what happens when…
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#77 Why nobody believes your ESG story (and what to do about it)
Sustainability communication has never been more important – or more challenging. Say too much, and you risk greenwashing accusations. Say too little, and you’re guilty of green-hushing. So, how should companies talk about ESG, climate action, and social impact in a way that actually resonates?…
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# 76 The company changing the way businesses think about packaging
In this episode, I take on one of the most heated debates in the UK right now: airport expansion. With the UK government giving the green light to new runways, we explore the bigger questions beyond carbon emissions. Why is aviation still a lightning rod for controversy? Are we having the wrong...
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# 75 The tech business breathing new life into your LEGO collection
In this episode of The Better Business Show, we sit down with Ilya Malkin, co-founder of Sort a Brick, to explore how this innovative startup is transforming forgotten LEGO collections into ready-to-build sets using cutting-edge AI technology. Ilya shares the inspiring story of how a personal...
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#74 Why hiring ex-offenders is good for business and society
What if businesses could help reduce reoffending rates while boosting productivity and unlocking untapped potential? In this episode, once he gets over the doom and gloom currently ungulfing the planet, Tom chats with Sid Madge, founder of Meee and creator of the Counting on Confidence programme,...
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#73 This is how you create an ethical chocolate supply chain
This week, we’re diving into the bittersweet world of cocoa and chocolate with Julia Ocampo, Head of Sustainability and Cocoa Sourcing at Luker Chocolate. The global cocoa industry faces enormous challenges: poverty among smallholder farmers, deforestation, climate change, and the mounting…
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#72 The glam plastic-free make-up brand out to fix the beauty industry
In this episode, we’re joined by the trailblazing Nour Tayara, founder of AORA Mexico, a plastic-free makeup brand that’s shaking up the beauty industry. Nour’s on a mission to prove that beauty doesn’t have to come at the planet’s expense – or be boring while doing it. We dig into the big…
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#71 The sound of leaks: Fighting water waste with AI
This week, Tom is in conversation with Victoria Edwards, the dynamic CEO and co-founder of FIDO Tech, to talk about a problem that affects us all: water scarcity. Victoria’s on a mission to create a world without water waste, and her story is nothing short of fascinating. From her early days as a...
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#70 The beauty brand that refuses to sell on Amazon
Plastic-free and purpose-driven: The story of Dip with Kate Assaraf In this episode, we sit down with Kate Assaraf, CEO and co-founder of Dip, a premium haircare brand with a mission to eliminate plastic waste from beauty routines. Kate shares her journey from working in the beauty industry to...
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#69 Making waves: Frank Heidinger and the electric boat revolution
“Innovation in sustainability means thinking long-term, and for us, it’s about leading a movement, not just selling a product.” In this episode, I’m joined by Frank Heidinger, CEO and founder of Halevai, a company set on revolutionising the recreational boating industry with his electric powered...
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#68 What does the future hold for the B Corp movement?
This time we dive into one of the most influential movements in sustainable business: the B Corporation – or B Corp – movement. Since its inception in 2006, the B Corp movement has been reshaping the way we think about business, creating a global community of companies that prioritise purpose as...
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#67 What tech is worth the hype (and what isn't) in sustainability?
Gartner, the research and consulting giant, just released its latest Hype Cycle. The Gartner Hype Cycle is a graphical presentation developed to represent the maturity, adoption, and social application of specific tech. Each hype cycle drills down into the five key phases of a technology's life...
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#66 Concrete’s got an emissions problem. Here’s the solution
Concrete is one of the most important substances in the world. As the linchpin of the built environment, demand has almost tripled during the past 20 years. In 2021, global construction projects consumed 30 billion tonnes of the stuff. That’s 3 million times the weight of the Eiffel Tower. But...
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#65 Your 11-minute round up of what happened at Climate Week 2024
Plenty has been said and written about the who, why, what and how of this year’s Climate Week in New York. With close to 600 events and 100,000 people taking part, there was a lot to digest. So, we’ve done it for you. Here’s our quick, 11-minute round up of the key stories, happenings and...
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#64 The AI-powered wildfire detector that will save economies billions
We are back, back, back. Yes, welcome back to the Better Business Show. Episode 64 has been a long time coming. A lot has changed since we first launched back in 2016, almost nine years ago. But lots hasn’t changed either. Solving the climate crisis remains the most urgent challenge of our times....
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#63 The time is now for lab-grown meat
About 30% of the word’s total land is used not to grow grains, fruits and vegetables that we directly eat as human beings, but to support the chickens, pigs and cattle that we eventually eat. And the environmental impact of all this large-scale meat production is having serious implications for…
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#62 Meet the company refusing to accept when a lithium ion battery is ‘dead’
So, this week we get to meet the company refusing to accept when a lithium ion battery is ‘dead’. Lithium-ion batteries continue to be the technology of choice for all the major consumer gadget players; it's no wonder that the market is set to explode in the next few years. But what happens to...
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#61 With a little help from friends: How Nestlé plans to solve the global food crisis
This week, we report from inside the HQ of the world's biggest food business, Nestlé to explore a wealth of solutions designed to solve the global nutrition crisis – including contact lenses that can monitor your glucose levels and smart watches that use your doctors' notes to prescribe exactly…
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#60 The company making mayo without an egg, butter without a cow
This week, you get the chance to step inside the most talked about business on the planet right now. Hampton Creek’s CEO Josh Tetrick gives us a flavour of what makes his company tick – from attracting investment to staying true to your mission. Learn how this San Francisco unicorn plans to…
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#59 Responding to human rights: Where to start and how to protect your business
Human rights: It is the one issue that no company wants to be embroiled in – yet a subject that every business is almost certainly exposed to and at risk of. That’s why we’ve dedicated this episode to the subject and we’re super excited to have grabbed Richard Boele, KPMG's head of specialist…
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Friday Five - 14 April 2017
Friday Five - 14 April 2017 This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about: - Christina Figueres latest assessment of peak…
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#58 What does a 'net positive' printer look like, anyway?
Meet Gareth Dinnage, the man at the helm of Seacourt, an Oxford-based printer that has spent the last 20 years slowly turning the entire dirty business of commercial printing on its head. We’ve all got print jobs we need doing – whether its for corporate reports, or marketing literature. But...
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#57 ’I learned everything I needed to know about running my business from YouTube’
This time, we’re with Matt Simpson, the man behind Green Banana Paper, a company developed purely as a way to give local employment to a demographic of island dwellers in Micronesia who would most likely have left for jobs in the city. Making wallets from banana trees, learn how this unique...
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Friday Five - 31 March 2017
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about: - Toyota dabbles in plant based materials for car interiors (http://bit.ly/2ofIdZJ)…
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Friday Five - 24 March 2017
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about: - How paint has saved the shipping sector $3bn in fuel savings...
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#56 The bamboo boxers making cotton look pants
A show title likely to get completely and utterly lost on our North American listeners, we appreciate….this time we’re with Jason Spitkoski, a man that has left his background as a tech developer behind to chase the dream of running a successful underwear business. He is the proud owner of Buddha...
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Friday Five - 17 March 2017
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about: - The fact people want their cash ISAs to create more positive change in the world...
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#55 Meet the chocolate business leading the charge for Fairtrade to go mainstream
As Fairtrade Fortnight kicks off, we speak with Sophi Tranchell, CEO of Divine Chocolate, a unique business majority-owned by the Ghanaian farmers at the end of its cocoa supply chain.
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Friday Five - 24 February 2017
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about: - Heineken’s rampant growth while keeping emissions at bay (http://bit.ly/2meI20l)…
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#54 What's up with Ivanka Trump's clothing line?
This week, we catch up with Natalie Grillon, co-founder and co-CEO of Project JUST, an online platform that wants you to seriously sort out your shopping habits out – and has Ivanka Trump's clothing line firmly in her sights.
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Friday Five - 17 February 2017
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about: - Finance sector putting pressure on G20 to get out of fossil fuels...
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#53 Ridding the world of dirty kerosene, one slum at a time
This week, we’re with the incredibly resourceful Alexie Seller, CEO and co-founder of Pollinate Energy, a genius start-up transforming the lives of those living in the slums of India by helping people to access clean energy solutions.
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Friday Five - 10 February 2017
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about: - Unilever’s game-changing transparency on perfumes (http://bit.ly/2lqTiXa) - A new...
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#52 Be more toddler: Ella’s Kitchen founder on the key to business success
This week, we catch up with the brilliant Paul Lindley, founder of organic baby food business Ella’s Kitchen. “It’s about the why we do business, not necessarily the what we do business for. We must all find our why!”
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Friday Five - 3 February 2017
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about: - Trump scrapping the Paris commitment (http://bit.ly/2k3aCNC) - adidas…
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Friday Five - 27 January 2017
Friday Five - 27 January 2017 by Narrative Matters
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#51 The technology business that WILL change the game on dirty fuels
This week, we are with the exciting LanzaTech, a business using gas fermentation to take waste carbon from the atmosphere and turn it into biofuels – a move that might just shake up the entire renewable energy and transportation markets. Sean Simpson, co-founder of the business, joins us on Skype...
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Friday Five - 20 January 2017
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about - The World Economic Forum at Davos: So, what happened? (http://ind.pn/2iSarD7)…
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Friday Five - 13 January 2017
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about - Whether Trump will heed call of 600 businesses anxious about climate change...
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#50 How to solve a problem like the promotional products market
Happy new year! We are back, back, back with more great stories of sustainable business. This time, we are with Sprout, the promotional products business with a difference, giving pencils a second life and using the power of product to make serious messages about our throwaway culture easier to...
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#49 End of year review: Why Trump might be good for the planet, not bad
This week, we are joined by five of our previous guests who give us their personal highlights from the past 12 months, an assessment of the most significant moments from 2016 (not least the shock victory of The Donald) and their hopes for the year to come. Plus, I give you my top 9 highlights…
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Friday Five - 16 December 2016
This is the Better Business Show Friday Five, released at the end of every week and digesting the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about - Amazon, the good…. (http://bit.ly/2gRqJQN) - …and the bad and ugly of everyone’s...
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#48 The donation platform that isn't after your cash. It wants to change the world
Charitable giving has exploded in the last 12 months, with more than $168m donated on Giving Tuesday, a 20% jump on last year. But as our guest on this week's show says, there is more to giving than just cash donations. Hermione Taylor is the founder of Do Nation, an online platform which...
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Friday Five - 9 December 2016
Tune in to the Better Business Show Friday Five, our new-ish show coming to you at the end of every week to digest the very best stories from across the world of sustainable business in the last 7 days. This week, we’re talking about - Why big brands are failing to display recycling labels on…
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About this show
For organisations that want to change the world, The Better Business Show offers insight, inspiration and hope by exploring the people and companies proving that sustainable business models do work.
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