If you run any kind of small business, you are almost certain to have discovered that the purchase of your essential supplies and materials is both frustrating and time-consuming. It takes a lot of time and effort to track down suitable products at affordable prices and on payment terms you find acceptable.

Amazon Business aims to provide the solution to just that problem – freeing up your valuable time for far more pressing business needs and activities.

What is Amazon Business?

Just as the name suggests Amazon Business is the universal online trader specifically designed to supply businesses. It is rapidly changing how companies throughout the UK – and, indeed, the world – buy their supplies.

How does Amazon Business benefit my business?

If you have ever made any personal purchases on Amazon, you’ll know that the company aims to offer the widest possible selection, at good value for money, and ease of purchase.

Amazon Business strives to be that same kind of marketplace – but one that is designed for specific business to business transactions and features such as:

• bulk purchase pricing;
• invoiced payments (subject to the usual credit checks and expenditure limits);
• VAT invoicing; and
• management tools to monitor and control your expenditure.

The Amazon Business marketplace behaves rather like a reverse auction. Sellers compete for the purchase of widely-demanded “stock-keeping units” (SKUs, that define products by their unique characteristics – such as sizes, styles, colours, and so on). The process not only secures good value for money but also saves time and hassle.

Using Amazon Business

To run a successful business, you need your shopping experience for supplies and materials to be simple and fast, together with flexible payment options, and reliable delivery dates and times.

That’s what Amazon Business aims to give the business customer – in just the same way you might have experienced it with your personal shopping on Amazon.

Because it is purpose-designed as a business account, it also comes with the controls and management tools to keep your purchasing activities watertight. You can ensure that only authorised purchases are made on your account, for example. The package also provides detailed analysis and projections of your purchasing activity, through tools that can be effortlessly integrated with your in-house purchasing systems.

If you have ever scoured the internet for online suppliers, you are almost certain to have come across subscription-based retailers or so-called warehouse clubs.

Amazon Business is a free to use service

Amazon Business, by contrast, breaks new ground by letting you set up your account for free – no matter how many purchasers you choose to authorise for that account.

Who is eligible for an Amazon Business account?

Any business or business-associated organisation may apply to set up an account for their exclusively business activities*.

You will need to provide a valid email address.

To Amazon validate and check the accuracy of your application, the company reserves the right to use your business name, VAT number, address, business identification number, or any other information you have provided. Amazon may also ask for any additional information they consider necessary for validating your application – including enquiries to or through third parties.

* Amazon reserves the right to accept or to refuse your application for or use of an Amazon Business account.

The first three months of the year is the period when soft drinks buyers do their range reviews.  The timing mean that new brands can be on the shelves after Easter ready for the Spring / Summer. This means you should be preparing now if your brand is to have a barnstorming summer in 2021.

There is no question 2020 has been an incredible year for the development of new healthy products and for Brand Relations, it’s been our busiest year yet. We have seen so many budding entrepreneurs come who have been stuck at home looking for a way out of their job and into their own business; encouraged by the fact the supermarket and retailers in food & drink have seen an upturn in business since the pandemic. 

So, what do businesses need to do now to ensure their drinks are successful over the summer?

Brand knowledge

It is important you understand your brand, your target audience and the style and type of retailer that would work best for your product.

To really understand this, you need to look at the competition and what products the buyer will remove to replace with yours. You must think about where your product will sit in store and how you will generate sales.

It is important to begin by visiting the stores you want to be listed in so that when the time comes to speak to the buyer you are an expert on their stores. Think about the types of products they stock and how they sell them. While doing your research, you want to determine if your target audience shop there, and will they pay the RRP you are suggesting?

These are the essential first steps that, in my experience, many brand owners overlook.

Key buyers

Find out a little about them. And be sure you know what they are looking for. Just because you want to be listed by them, doesn’t mean you are right for them. So do your research. A little preparation now will save you time and money later.

The biggest issue in getting a listing with your target retailer is understanding their shoppers needs, I have been told many a time by buyers that our fridges or walls don’t stretch, we need to remove a brand to put your in, so how can they be sure your brand will replace the volume of the one they remove? How will consumers know your brand, why will they cross the road to buy it, all of these questions need to be answered before you have any chance of getting a listing. 

Online presence

Before January you will need to make sure your website has all the answers to the questions a buyer is likely to ask.  

Just as importantly, you need activity on your Social Media. More recently the bigger stores have employed Social Media experts to look around for the brands that have the most interest and followers, then they contact them for more details. Why do they do this? Because your activity and followers give them a good indication of how well your brand will sell.

If your social media is looking a bit lack lustre start building it right now! Ask friends and family to follow your accounts and interact with your posts. Also start following relevant influencers, sales outlets where you want to be stocked, and, if possible, the buyers themselves. Start to create a buzz around your product and connect with people you’d like to work with.

Sample boxes

I have known many brands that have just sent a case of their product to a buyer hoping that somehow a lot of product will magically make the buyer interested. However, this is not a good approach. Buyers tell me they really dislike this. As most of them have small offices and the last thing they want is to fill them with hundreds of free products.

A lot of brands also forget that buyers are consumers too. And just like any consumer, the first impression is the most important impression. We suggest to our clients that they create sample boxes that make their brand look like a beautifully presented gift. The box should look great and have your branding and information on it.  A few years ago, we put together some Christmas Hampers made up of all the brands we were working with, the response was incredible, one buyer rang and thanked us, but said he was sorry; but he wasn’t allowed gifts. He was very surprised when he realised, they were samples as they were presented much more like a gift than a ‘freebie’.

The best response was from the buyer at Whole Foods, who said; ‘Thank you for sharing with us your innovation, highly appreciated, some other people I would expect this from are not doing half what you did! Thanks.’ Needless to say, we got the listings we wanted with that buyer.

So, the takeaway is: Put some time, effort and resource into creating sample boxes that will grab the buyers’ attention.

Quality over quantity

Many small business owners want to go straight to the Multiples, looking for instant volume. But that is a mistake. You need to cut your teeth on the smaller ‘Premium’ retailers and build the brand.

Consumers in the likes of Whole Foods and Planet Organic are prepared to take the time to look for, and understand, new brands. Whereas the typical Tesco shopper is in there to grab the weekly shopping and get out.

Unfortunately, I have seen a lot of brands going into one of the big retailers on a trial and then after a few months they have been delisted. Once delisted by a larger retailer, none of the premium retailers are interested and so it’s the end of the road.

If you look at the industry as being a pyramid, then you start at the top and work your way down, going in at the bottom or ‘mainstream’ and trying to go upwards simply doesn’t work. 

Persistence

So many entrepreneurs have said to me ‘I emailed that buyer, but he never responded so I left him/her alone’. I have a lot of friends who are buyers, and they are some of the most overworked people in this industry. You need to catch their attention and apply some gentle pester-power. I am not suggesting you harass them as that won’t get you anywhere, but don’t just give up when they don’t respond. Be patient and give them time.

Most importantly, don’t send unrequested samples as that will have the opposite effect to the one you want! Wait for them to respond and ask for samples. And hang in there.

Marketing plans

Just because your product is on a shelf doesn’t mean it will automatically sell. You need to create a marketing plan. If a product fails to sell it will be delisted. No buyer wants to stick their neck out for a new brand only to find that the product ends up gathering dust on the shelf. So, create a marketing plan, put it into action, and communicate it to the buyers. It will help give them confidence that if they stock your brand, it will actually sell.

Flexibility

Many business owners say, for example, ‘I want to be stocked in Waitrose’. My response is this, ‘You need to take what you can get’.

I am not suggesting you take anything that is thrown your way, in particular this applies to the big ‘discounters’, but I am saying that if a buyer believes in your brand and they are in the top of the pyramid, then try to explore and support that buyer in their stores and build a reputation for yourself and your brand.

I have a saying ‘no buyer wants to be first, but no buyer wants to be last’. If others see your brand selling, then you have a good chance of getting more listings elsewhere 

Remember that the first three months of 2021 are where your effort needs to be focused as this is when you need to sell your brand to the buyers. Use your industry knowledge, brand knowledge and skill to do this well and your brand can have a hugely successful summer.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Horwell is the owner of Brand Relations, a specialist food and drink marketing and branding company based in London. Over the last 12 years, Brand Relations has been behind the launch and development of over 100 brands in the UK. Richard has also built up and sold companies of his own in the Food and Beverage sector. He has over 30 years’ experience in marketing FMCG brands around the world, having lived and worked in the UK, USA, Australia and the Middle East.

www.brandrelations.co.uk

https://brandrelations.co.uk/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/brand-relations-ltd/

https://www.instagram.com/brandrelations/

https://www.facebook.com/brandrelationsltd

Twenty five per cent of evening meals in the UK are now vegan or vegetarian, and one in three people in the UK have stopped, or reduced their meat consumption.

The UK is the largest consumer and purchaser of plant-based milk, meat, cheese and ready meals in Europe (Source: The Vegan Society).

In one year to Nov 2020, Deliveroo reported a 115% increase in demand for plant-based meals. In my home town of Cambridge, where Stem & Glory was the only vegan restaurant in 2017, we now have five all vegan outlets, including two vegan burger joints. All are busy, which is testament to the popularity of the movement. Only those in denial about the unsustainability of animal consumption can ignore or pass off veganism as a ‘fad’.

2020 was without a doubt the year of plant-based ‘meat’, attracting not only consumer attention, but also large-scale investor attention. The IPO of US brand ‘Beyond Meat’ was the best performing first-day IPO in nearly two decades. The UK brand THIS™ Seedrs campaign was the fastest ever campaign to hit £1.5m+ and closed on £4.5m in a matter of days.

Investors, it seems, are keen to invest in the plant-based space, and we’re seeing an ever-growing number of vegan and ethical investment firms. I have spoken to a few of them, plus some leading vegan chefs, to take a look at where the market is heading.

The plant-based movement has not only grown in popularity, but it’s now well capitalised and poised for even greater growth and market penetration. As a vegan business this is of course great news. And an ethical business with ethical and vegan investors is, of course, the perfect match. This growth in vegan capital comes at a time when consumers are looking to make more ethical and sustainable buying choices, so the synergy between investments and consumer trends accelerates the pace of this revolution.

2020 was also the year that all the major UK supermarkets introduced or expanded their own vegan ranges, and the year that, through sheer demand, all UK food outlets were compelled to have greater plant-based offerings.

As a vegan, I do think there is a long way to go however, both in terms of quality and quantity. I find myself walking out of most mainstream shops empty handed as I still cannot find something healthy, super tasty and with attention to balanced nutrition. All too often a vegan offering is still just a bunch of vegan ingredients lumped together with not much thought, and no attention to flavour.

It reminds me of my plant-based youth where vegan food was completely devoid of flavour and was just non vegan food with the meat and dairy removed! Salt was also vilified. Vegan millennials however will not put up with this, and vegan options need to be better.

The popularity of the now legendary Greggs vegan sausage roll is testament to that. Whatever you might think of Greggs, or sausage rolls come to that (let’s face it they are not healthy), they are actually very tasty, and people have voted with their feet. It wasn’t just perfectly timed and perfectly executed, it was also a quality product that people enjoy eating.

With that in mind, I wonder how many of the plethora of plant-based meat products that are on the shelves now will still be there at the end of 2021? Where is it we see new products starting to gain ground, and where do we see vegan products in the UK heading in 2021?

1. Vegan Cheese

Vegan cheese is the absolute holy grail at the moment, and the race is on to be the first company that creates a plant-based cheese that has the same taste and texture as dairy cheese. The noise in the plant-based cheese space is getting louder and louder with each passing week. Personally speaking, I feel there is a long way to go, BUT 2021 could see this start to change, as a few brands are now on the verge of creating an authentic product with an engineered cow’s milk.

I checked in on this subject with Reuben Waller from Plant Candi, a well-known vegan chef. He believes ‘the slow demise of the traditional dairy business will provide a marked contrast with the rise of products such as laboratory engineered cow’s milk, which will signal a seismic shift for the vegan cheese market’. This echoes our view too. Imagine if you could get the full variety of cheese that we have all been brought up on tasting exactly the same as the animal counterpart, but made 100% from plants. What a huge change would come. ‘Not being able to give up cheese’ is given as the number one reason for flexitarians not becoming vegan, so this would be a game changer for the vegan movement. No wonder investors are rapidly diving into this space.  An engineered dairy product would also take plant-based cheese back in a natural and unprocessed direction. As I am sure you are aware if you already eat vegan cheese, many have a nasty aftertaste, and all are highly processed.

I’d just like to be a bit of a spoilsport and throw a caution into the plant-based cheese mix:  If we achieve engineered cow’s milk and can effectively replicate dairy products from cream to camembert, are we still, from a health perspective, eating dairy? If dairy isn’t good for the human body, surely an engineered product with the exact same nutritional profile also isn’t good for human consumption?

• Vegan Seafood

Even more of an oxymoron that vegan meat, vegan seafood has become a fast-moving trend all over the world. I was in Amsterdam in the heady days of Feb 2020. We were on a food tour as part of the Global Restaurant Investment Forum and landed at a place called ‘Vegan Junk Food Bar’. Another oxymoron really, as although they do serve a lot of vegan junk (also known as ‘dirty vegan’), it was there I had my first experience of vegan ‘sashimi’. It really, really looks like raw fish. I had very low expectations of the first piece I put in my mouth. These, however, were immediately dispelled. It was tasty, served with a sweet soy dip, and very moreish. I am not really a fan of plant-based meat, but I would eat this again.

Aside from my vegan sashimi experience, the vegan seafood movement does seem to be following a similar trajectory to vegan meat, in that seafood junk – deep fried scampi, deep fried vegan shrimp, fish burgers, and fish goujons – is popular in both supermarkets and early adopter food outlets. We are however starting to see better quality attempts at vegan salmon, tuna and even caviar, with greater attention to health and natural ingredients.

Sebastiano Cossia Castiglioni from Vegan Capital is one of the best known and most active investors in the plant-based space. Vegan Capital is an early investor in seafood company ‘Good Catch’ and Sebastiano has observed rapid growth in this area. Sebastiano also notes that some companies that are still involved in animal seafood are now venturing into plant-based. Nestlé, for example, recently released the first plant-based tuna in Switzerland. It was very positively received by consumers.

These global companies seem to know that the writing is on the wall. Sebastiano believes a greater focus on health, protein, and healthy fats is a new trend within plant-based, and this echoes our own feelings here at Stem & Glory. As plant-based becomes mainstream, a shift within the sector towards healthier products is a revolution that is happening now.

• Healthier Fake ‘Meat’

We have come a long way in terms of plant-based meat, cheese and seafood replacements, but let’s face it, these are all processed, and do not contain the same nutritional profile as their animal counterparts.

Take the vegan sashimi product for example. Raw fish is an extremely light and healthy product, high in protein and healthy fat, and very low in carbohydrates. The plant-based counterpart has a high starch content and is a completely refined and processed product.

What we know about good health is that you need a diet high in natural protein and low in refined carbs, so this is a big challenge to plant-based alternatives. The wake-up call to this is already beginning to happen, and we predict that 2021 will be the year we start to see a trend in the direction of healthier and less processed animal alternatives.

At Stem & Glory we are putting our energy into a trend which is sneaking in through the back door. Ed Al Subaei, executive Chef at Stem & Glory, is a genius at creating fake ‘meat’ out of vegetables, instead of highly processed ingredients. For example, he makes a show stopping ‘ham’ from smoked celeriac sheets, and ‘chorizo’ from beetroot. Using the classic flavours to make the experience, whilst remaining 100% unprocessed.

This is something that struck me way back when I became vegan. It isn’t always the meat that is the reason you like a certain dish, it’s a combination of layers of flavour, and if you can create those same layers of flavour from non-animal products, you really can create the same taste sensation.

We are not the only ones on this path either – Tabitha Brown’s ‘carrot bacon’ video made her a social media sensation this year, with that video going viral and garnering over 12m views.

We believe all eyes will be moving in this direction in 2021 and beyond.

• Vegan Ready Meals

The supermarket shelves are choc-a-bloc with vegan products. Tesco has a plant-based meat section in the meat aisle, and Asda has a dedicated aisle planned for plant-based.

One gap however appears to be quality ready meals. Tesco has been ahead of the game here with their Wicked range, which has ready meals as well as products. But for me personally, having sampled the offerings from all the major supermarkets, I am not convinced by taste or quality.

As mentioned above, all too often products are veganised simply by removing the animal products, without much attention to the taste, and in many cases the texture. At Stem & Glory we are in development mode for our new ready meal range which does have a focus on taste and texture, as well as innovative dishes. The aim is to bring restaurant quality to supermarket shelves and raise the bar on vegan ready meals. We believe that as well as this move towards better quality plant-based ready meals, we will also see a trend towards ready meals in general and grab-and-go foods in a wide variety of settings. A view which is echoed by Castiglioni who predicts that ‘vegan ready meals will be the new normal, with a much greater variety of unequivocally plant-based options, easy to buy and ready to eat, taking over shelves everywhere, from gas stations to convenience stores’.

• Vegan Fashion

I am a lifelong customer of G-Star. It’s been extremely exciting to watch this brand develop over the years. Their range ‘Raw for the Oceans’ was making fashion from plastic pulled from the oceans long before the Blue Planet documentary. G-Star has a committed to 100% sustainable cotton, and they use a wide variety of recycled materials in their products. They are an excellent example of how a brand can use their sustainability agenda to grow their market share.

Another great example of an old established brand being ahead of the curve is Dr Martens who boasted that profits were up 70% year-on-year to March 2019 largely due to the success of their new ‘vegan’ range. Vegan Dr Martens however, whilst being an excellent hard-wearing product, are made from synthetic and non-biodegradable material. So, whilst they tick the vegan box, their products are not yet sustainable.

But innovation in sustainable vegan leather is happening. Michiel van Deursen from Capital V is one investor interested in the plant-based fashion space. ‘Leather is not sustainable at all, and since the alternative is often plastic, this has brought about a shift now towards plant based and biodegradable vegan ‘leather’. Michiel predicts massive growth in plant-based fashion and materials in the next few years, where demand is currently outgrowing production capacity. From an investor perspective, Michiel believes now is the time to get in and invest; ‘lots of investors still only look at alternative protein. I expect that to change in the coming year, when more funds and VCs enter the space. The market is ready to be disrupted. I think we are at that point in time where the major players of the future are now being built’.

These are my top five trends to watch for 2021, but to finish I would just like to throw in one overarching trend which will underpin all others; sustainability. To date, plant-based has been labelled, by sole virtue of it being ‘made from plants’, as ‘sustainable’. Is something sustainable just because it is plant-based? We believe that 2021 will be the year that this comes fully under scrutiny. It isn’t enough to be plant-based, tick the sustainability box and be off the hook. We all need to scrutinise our daily lives, and as businesses we have a responsibility to take whatever steps we need to reduce our carbon footprint – packaging, supply chain, ingredients. If we do this audit customers will feel safe knowing they are making ethical and more sustainable buying choices. And as we all know, this in turn will be good for business.

In 2021 sustainability will be the greatest trend of all, with consumers utilising their purchasing power in support of those with truly circular and authentic sustainable credentials.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Louise Palmer-Masterton is founder of multiple award-winning restaurants Stem & Glory; hip and trendy but accessible plant-based restaurants, serving delicious gourmet vegan food from locally sourced ingredients, 100% made on site. Stem & Glory also offers click-and-collect and local delivery in London and Cambridge.  www.stemandglory.uk 

Social Media

Web: www.stemandglory.uk 
Twitter: @stemandglory
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stemandglory/
Instagram: @stemandglory
LinkedIn: /louisepalmer-masterton

If you are facing business challenges, work issues or money worries, they can all conspire to make us feel down and sap our energy and enthusiasm.

So, imagine what it would be like if you could have a permanent positive mindset? If these things didn’t affect you negatively, but could be faced without fear or stress? It might sound far-fetched but it’s possible. Here are eight, easy to follow, steps to building a more positive, powerful mindset:

1. Negative thoughts. The average person has over 20 negative thoughts per day. (I meet people who have many hundreds per day). All negative thoughts involve wanting something to be different. A negative thought about the past wants something that’s happened not to have happened. A negative thought about the present wants something that exists, not to exist right now. The past can never be changed, and what already exists can never be undone.

Worry wants the future to be different, from the way we think it might be, in an aspect of life that we believe we cannot control. If we believed we could control it, we wouldn’t be worrying. So that makes worry as crazy as wanting the past or present to be different.

We can drop negative thoughts through a four-step process called Positive-Acceptance, abbreviated to ‘Pacceptance’. a) Notice we’re having one. b) Recognise it’s crazy, for the reasons I’ve mentioned. c) Drop the thought (replacing worry with a line out of a well-known song …. ‘Que sera sera, whatever will be will be’). d) Refocus on the only thing ever worth thinking about: what can I do, if anything, to gain more control of the future? If, once we’ve dropped the thought, it comes back, that’s good news, as we’ll only get good at ‘Pacceptance’ with practice. So, drop it again, after reminding ourselves why it’s crazy. It won’t keep coming back. I haven’t had a negative thought, for more than two seconds, for 23 years.

• Blame. ‘Pacceptance’ doesn’t work for blaming thoughts about the past or present. We may know we can’t change the past or present, but we might still think they ‘should’ have been different. Blame, of ourselves or others, can be removed by understanding the philosophy of ‘determinism’. This says that everything we’ve ever thought, felt or done, is the only thing we could have thought, felt or done, at that moment. Everything we do is determined by just two things. The first, is the situation we’re in at the time. The second is ‘who we are’ at that moment. That includes things like our knowledge and abilities, attitudes and beliefs, morals and values, unconscious programming. The only way we could ever have done anything different at any moment is if ‘who we were’ at that moment had been different. Blame ignores this truth. So drop it. (This doesn’t remove ‘responsibility’).

• Limiting feelings. The difference between feelings and thoughts is that thoughts only occur in the mind, whereas feelings also occur in the body. Examples of limiting feelings are anxiety, aspects of depression and feeling cold. The key to dealing with limiting feelings is ‘acceptance’.Ask three questions about any feeling: a) Is it harming me? No-one has ever been harmed by a feeling. Even feeling cold is simply a message to the brain. (By contrast, being cold, the source of the feeling, can harm us), b) Can I bear it? All feelings, other than extreme pain, are bearable, c) So if it’s harmless and bearable, what exactly is the problem with having this feeling? There isn’t one. Practice the three questions by creating discomfort, e.g. turn the hot water down a bit in the shower for 10 seconds; run up an escalator or flight of stairs. Accepting feelings will diminish them. To eliminate the feeling, do the opposite of whatever the feeling is telling us to do, e.g. accept feeling anxious speaking to groups, and join a speaking club.

• Free-will. Free-will is the only escape from determinism. Determinism is run by our auto-pilot (or ‘mindset’). Free-will is noticing what our auto-pilot is about to get us to do, and do something more powerful or productive instead. This will get us a better immediate result, and strengthen our auto-pilot.

• Owning our reactions. Most people think our reactions are caused by something someone else has said or done. If that were true, we’d all react in the same way. The truth is our reactions are the result of our own internal (unconscious) programming. The other person’s action is just the trigger.

• Perspective. Conflict is driven by two different perspectives. Avoid conflict by recognising this, and making an effort to understand the other person’s perspective.

• Act as if …. you’re someone you admire, who can do what you want to do. Or ‘act as if’ you already have more powerful self-beliefs. Every time we act more powerfully, we strengthen our mindset.

• Focus on contribution. I’ve created a ‘free’ web-based life-skills training of six 20-minute webinars (see www.positive-mind-training.com). It’s by far the most powerful life training I know of. Michael Queen, past CEO of 3i, said “The most succinct, useful and effective training I’ve ever encountered”. Mark Nesbitt, director of Urban Leaf, said: “If a training could change the world and the lives of everyone in it, this is surely such a training”. I then initiated a project, based on that training, that aims to remove poverty, homelessness, conflict and oppression from the world, and have a major influence on environmental issues (see www.changeabillionminds.com). Do something similar or join me on mine.

About The Author

Graham W Price is a chartered psychologist, personal and executive coach and development trainer. He’s an accredited member of the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP), CEO of Abicord and Abicord Consulting and founder of the ‘Change a Billion Minds’ project. He is author of ‘The Promise’ published by Pearson.

Web: https://www.abicord.com

http://www.abicordconsulting.co.uk

www.changeabillionminds.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/grahamwprice

LinkedIn: www.linkedin/grahamwprice 

Climate change sceptics excluded, we recognise that our environment is in very serious trouble indeed.

This has led to a change in buying habits for many people; whether it’s buying plastic-free goods for the home, such as bamboo toothbrushes and shampoo bars, changing energy suppliers to ones that only supply green energy, cycling or walking to work instead of driving or taking the train, or using biodegradable, chemical-free cleaning products. People are really doing their bit and every bit helps. This year in particular, I believe many people will be applying this approach in their Christmas present purchase decisions.

But what if someone on your list is keen to be as green as possible and you don’t know where to start. They will already have adapted their lifestyle to the point where a funky reusable coffee cup is not likely to make them jump for joy (although I’m sure they’d still appreciate it).

Whether you’re looking for gifts for your family members, or gifts to treat a special client, or to reward your staff here are some gift suggestions for you to consider.

1. Planting a tree

However fundamental our grasp of deforestation is, we are all aware that more trees equals less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and more oxygen thus, in a small way, planting trees is a way of kicking back at the impact of the mass deforestation that has taken place over many decades. There are limitations in the effect of planting trees to save our environment, in that a sapling is unlikely to suck up enough carbon in its early years to make much difference; only mature trees really have any effect. Also, there is simply not enough land space to plant the number of trees needed to reverse the damage that has already been done. That said, it certainly doesn’t hurt to make a contribution by planting a tree. Perhaps you could give your eco-friendly friend a sapling of their own. Interestingly, the old favourite, the conker tree (Horse Chestnut) is a great tree for absorbing and storing CO2. 

If space is an issue, you don’t have to land your loved one with a tree bigger than their garden can accommodate. The Woodland Trust gives you the opportunity to buy ‘trees for bees’. For just £10, you can help the Trust plant more trees and create future homes for wildlife in the UK. They even send you a certificate that you can personalise.

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/

• Donating to a green charity

It may not sound like the kind of thing that will excite your loved one when sitting round the tree on Christmas morning, but your planet-friendly friend does not necessarily want lots of ‘stuff’. After all, consumerism and a surplus of objects that we don’t need and which then have to be disposed of, sooner or later, is part of the problem and reason we find ourselves in such a dire situation environmentally. So, it’s highly likely that knowing you have given your money to a charity that they believe in, will actually go down rather well.

There are so many charities and if you know what their favourite is, that’s the one to go for. If you’re not sure, think about what their chief reasons for caring about the environment are, and pick a charity accordingly. If they are concerned about the impact on wildlife, consider a donation to WWF, Born Free or similar. If deforestation is their bug bear, try something like the Rainforest Trust. And if you’re not entirely sure, Greenpeace is a good bet! The good part about this is you can donate what you would usually spend on a gift so the donation can be big or small enough to suit your budget.

https://www.wwf.org.uk/

https://www.bornfree.org.uk/

• The gift of carbon dioxide removal

A Climeworks subscription is a unique proposition that anyone who wants to help reduce their impact on the planet will love!

Climeworks removes carbon dioxide directly from the air, which is then stored safely and permanently underground. What’s clever about this is that it removes historic CO₂, i.e. the carbon dioxide that has been kicking around for some time and that needs to be removed to keep global warming under control.

Another clever aspect is its speed: within just five years from the date of purchase, CO₂ is permanently removed from the air and stored underground – this is at least twice as fast as planting trees. And it differs from other methods through its permanence and safety: there is no risk of releasing the CO₂ back into the atmosphere through burning, rotting, etc. This air-captured carbon dioxide is removed for good!

Climeworks works with big organisations, such as Stripe or Shopify, to help them remove their carbon footprint but it is also available to people like you and me – making it a great Christmas gift. For as little as €7 per month, 85kg of carbon dioxide can be removed from the air per year. That’s the equivalent of around four trees.

Together, as gifter and recipient, you’ll be making a difference in the world and helping to ensure this Christmas is truly climate-positive.

https://www.climeworks.com/gift

• Solar chargers and power banks

Our phones need charging, as do other portable devices, such as tablets and laptops. This means using electricity, of course. To be fair, charging a device actually uses relatively little electricity but all the small efforts that go into conserving electricity add up. So, another great gift idea is a solar charger or a solar power bank.

A solar charger, as you would expect, captures solar energy to charge your device and a solar power bank will store the energy from the sun for when you need it later. In addition to the environmental benefits, these little gems are both economical and great for people that are always forgetting to charge their devices and get caught short at the vital moment. They’re also invaluable for those who like to hike or camp, for example, but still want or need their tech when they are in the great outdoors.

There is a plethora of options on the market and the right one will depend on budget and purpose. For instance, you can get large ones that strap to a backpack or super-portable ones for people that need to travel light. It’s worth doing your research to find perfect one for your environmentalist. Try here for some ideas to get you started:

https://www.lifewire.com/best-portable-solar-chargers-4149830

• Rainwater harvesting

Of all the things we consider as environmentally damaging, water waste is perhaps not one that springs to mind very quickly. But, in fact, the average household uses 150 litres of water a day and very little of that is used for drinking or cooking. Harvesting rainwater is not only environmentally responsible, it also promotes self-sufficiency and saves money! Rainwater harvesting can be as simple as having a water butt in your garden to collect rainwater for plants and lawns. It can also go further with filtering systems, meaning you can use rainwater for toilet flushing and bathing. If you want to spoil your favourite “greeny” with anything from a decorative water butt to a complete harvesting system, you can get plenty of inspiration from Celtic Sustainables:

https://www.celticsustainables.co.uk/rainwater-harvesting/

•   Gift experience

As mentioned, in a world already filled with material possessions, it’s unsurprising that gift experiences have become increasingly popular.

There are companies that arrange the whole experience for you, such as Red Letter Days and BuyAGift in the UK. Each has a huge selection of gift experiences to choose from, many of which will suit your environmentalist. For the nature lovers there are opportunities from rock climbing and zip lining to mountain biking and sailing. Or, if you think they’d prefer something more relaxing, there are glamping experiences and even the opportunity to spend a couple of nights in a tree house. The disadvantages of this are the cost and, more importantly for your recipient, the fact that they may have to travel some distance, which might negate some of the environmental advantages.

So, it might be worth doing a little more research and finding an experience local to them and getting a gift voucher. If they don’t automatically offer gift vouchers, most local businesses will come up with something. Think about what they would really like and buy accordingly, perhaps a slap-up meal at their local vegan restaurant or look into local courses in hedge laying or bee keeping.

Alternatively, give them an experience where they don’t even need to leave the house. Zero travel and you won’t have to worry whether the current situation will mean they can’t redeem their vouchers in time, due to travel restrictions. Airbnb is the perfect place to look for these experiences and some of these virtual experiences could rarely be achieved in real life. Your gift receipients can dive under the sea with a shark expert or go on a safari in South Africa. They could meditate with a Japanese Buddhist monk or even experience the Great Wall of China, all from the comfort of home!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Liesbeth Deddens is from Climeworks. Climeworks empowers people to reverse climate change by permanently removing carbon dioxide from the air.

One of two things happens to the Climeworks air-captured carbon dioxide: either it is returned to earth, stored safely and permanently away for millions of years, or it is upcycled into climate-friendly products such as carbon-neutral fuels and materials, fertilizer for greenhouses or bubbles in your fizzy drinks. The Climeworks direct air capture technology runs exclusively on clean energy, and the modular CO₂ collectors can be stacked to build machines of any size.

Founded by engineers Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks strives to inspire 1 billion people to act now and remove carbon dioxide from the air.

Together we can build a climate-positive world. Join us!

Web: https://www.climeworks.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Climeworks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/climeworks

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/climeworks

The availability of business accelerator programmes has increased over recent years so there are more opportunities to get involved.  Let me give you an overview of what accelerator programmes are and then review the benefits that you can gain by participating. you benefit by joining one?

Overview

Generally speaking, an accelerator programme gives developing companies access to training, advice, mentorship, investors and other support that will help them become stable, self-sufficient businesses. An accelerator programme can help from the very earliest ‘lightbulb’ stage, through to the time when a business needs help scaling up or attracting investment.

Some programmes are free once your application is accepted while others charge for participation.

How you can benefits by joining a business accelerator

The opportunity to dispassionately validate your idea

Every innovator with an ostensibly good idea thinks that theirs has huge potential and will plug an unfilled gap in the market, leading to untold riches and recognition. However, as we all know, not every bright idea can be a success. In reality, most ideas for new products and services barely get off the ground.

Being selected to take part in the right accelerator programme gives you a chance to really validate your idea and test your hypotheses. Is there a market for your product? Do the financials stack up? Do the costs involved in the development and/or manufacture make it a viable proposition? Is it investable?

When we’ve had an idea for a while, it’s only natural to become emotionally invested in it. The mentorship and expertise found on an accelerator programme will help you to make a clear-headed and dispassionate evaluation of whether your idea has legs.

Furthermore, a good programme will help you make the adjustments and course-corrections that may be required – saving you from wasting months, or even years, heading in the wrong direction.

The support available to you

Many budding entrepreneurs who end up on accelerators don’t come from business backgrounds and soon learn that launching and growing a new business can be a daunting endeavour. Accelerator programmes will address participants’ knowledge gaps (not to mention offering plenty of reassurance and emotional support!) by providing mentors, success stories and subject experts to support you and equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to get your idea off the ground.

The valuable experience and hard-won advice shared by successful entrepreneurs can be lightning in a bottle for fledgling founders. Many programmes, such as BioAccelerate 2020, set aside time in their schedules to invite founders and directors in relevant fields to offer their wisdom and to share their journeys with the cohort.

Learning what investors are looking for

Unless you’re fortunate enough to be in line to inherit the family fortune, you’re probably going to need investment at some stage to grow your company and to bring your product or service to market.

Accelerator programmes invariably end with some sort of pitch or demo day, where you’ll demonstrate the progress you’ve made over the course of the programme to a panel of industry experts and potential investors. Learning how to present to these types of audiences will be vital in securing funding at the various stages of your startup’s journey.

Gaining access to facilities and equipment

Though we are witnessing a proliferation of business accelerators at the moment, not all programmes are alike. There are, of course, overlaps and similarities: most programmes will teach participants about core topics such as finances, intellectual properly, branding, product development and so on. However, some programmes go further.

Sector-specific programmes, and ones that are aligned to universities or innovation parks, can often also provide access to cutting-edge facilities and equipment, not to mention the pre-eminent expertise that you would expect to find at an academic institution.

For example, the BioAccelerate programme offered at AberInnovation gives startups in the biotechnology, agri-tech and food and drink sectors access to their brand-new £40.5m campus, which includes a state-of-the-art biorefinery and a Future Food Centre.

Meeting like-minded business-owners and innovators

When you spend time on developing a new product or service you can feel very alone. It is important to keep up your morale and motivation and one way to achieve this is by finding a welcoming and supportive group of peers who are on similar journeys.

It is therefore imperative to find the right programme that has rigorous and robust selection criteria to ensure a cohort of inspiring and ambitious entrepreneurs. There are bound to be dark days and moments of doubt as you iterate and develop your proposition over the course of an accelerator programme. A supportive group to bounce ideas off and provide feedback will help you navigate these more challenging times.

In an increasingly interdisciplinary world where problems often require a multitude of solutions, these relationships may even lead to opportunities in the future.

You can gain huge benefits by joining a business accelerator programme.  Do your research and find the best accelerator programme for your sector and business then apply.  It could make all the difference in getting your product or service to market and building your business.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ben Jones is from AberInnovation. Aberystwyth Innovation and Enterprise Campus (AberInnovation) provides world-leading facilities and expertise within the biotechnology, agri-tech, and food and drink sectors. Set in stunning scenery between the Cambrian Mountains and the Irish Sea, the £40.5m Campus offers an ideal environment for business and academic collaboration to flourish.

https://aberinnovation.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AberInnovation

https://www.linkedin.com/company/aberystwyth-innovation-and-enterprise-campus-ltd

For more information about BioAccelerate: https://aberinnovation.com/en/our-community/bioaccelerate/