August 20, 2013, No Comments yet. Add yours.
Good is: Easy and Useful.
Issues: Environmental, Health, and Local Business.
When we first heard about Hubbub (https://www.hubbub.co.uk/) in 2011, the company with a mission to save the high street, we knew it had the potential to be something quite special. Bringing all of the convenience of online grocery shopping to your local independent, Hubbub lets you purchase items from various local shops, online, and have them sent straight to your door in a single convenient delivery.
Now, just 2 years after they launched, Hubbub is already operating within 35 stores and selling over 4000 products to thousands of customers. Hubbub works by attracting online supermarket shoppers and busy commuters, who wouldn’t ordinarily their local grocer, butcher or artisan baker, to their online shop and taking a small cut of these brand new sales. That’s a win-win for local retailers who, as Hubbub founder Marissa Leaf says, rely on volume to survive.
We think Hubbub is great because it helps to get fresh, healthy and tasty produce into the nations homes without relying on messaging, bribery or government intervention. Rather, it takes traditionally niche behaviours such as ‘shopping local’ and makes them accessible by building them into a convenient, easy to use online service. Plus, as a successful commercial business with a viable model for growth, Hubbub represents a sustainable form of facilitative behaviour change that has the potential to become ingrained in our national culture.
May 14, 2013, No Comments yet. Add yours.
Good is: job providing, Saves money, and Useful.
Issues: Health and Local Business.
Kit Yamoyo makes delivering medicine to remote villages in Zambia more attractive to local entrepreneurs. It is a clever wedge-shaped packing solution, that fits packets of medicine into a crate of Coca-Cola. Local distributors and retailers can make use of it, not needing to do anything more than they do already in terms of transporting goods from the country’s capital to the remote areas of the country and selling items locally, yet benefit from adding the Airpods to their usual deliveries as they share in the medicine’s profits.
The project was devised by Simon Berry, who worked in Zambia in the 1980s and set up the charity ‘Colalife’ in 2011, who’s core product so far is Airpod. An amazing way to reduce thenumber of people dying from diarrhoea (around 40 children under the age of five each day) whilst giving locals genuine incentives, beyond pure altruism, to get involved.
January 15, 2013, No Comments yet. Add yours.
Good is: job providing and social.
Issues: Community and Local Business.
TaskRabbit (www.taskrabbit.com) is an online and mobile marketplace that allows you to outsource your chores, getting people in your neighbourhood to do them. People in your area, already approved by the site, bid to complete the small jobs with the lowest bid accepted. Its great if you can’t be bothered to assemble your Ikea furniture, need someone to walk your dog or wash your car. In turn, you are providing creative ways for people to make money in a sour economy and many of the workers and users testify to building strong, friendly relationships with the new neighbour who weeds their garden or what have you. The workers do not need a high level of qualification, just ample energy and enthusiasm. TaskRabbit is based in the US but similar services are popping up everywhere including TaskPandas (http://www.taskpandas.com/) and Sorted (https://getsortedapp.com/) .
August 14, 2012, No Comments yet. Add yours.
Good is: Cool and Fun.
Issues: Local Business.
Self named “the world’s handmade marketplace,” http://www.etsy.com/ has created a platform for small businesses and individuals all over their world to connect to buy and sell handmade or vintage goods. Etsy believes that small, local companies can have a big impact on the worldwide economy, and that their customers value the origins and producers of their products as much as price and convenience. People go there to make up a buck, get their artwork seen, or pick up an innovative gift, but get the added benefit of supporting local businesses along the way.
