So, who are this year's Changemakers?
EtsaW
Who are they?
UK-based EtsaW is a venture studio that offers expertise, world-spanning networks, and focused business resources that help innovative new businesses design, support and scale circular economy ideas – turning them into game-changing realities that will improve our world. It aligns with our Sustainable Futures Innovation Platform.
How are they making a change?
EtsaW wants to accelerate the shift away from the climate emergency. It exists to help biodesign start-ups flourish, encouraging a move towards disruptive corporate practices and innovation in global resource use. It believes the future lies in a transition away from the current unsustainable economic model of ‘take, make, waste’, to one where resources are kept in use for longer, where waste is unacceptable and designed out, and where business regenerates and enhances our planet’s natural systems.
Find out more.
Free Form World
Who are they?
UK-based Free Form World is a cultural production studio imagining near futures through collaborations, commissions and programming. It aligns with our Inclusivity Outlook Innovation Platform.
How are they making a change?
Founder Nate Agbetu’s ambition is to create culturally rich public spaces that leverage unused or underused areas in UK cities, bringing together social innovation, policy shaping and mentoring.
Furnishing Futures
Who are they?
London charity Furnishing Futures aims to fully fit out the homes of families who are experiencing furniture poverty. It does this by taking homewares and fixtures donated by individuals and the interiors industry, and creating healing homes to support women and children’s wellbeing and raise their self-esteem. It aligns with our Inclusivity Outlook Innovation Platform.
How are they making a change?
Thousands of families who are already struggling with low incomes don’t have the means to buy furniture, and women who are rehoused after fleeing domestic abuse are often given a completely bare property. Through its work, Furnishing Futures is boosting people’s self-worth, supporting their physical health, and improving their life chances by helping break the cycle of poverty.
Find out more.
Interlude
Who are they?
With an on-demand digital library of activities to provide high-quality work breaks, UK-based Interlude is a platform that promotes movement, creativity, mindfulness and learning for employees. It hosts practical video classes for businesses based on research into the best productivity-boosting breaks, whether that’s doing a drawing exercise before creative work, taking a mini cooking class, or stretching. It aligns with our Wraparound Wellness and Digital Worlds Innovation Platforms.
How are they making a change?
Interlude aims to change the narrative around work breaks and show employees how they can be good for their wellbeing, while also promoting productivity. It wants to encourage businesses to build a wellness-centric culture, while also ensuring that team members feel their best, to be able to produce their best.
Find out more.
Myya
Who are they?
Myya is an online experience helping Americans find perfectly fitting post-mastectomy breast forms and bras – all from the comfort of their homes. Its trained and certified experts guide patients to take their own precise measurements during a virtual session, and Myya delivers the styles straight to their doorsteps. It aligns with our Wrapround Wellness Innovation Platform.
How are they making a change?
Inspired by her grandmother’s battles with breast cancer and her ensuing struggle to find suitable underwear post-mastectomy, Jasmine Jones created Myya. Through the brand, she wants to make it easy for both patients and survivors to find comfortable, practical, yet stylish bras and breast forms at all stages of their cancer journeys.
Find out more.
Seidea
Who are they?
London-based Seidea is a career development platform with a social mission to diversify the cybersecurity industry. Its objective is to break down barriers for BIPOC women, and help them start their journeys in the sector through career programmes and industry events. It aligns with our Inclusivity Outlook Innovation Platform.
How are they making a change?
Seidea is working to diversify the computer security space, with the goal of helping 100,000 BIPOC women enter the industry by 2040. Since its inception in October 2019, it has been able to train more than 1,800 BIPOC women and 900 kids with the skills and resources needed to start a cybersecurity career.
Find out more.
Social Good Club
Who are they?
A non-profit think tank and media studio, US-based Social Good Club brings together some of the most powerful minds from the creative communities to reimagine the way stories are told, and engage audiences in today’s most pressing issues through compelling content and campaigns. It aligns with our Inclusivity Outlook, Digital Worlds and Sustainable Futures Innovation Platforms.
How are they making a change?
Social Good Club’s goal is to bridge the gap between impact communities and creators. At its core, the organisation is an invitation to find fulfilment and community in service, engage creativity and culture in social good, and consolidate the creative industries to amplify the voices of true change. It also aims to inspire audiences to walk the walk, acting as a guide towards long-lasting cultural shifts.
Find out more.
The Renatural
Who are they?
UK brand The Renatural is transforming the wig industry. Led by its patented hypoallergenic, breathable and lightweight silicone headband, Wig Fix, it’s introducing innovative hair products – from wigs to hair replacements – that focus on functionality, design and customer experience. It aligns with our Inclusivity Outlook Innovation Platform.
How are they making a change?
While writing her university dissertation, founder Aasiyah Abdulsalam discovered that people were still applying and wearing wigs as they did in the 16th century. With an aim to modernise things, she created The Renatural in 2019 to invent products that make wigs effortlessly interchangeable, so people can focus on being carefree and feeling beautiful – all whilst normalising wigs in the process. The company now has over 60,000 wearers in 33 different countries, and boasts the first wig-related patent in 55 years.
Find out more.
Trifle Studio
Who are they?
Trifle is the UK’s first multidisciplinary studio whose work is created by artists and designers with learning disabilities. Specialising in product design, illustration, fashion, interiors, textiles, homeware, editorial and advertising, the award-winning firm works with brands across the globe. It aligns with our Inclusivity Outlook Innovation Platform.
How are they making a change?
After witnessing a lack of inclusivity in art practices, Ella Ritchie established Intoart in 2000, a South London art school exclusively for people with learning disabilities. In March 2022, the successful charity organisation launched its new venture, Trifle. It seeks to tackle the continued underrepresentation of people with disabilities by providing them with a wide-reaching platform.
Find out more.
Weffan
Who are they?
Weffan is a London-based textile company committed to making sustainable manufacturing accessible. It creates fully fashioned 3D-woven garments, made in just one step and engineered on existing automated machines. This helps Weffan shorten production processes, minimise fabric and resource waste, build a more dynamic, transparent supply chain, and subsequently cut its carbon footprint. It aligns with our Sustainable Futures Innovation Platform.
How are they making a change?
The fashion industry is often found to be synonymous with practices harmful to the environment. But Weffan is disrupting inefficient, unsustainable production by creating entire 3D-woven garments engineered on an automated loom. The company is developing a design template catalogue with different shapes, styles and materials for fashion brands seeking sustainable solutions to reduce pre-consumer waste and overproduction.
Find out more.
