My guest today is Kresse Wesling. Kresse is a Canadian-born serial environmental entrepreneur who builds businesses that make money whilst having a positive impact on the environment.
Kresse founded her first business, an environmental packaging alternatives company, in Hong Kong in 2002. By 2004 she launched this business in the UK and has since helped to build two other green business projects; Babaloo, a mother and baby business and Yew Clothing, a line of eco-sports and casual wear.
Then in 2007, Kresse launched Elvis & Kresse, which turns industrial waste into innovative lifestyle products and returns 50% of profits to charities and organisations related to the waste. They began life and immediately made the headlines making handbags from decommissioned fire hose.
On top of this, Kresse has found time to serve as a Social Enterprise Ambassador for the UK Government and as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.
I spoke to Kresse from her office in Rochester, England.
We talk about her seeing waste as a design flaw, about feeling compelled to act to solve environmental problems and her sense of ownership and responsibility for finding scalable solutions, the advantages of ignorance and of keeping busy, and we talk about her preference for being a ‘do’ leader rather than a thought leader.
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