How to pivot and stay true to your company's purpose - Dr Thomas Fudge, CEO of Wase
Manage episode 358857515 series 2928005
This episode of the Karmic Capitalist tells the story of a company that stayed true to its mission while undergoing a substantial pivot, and a founder who left his own comfortable path in pursuit of his passion.
For sanitation!
Thomas Fudge was so incensed by our misuse and abuse of water that left his job in product design and marketing and went back to uni to complete a masters and doctorate in sustainability.
He then combined his newfound expertise with his passion for engaging with the water crisis and founded Wase.
Wase started life as a company tackling sanitisation challenges in the global South. They provided micro-sanitation facilities that could be distributed rather than depending on some massive centralised infrastructure.
But along the way, they discovered that a better fit for the capabilities they'd built up would be to address waste issues for companies in the food and drink industry. These companies were tankering their waste to send off-site at huge financial and environmental cost.
Wase now provides the capability to treat that waste on site, not only reducing the environmental impact of its transport, extracting valuable nutrients and allowing them to sell on the water, but also improving each company's energy resilience at the same time by turning the waste to fuel.
In this episode, Thomas talks us through the journey so far, including the details of the investments they've secured; the importance of focus especially when you have a very multi-faceted solution; the pivot and the importance of maintaining alignment with purpose while doing it; and the future he sees for the company.
Brilliant insight into a company tackling one of the world’s most pressing issues.
Enjoy.
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I host a weekly online workshop with CEOs of SMEs (10 to 100 employees approx) about scaling up, allowing them to step back and do more strategic work, and doing it in line with their values. Max 6 per session so we can have a real conversation.
If you'd like to join me, find a date that works for you here. They aren't charged for - you and I will both get value from the conversation.
Only CEOs / MDs apply - strictly peer-level conversation.
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