Case Studies

Rockwool transforms volcanic rock into “stone wool”, a cotton-candy-like insulation for use in sustainable infrastructure around the world. The business’ products are helping to tackle a huge challenge. One-third of the UK’s planet-warming gases escape through the walls of our homes, according to the International Energy Agency.

“More than 15 million homes need improving over the next 10 years if we’re to succeed on our climate action goals by 2030,” Mike Childs, Head of Science, Policy & Research at Friends of the Earth, has warned.

Hull Woman’s Network is a social enterprise offering women domestic abuse support. It purchases properties with financing from investors like you and it repays with rental income from housing benefit. Investor funding has helped the charity to buy an extra 82 houses in Hull for the long-term benefit of women and children.

“I was a complete mess of a person before, but now I’m alive, I’m happy with two happy children, in a home I love and have made my own, and I work in a job I love,” said one.

Safaricom is credited with building the phone-based payments system M-Pesa, which lets millions of people in Africa make safe, secure, cashless transactions. No bank? No problem. You only need a mobile telephone and network coverage to move M-Pesa from one account to another.

The benefits of this mobile banking service have been most significant for women. It’s helped 185,000 women move from subsistence farming to better-paid work.

Beyond Meat, which famously engineered “the burger that’s changing the game”, is a market leader in meat-free alternatives.

Around 45 million hectares of the Amazon rainforest have been deforested for cattle pasture, according to Partnerships for Forests. With global demand for meat projected to rise by 50% between 2013 and 2050, this poses a huge problem for the environment. Beyond Meat founder Ethan Brown has said he is determined to help tackle climate change by merging science and business.