Sustainability for Small Businesses, One Practical Step at a Time, with Umesh Kathirvel

A lot of small businesses want to do something about sustainability. They just don't know where to start, or they can't afford a consultant. Umesh Kathirvel is building a way in.

Umesh is head of product and delivery at Teckollab, where his team builds software for purpose-driven founders, and co-founder of StepZero, a free app and nonprofit CIC that gives small businesses a practical action plan across eight sustainability pillars.

Erica and Becks talk to him about how a checklist from the Cotswolds People Planet Pint meetup grew into an app. He shares what a conversation with the Royal Agricultural University taught him about local procurement, and why StepZero now has a community space for pool buying and swapping surplus. He also explains why they chose GreenPT, a lower-impact AI, and how designing for short attention spans shapes everything they build.

Then Becks spins the Pinwheel and lands on Policies. Umesh explains why a good intention only sticks once it's written into policy.

Try StepZero free at stepzero.eco.

The Purpose Pinwheel Podcast is co-hosted by Erica Mackay (The Marketing Detective Agency) and Becks Neale (The Brand Naturalist, Inkshed Ltd).

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