admin “The truly great leaders have an infectious passion for their mission, can articulate a clear vision, are outstanding at inspiring & empowering others, are restless for change, have an insatiable curiosity, and combine ambition and humility in equal measures,” opined Tessa Clarke, CEO and Founder of OLIO, the world’s only neighbour-to-neighbour food sharing app.
After a 15 year corporate career, Tessa Co-Founded OLIO, which is solving the problem of household food waste at scale. They do this by connecting users who have excess food, with neighbours living nearby who would like it. OLIO has acquired over 1 million users in just 3 years and its impact has been widely recognised, including by the United Nations who highlighted OLIO as a “beacon” for the world, demonstrating how to solve climate change at scale; and by Vivatech who awarded OLIO “Next European Unicorn”.
Idea becomes Reality
Tessa’s journey started just 4 years ago, when she was moving country and found herself on moving day with some good food that they hadn’t managed to eatF. And so she set off on a bit of a wild goose chase to try and find someone to give it to, and she failed miserably. Through the whole process, it seemed to her crazy that she should have to throw this food away when there were surely plenty of people within hundreds of metres of her who would love it, the problem was they just didn’t know about it. And so the idea of OLIO, a mobile app where neighbours can share surplus food, came about. She pitched the idea to her Co-Founder Saasha, and she immediately got it. They then researched the problem of food waste, and what they discovered shocked and horrified them – globally, one third of all food produced gets thrown away, meanwhile 800m people go to bed hungry each night, and if food waste were to be a country it would be the 3rd largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, after the USA and China. And as if that weren’t bad enough, they also learned that in countries such as the UK and US, over half of all food waste takes place in the home! Once they’d discovered all this, they were compelled to make OLIO a reality.
‘Inspiration Comes from Everywhere’
While asking Tessa to share her greatest inspiration in life, she reveals “I don’t have any one person who has been my greatest inspiration, as I take inspiration from absolutely everywhere. However, since founding OLIO I’ve found feedback from our users incredibly inspiring – especially in those very bleak moments of the entrepreneurial journey. I also find myself spurred on when I contemplate the world that my children – who are 4 and 6 years old – are due to inherit.”
Tessa’s Key to success
“I spent most of my childhood and early career desperately trying to ‘fit in’ and ‘be normal’ (I was brought up on a pretty isolated farm, far removed from the lives of my peers at school and work). And yet as I got older, I started to realise that it is precisely our differences that make us all so valuable and unique. So I would encourage any woman to try and find the confidence to recognise, rather than hide, their differences. Another really important realisation I’ve had is that most of the time, no-one will stop you from doing something – so the key is you deciding that you want something, and then seriously committing to it.”
‘Feel the Fear, And Do it Anyway’
I will never forget being terrified about taking on an assignment in my first job after University, and my best friend at the time said to me “feel the fear, and do it anyway”. I’m sure it’s a cliché, but it really is spot on! Nowadays, whilst I have many fears on a day to day basis, I don’t tend to dwell on them to be honest, as I’ve realised that’s extremely counterproductive, and quite frankly, life is too short.
Building Enduring Customer Relationships
According to Tessa, one of the most important foundations of an enduring customer relationship is authenticity. Being really clear up front about what your proposition to customers is, and then ensuring you live up to that in every single aspect of your business interactions, no matter how big or small.
IF not OLIO, then what?
While asking if she had the chance to start her career over again she expresses, “Without a doubt, I would’ve started working on something ‘meaningful’ far earlier in my career. It really has been a ‘zero to one’ experience working on OLIO as it has such a powerful mission and impact, and I wish I’d taken the time earlier on to dig deep and understand what really interests and fulfils me.”
Piece of Advice for Entrepreneurs
“First, when you’re starting a business it’s critical to have a learning mindset – your key objective at this stage is to experiment as quickly as possible, not to have all the answers. Second, you can de-risk massively by starting small and building from there – if you haven’t already, do read ‘The Lean Startup’, a great business building philosophy. Third, given that more capital provides more runway, and more runway generally equates to a greater probability of success, make sure to carefully scrutinise every expenditure you make – it’s surprising how much you can achieve with how little when you get creative. And finally, although entrepreneurship can be the most fulfilling thing in the world, it is also an incredibly long, tough journey, so make sure to carve out some time for yourself to preserve your health and sanity! It’s time well spent.”
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