A BU graduate whose university experience inspired her to do more to halt the climate crisis has joined forces with her sister to launch a business focused on reducing waste.
Marketing and Communications graduate, Georgia Fearnley, credits a module on food marketing with a growing awareness of how global consumption is harming the planet. The module prompted Georgia to become a vegetarian, and then to explore other ways to live more sustainably. She has now launched searchBOSH with sister Francesca, to help more people rent items they might otherwise buy and later get rid of.
Georgia said: “Our current lifestyles have a big part to play in the environmental crisis we are facing. In fact, it’s thought that due to our excessive consumption habits – of continuously buying, using and disposing of items – we’ll be using three planets’ worth of resources by 2050.
“Our business takes the concept of borrow shops and moves it online to create a rental search engine. There is a whole network of businesses involved in leasing items – from cycles to DIY equipment – and our mission is to get everyone to hire, borrow and share. While the driving factor for us is environmental, we know there are other fantastic reasons to borrow rather than buy – including saving money, saving space in your home and saving time.”
The borrow shop – or library of things – concept is also credited with being good for social inclusion, by helping people to access items they might not otherwise be able to afford to buy.
While Georgia has a clear mission, the journey to launching a start up has been a steep learning curve. She said: “I never really set out to run my own business, but my marketing degree from BU has been incredibly useful when it comes to pitching to investors or presenting our vision to partners. I am so grateful to have the BU experience behind me, not least because it inspired me to try to tackle the issue in the first place. And while the marketing industry obviously has a role in creating the consumerist culture we are trying to reverse, I am a big believer in the opportunities to use marketing skills and knowledge for good.”
Georgia and Francesca are already making a noise in the start-up space, having made it through to the finals of a competition at London Tech Week. The business is now live and available for both businesses and renters at www.searchbosh.com.
