Archie Wilkinson: Individual and corporate impact for cleaner, fairer and circular industries
This week our TTI Interview Series covers our member Archie Wilkinson. Archie is a social innovator, CEO of Lifesaver Power and 2021 B-Corp Ambassador. Alongside his astonishing career, he is a sports enthusiast, public speaker and dad.
In this interview, Archie talks about the battery industry and his vision to make it fairer, cleaner and circular. He calls for businesses to incorporate impact in order to survive and thrive, and politicians to keep going to save the planet.
B-Corporation for a fairer, cleaner and circular battery industry
Archie, please tell us a little about the work you do and how it intersects with the impact space.
I run a B-Corp called Lifesaver who are focused on building better batteries. We are on a mission to create a fairer, cleaner and circular battery industry for people and the planet.
Fairer wages. Fairer ingredients from ethical mines with no child labour.
Cleaner materials made of ocean plastic. Clean, renewable energy in every power bank saving 13 grams of CO2. Carbon negative company.
Circular service by renting to reduce battery waste. Modular design allows units to be repaired. Upcycled after use to make off-grid solar lights to areas with no electricity in partnership with Liter of Light.
As the 199th certified B-corporation in the UK, Lifesaver was founded in 2018 to reduce battery waste through a hire & return model across live events & venues. Lifesaver has reached over 40,000 customers by sharing batteries in 11 countries at high profile events and venues including Formula 1, The Ryder Cup, Live Nation, Network Rail, The O2 & The Excel.
Since the pandemic saw a significant adjustment to the business Lifesaver has donated 1,455 power banks to 18 UK hospitals, partnered with the World Land Trust, developed their ocean plastic power bank and supported the launch of the Fair Cobalt Alliance as the only UK company alongside Tesla, Volvo, Fairphone, Glencore to eliminate child labour and improve working conditions in DRCongo mines.
People, planet and future
What is your definition of “impact”?
Better for people and planet, and profit now and in the future.
Education, politicians, and individual and corporate impact
Based on your experience, what would you say is one of the most important issues that needs to be solved over the next 10 years?
I think the education of our children is the crucial nail to our future, and this needs improvement with a focus on climate change.
Politicians need to step up and not delay events like COP26 just because of a pandemic. The rest of the world has gone virtual so there is no reason our policymakers can't do too.
There needs to be a method to quantify individual and corporate impacts on people and the planet, and this needs to be rewarded. We need to shift from the bottom line (shareholder) to triple bottom line (stakeholder). But we need to create a measurable framework.
Ethical and fair raw material supply for a greener economy
Within your work, what would you say is the biggest challenge in the impact space (standing in the way of efficient and fast solutions)?
Bloomberg estimates that by 2030 global demand for cobalt could be 47 times more than it was in 2017, with the DRCongo producing 67% of this. A focus on ensuring that the supply of raw materials is ethical and fair is vital as we move to a greener economy. The Fair Cobalt Alliance is a start to this but we need more stakeholders involved.
Fair, clean & circular
Archie, tell us more about how you measure & quantify impact, and about the long-term vision, you have for your work.
Our long term vision is to try and get the $27bn power bank industry to think differently about the materials in their product. Make it fairer, cleaner and circular.
Impact and purpose
Through your work, what are some of the misconceptions you’ve noticed regarding what “impact” is all about?
Some people think that impact is a box-ticking exercise and can be sugar-coated. In my view, if you are to survive and thrive in the next 10 years, impact, purpose and having a positive impact on the environment needs to be at the core of the business.
This is what will differentiate companies and push them to continuously be better.
