The anti-plastic movement has finally gathered speed in 2018, and the sustainability of our food industries has been the hot topic of the year—but there’s a handful of entrepreneurs who have been championing sustainability long before it was trending on Twitter. With the recent UN Climate Report making eco-consciousness more important than ever, we want to celebrate the business founders and industry disrupters have been shaking up sustainability in Hong Kong. Check out Hong Kong’s leading eco-entrepreneurs from A-Z, learn more about their work and support their eco-initiatives.
Bobsy Gaia
The founder of plant-based MANA! and the vegetarian Bookworm Cafe, Bobsy is a Beirut-born, Hong Kong-based wellness entrepreneur. Since setting up shop in the 852 in the early 1990s, he’s become known across the city as a pioneer of sustainable living. An active member of the wellness community, he’s an advocate of plant-based living and all things eco-friendly and regularly makes appearances on sustainability panels like the Food’s Future Summit.
Christina Dean
Christina is the founder of Redress, an NGO dedicated to reducing waste and excess in the fashion industry, as well as co-founder of the upcycled brand, The R Collective. Encouraging consumers to shop sustainably and to be conscious of their purchasing power, she was voted one of Vogue’s most inspirational women and has been spreading her message across the world by delivering talks, seminars and workshops.
Cristina McLauchlan
A self-proclaimed ‘ethical publicist’, Cristina brought her sustainable, good-vibe startup from New Zealand to Hong Kong, after feeling unsatisfied with the amount of unconscious consumerism happening in the conventional corporate field. Cristina, who has many vibes, is an integral part of Hong Kong’s wellness community, and a holistic coach, speaker and yoga teacher who ensures the wellness community stays active by promoting those central to it. Her expertise led to the creation of The Vibe Tribe, a company that helps propel brands and individuals with a focus on conducting purposeful businesses sustainably in Hong Kong and the world like MANA! and Conscious Cinema.
David Yeung
David is the co-founder of Green Monday, a platform for advocating sustainable and mindful lifestyles, and to tackle questions surrounding climate change, animal welfare and more. David is a passionate activist and has seen the Green Monday movement take off in over 30 countries, including the launch of the brand’s plant-based dining and lifestyle offshoot, Green Common. He’s been recognised with awards such as “100 Most Creative People in China,” “Asia’s Top 100 Pioneers”, and “Top 10 Outstanding Young Persons Hong Kong” for his work in the sustainable food space.
Fanny Moizant
Hong Kong-based Parisian entrepreneur Fanny Moizant turned her love of luxe fashion into a sustainable business in 2009 when she co-founded Vestiaire Collective, a platform of pre-loved vintage and designer clothing and accessories. Allowing customers to clear out their wardrobes, and other savvy shoppers to purchase authenticated designer goods, the platform has made luxury shopping sprees more sustainable (and simple) than ever.
Fanny Moritz
A leading zero-waste advocate, Fanny is the founder of NO!W No Waste, an online platform and e-commerce site encouraging Hongkongers to live a greener and more sustainable life. She shares tips on how to play your part in fighting the plastic pandemic and sells a range of starter kits for zero-waste life on her platform.
Kate Jones
Taking on the notoriously unsustainable world of events, Kate Jones founded At Liberty in 2009, a creative consultancy that has sustainability at the forefront and helps brands towards more sustainable, long-term solutions for their events, design and strategies. Not quite enough for Kate, she then founded Get.Give, the Hong-Kong based eco-conscious boutique gifting service that tries to make gifting more sustainable.
Melissa Chu
A certified yoga instructor, Melissa saw an opportunity for Hong Kong’s active community to don conscious clothing. She founded Rumi X, an activewear clothing brand which boasts vibrant patterns in wearable designs, helping women stand out. The clothes are made using recycled water bottles and with coffee grounds weaved into the fibres. The focus on sustainability helps women look good, and feel good while they’re doing.
Peggy Chan
Peggy is the founder of one of Hong Kong’s most successful sustainable kitchens, Grassroots Pantry, which places an emphasis on making conscious and sustainable choices and educating consumers on these options including the impact of certain ingredients on the environment. Creatively using as much of a food as possible so that nothing goes to waste, Peggy is also conscious of portioning and menu options to minimise leftover food.
Sarah Fung
Sarah cut her teeth in the fashion industry, with 10 years spent at Lane Crawford and a degree from London’s Central St Martin’s under her belt. She set up HULA, an invitation-only consignment site that finds pre-loved items a new home, helping to reduce waste and donating five per cent of profits to HULA’s partner charities.
Sonalie Figueiras
Green Queen was launched in 2011 as a personal blog, but after seeing an increasing demand for eco-conscious information, founder Sonalie saw the site take flight. She has used her various business endeavours to try and make it easier for people to live more sustainably. Her other endeavour, Ekowarehouse, is an e-commerce site dedicated to sourcing ethical products for conscious consumers.
Stephanie Dickson
Singapore-based Stephanie is the founder of The Wedge Asia. After a successful few years in Hong Kong, the eco-conscious Green is the New Black was brought to Hong Kong, with the launch of the Conscious Festival. With her entrepreneurial spirit, she has been helping people wind their tribe, providing inspiration and information and helping people reclaim their own purchasing power by connecting wellness brands with like-minded people.
Tamsin Thornburrow
The anti-plastic movement has gained incredible momentum in 2018, but before it was in the public eye, Tamsin was already fighting the good fight. Founder and curator of home wear store Thorn and Burrow, which opened in 2015, Tamsin narrowed her focus to eco-products in 2017 when she founded Live Zero, Hong Kong’s first zero-waste bulk-buy store that encourages shoppers to bring their own tubs to reduce plastic waste. Retailing recycled kitchenware, reusable S’Well bottles and metal straws, both stores are making their mark in the world of sustainability.
