Episode 47 Joanna Bingham of Footprints Africa

Joanna Bingham, the founding CEO of Footprints Africa, is focussed on using the circular economy to support sustainable, scalable and inclusive approaches to the development of local African economies.Joanna is also a founding partner of the CE360 Alliance, and leads the Ghana chapter for the African Circular Economy Network. She studied at Bradford University, the first degree-level circular economy course, supported by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Through Footprints Africa, Joanna runs a 6-month B-Corp programme to support SMEs who are positive about improving their environmental and social impact. Having worked in the investment industry for 9yrs, Joanna says “she is schooled in critical analysis and scepticism and is passionate about embedding social purpose in everyday activity.”We talk about how the circular economy has huge potential to uplift people from poverty and to create meaning, how there are two ways of engaging with the circular economy – out of necessity, and to innovate – and how Footprints Africa’s B Corp programme supports entrepreneurs. Podcast host Catherine Weetman is a circular economy business advisor, workshop facilitator, speaker and writer.  Her award-winning book: A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business includes lots of practical examples and tips on getting started.  Catherine founded Rethink Global in 2013, to help businesses use circular, sustainable approaches to build a better business (and a better world).Stay in touch for free insights and updates... Read on for a summary of the podcast and links to the people, organisations and other resources we mention. You can subscribe to the podcast series on iTunes, Google Podcasts, PlayerFM, Spotify, TuneIn, or search for "circular economy" in your favourite podcast app.  Stay in touch to get free insights and updates, direct to your inbox... Links we mention in the episode: * A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business -buy from any good bookseller, or direct from the publisher Kogan Page, which ships worldwide (free shipping to UK and US) and you can use discount code CIRCL20 to get 20% off: https://www.koganpage.com/CircEcon2 * Save our Soil online conference 24-26 Feb 2021 https://www.save-our-soil.org/ * Circular Conversations – Catherine and Peter contribute to the conversation on how the circular economy can create social value https://www.circularconversations.com/expert-series/how-can-the-circular-economy-create-social-value * Joanna on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-bingham-b9062723/