Prosperity, Entrepreneurship, and (re)building the Future

Fast Forward 2030 Europe

Patrick Vickers

When Professor Henrietta Moore and Arthur Kay co-founded Fast Forward 2030, they knew a new generation of transformative entrepreneurs could help solve some of the biggest problems we face, and wanted to start an organisation which would inspire and empower people to start these businesses.

This week, On 29th September as part of the Bartlett Together festival, Fast Forward 2030 hosted an event called Prosperity, Entrepreneurship, and (re)building the future, which was designed to deliver on this aim of inspiring and empowering the creation of transformative entrepreneurship. The event, attended by over 800 people, started with presentations from two Fast Forward 2030 Board Members - Selin Yigitbasi and Ehab Sayed.

Selin took us through the story of how she founded Goodsted, a platform which “aims to build a collaborative citizenry” by connecting businesses and organisations delivering the Sustainable Development Goals with the people (and skill sets) they need. She described how their aim is to create relationships that are beyond transactional, and are instead based on shared values and a shared vision for the future. You can sign up to a challenge at https://www.goodsted.com/.

Ehab delivered a sweeping presentation leaving viewers considering our role as a species in this particular moment - when our economic models have us hurtling towards extinction and climate collapse. He presented the principles of biomimetics (similar to biomimicry) as a new paradigm for business. His business, BIOHM, is doing exactly this in the construction and built environment industry. From mycelium-based insulation to edible building materials, BIOHM are showing how learning from the wisdom of nature can lead to regenerative, market-competitive alternatives to the current state of construction.

These stories belong to just two of our board members. We have many more - from England to Lebanon - and we are currently assembling a Kenya-based group too. The long-term vision is one of different hubs of transformative entrepreneurs re-imagining, re-designing, and re-building the systems around them for a secure and prosperous future.

We are now working on a spin-off event for the most enthusiastic participants who want to create a transformative business. Using a selection of the The Mayor’s Entrepreneur Competition Challenges, we are designing an event which will help people come together and collaborate on the creation of new ideas which could become transformative enterprises. If you would like to explore your potential as a transformative entrepreneur, this event is for you! Please sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about it.

Finally, we are looking for collaborators and funders to help us on our mission to inspire and empower people to start transformative enterprises. Just £5,000 could help us identify transformative entrepreneurs and bring their business to life. If you are part of an organisation that may be interested, please get in touch by emailing me at patrick.vickers@ucl.ac.uk, or emailing info@fastforward2030.org.

Image credit: Osman Rana on Unsplash