Impactful Stories #1 : Motion Nutrition

Over the coming months we’ll be bringing you stories from business leaders who are putting environmental and social impact at the heart of their business. We hope to inspire and surprise you, showing you that impact comes in many different shapes and sizes, and businesses of all stripes are building commercially, socially and environmentally sustainable organisations. Sign up to get these in your inbox here.

First up we speak to Joe Welstead, co-founder & CEO of Motion Nutrition.

What is Motion Nutrition?

Motion Nutrition is here to help you stress less, sleep deeper and live happier. We have developed a range of supplements, including nootropics, protein and sports supplements, that help your body and mind energise, flow and recharge in a completely natural and healthy way. We use organic ingredients, and avoid all sweeteners and artificial additives. We’ve taken a no compromise approach to sustainability we’re moving towards being entirely plastic free and we’re already 80% of the way there. We’re also one of The Startups 100 2020, curated by startups.com.

Why did you start Motion?

Before starting Motion, I was a professional athlete for the Scottish national swimming team, representing them at the commonwealth games in 2014. Training 25 hours a week, I needed supplements to keep my mind sharp and focused and to support my physical strength. I spent a long time researching the best supplements available in the market, but I was left frustrated by the quality of the products. I struggled to find products without artificial ingredients so I decided to make them myself, working with the best nutritionists and neuroscientists over a number of years to develop Motion Nutrition.

Why is social and environmental impact so important to you when building Motion?

Our focus is on our customer, we want to make it easier for them to make the right decisions about their health and wellbeing. Not only are our products great for your mental and physical health, they are also guilt free when it comes to environmental impact, which is another component of holistic wellbeing. When you’re exposed to so many choices of competing products we want it to be easy to pick us.

What’s been the impact of having these social and environmental commitments?

First up, since ditching plastic packaging in early 2019, we’ve already saved over 300,000 plastic pouches from entering our eco-systems. By choosing glass jars and removing plastic scoops, we’ve avoided several tonnes’ worth of plastic waste — and that compounds over time. But these are secondary benefits, to my mind. The first and foremost impact is building happier lives. Countless times, we’ve heard of customers whose lives have been transformed since using our products thanks to more energy and less anxiety. This is not just thanks to the benefits our products provide, but also because of what our customers have been able to leave behind — choices they’ve been able to move away from. For some, this can be a reduced reliance on caffeine. For others, it might be that they’ve stopped taking their anti-anxiety medication. (under the guidance of their doctor).

What were the biggest challenges trying to develop and embed these values into the business?

It took us a long time to find the right packaging that met the needs of our customers and our sustainability commitments. The market trends were showing a demand for single serve packaging, which traditionally would have created a lot of plastic waste. We searched until we found a way to develop packaging that could be composted at home with ease. We felt that we were quite early in asking manufacturers about biodegradable materials so it took a long time to find something just right.

What are your next impact goals?

We’re on a mission to educate consumers on sweeteners and other hidden sugars. For too long brands have been able to get away with health claims while lathering their products with artificial sweeteners with known negative side effects. This needs to change, even if we turn die-hard sweet tooths away.

We’re developing a refill system to reduce our packaging waste and shipment footprint. In a short amount of time, when you subscribe to our nootropics, you’ll receive one beautiful glass jar, followed by compostable refill pouches every month, that’ll be very light and slide straight through your mailbox. Other brands are taking a circular approach where the customer returns an empty jar to get a refill: this is suboptimal due to the doubling down on shipping.

Next, we want to make fun, sustainable merch. Bright, bold and purposeful. Not throwaway merch! Things you’ll actually want in your life, and use more than on the walk back from a launch party with a goodie bag in your hand.

What would you say to other entrepreneurs who are curious about embedding impact into their business strategy?

Make sure it’s not a tag along purpose. If it’s a footnote, it’ll be obvious. If it’s a last minute edit, it’ll be obvious. Don’t be an oil company doing a bit of CSR. Rethink everything from the ground up. This is not only the healthy way to approach it, it’s also much more fun, because it automatically gives you a sense of direction when perhaps there wasn’t any right at the start.

The business case for doing this is clear. It probably won’t be the reason people buy your product, but it’ll make it easier for them to choose you.

Be mindful that whatever impact you choose to have on the world, it doesn’t just appeal to you and people like you. Consider the perspectives of other people, other cultures, and how your actions, words and images may affect them too. This is not about pleasing everyone: it’s about making sure what you choose to do genuinely has a positive impact.

Where can we find out more about Motion?

Take our sleep quiz and compare your sleep quality with others your age. You’ll receive personalised tips on improving your sleep hygiene over the next 10 days. Completely for free.

I love twitter. Take the quiz and tell me how you sleep @joewelstead

We hope you enjoyed this interview with Joe. Let us know what you think either on Twitter or drop us an email hello@impactful.world. To get these in your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here. We support business leaders to think about how they can have more social and environmental impact through their business, we’d love to hear from you if you think we can help!