Warm to People, Kind to Nature

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Gemma Guilera, co-founder, and director of Moving Beans, located in London, UK.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Moving Beans is a sustainable coffee company that aims to revolutionize the coffee pod industry. Coffee pods are very convenient and produce the perfect cup of coffee, but they are badly polluting. More than 60 billion pods are thrown in landfills each year around the world. Most of them end up in landfills and take more than 500 years to decompose.

We want to provide a more sustainable choice for those Nespresso pod coffee lovers without compromising convenience or quality. Moving Beans provides compostable and biodegradable coffee pods that taste delicious, with coffee that is ethically sourced and with operations that minimize C-footprint. And importantly, we relentlessly develop new materials with improved compostable characteristics.

Tell us about yourself

I am a chemist, an entrepreneur, and a mum. I am passionate about science and innovation, which is actually my background. When I was working in different organizations, I often got frustrated by the fact that things do not move as quickly as I would like and that ethical values are many times compromised. I thought that if you really want something to change, instead of waiting eternally for this to happen, you should give it a go yourself. I felt I could add my small grain to help build a more responsible society and contribute positively to the sustainability of our planet. I wanted to dedicate my time to doing something good for our society and the next generations to come. And I did not want to have to ever compromise on the ethical and sustainable values I believe in.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Creating a community of people that trust and believe in what you are doing. This gives me the energy to keep going.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Everything depends on you and your co-founder. You can never really give your brain time off. From my experience, you just keep going, and you give little thought about yourself. You always prioritize family and work. You need to be conscious that this is your reality, and you need to treat your person as a very important asset of your business. Your mind and body need to be taken care of, and this is, again, up to you. Prioritize yourself.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Take one step at a time and keep going. This will bring you very far. There is no magic. Break complex issues into small, digestible tasks.
Learn to prioritize. Focus on the things which are important for you and for your business. Set up a metric/s that defines what “good” looks like for you. This will help you decide on what tasks need to be done first, which will make a difference.
Be yourself and never compromise on your values.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.movingbeans.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/movingbeanscoffee/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/movingbeans/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/moving-beans/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.