PRESS RELEASE
DATE: 20/11/13 (embargoed until 00.01 on 25/11/13)
LONDON’S NEXT GREEN BUSINESS GURUS UNVEILED AT FESTIVAL HALL
PLANS to turn waste coffee into fuel, grow ‘edible’ Overground stations and help people rent
out their wardrobes will be unveiled at the launch of this year’s London Leaders programme.
The London Leaders, backed by Mayor of London Boris Johnson, have been selected to
showcase how green entrepreneurs and businesses can improve quality of life in the capital
and boost the economy.
In total 12 individuals have been chosen for the London Leaders programme, which is run by
the London Sustainable Development Commission (LSDC), the body which advises the
Mayor on sustainability issues in the capital.
The new 2013-2014 London Leaders will be unveiled at the Royal Festival Hall on 25
November hosted by Ed Gillespie, LSDC Commissioner and founder of Futerra.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “It’s vitally important to support and nurture the
next generation of entrepreneurs. Boosting London’s status as one of the world’s most
forward thinking and sustainable cities, these green trail blazers have the ideas, vision and
innovation to make life cleaner, greener, and even better in this city and beyond.”
This year’s Leaders include Arthur Kay whose company bio-bean plans to collect waste
coffee grounds to turn into fuel – an idea that won him cash and support through the Mayor
of London’s Low Carbon Prize in 2012.
Arthur said: “It’s a real thrill to become a London Leader. I want to use this platform to show
that something we consider as a waste product, coffee grounds, is in fact a wonderful source
for biofuels and anything but waste. bio-bean hopes to prove that green entrepreneurship in
London is not only an economically attractive proposition, but is environmentally sound and
socially equitable”.
Fiona Disegni hopes her company, Rentez-Vous, will encourage style-lovers to rent out their
favourite clothes to each other, reducing textile consumption, and to help emerging
designers to share their own creations.
The boss of the online peer to peer fashion rental business said: “When you think that 70 per
cent of an average wardrobe never gets worn there’s a huge market for renting our clothes
to one another.
“It’s a great business opportunity for people who love style and it also reduces the
environmental impact of fashion. I’m hoping that being a London Leader will allow me to take
my business city-wide.”
This year’s London Leaders will also have access to expert mentors to help get their projects
off the ground and master classes in business planning, finance, developing leadership and
communications.
The Leaders in full:
Arthur Kay: Bio-Bean (turning waste coffee into fuel)
Dirk Bischof: Green Enterprise Business Incubator (hubs & networks for green businesses)
Will Hines: Reseed (turning waste till receipts into trees) – the winning project in the Mayor’s
Low Carbon Prize 2013
Agamemnon Otero: Energy Garden (community vegetable gardens at Overground stations)
Steven Dring: Zero Carbon Food (radical approach to commercial food growing, disused
spaces in central London, using LED lighting and hydroponics)
Emma Snow: Care Compass (web-portal to support people with life limiting conditions)
Moni Razzaque: Ceiling Rose motion sensor (sensor to turn lights off and cut energy bills)
Helen Steer: Brixton Beer and beyond (community growing and beer production in Brixton)
Sam Smith: Sutton Community Farm (a flag ship and catalyst for peri-urban farming)
Dave Ravel: Loft zone (stops insulation being squashed and becoming ineffective)
Fiona Disegni: Rentez-Vous (online peer to peer clothes rental business)
Jane Langley: Edible Films (environmental short film festival)
This year’s London Leaders programme will be run in partnership with Guardian Sustainable
Business and Central Working which provides the ideal environment for growing businesses
in the capital.
ENDS
For media enquiries contact Alistair Clay, Arc Seven Communications, t – 01373
301904, m – 07919 574180, e – alistair.clay@arcseven.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information on this year’s London Leaders visit www.londonsdc.org/londonleaders
or follow the LSDC on twitter (@londonSDC) for the latest updates.

The London Leaders Programme was set up by the London Sustainable Development
Commission (LSDC) and launched in October 2007. The programme brings together
sustainability leaders from across London’s sectors and from all walks of life, each
committing to undertake a project to demonstrate sustainability in action.

The LSDC was appointed in 2002 to promote sustainable development in London and
advise on the sustainability of city-wide strategies. Further information on the work of the
Commission can be found here: www.londonsdc.org

London Leaders is supported by the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, through Team
London, his vision for volunteering in the capital. For more information on Team London
please go to www.london.gov.uk/teamlondon

Previous Leaders include Wayne Hemingway MBE, whose 'pop up shop' project
provided free retail space for new London businesses; Dr Ben Todd who created a new
ultra-low carbon theatre; Lotti Henley, 88, who aims to cut food waste in the capital via
an interactive map; Zoe Robinson from The Good Wardrobe, a free style-sharing
community hub; and Abdi Gas whose project is London Deaf Learners, an initiative to
help the capital’s young deaf community overcome the barriers that prevent them from
applying to university or for jobs, and instead fulfil their potential.

There are now over 70 London Leaders forming an alumni network of experience and
expertise that the programme also seeks to harness for the benefit of London.