United States of America
Amy George
Amy George is CEO and Co-founder of BlueAvocado, a lifestyle
products company that creates everyday solutions to reduce
waste in our lives and landfills. To date the company has helped
millions avoid 152 million disposables and invest in over 700
micro-entrepreneurs with 1% of sales. George has led the
company through four years of consecutive year-over-year topline growth, and is responsible for forging retailer relationships
with Whole Foods, The Container Store, Amazon, Target, and Bed Bath&Beyond. A leader in
the B Corp community, BlueAvocado along with 1,000 organizations proactively uses the power
of business to deliver environmental, social and economic value. Over the past 20 years, George
has held a number of board and executive leadership roles in marketing, sales and sustainability.
She has helped multinationals reduce their carbon footprint with real-time software, made it
possible for micro-finance organizations to reach new investors with online tools, and help
Sustainable Food Center improve Ausitn's food security by launching a downtown farmer's
market. With her first Dell laptop, George pursued an MBA from The University of Texas at
Austin in entrepreneurship and environmental management and lives her dream every day at
BlueAvocado. George also holds a BA in African Literature in English and Poetry. She loves
being a mom to two young boys, Rowan and Wyatt, and serves as an advisor to a number of
start-up enterprises.
CONTRIBUTIONS - As an Entrepreneur, Leader or both. It is important you explain her
contribution to business and society.
Over the past 20 years Amy George has worked to use her power as a business leader to improve
society and the environment. Below are examples of that leadership.
Founder of BlueAvocado: George co-founded BlueAvocado in 2007 to make it easy and
affordable for everyday consumers to reduce their waste footprint with simple everyday solutions.
At the time San Francisco was the first city to pass a plastic bag ban, and while countries like
Australia and Hong Kong had passed bans, the US has been slow to adopt. BlueAvocado has
pioneered categories for retailers, from reusable bags to reusable snack, and been among the few
green brands in the home and housewares category. The company has secured placement at over
7,000 retailers from Walgreen’s to 7-11 to Safeway, making green products accessible to
American consumers, and impact achievable. The company is one of only 80 brands with
certification as a B corp, a designation that means the company works to the benefit of
employees, community and the environment to solve social and environmental problems, while
creating social value.
The company has partnered with celebrity Lauren Conrad and her
consumers to tap millennials and invite them to shift their behavior. George has also recruited
Ben & Jerry’s founder Jerry Greenfield to help shape the future direction of the company as a
social innovator to watch. Next year the company will launch partners with Patagonia and other
retail partners. To date the company has helped millions of consumers avoid over 152 million
disposables and use 1% of sales to provide 700 loans to women micro-entrepreneurs worldwide.
B Corp Community – Amy George became volunteer Chair of the Retail brands committee, a
group of 80 brands from Seventh Generation to Plum Organics to Happy Baby using the power
of business to create a better world. As Chair of the committee in 2013 – 2014 George helped
foster partnerships with national, regional and online retailers to secure shelf space, in-store
visibility and adoption of B brands. Key partnerships included National Cooperative Grocers
Association, New Leaf, New Seasons, and B Corp Shops. In each case study the retailers shares
an increase of sales of up to 125% as consumers preferred ‘better brands’ and thousands of
consumers were made aware of the B certification mark and what it represents. In 2015 Whole
Foods whole body will feature B Corps chain wide, and both Whole Foods and Target will use B
Corp certification as a screen for green brands. In addition the B brands created a Shopping List
tool for both buyers and consumers to use to drive demand and awareness for better business.
For her leadership to drive cooperative gain for all brands, George was awarded “Outstanding B
Corp Champion” by B Labs for 2014.
George continues to recruit and promote B Corp
certification to businesses of all sizes in Austin and around the world as a way to create systemic
change for her business ecosystem.
Austin, TX Community – George is a passionate social entrepreneur and has shaped her local
community in a number of ways. George served on the board of Sustainable Food Center for five
years, and was instrumental in the development of the Austin Farmer’s Market. It was a venture
that took two years to launch with investment from the city and support from farmers to create a
food-secure market. Now in its 12th year of operation, the farmer’s market is vital not only to the
city, but has spawned countless food-based entrepreneurial ventures that have grown into
multimillion dollar businesses from Maine Root to Grandma’s Hummus, and created jobs for the
local economy. In addition, the market has preserved the land for farmers and generations to
come, while providing fresh, locally sourced food and value-added products for thousands of
Austin families. In addition to the market, George helped to use her knowledge to shape
PeopleFund (formerly Austin CDC), a lender to at risk businesses and People’s Community
Clinic, a non-profit health care provider to at risk populations, and English at Work, a non-profit
provider of English as a second language classes. She also actively donates her time and wisdom
to Austin entrepreneurs from Zellies to Brain Juice, helping them build better products and
businesses.
George plans to spend her spare time expanding on the work of Nobel Prize winning economist
Elinor Ostrom, using the model of B Corps to overthrow the tragedy of the commons and
demonstrate the power of people to embrace the preservation of the commons. She also plans to
launch a few more businesses focused on resource preservation and poverty alleviation. The
world needs them to succeed.