Original subtitles

That's a great photo.

Perfect!

So these are made from old jumpers or insulation

that would have gone to landfill.

I used to be driven by this thought

that I'll go out and prove everyone wrong.

Yes, we might have pushed you to work hard then

because I don't want you to strike the West.

This platform could change the world.

Is it specifically for clothes bought from here?

No, we've built it so it could be universal.

Seen.

Let me give you a card.

The second-hand market is the fastest-growing.

This is the launch of our campaign,

we're raising £300,000.

Today, I'll be pitching to 200 investors.

This is so important for us.

It's the final pitch today.

Thanks, everyone, for coming bright and early.

So we're reimagining the shop today, launching our autumn/winter line.

So, Roberta, you're in charge of merchandising.

So, what's going in the windows? Sticks.

OK. Lots of foliage.

OK. It's going to really lead into all the autumnal colours.

Cool.

And Aoife, you are in charge of making sure the right stock's out

and the online orders. Here to help you. Cool!

My shop is a independent ethical-fashion retailer.

We want to make it really easy for people to make green

and socially sound choices as they shop, so we do the job

of, like, scouting brands

and good-quality products that we know are ethically made.

So these are made from end-of-life wool, old jumpers or insulation

that would have gone to landfill

and then made into just really gorgeous blankets and scarves.

Yeah, I think it's so cool.

I started it after working for a NGO in Ethiopia.

In my spare time, I would visit markets where stallholders

would be selling clothes that were being made right behind them,

so seamstresses would be sitting right behind the stalls.

And they were creating beautiful products.

And I really fell in love with the idea of telling people

back in the UK,

there is a lot of art and craft and skill in Ethiopia,

and I really wanted to see

what I could do to support makers

all over the world.

Lip balms. Oh, they're cute.

Oh, my gosh, they're lovely, aren't they?

Absinthe lip balm. Oh, nice.

Do they have real absinthe in them?

I think so.

Mm!

When we first started the business, one of the first things

that we did was write a little business plan and go to our local

bank and ask for a meagre thousand pounds.

What we were pitching was this idea that fair trade would become

the norm of shopping, that consumers would pay more

for sustainable products.

But our bank felt that not only was it a bad business idea,

but that we ourselves weren't going to be able to run it

and therefore refused us.

Hello, how can I help?

I think a lot of people would have given up at that point.

Mm-hm.

But when I was younger, I used to be driven by this thought that,

you know, I'll go out and prove everyone wrong.

So I took out the £1,500 overdraft myself.

Yeah, we've got the sports bra, that's the recycled activewear.

OK, bye, bye.

Our first store was a pop-up, just straight out of uni,

and it was really fun.

That went really well.

We saved enough to be able to open a store which is kind of half

the size of this one, but much more expensive than the pop-up.

So it soon hits you that you need to be able to, like, run a proper

business and not just have fun.

And then we opened this store here

and, yeah, it was challenging.

It's taken seven years for us to get to the turnover we're at now,

which is about £700,000.

So I'm packing some online orders

which, since the pandemic,

has, like, increased majorly.

I love seeing what people put together.

I always get a bit enthusiastic

with the little handwritten notes that we write.

Oh, my gosh, this will look amazing!

I'm currently putting together some window displays, so I gathered

all this from the side of the road and then went to our local florist

for these autumnal extras.

Can you give me a hand? Yeah.

Vidmantas is my partner, both in life and in business.

So how come that isn't level to that end? What's going on?

No, it's OK.

I tend to do kind of more creative roles, where he tends to do

more numerical roles.

Yeah, that's not a good way to do it, Vidmantas.

Vidmantas has just been a rock, really, but he is a pain in my butt!

Pleased, yeah, it will do the job.

So we're just in Reading at my family's home.

I've come home for the weekend because it's been a long week

and hoping to get just a chill time, have some food with my parents

and just relax.

So I was born in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia,

and my family migrated to the UK when I was five.

We sought asylum here.

Hello!

How are you? I'm good. How are you?

Something smells good.

I've got an older sister and a younger brother,

and I love them a lot.

In Ethiopia, they say that hunger makes... A good meal.

Yeah, a meal.

So my dad's, like, really jovial and fun.

My mum, she's into fashion.

I always think she should be a blogger.

She's got loads of clothes and she loves to cook.

Chicken toes. Hmm.

This is one of our traditional food for occasional time.

Looks delicious.

My parents didn't have easy lives and they wanted us to have security

and they wanted more for us.

Yeah, they're strongest people I know.

These are my three gifts.

The eldest one is Bethlehem,

and that one's Natty

and the middle one is Kalkidan.

I call her Sanjo.

The reason was that there was a film that we have seen,

me and her mum, back in Ethiopia about a person called Sanjo.

Mum, do you need a hand?

He was trying to get more than anyone will expect him to get.

That's why when we saw her growing up, then we said,

Sanjo is the right name.

This is Sanjo when she got her first degree

in politics, philosophy and economics,

and this is me when I was at University of Hull

to do my master's.

I feel like they gave up a lot for us.

My parents have taken jobs in the UK that are below their skill sets.

Mum, this looks amazing. I can't wait to get stuck in.

My mum works as a hospital carer and cleaner,

and my father works as a security guard.

That's enough, yeah.

This is very good.

Yeah, I prepared yesterday, but I cooked this morning.

When's the last time Dad cooked, Mum?

This week. No, not this week.

Oh, no, no!

When we grew up, I thought my parents were the strictest parents

in the world because they would make us study every day. So we'd finish

school and have to go home and then do our two hours of studying

every single day.

But now I feel like they gave us, like, a foundation for understanding

how to navigate the world, and I'm really grateful to them for that.

Ask any African man,

we have got two or three specific, you know,

qualifications that we aspire our children to have.

That is engineer, doctor, lawyer,

but Kalkidan is a business owner.

Now I will say what she did is better

because I know from helping others, that makes her happy,

which makes me happy and proud.

I'm glad that we grew up with high expectations. Like, it was hard,

obviously, but I'm glad that I'm, like, a resilient

and capable person.

Yeah. And that's because you guys have created a really lovely home

for me and Beth and Nat. Yes, we will.

We might have to admit we might have pushed you

more than necessary

because it's my fear, who will push my children in order

to work hard because I don't want them to strike the West.

For an immigrant person,

a black woman -

with this, very hard to put your feet in business.

I know it's hard work.

For sure, but I think, like, I've got...

I've got a lot of support.

Yeah, yeah.

Don't cry.

No, I'm fine.

Everything will be fine.

I'm good.

I often wonder, like, why I've done business, because of course

it's very risky.

There have been many years where I have not had any money,

and I think, for me, it's because, yeah, my family is just a rock

and they're really stable and sound and risk-averse.

So, yeah, they're wonderful.

Shall we open the door today, get some fresh air?

Yeah, we've all got jumpers. Yeah, yeah.

I've literally brought a bag full of old clothes and just swapped,

like, seven items, so I feel like I've got a new wardrobe now.

Although I think my daughter's also choosing something for me!

So I've got a Laura Ashley cardigan, old Gap dress

which doesn't fit me any more.

I just want it out of my wardrobe.

You observe customers over time and you realise, OK, well,

these customers are coming in and they're buying four or five

of the same type of item, or maybe they're buying it each year

and you have to ask the question, OK, well, what are they doing

with what they've purchased before?

But it's that kind of questioning that really led me to think

about, what are the opportunities for the second life of the products

that we sell?

I've borrowed £50,000 in order to develop the pilot product

for Shwap, which is essentially a web app.

So, reselling clothes.

Although there are lots of apps currently that you can resell

clothes on, this platform is different.

This platform could change the world.

What I'm really passionate about is environmental progress,

and the fashion industry is putting this huge weight on the planet

because businesses overproduce.

And the reason they overproduce is because they only make money

when they sell new items.

They make their profit on that initial sale.

And the problem with that is, basically, there's finite resources

on the world - like, there's only so much land to produce clothing.

There's only so much water to dye jeans.

And there's only so much land at the end of an item

to put a garment into landfill.

My ambition, what I hope, is that every high-street shop

in the UK will use this platform for resale.

So whenever a second-hand product sells on our marketplace,

we pay brands a commission on that sale.

What that means for high-street retailers is that they're going to

earn profit in the secondary market as items are resold.

So we're going to give her £5 store credit for the top.

But we're going to sell these both on and then pay Lizzie

the commission once we have done so.

Thank you so much.

So what we built is a way to integrate your purchases

with your digital wardrobe, and if you want to resell,

you already have the information of that product here for you

and then you can set a price and list it

onto the marketplace through a click of a button.

So I brought a couple of things that had been just sitting

in the bottom of my wardrobe. Yeah, it's gorgeous.

We've got two options, really.

We can manage the resale for you, or you could do it at home yourself.

We hope over time to add other services like repairing

and recycling and donating clothes there, as well.

Is it specifically for clothes that I bought from here?

No, that's the really exciting thing.

We've built it so it could be universal.

Yeah, it's so exciting to see people here and just get their feedback

for the app.

Basically, what we're trying to do now is raise money in order

to take our product to market

and hope that we can attract people to it.

Today, I'll be pitching to 200 investors.

It's going to be an online Zoom pitch...

Hi.

..and we've come here to the science park to some offices to get super

practised and prepared.

Wish me luck.

So the pitch is at 11.30.

That just gives us an hour to go through the slide deck,

do a spell check.

What we're going to do is give away a percentage of our company

in return for some cash.

Within the next three months, I'd like us to have raised £300,000

and then within the next six months,

I'd like us to have closed in the million pound.

Hi, guys. So, as I said in my post today,

this is the launch of our campaign.

We're raising £300,000 and we're going to turbo boost

circularity in retail.

So send me positive vibes, please.

Bye!

So this is for our Instagram followers.

You know, we have thousands of customers who... Believe in you.

..who believe in us.

That money is going to allow us to build the core team that we need.

So we're going to hire a marketing person, a salesperson,

some more product developers, some software engineers.

This is a slide that I added at the end.

Currently, our technology can integrate with 200,000 stores,

but with this investment we'll be able to connect

with any store in the UK.

Well, I'm going to practise a pitch to you.

Then I'll time myself as well

because it needs to be under five minutes.

The current model of retail in business isn't working.

This is so important for us.

If investors think this is a good business model,

I'm so confident we will raise what we need and more.

So, yeah, so I guess I've got to do a good job!

Six minutes.

We need to get it down by, like, one minute.

Don't, leave, get out, get out, don't disturb me.

OK.

Hi.

Hi, there. How are you? How are you doing?

Yeah, really well, thank you.

We're going to be, you know, very soon so numbers wise,

you had 200 registered for the session.

So we will... No pressure, then!

Can we just check the sound levels

on the emergency backup video?

Yeah, here we go.

This meeting is being recorded.

She's only got five minutes,

and she could talk about it for an hour, so just need to keep calm.

Yeah, she'll be fine.

Final pitch today is from Kalkidan.

Kalkidan, if could come on to camera and share your screen.

Yes.

Switch your camera on.

Hello. Hello, everybody.

Yeah, my name is Kalkidan.

I'm... What?

Hello?

Yep, the worst possible thing has happened!

Did you sign out? Yep.

I think Kalkidan accidentally left the room.

Like, how did that happen?

We've actually just launched...

So they're playing the pitch recording.

It was recorded earlier, just in case

of any technical difficulties.

In their digital catalogue, users can get itemised information...

I don't know what happened.

I think I turned off my Zoom, like some sort of Zoom novice,

as though I haven't been on Zoom every single day for two years.

So our team has found...

It's just a shame because obviously

he pitch has developed a lot since we recorded last week,

and...yeah.

..hundreds of thousands of products and seen many of them listed...

That's all we've got time for, obviously.

So thank you to everyone that's pitched today.

And the reason that I think I closed it is because I really was trying

not to run over so I was turning on my phone timer.

When I clicked at my phone time and pressed the back button

and then I exited the same call!

Oh, my goodness, I'm so stupid!

Yeah, I think... Well, I think we're done.

I think actually they need this office room.

So I think we've got to pack up and go, yeah.

Come on, let's bounce.

Yeah, let's go. OK. Bye!

That pitch was a bit of a disaster,

but you're constantly on a learning curve because as soon as you've

figured something out, you have to figure out the next thing

to keep pushing forward.

So that's everyone's first outfit.

All right, let me get changed.

So today we're here on a photo shoot with capturing content

for our autumn/winter launch.

The content is going to go across our social media,

on our website.

I am going to be modelling today, which is exciting.

So we're going to do some serious posey ones.

But then I want to do some more, like, smiley, candid shots as well.

Yeah, gorgeous. Great.

Do we have the wind speed for the blowing hair?

Yeah, maybe. Or I'll blow on you!

I feel kind of shy modelling the clothes.

Being in front of the camera

is something that always makes me a bit nervous.

Oh, my goodness.

I'm stuck.

But I really want people who, you know, aren't a size ten

and who are brown, to see the clothes on them.

I'm all of those things,

so I think, you know, I might as well get in front of the camera

and be a part of the shoot as well.

Nice, guys.

People love to see Kalkidan wearing the clothes.

She's actually, like, really honed her modelling skills

since her first, like, few snaps on Insta.

I quite like that.

If you all look up, it's really nice.

Perfect. Perfect.

Although we've got a bricks-and-mortar store

here in Exeter, most of our business is online.

That's a great photo.

So we post images of our clothes on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest.

Where do you want me?

Are we thinking Kalkidan in the middle?

Yeah. Get my best side.

And we use our channels to tell potential customers

that we're really passionate about environmental progress,

social progress,

as much as we're passionate about fashion.

A little bit more movement, I think.

Hands in the grass are always nice here,

like the beginning of Gladiator!

What we're trying to do is show people a lifestyle that would

benefit them as well as ourselves.

What we don't want is for people to think of us

as, like, this really aspirational, not-attainable brand.

The more they relate, the more they buy.

Social media is hugely important to our business model.

It can drive over 50% of our business through the web store

and through our shop.

This could generate, I guess,

numerically, a good, like, £40,000 £50,000 worth of sales for us.

Oh, that looks great.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Kalkidan, if we could get you, have the brand on brand?

Sure, sure.

There is a bedsheet there.

Could you hold these, and then I'll take the blind tests?

My clothes horse.

Just have to keep a look out for me. OK.

It's funny because it's like, let's find a discreet place to change.

The only thing I'm missing is a mirror.

Well, this is what good boyfriends do on tests.

OK, I'm done.

That's cute.

Yeah, I feel like it's been a good shoot.

Can you, like, do some looking back?

We'll see the photos on Monday,

pick out the ones that we really like, and then start telling some

content stories over the next couple of weeks.

So let's do a selfie.

I'll take, like, 50. Yeah!

To create a business, it's a full-time job.

Splitting my week between the store and looking for potential investors.

Networking is really important for us to find people who potentially

could invest in the company.

You know, nervousness and excitement are like the same emotion

or the same chemical. Are they? Yeah.

So, yeah, we've got to, like, learn to trick ourselves into thinking

all of our nervousness is actually excitement, yeah.

Thank you. Thank you.

This will be, I guess, the first type of thing

like this that we've been to.

Our resale marketplace pays brands

as their customers resell products...

I've got to, like, really present the businesses

well and do a good job.

Hi, we're here for the Tech Nation.

What's your name? Kalkidan Legesse, with a K.

We'll go up, shall we? Yeah.

Let's do this, OK.

Honestly, I literally have forgotten everything

about my business right now!

I can't remember anything that I have to say.

It will come back. I think so, yeah.

So we connect brands to the secondary market of their products.

OK. And we pay them as customers resell their stuff.

You know, we're trying to prevent things from being thrown away.

I've got to check it out. Oh, let me give you a card. OK.

You've come prepared. Yeah.

Hello? Hi?

Can everyone, like, sit down?

So, like, welcome.

Yeah.

Can I just say, like, we've probably got the most diverse cohort ever.

We found two companies in Scotland, even.

Amazing! LAUGHTER

To be in a room full of people, like, similar age,

similar background, doing some really exciting things and business,

things like that just make you feel

like your journey is more attainable because you see, you know,

individuals who come from the same background as you.

Hello, everyone, my name is Kalkidan,

this is Vidmantas, and we're just, yeah, super excited to be here.

Like, it's really hard when you are a black women in business.

Too often, a lot of people were seeing me at meetings,

like, I'll be the first professional business owner

that they've come across who's also a black woman.

The second-hand market is the fastest-growing...

I've come from a community that is vulnerable,

but I know how powerful I am.

What I would like is for me to be able to live with as much ease

as white men.

I guess that's the... That's the goal.

Thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

CHATTER

What we're really hoping is to describe to the top high-street

brands, "Here's a really simple way for you to make more money

"on products you've already sold."

That is the best thing that a retailer can hear, right?

Yeah, yeah.

I just love the proposition.

It's a win-win, both for the customer and the retailer,

and also the planet and all the stakeholders

that go along with making that garment possible,

so I'm really rooting for her and I can only expect

great success from what she's doing.

Cheers. Cheers.

We've managed to have 100,000 of our 300,000 target committed

already, which is really exciting.

And, yeah, I'm really confident

that by the end of the year, we'll have raised the rest,

which is great, which is really cool.

Thanks very much. Bye, dear.

Thank you.

Running a business is hard.

These past couple of years has been really challenging.

And people are finding the bodysuits as well? Yeah, yeah.

But I've bossed it to this level.

I've proved that we know what we're doing.