Season 4, Episode 119 : Philippe Moreau

Will Richardson 00:03
Welcome to the Green Element Podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today. Today we have Philippe Moreau from the Greener Acts. He founded and the Greener Act, which is an app. And I first heard about this app back in 2000. And I'm going to get this wrong, aren't I? 2007. When was it?

Philippe Moreau 00:29
I think you're right.

Will Richardson 00:31
November 2017. And we have actually both been on a fairly similar journey together, helping organisations become more sustainable. And over that time, we've been helping each other on that journey. So I'm really, really pleased to introduce you fully to this podcast because you capsulate pretty much everything that we try and talk about on the podcast. So could you tell us a bit about who you are and your business, please?

Philippe Moreau 01:03
Thank you. Will, very nice to see you, again. Nice to be on this podcast. Who am I? I don't want to bore too much your audience but I'm French. And you know, that's already a showstopper. Now, I've, my main activity is tourism development, and especially sustainable tourism development. For the past 10 years, I've been involved in the project in São Tomé and Príncipe, which is on the west coast of Africa. It used to be a Portuguese colony, and it became an independent state in 74, after the Portuguese revolution, it's now the second smallest African nation after the Seychelles. Most of the people haven't heard about it, you might have heard about it, because they're used to be one of the biggest cacao exporters, and they've got the best chocolate in the world. I mean, literally, there's an Italian guy there called Claudio Carollo. And the expert says that he produces the best chocolate in the world. And, and, and in some of the hotels there, you can try this chocolate mousse, which is just like, out of this world, you know, really, really delicious. So if you like good food, and if you like unspoiled destinations, São Tomé Príncipe is definitely the place to go. And this is just to put a bit of context in what we do because as it's a sustainable destination, at least that was the intention of the development that we've been doing. We were always very careful about, you know, our footprint and, and the impact that we would have on these two islands. And one of the projects that we developed when I was there had little to do with to tourism development, but more had to do with environmental protection and, and community engagement. We realised one day I was there, and there's a big turtle conservation project there. And we were visiting this project with some people from UNESCO, because it's, it's now part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. And in 2012, where we had that celebration, some guys from UNESCO came and to visit the island and to give that diploma, and we visited that turtle conservation project. And I was very shocked by the amount of plastic, single plastic bottle that we could find on the beach, you know, and I was challenging them saying, you know, how can we really solve that problem, you know, such a small nation, small resources, and it's in them in the middle of the Atlantic, and a lot of plastic washes up there. And they were like, well, you know, if you come up with the right project, we'll help you to finance it. So we brainstorm with some, some people down there and we came up with an idea which was, you know, the water and recycled project where the idea was, you know, the main idea was to remove all the plastic from the island and the second idea was to provide purified water to the local population because you didn't have purified water there. And the third one was to sensitise the local community and, you know, for them to be conscious about plastic reduction. So we started this project in 2014, I believe, and in four years, it was a four-year project that eventually was financed by UNESCO and we managed to remove nearly a million it was just short of 900,000 plastic bottle from the island. You know when you think about Príncipe it's just under 100 Square Kilometre so it's very small there 77,000 people living there, but we managed to remove 900,000 plastic bottles, we installed 15 purification water fountains around the island so you could have access to purify water. And after we defended, you know three of the Sustainable Development Goals you know, which was you know, number, let me remind you number eight, which is clean water and sanitation 12 responsible consumption and 15 life on land. But this project gave us an idea is that, what we realised the guests staying in our hotels, they wanted to get engaged with that they were like, no, no, we want to participate. When you have one of these collection days, it was more or less once a month, we said this is just to give you an idea in one day, the first day we collected 27,000 plastic bottles just in one day, you know, so it was quite, quite astonishing. And but the clients they wanted to engage, they wanted to participate. So we were like, well, what about if we come up with a digital solution, where people who do good things can showcase it well, and attract more movement and more engagement from the client. So that was the idea. And three, or no more five or six years later, boom, we came up with this concept of greener act, you know, which is travel and act in a more sustainable way. So that's just to put a bit of context in that.

Will Richardson 05:52
It's a really clever app, isn't it in the way that you engage with people. And with hotels and resorts and the tourism industry as a whole? Can you tell us a bit about, you know, how that fits together? And a bit about Greener Act as an app, please?

Philippe Moreau 06:12
Sure. So if I would give you the 22nd pitch about greener actors, it would be, you know, greener actors, the one that has an app, which allows travellers to make positive changes by engaging in community projects. And to support local causes in order to create a more sustainable world. That would be the pitch, you know. So what it is, it's an app where stakeholders can just register, it's a free app for the traveller. And you can really showcase the good practice that you have it, you know. Sustainability is about, you know, small steps. And it's about being able to communicate to your potential clients, the good things that you're doing. And this app allows you to showcase all these good practices, link them to the Sustainable Development Goal, which is, you know, a very identified and very known framework. And once you register, you can start organising these events, which are called greener events, you know, whether it's a beach cleaning, or tree planting, or any kind of socially responsible event, you can start creating it on the app. And after you can as well create some causes some local causes, you know, I'll give you a couple of examples, you know, some causes which have been, you know, showcased on the app, which has been fantastic. And since lockdown, I'm based in Madeira Island, in Portugal, that's where I live most of the time. And then, and there's this group of hoteliers, who had to close down during lockdown. And they created an association, which as you know, I'll say it in English, it's the hotel association is helping Madeira. And basically, there's a lot of us who have been passing a really difficult time during COVID. And, and decided to cook for the vulnerable people in Madeira. So they set up a temporary kitchen, they went every day to cook about 200-250 million in the morning and distributed the afternoon. But it needed funding for that and then know where to go. So I had a meeting with them. Just at the beginning, I said, hey, maybe I've got the app for you, you can just register. And you can start showcasing you know, this, this amazing project that you're having. And hopefully, you'll get a bit of funding, you know, we didn't know how much they would get. At the end of the project. It was a three-month project, they got 77 donation, and the total was just short of 5000 euros, you know, so they managed to get you know, a lot of money and to sustain that project. So it was just a great example. And more recently, I can see you're doing a tonne of November like me. We're doing a... you're not? We're doing the same thing. You know, you know, November has a bit shifted from, you know, from awareness for, for prostate cancer, to try to help, you know, any kind of association. And we're right now we're doing a campaign. And our objective is to raise about 1000 euros so that we can help vulnerable people who are living around a golf club, where we will do a dinner, November dinner, and we will buy, you know, first necessity items for them, you know, there are people who live still in a very precarious way. And we decided to have the people who are surrounding the golf club where this dinner will happen, you know. So, Greener Acts allows you to do good things, you know, so it's a platform that allows you to help out people to participate in community projects and to create greener causes to help people in need basically, you know.

Will Richardson 09:38
Okay, so, in a nutshell, what would you say your purpose was and who you work with?

09:45
So the purpose it's, you know, I call it a multiplying engagement effect to increase the force of good you know, the more you try to engage is that we, you know, we realise that people who staying in hotels, tourists, they also want to participate in community projects. And they also want to give back a little bit to the community, when they are in the holiday, you know, we talk, you know, there's a word, which is an exponential holiday, you know, but it's a bit, it's more than expansion holiday, it's about getting under the skin of a destination, and in a much more immersive way. And at the end, you can make a real difference when you go on holiday, and the feeling, you know, you get that feeling of accomplishment, you know, you've done something a bit more important just going on and lay on a beach, you know, and it's a way of being a bit unsettled. And to engage in to help communities when you go on holiday, you know, that's, that's how I feel.

Will Richardson 10:44
Um, what would you say your business superpower is?

Philippe Moreau 10:48
A business superpower? You've got this funny question, WIll. Well,

Will Richardson 10:54
I'm actually sticking to the script this time. I'm actually, largely because he very kindly answered a lot of the questions beforehand, I was like, I've never seen it, but you properly thought about and I thought it would be wrong of me not to ask the question, not stick to this script.

Philippe Moreau 11:13
I mean, it's giving the right tool to do the right thing, you know, I think that we have learned during COVID, you know, a lot of priorities have shifted in our lives, you know, we are much more aware of people around us, we are much more aware of people in need. And what Greener Act allows you to do, is really to make a difference in your community, you know, so I think that's the superpower of it. And, uh, you know, and it's a free app for the travellers, you know, it's got a very small subscription fee for the stakeholders, but it's an app which you can really use, and especially after, you can use that for your CSR, which is what you call your corporate social reporting, where you get all the information about the engagement, your KPIs, you know, so it's a full package, which allows you to really see your positive impact you have done in the surrounding communities, you know.

Will Richardson 12:04
And having used it, it's a really intuitive and smart way of doing as well as you've actually done, I think he's done a really good job of...

Philippe Moreau 12:15
You know, we went the, the long way, you know, at the beginning, we were thinking, you know, maybe we need some, you know, some VCs to help us and all this and, and which we met at web summit, I remember, you know, talking to you about that. But, you know, you want to be free in life, and you want to be able to moulded the way you want and, and to, to have a real purpose, you know, and sometimes, you know, these guys that just don't see that they want to see the return on their buck, you know, so we took much longer time than expected, but at least now we believe that we've got the right framework, which can, which can really help destinations.

Will Richardson 12:50
I think that's it, isn't it? It's, we're veering onto a different subject now. But that whole do you take money? Or do you not say money, and have many such ramifications on everything, and the future of your business? And you as a person as well.

Philippe Moreau 13:09
Of course, of course. So we took a longer time, but we're not depending on anybody. And now we believe we got what you call an MVP, you know, minimum viable product to go to market. And the feedback has been tremendous, you know, from especially the people who are in the sustainable marketplace, they're ready to see the value of it. But you know, right now the engagement because you can't any beach clean as you can organise, you know, the social distancing is just messing up everything for many people, but you know, once this is this is over, and hopefully we see the end of the tunnel, you know, the engagement will be fantastic.

Will Richardson 13:46
How can you tell, can you tell us about how you engage your staff, suppliers, and customers with your mission and purpose.

Philippe Moreau 13:53
So the mission we are, I'll read to you, it's, you know, improve the livelihood of local communities and protect the natural, natural environment while contributing to the sustainable development goals of the United Nation by travelling and acting in a more sustainable way. And the vision is when transformative travel meets sustainable development. And when I mean, transformative travel, is it's not just, you know, you helping people when you're on holiday, it's you doing something a bit different as well, when you're on holiday, you getting out of your comfort, your comfort zone, so that suddenly you experience something that you haven't experienced before, you know, that feeling of, wow, I got out of my shell, I got out of my comfort zone, but something really special happened there. Well, you can do that with Greener Act.

Will Richardson 14:44
Okay. And when it comes to running an ethical and sustainable business, what's been your biggest struggle so far? And can you tell us a bit about how you've overcome it?

Philippe Moreau 14:55
That's a good question. What one thing that we've noticed that a lot of you know businesses, stakeholders in the tourism industry, they're still reluctant to embrace sustainability, you know, and they're reluctant. Because first, they always think that it's more expensive, you know, that they relate this to, you know, organic food, you know, organic food is more always more expensive than supermarket food, you know. So they think that it's more expensive. And as well, they believe that their business won't be sustainable. Well, for us sustainability, it's all about a journey. And it starts with really small steps, you know, before you used to call it a niche market, now, it's not niche any longer, you know, it's definitely going mainstream. And, and by just showcasing the good things that you're doing in your company, you know, you're reducing electrical consumption, you're reducing water, you're recycling, whatever, you can showcase your client, you know, he will relate to that. And he will find you much easily into sustainable marketplace, you know. So whatever you're proud of showcase it, you know, it's easy, and it's in a very transparent way, because sustainability, you know, you need to get away from green greenwashing, you need to be totally transparent. And this app allows you to be transparent, show you the good thing that you're doing. And if you're doing something wrong, the client can also comment, you know, can also know you're saying that you're recycling, but you are not recycling, you know, so it has to be, you know, sustainability is about transparency.

Will Richardson 16:24
Yeah, absolutely. spot on there. I think. So, could you offer one piece of advice to our listeners, which could help them with that purpose? And what would that be?

Philippe Moreau 16:34
So I think COVID has brought a real new perspective in our life. And we have everybody's working remotely. And this has irreversibly entered into the mainstream, you know, and I think that will have a knock-on effect on how people will combine work and pleasure, you know, but more importantly, I think that when they'll combine this work and pleasure kind of holiday, they will want to make a difference and a purpose during their holiday. Yeah, I think that there's definitely a more eco-conscious mindset, you know, where people look at two, alternative destinations, and even choosing destinations, which are less crowded, you know, going for in the low season, for instance. And then I'm just gonna do a little talk to you about the low season traveller, I don't know if you're familiar with this new Association, is led by a guy called Jed Brown, you should google him. And this is exactly what he came up with. He said, No, we're going to come and that was before COVID. He says, we're going to come up with a concept, which we're going to showcase a great destination to visit on their low season, but the experience will be much more mass immersive and much more true. So you will totally avoid the crowds, you know. So I suggest that, you know, the people who are on this call or will be listening to this podcast, definitely had to have a look at this, this company, and they even doing a summit on I think it's on the 26th of November in the afternoon, is called the low season eco-hotel summit. I recommend that you follow it because this guy, Jed Brown, he's definitely ahead of the curve. And either he's such a good, you know, travel influential so, so watch him. He's real to hear about him very soon.

Will Richardson 18:22
Oh, brilliant. That sounds really interesting. How you are? Sorry, go ahead.

Philippe Moreau 18:27
No, no. Another thing, you know, you know, people are about talking about staycation. You know, and I think there is a great transition from a staycation to workation, you know, and obviously, you need a good connection, you know, connection, internet connection is a must now, but I strongly believe that there's another transition as from Digital, and I'm talking a bit against myself now, to natural, where people really disconnect to reconnect with themselves, you know, it's, it's giving you that space, it's giving you that possibility of, you know, COVID has had a tremendous toll on a lot of people. But now you have to think about what is the simple thing that I really enjoy? And how can I help, you know, people when I go on a holiday, you know, I just to finish up. You remember, Dimitri, that you met on, on exactly on the web summit? Who's a, you know, an incredible he's a, I cannot describe it. He's a jack of all trades in the premium hospitality sector. And he's been an advisor for Greener Act as well. But this guy recently I was on a call with him, and he was telling me that during the lockdown, and like many of us, his income has gone down. But his charity support has gone up, you know, he himself has been supporting much more charity than he has done in the past, you know, so there's a true shine, true sign of a shift here, where, you know, it proves that there is a moment when there's uncertainty. You know, people are looking around us and they see how can they help effectively people around them. And you know, you can do this instead of going on a fancy short break, you say no, you know, instead of spending, you know, 300 bucks on a room in a really nice hotel and might help, you know, people around me and communities, you know, and I believe that post lockdown, lockdown, people will be more keener to embrace this new way of, of immersive travelling, and, you know, just the appreciation of simple experiences, but meaningful one as well.

Will Richardson 20:28
Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, have you carbon footprinting your organisation?

Philippe Moreau 20:34
So not yet. And, as you know, you know, you are part of our network and organisation, but I really believe that you've got the right system or the right framework for that. And, and, and hopefully the people on this call can see that, you know, this is one of the first steps you want to do you want to understand your footprint, and small companies as well, I think they're, they're a bit reluctant to start that because they think it's a difficult process. But I think that what you have done or come up with, it's something quite simple, you know, and that every small to medium company could really benefit, you know, but right now, we haven't done it yet.

Will Richardson 21:13
We need to work on that, don't we? We need to, that's what's the best way that we can connect with you.

Philippe Moreau 21:22
Best way is just you know, through our webpage www.greeneract.com. Or just info@greeneract.com. You know, that's really the best way to connect.

Will Richardson 21:31
And all the links and everything will be on our website.

Philippe Moreau 21:37
Correct.

Will Richardson 21:38
Thank you so much for being on this today. It's been an absolute pleasure having you and I think I urge anyone listening to go to greener, act calm because I'm not just blogging and I might just say I don't get paid to plug either. But it's well worth the experience. And you know what, we're not travelling at the moment. So go on it and pretend you're travelling and look at all these exotic places and have a look at the app. Thank you, Philippe. Thank you.

Philippe Moreau 22:11
Thank you. Well, it was great to be on the podcast and I'm looking forward to seeing you personally one of these days. Take care. Thank you.