Dear Future Leap Community,  

I hope that March has been both productive and sustainable for you. I can’t believe the first business quarter of 2024 is ending! Spring has arrived and it’s time to get your house in order, do some spring cleaning, get things organised and prepare for some green shoots of growth!  

This idea of a spring clean and new growth feels particularly relevant in light of my upcoming role change at Future Leap. I am stepping into the role of interim Managing Director where I have formerly acted as Director and Founder. Our wonderful Managing Director, Fenna Leake, is going on her maternity leave. It is with both great joy and great sadness that we will be saying a temporary goodbye to Fenna who has been exceptional as our Managing Director and is one of the loveliest people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. We wish Fenna, her partner Pete and their soon to arrive new family member the absolute best in the coming months and their future. I will do my best to build on what Fenna and our fantastic Future Leap team have been delivering and try to take it to the next level whilst she is away. 

Spring is the time for growth and taking on new challenges. As I take on this new role, my aim is to grow Future Leap into a leading supplier for supporting organisations on their journey to Net Zero. I will take this year as Managing Director to focus on what really matters for us as an organisation: the delivery of carbon reduction, wonderful customer service, positive impact and community.  

2024 is the year of several anniversaries, both for myself and Future Leap. 20 years of me being in the environmental sector. 20 years of our network delivering events and business services. It’s been 5 years since we started the Sustainable Business Hub project at Gloucester Road, with the Clifton hub opening soon after.  

As we celebrate these milestones at our annual summer celebration, I am especially proud that these achievements have grown out of the backdrop of a challenging economic landscape.  

Resilience is an important quality for both businesses and the Company Directors that lead them. We will meet the challenges ahead with the expertise of our team and community, continuing to become even more sustainable, reducing our impact and progressing towards Net Zero.  

So, what will Future Leap be doing over the next 12 months to make a difference? 

We will expand our team, providing them with the best possible tools to meet the challenges and opportunities ahead as we continue to grow. With our B-Corp accreditation pending, we pride ourselves on the flexibility and growth opportunities we can provide as an employer.  

 We have four new starters joining us this month: Megan Gallagher is joining us as HR & Operations Manager. Naomi Yikuno Amlak as Retail and Reception Coordinator. Both Molly Chadwick and Owen Stubbs are joining the hub team as Co-working, Reception and Community Supervisors across both sites.  

I can’t wait to continue to grow with a team that is carbon literate, technical and impactful whilst remaining aligned to our company mission.  

Partnership and collaborating are key for Future Leap. Creating new partnerships has enabled us to deliver fantastic services such as our Media Studio, where we are now partnering with Luminary Studios. We are proud to facilitate the stories of our sustainability community being told in a carbon neutral setting.  

We are hoping to bring two more Future Leap locations to the market over the next year. Our team is also bidding for new contracts and tenders, further building on a growing reputation for delivering public sector initiatives.  

Future Leap will continue to deliver the things it does so exceptionally well such as the Festival of Sustainable Business and weekly events programme, our end-to-end Business Services including carbon consultancy, retrofit and affordability options, while taking a foray into skills and training initiatives. All while we continue to deliver carbon neutral spaces for our community to continue the important work they are doing.  

We’ve welcomed Restore into our Gloucester Road hub delivering their fantastic sustainable cafe and catering options.  
 
Future Leap has delivered its busiest conference to date with over 200 attendees and four sold-out seminars. We’re now ramping up to our exhibition that’ll be happening at WeTheCurious in September. Get involved!

Our consultancy team has won work in numerous sectors both nationally and internationally, a fact that we are especially proud of, since we are always trying to expand our reach.  

Not only do we deliver fantastic events in-house, but our Events Team has also taken on its biggest public sector contract to date with Retrofit West which is funded by the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority. 

What a year we have ahead of us! I look forward to spending more time working amongst old friends and colleagues and getting to know the members of the Future Leap Network and Community that I have yet to get to know! I am literally ready to spring into action and push those green shoots of growth forward with my fantastic team!

Best wishes  

Alan   

Managing Director and Founder