Zhero partners with UCL on innovation project
E-cargo bike delivery company and The Loop tenants, Zhero, have announced a new partnership with UCL, seeking to reshape how businesses cope with society’s major challenges today, and in an uncertain future.
The locally founded pioneers of low impact delivery in the creative and arts sectors will be working with UCL’s Dr. Onya Idoko, developing new organisational models that need to be capable of driving significant social and environmental change.
As society faces increasingly complex challenges, traditional business models often prove woefully inadequate. The Zhero and UCL partnership aims to address this gap by co-developing a new approach that not only enhances business effectiveness, but also attracts the necessary investment to scale-up key social and environmental projects.
They will have a particular focus on how alternative structures, such as employee ownership, can be more effective in attracting the vital funding needed for businesses to grow. While Hackney Wick is an ideal test bed, one of the key goals is for any resulting model to be replicated beyond East London, therefore fully adaptable to the specific needs and resources found in different regions.
Zhero and UCL hope this partnership work can create a ripple effect that will lead to transformative changes – not just locally or even nationally, but globally. This project can and should one day serve as a blueprint for any organisation looking to make a meaningful social impact, and prove that businesses can be specifically designed as forces for good.