Humans og Impact Hub is a series of interviews with some of our members. We ask them questions about their start-up, what motivates them, their challenges, how impact hub helps their endeavours and where they see themselves in five years time.
This time we talk to Hilde and Anita who are behind Rålab
This weeks Humans of Impact Hub are our members, Anita and Hilde from Rå Lab. Rå Lab is a zero-waste initiative that is soon to be opening Bergen’s first zero-waste concept store Råvarene in 2016. We spoke with Rå Lab and this is what they had to say:
Our vision is to activate the Everyday Hero because we believe in basic goodness. In short you are important and your actions matter.
What motivated you to begin Rå Lab?
Anita: After I finished my Bachelor at NHH – Norwegian School of Economics, I knew what I was going to take as my Masters profile but something was just not right you know? Something was missing. What should I do with my life, do this, this and this? I felt so static like a robot. I was in automodus. So I was searching for something meaningful.
Hilde: After 12 years of a graphic design career within B2B marketing, I quit my job and went travelling. Coming back home to Norway, after having driven a rickshaw through India, enjoyed salty Mongolian butter tea in a yurt and rock climbed Chinese crags my world changed and so had my need for new professional challenges. I wanted to do something with an impact.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Anita: Probably the fact that we have to start everything from scratch, we have limited resources and time. Doing everything for the first time. That’s what’s challenging.
Hilde: It’s moving so fast; we are defining the processes afterwards. Another challenge is that we are super creatives, I think. We need to find focus.
Why did you choose a co-working space?
Anita: Here you have people with buisness knowledge, they have done it before. You aslo have a community, and also the resources. Getting out of the house and getting to an office somewhere safe, somewhere social, somewhere fun. That was the main driver for coming.
Råvarene is opening in 2016. Where do you see Rå Lab in 2020?
Anita: In 3-5 years we are in the five biggest cities, then internationally. Our main aim is to spread the zero waste initiative and competancy also.
Hilde: We want to have a Rå Lab section in larger supermarkets. We are still defining what Rå Lab is. The way we work is more like a creative agency for social change.
