Millennium Development Summit - Cape Town

Red Button Design have a much coveted speaker's spot at this year's UN MDG Summit in Cape Town, May 3rd & 4th.

On Friday, Amanda will address the summit's distinguished audience outlining "Design Against Dependency" (our 15-step theory of change) using the Midomo water purifier as a case study. Later that day James will participate in a panel discussion "Analysing Bottlenecks and Constraints to Accelerated Water Development".

This is an unparalleled opportunity for us to take to the global stage with our life-saving design. Cross your fingers for us, we'll let you know how it goes..

"The UN describes the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 – as a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. These goals have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.

Progress towards reaching the goals has remained uneven. Some countries have achieved many of the goals, while others remain off-track to realize any. The major countries that have been achieving their goals include countries like China and India due to clear internal and external factors of population and economic development. However, areas needing the most reduction, such as the Sub-Saharan Africa regions have yet to make any drastic changes in improving their quality of life.

The role of business in creating employment, wealth and services has been grossly overlooked in the entire MDG campaign

The private sector only gets a brief mention in the Millennium Development Goals. Yet it is business –entrepreneurs, employers, investors and workers – who are best positioned to help areas such as Africa and the rest of the developing world achieve the Goals.

At this event some of the world’s key solution providers will be available to showcase their products and services and speak about the importance of engaging them as an equal partner in promoting sustainable development and making the MDGs a reality for all."

5 Newsworthy Notes to welcome 2012..

Happy New Year! I hope you're all settling back into routine as invigorated and inspired as we are. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some of our more noteworthy news. We hope you will take a few minutes to read of our progress and please do get back to us with any comments and/or connections you are able to make. Your support is, and always has been, invaluable to us..

1.) Pilot Deployment with FARM Africa

As you will have seen, this summer saw a pilot deployment of 8 units in Mwingi, Eastern Kenya, with the support of FARM Africa. The trial was extremely successful and saw the culmination of many months of supply chain and logistical work as well as updates to the design of the unit itself and over a year of relationship building with partners in the UK, China and Kenya.

The core components of the units were shipped from the factory in China to Mombasa, then brought overland from Mombasa to our workshop in Nairobi where the frames were built using local materials and labour. Working with FARM Africa’s local staff, we then trialled these units with the community in Mwingi, where they were very well received by the site staff and local women/girls, alike. We were also able to establish that local craftsmen were more than capable of carrying out required routine maintenance such as replacing the filter cartridge and adjusting the cycle chain.

2.) Subsequent Product Development

Following the deployment in Mwingi we judged that the current pump, whilst perfectly functional, was not optimal for the usage environment. In response to this we have established a relationship with UK-based pump manufacturers, Williamson, and are collaborating on a bespoke pump design which, when completed in early 2012, will not only increase performance but will significantly reduce the cost of production and give us much greater control over component sourcing.

3.) Intellectual Property

Last month we were excited to receive a “Notice of Allowance” from the European Patent Office that confirms our patent will be granted. The patent was originally filed at the beginning of 2007 so to reach this stage represents a marked success in a major ongoing body of work.

4.) Partnership with Rotary

We have also spent much of the last 6 months building a relationship with Rotary International. At the end of 2011, at least one local club has taken the initiative and committed to fundraise for at least 50 units. We have high hopes that this enthusiasm, which is being followed up by a number of other local clubs, will be indicative of the wider Rotary response.

5.) Launch of a suite of CSR Packages and Donate Function

In response to inbound enquiries we launched a number of Corporate Social Responsibility packages at the annual “Good Deals” Social Enterprise conference in November. Beginning at £25k to supply 250 individuals with safe drinking water, Midomo is seen as a great low-cost, media-friendly option for organisations looking to create measurable social impact across multiple targets whilst reinforcing brand ethics amongst consumers and employees alike.

We also added the option for individual donations, and our Midomo Bracelet campaign is ongoing into 2012.


If you have any comments or if there are any connections you'd like to make relating to the above, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

All the best,
Team RBD.

5 Tech Breakthroughs Bringing Clean Water to the Developing World

Mashable (y'know: "the largest independent online news site dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology"..) are currently highlighting "five innovations that are bringing sanitary and safe drinking water to people in the developing world" and, I'm happy to say, we feature at number 3!

Though we get our fair share of publicity, as a bit of a geek myself I'm disproportionately excited by this one. Or maybe it's not out of proportion at all, with more than 20 million unique monthly visitors Mashable is one of the most engaged online news communities out there.. either way I'm thrilled. Check it out!

Building Resilience in East Africa

In June we visited the Mwingi district of Eastern Kenya, piloting the first Midomo water purifiers. Mwingi is a few hours drive East of Nairobi on the dusty road to Garissa. It’s a small town of 10,000 people that serves as a service stop for the Somali truckers who race khat harvests from farms in western Kenya over the border to sell fresh in Somalia.

Typical of much of Eastern Kenya, the Mwingi district is a semi-arid rural area with a high level of poverty. Many people rely on agriculture for both sustenance and a daily wage, which leaves families vulnerable to a climate that grows increasingly unpredictable. A recent study of communities in the district found that 80% of people do not use an improved source of potable water and the same proportion do not have adequate sanitation facilities.

Farmers in Mwingi are used to dry conditions, however in recent years rainfall has become even more scarce. Looking out over a depleted watering hole made by damming a small stream with earth, a local farmer told me that the April rains – which usually bring a month of daily downpours – this year lasted just two days. But in Mwingi, despite the ongoing drought crops are still grown with surprising success. Farmers have moved from growing maize (made popular by Western diets) to drought-resistant crops such as green grams, cow peas, sorghum and millet. 6,000 farmers in Mwingi are part of an agricultural resilience programme being run by FARM Africa, which teaches techniques for increasing water efficiency and growing a range of drought-resistant crops. The scheme additionally supports pastoralists by supplying seeds and equipment.

FARM-Africa is a British NGO founded in 1985 and now working across eastern Africa. It promises to be an extremely good partner for RBD in terms of their approach to the development of rural independence. They recognize that while 80% of Africans survive on the produce of their own smallholdings, it is here – in small, often isolated rural communities – that agricultural development is best directed. Working with smallholder farmers, pastoralists, and forest communities, FARM-Africa aims to develop skills and resources. In so doing, they enable locals to grow more food, keep their livestock healthy, and manage their natural resources in a sustainable way. The dryland farming projects that FARM-Africa are facilitating in Mwingi – including the introduction of drip-irrigation systems and water-saving techniques such as the zai pit – are increasingly important as the climate in eastern Africa becomes ever more unreliable.

- James

Kind words..

The Midomo Bracelet featuring in the ‘Stuff we Love’ section of School for Startups is just the latest in a recent run of media attention for Red Button Design. Here’s our five favourite pieces of current press, for your browsing pleasure.

1. Doug Richard’s School for Startups: The Midomo Bracelet initiative is described as ‘intuitive, ambitious and visionary’ and ‘the perfect gift for an enterprising woman.’

2. BSSEC blog: The Birmingham and Solihull Social Economy Consortium wrote an article on the successful implementation of the first Midomos in Mwingi, which were funded by the Midomo Bracelet Initiative.

3. Director magazine: Red Button’s CEO, Amanda, was interviewed on the topic of frugal innovation. She said of Midomo, ‘everything about it came down to needs, not wants’

4. Trendhunter: ‘The successful Midomo launch in Mwingi, Kenya goes to show that humanitarian product design coupled with grassroots initiatives can have buoyant results without disrupting a community’s livelihood and way of life.’

5. Elevator: Red Button Design in a double page spread that describes Midomo as ‘an extraordinarily effective solution ..that could very quickly change the lives of millions of people,’

Midomo and the Row For Freedom.

In December, the first female crew of 6 will row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to raise awareness of one of the largest global organised crimes today: human trafficking.

It is estimated that 10 million young girls fall victim to trafficking every year, of which a majority are between 8 and 10 years old. With many of the effects of the water crisis also leading contributors to trafficking*, Red Button Design and the Midomo Bracelet campaign are proud to announce their formal support for the Row For Freedom challenge.

Lack of access to safe drinking water contributes to poverty and disease, impacts access to healthcare and education, holds back gender equality and takes young women outside of the community for hours of the day into potentially unsafe environments where they are at risk of abduction and trafficking.

For many young women, simple water management solutions like the Midomo unit could reduce their risk of becoming victims of trafficking. It is our hope that the strong symbolism of the 'Row For Freedom' venture and the amazing physical challenge to the 6 brave women involved, will inspire others to look at ways they can support the eradication of modern day slavery.

To this end, we're also pleased to announce that the Row For Freedom crew will be sporting Midomo Bracelets, each covering the cost of donating a Midomo to an African community; supporting a young woman and her family out of water poverty and into education and employment.


*For a fantastic and very-readable exploration of how these two causes interlink we recommend:
5 Ways A Lack Of Clean Water Leads To Modern Day Slavery

Elevator Magazine Feature

Red Button Design features in a double-page article in this quarter’s Elevator - Private Equity and Philanthropy magazine.

The piece describes Midomo as ‘an extraordinarily effective solution ..that could very quickly change the lives of millions of people,’

and the Midomo Bracelet initiative as the ‘kind of inspired thinking that makes the difference in getting a project and a product noticed.’

It’s always good to hear such praise about ventures you’ve been working relentlessly on, and when that praise is distributed throughout the UK, USA and Switzerland, and to a global digital readership, it’s especially rewarding.
The full issue is available to purchase online, or you could try and pinch one from a 1st class airport lounge or office waiting room…

Update: You can now read the article in PDF form here

Successful launch in Mwingi!

Following on from my last blog post I am very pleased to report that we had a successful launch in Mwingi!

The Midomo units arrived in Mombasa complete apart from steel work and wheels, (though with unexpectedly *bright pink* tap attachments!) We began the local fabrication process in our warehouse in Nairobi moving work into the local community at Mwingi as soon as we'd gauged their capacity. In the end there was very little that James and I needed to co-ordinate centrally. The significant hours of design work we'd devoted to engineering a product suitable for local manufacture / maintenance seemed to pay off; next steps will involve securing a secondary, African, factory site for the tricky process used to mould Midomo's robust plastic tanks... but more on that later.

For now, I don't want to say much more - pictures, 1,000 words, all that - so I will leave you with some of the stills we captured from the day the units arrived, and will shortly be uploading some of the video footage and interviews with members of the community at Kavoko and with Farm Africa, our NGO host.

In the mean time, we'd welcome your thoughts and feedback either via the comment function below or, if you're that way inclined, on our facebook group itself :)

Red Button Design to collaborate with Alex Monroe on Christmas Gift Initiative

Critically acclaimed social enterprise Red Button Design has today announced an imminent collaboration with renowned jewellery designer Alex Monroe, on a Christmas Gift Initiative.

To celebrate the launch of Midomo - a revolutionary water purifier for developing countries - Red Button Design has commissioned a limited-edition bracelet by award-winning jewellery designer, Alex Monroe. Each bracelet will cover the cost of donating one Midomo to an African community and, through a unique serial number imprinted on the jewellery, the owner of each bracelet will be able to track the journey of their donated Midomo. The bracelet is a perfect Christmas present; forever symbolising the gift of safe water, it can be worn as a reminder of growth and development, as well as a beautifully crafted, stylish piece of jewellery.

This initiative is not simply about saving lives; it is about quality of life. For children who have been used to walking for up to 6 hours a day to collect water, Midomo provides not only safe, clean water, but more free time With these extra hours a child could attend school, learn a trade, or simply play and ‘be a child’. The Midomo Bracelet therefore represents more than the gift of safe water. It also represents aspirations, ambitions and the chance to learn and fulfil them.

Announcing the collaboration, Amanda Jones, Red Button Design's Chief Executive
said:

“Red Button Design believe that making a difference to someone’s life doesn’t have to mean making a sacrifice in your own. The bracelet Alex has designed for us not only embodies the feminine & celebratory style for which he is so acclaimed but those dreams and aspirations we all have for our futures. We hope that wearing yours will remind you of all that you have achieved, and encourage you towards those goals which you have yet to accomplish; just as you can know that simply by wearing it, you are also giving the same gift to an ambitious young woman in a more difficult situation.”

And Alex Monroe added:

“I really am honoured to be collaborating with Red Button Design. What they are achieving is amazing, and it's very humbling when you get approached to help fight for such a great cause.
Through their incredible product, Red Button Design are essentially giving life to thousands of people, and I hope that through my design I can make people aware of this. The Bracelet is a celebration of life - it's fun, and something to treasure, play with, and remember why you bought it in the first place.“

For more information please contact Amanda on 07982715187 or Amanda@thisisredbutton.co.uk

Notes

Red Button Design
Red Button Design is an internationally award winning social enterprise set up to design, manufacture and supply life changing products exclusively for the humanitarian market.
www.thisisredbutton.co.uk

Midomo
Midomo is a household‐level water transport, purification and storage solution designed for use by individuals throughout the developing world.
The device uses an internal filter system, powered by the rotation of the wheels, to transform harmful water to drinkable water on-the-go. A user would roll the unit to the nearest source of water, fill the 50 litre tank, and roll it home. Once home, the water drawn from the unit is potable to World Health Organisation standards.

Alex Monroe
British jewellery designer Alex Monroe grew up in Suffolk. He trained at Sir John Cass School Of Art in London, and uses nature to inspire his whimsical, intricately beautiful jewellery.
Established in 1986, his core aspirations remain unchanged; to make great quality, wearable jewellery, which is originally designed and well priced.
www.alexmonroe.com

Safe water and sanitation - a human right, not a privilege.

On July 28th 2010, a vote took place which, for the first time, saw the United Nations declare access to water and sanitation a basic human right.

That's correct, despite the statistics and the decades of awareness campaigns, prior to July 28th access to safe drinking water was, for all of us, a goal, an aspiration, but not a legally enforceable entitlement.

At Red Button Design, we are thrilled that the balance of power has shifted. State Governments are no longer providing a service by ensuring access to safe drinking water, they are committing a human rights violation when they are not.

Harsh words, yes, but illustrative that a long awaited step change has finally been set in motion. Declaring access to water and sanitation as a human right is a huge leap forward. Not only does it bring to the fore just how important water is to human life and how it must be the basis upon which we build further medical, educational & economic development, but this resolution also acknowledges some of the lesser publicised water problems; from privatisation, exploitative pricing and the practise of controlling water supplies as a method of blackmail and weapon of war, to the effects of climate change and over population in relation to water scarcity.

This resolution will, of course, also bring significant challenges. The guidelines for minimum water requirements vary wildly from agency to agency, there is currently no centralised body to approve water quality, or indeed no universally accepted water quality standard. Water quality can be affected by a vast array of harmful contaminants which vary by season and by region, and on-site water testing methods are on the one hand costly and unwieldy, or on the other, hugely unreliable!

It is our hope that the next few years will see a renewed effort on behalf of the international community to prioritise the provision of sufficient safe water, and to consistently and appropriately address the above concerns with a combination of policy, funding, new technologies, better implementation and greater transparency, in order to assist international learning...
High hopes we know, but then again, at RBD we do travel hopefully!

Meet Esme..

Hello! I’m Esme and I am the other new intern working with the lovely people at Red Button Design.

If we were to go zoom back in time roughly ten years, and were to ask a littler (but not much) Esme what she wanted to be when she grew up, I think she would say she wanted to be either a ballerina or work in a bullet-proof vest for the BBC reporting from a war zone. Seriously - these completely polar career choices have been my aim for as long as I can remember. And I did work hard to turn both ideas into reality... I went to ballet school (but hated it and ran away) and ended up doing all sorts of journalism and media work experience. This work experience ranged hilariously from working on Home Affairs at The Independent to tape logging for Cash in the Attic. Glamorous eh?

So... It is completely by chance, and a lot of good luck that I have found myself, a true fledgling graduate, working with an amazing and life changing company who have already inspired me continue a career in the same field. I still feel an attachment to journalism and feel that it encapsulates much of what goes into social enterprise; you have to be great communicator, a people person, and a passionate, driven individual. You have to care about what is going on in the world around you. But what divides the two is that a reporter observes and comments on the world, a social entrepreneur changes the world - they see a problem and they hope to fix it, for good. Trying to establish myself within the latter seems more worth while to me...

I studied English Literature and Language (opting mostly for all the novels...) at UCL where I managed to drink a lot, perform and organise a lot of dance through the union, do a bit of volunteering and most importantly, get a degree. The great thing about English Literature is that you learn about the world in all its shapes and forms; I covered everything from Old English to Ian McEwan but the Restoration will forever be my favorite age for writing.

So what have I been up to? I have been writing a lot of copy, have already shimmied to a social entrepreneurial party (where not enough food was eaten and too much wine drunk) and been collecting ALL sorts of literature on the web about Red Button. I have also been working on an overhaul of Red Button’s website, their manifesto and most importantly, the enormous task of marketing their very shiny Midomo. I can reveal... that we have teamed up with an equally shiny jewellery designer on a Christmas gift initiative! Sophie and I are so very, very, very excited to be a part of this project and our aim is it just get as many Midomos sent out to where they are needed, as soon as possible.

We also want to spread the word so keep looking out for us on twitter and on the facebook group for more revelations!

I am very lucky to be working with Amanda and the team, I am already learning so much and hope I can make a difference.

Esme x

Meet Sophie..

Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Sophie
*offers firm handshake and best smile*

Despite being told from all corners of the media, my parents, and almost all adult acquaintances that I would end up on top of a big pile of unemployed, living at home, graduates after finishing my UCL degree, I seem to have landed on my feet.

That is, I’m here, less than a month after finishing uni, being the ‘affiliate marketing officer’ (no less) for Red Button Design. If that wasn’t good enough for you I’m also being paid for it by the UCL Advances internship scheme. So take that scaremongering media.

Anyway enough about me- oh go on then just a little bit more-. I’m a history of art graduate who took philosophy as a subsidiary subject. I have a wide range of interests (art, music, travel, parties), am very ambitious and a teeny bit (read: a lot) competitive. I also want to work at something that I feel is worthwhile and that makes a positive contribution to the world. Then I can be a really, really smug adult.

So that’s what drew me to Red Button Design; a business that could improve the standard of living for many communities in the world, and at the same time make a profit. I was not at all enticed by the fact I might get to go to a party and meet Peter Jones (ok well it was at least the 5th reason on my list).

Now after all my gloating and celebrating at defying the unemployment odds, I have actually had some work to do. Tea-making it wasn’t. So far I’ve been drafting letters, making spreadsheets and mood boards, attending meetings with potential business collaborators and tweeting my progress. Who was it that said work is more fun than fun?

Unfortunately I can’t tell you entirely about the project that most of my energies are being directed towards. If we keep you in suspense it builds up the anticipation you see… BUT I can tell you that you will like it. Especially if you are a woman (or know one), who likes gorgeous things but also has ethical tendencies. Ooooh. Did I mention I’ve been contacting Angelina?

So I will leave you there, hanging on to the cliff of suspense, wondering what Midomo has to do with a luxury item. Meanwhile Amanda and I will go and get a cup of tea (not made by me).

Sophie x

Snapshot: July 2010

So the last post, June's Snapshot, was one of the most viewed posts I've ever written outside of the 12 Lessons Series. Who'd have thought you'd actually appreciate a bit of concrete info! Obliging as ever, I thought I'd make it a regular thing and see how long it takes you to get bored ;-)
Welcome to July's Snapshot...

Growing the Team
Spoilt for choice I have hired not one, but two new interns into the Red Button Family. Sophie Orbaum and Esme Jones are both fantastic UCL graduates poised to take over different parts of our sales and marketing efforts. Not exactly chosen for their propensity to be shy and retiring, I'll let them introduce themselves in due course!

Design and Build
Whilst awaiting delivery of our new units, design and build has turned into an operations and logistics mission relating to sales targets and the speed at which we are able to roll out in various regions/countries.. However, as ops & logistics is one of my least favourite things, it has also provided the opportunity for parallel fantasy-planning for our impending launch party! What can I say? Needs must on both accounts!

The Internets
Work has begun, not just on a new space for the blog, but a complete redesign of the site-that-never-really-was. Though, for convoluted and uninteresting reasons we have always based at thisisredbutton.co.uk, we've recently secured redbuttondesign.co.uk and midomo.co.uk for development. Big on ideas but strapped for time and resources, these are coming along very slowly indeed, so any web designers fancying a bit of pro bono work in return for love and beer/wine please do give us a shout! :-)

Sales and Marketing
Gosh this is an exciting subject at the moment! So, not only will you be able to buy a Midomo online this Christmas and donate it to a certified NGO of your choice, but we have a very sexy, top secret retail collaboration underway which .. well.. I can't say much (Sophie will kill me) but it's awesome. Really awesome.

Safety and Certification
Happy to say that following on from last month's hinting, we will be working with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to test our new prototypes and corroborate the previous trials undertaken up in Scotland and, subsequent to winning the National Laboratory Services design award for environmental technology last year, we will also be benefiting from this exciting partnership to create a simple water-safety diagnostic test, suitable for use on site. Cool, huh?

Problem Solving
Well, James elected to remove last month's problem by getting too sick to work for a while. Oh yes, despite me clearly telling him he was not allowed to go away and get ill, he managed to get Malaria ... all of two weeks before having his thunder stolen by Cheryl Cole! Don't worry though, he was well looked after and is now on the mend - meaning that I will very shortly get to battle with temptation at the Apple Store after all..

Reading
I'm currently reading The Island by Aldous Huxley on the recommendation of one of my shareholders and I just can't believe I haven't read it before.. No excuses, it's amazing, get your hands on a copy now!

Watching
Professor Philip Zimbardo's RSA Animate contribution The Secret Powers of Time which looks at the way in which our individual perspectives of time not only affect our work, health and well-being but how, depending on which of the six "time zones" you live in, time also influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world..

Moonlighting
at Pants to Poverty trying to coax them into being an all singing, all dancing, blogging, tweeting, facebooking lot. Y'see what I did there? I'm worth every penny they're not paying me.. :)

RBD Snapshot: June 2010..

There's a slight possibility you've already noticed this, or previously had it brought to your attention, but it's June already. Yes, no less than 45.2% of 2010 has already gaily paraded by and is now drinking in the pub..

So having avowed to be better at communicating (as opposed to just making noise) here's a quick insight into a few of the goings on around here..

Growing the Team
Not content to settle at 12 we're after a Lucky 13th RBD'er. Using UCL's fantastic Advances Internship programme we have already had over a dozen excellent CVs and will be interviewing and hiring over the coming fortnight. For your interest, this is the 'job description' as advertised..

Design and Build
Work has recently resumed with alacrity towards our centrally manufactured prototypes and within a week we should know when the first samples will arrive in the UK.. Do I even need to say you'll be hearing more on this soon? ..

The Internets
I am trying to clear some space to tidy up our web presence. I know it's still rubbish, it's something that started badly way back in 2007 and has never really been resolved. Plans are afoot to create something worthy but, in the mean time, here's a sneak preview of this blog's soon-to-be new home. Don't switch your RSS just yet though - it still needs a little work!

Sales and Marketing
Speaking of online.. would you like to be able to buy a Midomo online this Christmas and donate it to a certified NGO of your choice? Yes, we rather thought you would.. working on it.

Safety and Certification
Just peeking over the horizon, we have some very exciting partnerships for certifying Midomo's performance both in the field and a repeat test under Lab conditions. Thinking a little further forward (and don't you ever accuse us of being unambitious) we're exploring the possibility of creating a new water-safety diagnostic test, suitable for on site use by minimally trained individuals..

Problem Solving
It would appear that, over the weekend, James was able to find a source of mains electricity for his MBP on the road towards Kenema. It would also appear that Salonean electricity and shiny Apple devices don't mix. Within a few hours of work, and just a few minutes on Skype with me, the power cable met it's demise with a exasperated little 'pop'* and the MBP would charge no more. Now we're both wishing he'd stayed old skool and stuck to the oil powered generator in Bo and all that remains is for me to:
    a) go to the Apple store and purchase a new power cable.. only a
       new power cable.. and NOT an iPad...
    b) somehow safely send my existing power cable to Sierra Leone..
    c) preferably arriving in less than the 8 weeks remaining before his
       visit to the UK
    d) get it somewhere James can collect it
    e) send him these instructions..


In other news, here's some of what I have been up to..

Reading
I've just finished reading The Spirit Level and can't recommend it enough. I tend to alternate between books I want to read and books I categorise under 'development' (professional or personal) I rarely enthuse about the latter, as useful as they are, so it came as some surprise that this was a funny, engaging and insightful look into why inequality not relative wealth / poverty is the root of society's ills..

Watching
“How to start a movement” ..what transforms a lone nut into a leader.
It's a 3 Min TED talk by Derek Sivers and I cannot encourage you enough to watch. Seriously, you can view it in the time it takes the kettle to boil and it'll make your morning

Moonlighting
On a project code named "Hackney Pirates" which is every little bit as cool as it sounds and gives me regular opportunity to drop nautical puns and speak like a pirate. Learn more via the usual ports of call ;) @HackneyPirates, Facebook and though still a work in progress, we're online at www.hackneypirates.org


Not sure that's quite how an informative blog post ought to go - but feedback always welcome via Twitter or comments below.

* I totally made that up. I have no idea what sound, if any, it made when it failed.
Picture credit to James who is has been uploading some amazing images to this album

Lets skip some of the narrative and get right to the good news..

Yeah yeah, I hear ya: "It's all well and good telling us what you did 12 months ago but where are you now? Are you still going? ..Does it work? ..Can I buy one?"

Well, the short answer is yes, yes, no, not yet. Let me expand, but skip some of the narrative... 'eh? (buy me a drink in the pub if you want the rest of the "Dragon's Den" story, the "Law suit against a major business support agency" story, or the "3 minutes away from losing our patent" story .. buy me the whole damn bottle if you want the "So, you're in London.. and James is living in Sierra Leone??!" story..) ..and get right to the good news.

We're funded.
We've re-designed, re-branded, we've got manufacturers, suppliers, and we're beginning production.

There, that's better isn't it?

I won't say too much while we're still pushing paper on the investment, but suffice to confirm the deed is done (was settled on my 26th Birthday none-the-less). And incidentally, for those who knew us way back when, this means that the, long in exile, 3rd director is no longer with the company in any facet; shares, power or intellectual property
(if you don't know this story .. add it to the 'buy me a drink' list above!)

Unbelievably this also means we are now a team of 12. James heading up product design and cultural implementation, myself on business model development and sales/marketing, we have a primary investor, a non exec director, 4 vocal and hugely talented 'value-adds' and 4 (mostly) silent loyal supporters!! It sounds more hectic than it is, though, as the reality remains I'm the only full timer and most days I work from home.

I should expand on my mention that James is living in Sierra Leone. He left (the country not the company!) about 6 weeks ago to apply his engineering skills to developing an appropriate and accessible way to dig water wells in developing countries. Not only is this a natural expansion for Red Button Design and extremely valuable in terms of the data being gathered, but we also hope that the team he is forming can become our first worker owned manufacturing co-operative. You can follow his work via his Blog, his updates on Twitter: @RBDAfrica and see some of his pictures on Flickr

Product-wise, thanks to a concentrated effort by James, our design support team at Quadro, and our international sourcing contacts at Tiger Global, we have finalised what would have been "ROSS 3.0" but is now simply known under our new name 'Midomo'.

Midomo is about to undergo its first production run with our new manufacturers and suppliers. We expect this to go ahead within the next 8 weeks, meaning we should have something for you to put your grubby paws all over come Autumn! And yes, expect a London-based launch party in which I force lovely influential humanitarians, entrepreneurs & willing volunteers to publicly drink Midomo-purified water and hope they're still talking to me a week later.. In more ways than one!!

Which brings me on to that very obvious question.. "When can I buy one?"..
Now, my team don't like me making promises about when we will be ready to make commercial sales, so I absolutely cannot say that I expect to close the first orders in November. But as soon as everyone is comfortable announcing November as our expected sales date, I promise I'll let you know... ;-)

Just one last thing, this post actually has a slightly ranty but honest and well meaning Addendum, which you can read, if you so wish, by following the link below...

Addendum: An Optional Explanation Of Time & Rescouces..

Addendum: An Optional Explanation Of Time & Resouces..

Appreciably, there are always a lot of questions surrounding the length of time this has been under development. Some genuinely interested .. some pushing on accusatory .. (some worse..) And I would be lying if I didn't say that, on occasion, I find this a rather irritating and difficult issue to address. I can't help but wonder what one imagines the capability could be, for two broke students to run and fund an R&D project on a new technology which needs certification from the World Health Organisation itself? Just how anyone, at 25, goes about getting meetings at the United Nations, raising half a million quid.. let alone the hum drum question of how to afford your mobile phone bill when you're refusing to take a 'real' job..

Don't get me wrong, though this sounds aggressive it really is nothing of the sort. I completely understand that given my pitch often includes the statistic "lack of access to safe drinking water results in 10,00 deaths every day" people gain a sense of urgency! The same sense of urgency perhaps that we all have, at RBD, and keeps us working on the project despite some unimaginably taxing and harrowing personal sacrifices.

I often use the analogy of a vaccine or a new drug to make my point known. because even once the development and internal trials are finished, the sheer beurocracy of creating something which essentially takes another human beings life, and puts it in your hands ...

Well.
That isn't a process I am willing to rush.

But I do get it, and I genuinely apologise to those of you who feel this has been a long time coming. I feel your boredom, eagerness and frustration more acutely than you know. I invite you to get in touch and find out how we've been progressing - you never know, there might be something you can do to help speed the process along..

We never set out to start a business... but this is how it started.

(apologies for the delay ..my dog ate my homework? Well, actually, blogger ate my first post and I was so dismayed at needing to re-write everything it took a while to replace it.. I'm sure the first version was shorter, funnier and more eloquent .. but here we are)

Red Button Design was founded by James Brown and Myself in 2007, six months after we'd come up with what we thought was a pretty cool idea; a water purification product that avoided chemical or electrical components, and made dirty water drinkable at the same time as assisting in its localised transport.

The idea itself evolved slowly. James and I were, even then, both actively involved in humanitarian issues and understood the need for more sympathetic technologies. Over coffee one day we were bemoaning the need for something more responsive than taking what the capital rich R&D departments of medical and military institutions were creating, tweaking it for robustness and economy, and selling into NGOs under the fashionable banner of 'appropriate design'. With typical student arrogance and youthful naivety - we thought we could do better..

The market needed an answer. James, who at the time was in the penultimate year of the hugely esteemed Glasgow School of Art "Product Design Engineering" Masters, needed a dissertation project worthy of his skills and interests and I, only recently graduated with my second degree, this time a joint Masters in Psychology and Philosophy, was looking for a way to avoid "a real job" that was more productive than cycling back into the oppressive world of arts & academia...

We never set out to start a business... but that is how it started.

It didn't take long for the Scottish enterprise community to catch sight of our little hobby-project, and when they suggested that there were a few competitions with cash prizes for designs like this .. well. Have I mentioned my dislike of traditional work?

Our first win was the university enterprise group's "Big Idea" competition. We netted £500, a pleasing bubble of praise, a bit of publicity and a mandatory trip to the local high-street business advisory centre. They, with little more than a cursory glance, sent me off to "gather support", by which I suppose they meant conduct some market research and come back with interviews, case studies and testimonials. However, I was unsupervised (James was after-all still in full time education) and prone as ever to insubordination and grand gestures, I elected to take a .. slightly less traditional tack.

What we actually did was apply for and win a series of high profile enterprise and design awards and then, one night, about 3am, safe at home in my pyjamas, my ego got the better of me ... and I applied for the Dragons Den.

To be honest, the day the BBC phoned to interview me, I was at work in one of my many short-lived attempts at engaging with the concept of 9-5 in return for a wage. I conducted the interview hiding in the stock room and agreed to screen test 200 miles away the day after next. We had nothing. No prototype, just a drawing and some theory. I was supposed to be at work all that week, and I hadn't told James I had even applied for the Show (nor, infact, did I until we were on the train!! ..) It's a good story! :) However... it's not a story for today.

For what it's worth, we never did get a prototype together for the filming and yet the show yielded us the best deal ever seen on the programme at that time. All 5 Dragons' coming in for the full amount, for the original equity offered. Despite this, good TV is still just good TV, and off air some months later we turned the deal down. For the next year we proceeded agonizingly slowly, crippled by lack of time, money and resources.

It took a year, but when my ego finally gave in and we returned to the 'Den' to do the follow up programme we had a brand new working prototype show off. This first fully-functional unit was the fruit of James spending his 'summer holidays' hauled up in his Dad's garage with a tiny budget, a brief that industry experts said he couldn't achieve, and me 350-odd miles away. I will never know how he achieved it .. though I'm reliably assured the latter was somehow critical (!)

Thanks to a second spike in publicity we clawed in just enough support to commission a biochemical report conducted by a UN microbiologist, the last line of which, is probably the most boring arrangement of phonemes ever to have made me 'squee' with delight:

"It can be concluded from this preliminary study that the system was effective in the removal of organisms from contaminated water."

This prototype, hand built on no budget, fully expected to fail at every post, went on to pass some further stringent tests, won some more awards including one very notable scientific award from the National Laboratory Service. We were stunned. Don't get me wrong, it was not perfect and it also won us some harsh criticism. It was this polarized reaction, thought, that triggered what was to be a long hard slog to find the financial and experiential support we'd, frankly, been struggling to survive without.

It seems simple enough to say it now: "we built a prototype", "we commissioned a report", but that first year and a half was in every way the most extreme tax on our emotions and resources. By the time 2009 rolled around James and I were both, at once, ready to jack it all in and finally certain that what we had was viable.

I'll not speak for him but I will admit that there were times I had hoped that the prototypes would fail the tests, the patent searches would reveal prior IP, or that the market would be stormed by something better, and that I would be forced to step down, guilt free.

But it didn't. I haven't and that's just the first chapter.
So on to 'the now'...

An Update on the Update..

It's a very telling thing, but as I went to write that long-awaited update post, it became very clear that I couldn't update you without recapping where we were last time we spoke. I couldn't really say or justify where we were, though, without mentioning how we'd gotten there. How we got there necessarily involved mentioning 'why' or what the overall aim was, which I would assume you all know except that, thanks to OxfordJam and recent re-runs of The Dragons' Den, I have acquired a volume of new followers..

All in, it started to seem as if I should just start at the beginning.
So I did..
And it got long.

Too long for one post.

So, as of tomorrow I will be posting the following..

1) The Intro
2) The Status Quo
3) The Future
4) The FAQs

And if there is anything that lot doesn't cover (!) you'll be able to add additional questions in the comments section of the FAQs. How's that sound? :-)

Red Button Design appoints new non-executive director

Internationally award-winning social enterprise Red Button Design announced on Nov 27th 2009, the appointment of Peter Corke, MD of the marketing agency Willoughby Stewart and founder of The Ketchup Group, as its Non-Executive Board Director.

Pete has 10 years' industry experience covering a broad range of disciplines including new product development, sourcing, production and logistics management, marketing strategies, branding and design. His clients include large multinationals such as Costa Coffee and Fairline Boats, as well as start-ups and SMEs.

Announcing the appointment, Amanda Jones, Red Button Design's Chief Executive said:

"I'm thrilled to announce that Pete will be joining the board of RBD. He brings a vast amount of relevant experience into the company along with the capacity to both challenge and support the business while providing a great deal of enthusiasm on the way. We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have found an individual who not only has the breadth of skills we were looking for but whose ethics and ideals match those upon which RBD was founded."

Pete added:

“I thrive on working relationships with companies and individuals with industry leading propositions, but the day Red Button Design walked through our door I instinctively knew it would be the start of something quite extraordinary! To be an integral part of Jamesʼ and Amandaʼs relentless pursuit of finding innovative solutions for humanitarian markets is an honour and one of my most exciting challenges to date.”

In his new role of Non-Executive Director Pete will actively participate in the work of Red Button Design, leveraging the diverse talents of the component companies within The Ketchup Group to make a creative contribution towards the launch of Red Button Designʼs flagship product and bringing an independent view to the table.

For additional information please view the full release

Amanda Jones receives a Cosmopolitan "Ultimate Woman" award!

Last Wednesday, November 11th, at a red-carpet, black-tie event at Whitehall's 'Banqueting House' I was awarded a Cosmopolitan Magazine “Ultimate Woman of the Year Award” for my work establishing internationally award winning social enterprise start-up “Red Button Design”

"The Ultimate Women of the Year awards were founded to celebrate Cosmopolitan's core mission - to inspire women to be the best they can be. Every year Cosmopolitan honours the women who really make a difference, who break boundaries, who help those in need and who have been fast-tracked in their field. Readers vote for the women they believe have been the most fun, fearless and fabulous over the past year. It is then left to a panel of judges, all movers and shakers in their own right, to pick the winners from the short-list to attend the glamorous awards ceremony."

So, it transpired that amidst kind words from none other than Fearne Cotton, Lamar, Vernon Kay & Sarah Brown themselves, I collected the award for Ultimate "Green Queen":


“She’s only 25 and the simplicity of her brilliant idea just jumps out at me.” Ultimate Woman judge Vernon Kay

Even though the award has had a few days to sit on the mantelpiece now, I still think that my instant reaction (though tipsy and somewhat bemused) remains heartfelt and genuine "Feeling humbled, supported & above all invigorated to fight another day... Thank-you!"

You can read "Five Reasons Cosmo Loves Amanda" right now and the full printed article can currently be found on page 90 of Cosmopolitan Magazine's December issue!