Why does Olio exist, and what are our values?

Olio exists to solve the climate crisis, by reducing waste in our homes and local communities. We do this by connecting people with their neighbours so they can give, get, buy, sell, lend and borrow pre-loved items, as well as give away surplus food. We also have thousands of trained volunteers who collect unsold food from local businesses and redistribute it to the community via the Olio app. 

Whilst our mission is to reduce waste, Olio also has an incredibly powerful impact on a human level - we connect communities and can make a world of difference to people who are having a tough time. Although we’re incredibly proud of our social impact, Olio does not exist to solve either poverty or hunger, and there are many other organisations much better placed to do this than us.

For many of our community, however, helping others is a major motivator to giving items away. This is great - we really don’t mind what people’s motivations are, so long as the outcome is more sharing and less waste! 

However, it is *extremely* important that all Olio-ers recognise that Olio is for everyone. This is because we need absolutely everyone picking up items to ensure that nothing of value goes to waste; and we must never ever stigmatise those who do happen to be having a tough time.  

Olio is a registered B Corp business. We have also joined the BBA Coalition because we firmly believe that combining profit with purpose is the future of business. The current paradigm - whereby businesses generate enormous profits whilst in parallel destroying communities and the planet, and where 'doing good' is restricted to charities alone - is no longer fit for purpose. This dichotomous approach needs to be replaced by a third way: profit with purpose. And the BBA is one of the most powerful levers we have to make this a reality, in the incredibly short timeframes available.  

We'd also like to share with you our values which shape everything we do at Olio, and inform our ways of operating, business decisions and company culture.

We are INCLUSIVE

Olio is for everybody. Community is the world’s untapped superpower. Diverse teams win. Good team playing is essential for success.

We are RESOURCEFUL

We hate waste of any variety. We spend our money carefully. Time is our most precious asset and we allocate it wisely. We take the initiative, experimentation is in our DNA and we have a strong bias towards MVP action; 80% done is better than 100% perfect. We learn through using our own products. Prioritisation is a superpower.

We are CARING

We’re caring in our actions and words within the Olio community, towards each other, ourselves, and the planet. Caring also means communicating with Radical Candor

We are AMBITIOUS

We’re ambitious for Olio, and for ourselves. We’re mission obsessed and we want 1 billion Olio-ers by 2030. We’re constantly learning & improving (growth mindset). We show up with urgent optimism to drive the change our planet and communities need. We work together to achieve our North Star metric.