Blue Patch’s ‘It’s Good Business’ course
Blue Patch’s It’s Good Business workshop provides practical steps in sustainability for micro and small businesses.
The workshop was kindly funded by Southwark Council’s Neighbourhood Fund, We were delighted that Fitzroy Lewis from the Neighbourhood Team came along to show support!
We held our first It’s Good Business workshop online (due to the heat), on June 23rd 2026 – with the in-person event reconvened for July 7th.
One of the key messages in the course is to be alert to changing weather and be prepared and reduce your risk.
Too risky to travel
The Met Office issued a red heat alert for London for June 23rd. As Blue Patch HQ is signed up to the Met Office alerts we were able to revert to online – a good example of how our business risk was reduced by checking the Met Office app. We suggest you do the same!
So the online workshop meant everyone stayed safe – in very hot homes. The workshop was presented by Chartered Environmentalist Alice Doyle (Positive Impacts). Alice took the businesses through the It’s Good Business Course and we created breakout groups to enable attendees to come up with ideas for their own businesses based on what they had heard. The discussions and commitments were brilliant, from putting window display lights on a timer to switch off after midnight, to informing landlords about the Simpler Recycling rules.
Blue Patch team love getting people together so our in-person event was reconvened for July 7th (6-8pm). The weather, whilst still hot, remained within safe levels for travel. Nimtim architects hosted the event. We’re really grateful to them for accommodating Blue Patch and local businesses so we could pilot the first It’s Good Business ‘experience’! Gold stars to Tim and Nim – they predicted the Simpler Recycling rules and have a hot bin to compost leftovers – such a great idea.
Ready: Steady: Play!
It’s Good Business is designed to be fun, social and practical – learning together. We began with a brief talk which summarised the It’s Good Business course and check-list . As the event was post-work we provided a tasty spread of sandwiches, wraps and fruit at 7:00 to keep everyone’s energy-levels up.
With refreshments in-hand attendees formed into their teams in order to play Blue Patch’s new interactive game ‘Solved’. We’re rather proud of the names and card design (thanks to Canva!) ‘Atmosphere Ambassadors, Earth Envoy, Soul Survivors, Planet Protectors, Stars of the Universe, Dream Team and Soul Survivors! This game is fully adaptive and works both on and in-person, in offices, pubs, libraries, schools and colleges. The methodology works across all Blue Patch’s courses: It’s Good Business, CO2 Reduction, Weather Aware, Waste to Value, Biodiversity, Social Impact and Community Advocacy. We can’t wait to get everyone brainstorming to solve issues together.
Teams each have their own Solved facilitator (Blue Patch buddies – students or volunteers) and are set a challenge to “come up with the number 1 action they would recommend to other businesses, to either complete or to make significant progress within 30 days.”.
Solved – with Blue Patch
Solved is connected to the It’s Good Business course, and, by using these clear anchor points, opens up an informal deliberative processes. Blue Patch Listening Lab™️ methodology sits at the heart of Blue Patch Learning – in other words all our courses and workshops.
After a lively discussion each team shares outcomes and their elected spokesperson shares their ‘universal action’. The discussions then open to the room and a vote brings things to an energetic close.
Blue Patch’s ‘buddy’ facilitators included recent graduate (Sussex) Nijmeh, undergrad (Edinburgh) Carolina, and Board and Volunteers Holly and Mark (Meet the Team). The ‘Blue Patch buddy’ concept has been developed by team Blue Patch and students / grads, Nijmeh, Chituru, Dagogo and now Carolina along with coordinator Lily, across 18 months. Blue Patch is a responsive project – never top-down, we’re focused on building models that micro-businesses will find genuinely useful. This is all about listening, openness and flexibility.
Winning action
The outcomes of Solved were very constructive. The winning action from ‘Atmosphere Ambassadors’ was to ‘call your suppliers and ask them about their emissions, provenance, policies and packaging’ – in other words our supply chains will be held to account. The team won a box of candy almonds – which were soon handed around!
Approved suppliers
Blue Patch has predicted this as a key need and we have created an approved supplier application pathway for the Bluepatch.org directory. Our online directory hyperlinks to members’ Environmental and Social Impact reports. Although Blue Patch is not an accreditation, we foster transparency. This helps small businesses and consumers to understand their suppliers ethics and environmental policies – and the suppliers will have already agreed to share information when requested.
Supply chains, claims & risk
Other actions were; ‘encouraging businesses to look at their use of language and banish greenwash’ – replacing it with positive and transparent claims that make their marketing both true and trusted. This gives the businesses a clear advantage too.
The final action was to ‘mind the weather’ highlighting long-term flood risk. This because even more critical before agreeing to take on a new premises – flood risk needs checking. The It’s Good Business course shows you how to do this.
We hope you enjoy these photos which show it was great fun and supported immediate and accessible impact – this is, we hope, the first of many Blue Patch High St gatherings bringing sustainability-minded communities together to help ‘Solve’ some of the things that are contributing to the climate crisis – one micro-step at a time!
A picture is worth a thousand words and we’ve featured some of the great photos taken by Blue Patch members Alice and Anna from In The Right Light photography.
