Laurence Collingwood

Laurence Collingwood’s ultimate career goal has always been to solve new and complex challenges while helping to combat global warming. On discovering that 75 percent of millennials would take a pay cut to work for an environmentally responsible company, he saw his opportunity.

He started Cilo, a mobile application which helps companies showcase their climate action so they can recruit and retain top talent.

For one month, employees use Cilo’s app to track their carbon footprint and win points for climate positive actions. At the end of the month, they use the data they’ve gathered to set themselves goals for the year ahead. The team with the most points wins an evening of dinner and drinks paid for by their employer. As Laurence explains, it’s a “fun team-building exercise that helps the planet, employee and employer alike”.

The first beta version of the app is now available and Laurence is currently preparing for their corporate trials.

“I’m hugely grateful to win the Young Innovators Award. It gives me the time and finances I need to get through our first corporate trials, develop the service based on their feedback and hopefully become a self-supporting business within the next 12 months,” he says.