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Lauren Le Franc is the Founder of the Little Coffee Company, an award-winning sustainable enterprise that works in developing countries, such as Jamaica, to help female small-holder farmers build economic independence. Last year, she was awarded Inspiring Innovator of the Year and in February of this year, she was named by Forbes as one of the top ten women championing sustainability in Jamaica.

“Being a sustainable enterprise means we measure our success on social impact. People think we are just another East London trendy café but we are so much more. We focus our efforts on the ground, helping farmers in developing countries to produce more sustainably by arranging direct access to markets and funding. The Little Coffee Company is unique in that it falls into the ‘agri tech’ category, offering UK consumers the opportunity to connect with farmers directly,” says Lauren.

“I did not plan to set up a business, it really happened by chance. I was working for Redbull in Jamaica which opened my eyes to the importance of building relationships. I needed another source of income and so started learning about coffee farming. I saw that farmers were not being paid fairly and I offered improved pay and a transparent process. From there, I developed my own brand and the rest is history.”

Reflecting on her time at City, Lauren accredits to her degree gaining valuable transferable skills which have helped her throughout her career.

“The skills I learned at City, the support I received and the friends that I made all form a part of who I am today. I learned how to negotiate, how to be persuasive and how to work under pressure, all skills now valuable in my day to day life”, says Lauren.

“Being named by Forbes as one of the top ten women in sustainability has been one of my biggest achievements to date. To me, that was a surreal moment and I really am so humbled.”

Yvonne Shashoua is a senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark and a partner in the recently formed Velux MarinePlastic, which leads research on the breakdown of marine plastic debris to microplastics. She has been appointed a Judith Praska Distinguished Visiting Professorship in Conservation at New York University (NYU), which she starts in September this year.

“I have specialised in identifying the major degradation factors and chemical pathways of plastics since 2001, when I completed my PhD at the National Museum of Denmark. Society’s view of plastics has changed dramatically since the 1960s when they were considered fantastic and life-enhancing. Now, their reputation as pollutants dominates,” she says.

At City, Yvonne completed a year’s industrial placement at Kodak where she worked in an analytical laboratory as part of her four-year degree in Industrial Chemistry.

“My placement at Kodak was invaluable, both for giving me a taste of everyday life as a chemist and because I discovered the frustration of analysing samples without knowing where they came from and their significance,” she says.

After four years in industry, Yvonne joined the British Museum to research coatings and adhesives used to conserve artworks and museum objects. This later resulted in a PhD scholarship to conduct research into plastics. Today, Yvonne is applying her extensive research experience of how plastics break down inside museums to investigating how microplastics form in the marine environment.

Yvonne notes her proudest achievement to date as writing her first book (Conservation of Plastics-materials science, degradation and conservation), which distils knowledge about plastics from many specialisms. It is accessible to conservators, scientists and collectors and is used as a textbook for numerous conservation courses. She plans to prepare a second edition while at NYU.