The partners
Brian is 56 and was a University Lecturer in Business Management, with an interest in Marketing, Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. Pains in his chest, when taking only moderate exercise, resulted in a triple heart bypass operation in 2004. Brian has never looked back from this experience!
He rediscovered his energy and enthusiasm for life but, most importantly, determined to try to give something back to the world: "Why not put my business knowledge into practice and try to help the world be a better place for future generations?"
The result was the founding of the Yourtomorrow gift site. This combines internet-based technology and superb customer service with responsible business values to offer a range of unusual and high quality gift products that all contribute to making a better world for future generations. Brian is not an 'Ecowarrior'; just someone who cares about our future world and believes that we should put the common good above individual greed. All he wants is to create an environment where people care and think about the future of the world
Nick Long
Nick Long left the position of Executive Director at Morgan Stanley after becoming disillusioned with the values of the City. He is 38 with two young children and was wanting to use his 15 years of experience in technical architecture and operations to use technology, and in particular the internet, in a positive way to help people and society.
Nick lives in the South West between Bristol and Bath and is a qualified teacher of Iyengar Yoga holding regular weekly classes. He believes firmly in the saying "if you want to change others, start by changing yourself".
YourTomorrow's Business Values
The YourTomorrow team cares about the future of the world and wants to build a better society for generations to come. We hope to encourage people to use limited resources more sparingly and to help build our common future by supporting the developing world through sustainable business rather than short term handouts. We also support the extra diversity and creativity that small business brings, especially as it results in much more interesting gifts to give to others. People may believe in all or only some of these values, and so the www.yourtomorrow.co.uk website allows people to select only those products conforming to the ethical criteria they choose.
Our business allows people to be involved only as and when they choose; traditional marketing based upon intrusion into peoples' lives just does not work; satisfied customers are our best way of marketing ourselves!
Our values can be described as:
- We believe that cooperation and education across all countries and nations are fundamental to building a better society and we therefore want to encourage people to support the fair trade movement.
- We believe in individualism, variety and choice; while we accept the economic advantages of size, we also see problems in high volume, standardisation and technology unless these are properly managed. We want large companies to accept that they owe responsibilities to society, and not just to concentrate on making profits.
- We believe passionately in the role played by crafts people and small businesses; they help the world because they provide outlets for individuality and ensure variety and diversity of choice for the rest of us.
- We are committed to limiting the use of limited natural resources - in particular, by reducing waste, saving power and water, recycling, and reducing unnecessary packaging and transport.
- We think that we undervalue the benefits of using natural ingredients because cost pressures force society always to put alternatives first without fully weighing the long term consequences and dangers.
- We believe that massive differences in resource utilisation can be made by small changes in the way in which we all behave towards our environment. We can make an enormous impact on global equity by reordering our priorities away from selfishness and towards a common good.
