Monday, November 26, 2007

Andy Middleton - Founder of TYF


How old are you?
48

What’s your occupation and who do you work for?
Eco entrepreneur and adventurer – I’m Founder and MD of The TYF Group

How long have been doing this?
22 years

What’s the best bit about your job?
Freedom to choose what I do, and knowing that I can make a difference

What’s the worst thing?
Not having enough to time everything I’d love to do

What have the last 12 months been like for you?
Exciting and bit like winter in nature – all of the good stuff happening in places where you can’t see it growing

What were you doing before this?
I ran a windsurfing and surfing school for a couple of years and before that, I worked as a geologist in a gold mine in the Great Sandy Desert, Western Australia.

What was your very first full-time job?
Geologist’s assistant, gold exploration.

Have you got any plans for the next 12 months you’d like to share with us?
Start and grow a training and events business that gives us the capacity to share good practice and management skills for a sustainable future

What do you do to relax?
Surf, mountain bike, cycle and guitar with friends and family

Who do you live with?
My wife Sarah and four fantastic teenage children

Whereabouts do you live?
On the coast in St Davids, on the west coast of Wales

If you were Prime Minister, what’s the very first thing you would do?
Introduce Contraction & Convergence as a fair share way of managing our carbon reduction journey.

If you had to choose just one of three identical products which differed only in that one was Soil Association certified organic, one was certified Fairtrade and one was produced 10 miles from your home, which would you choose and why?
Vegetables and bread – locally grown/made; tea and coffee, Fairtrade; rices, pasta and oils, Organic. Why? Seems to be the best mix of do good, consume less, make a difference.

Have you got any guilty carbon secrets?
I have more surfboards that I can use at one time

What have you done that you were most proud of?
Creating a business that shows it’s possible to make a difference, have fun with good people, and make enough money to live and grow strong

What single issue are you most concerned about in the world at large?
Most people seem to have no idea of how serious the current environmental situation is.

Which person in the public eye do you most admire and why?
Satish Kumar, Editor of Resurgence – he’s the living embodiment of walking lightly and talking wisely

What advice would you give to someone wishing to embark on the same sort of work as you?
Be really clear about what’s different about you and your product or service; leave fear and failure at the door and try lots of small steps quickly to accelerate your learning; build networks like there’s no tomorrow

What’s your website address?
www.tyf.com

What are your three favourite other websites at the moment?
www.dothegreenthing.com; www.howies.com ; www.guardian.co.uk

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