Dragons’ Den star Deborah Meaden: ‘Greenwashing businesses shouldn’t be forgiven’
Businesswoman and investor Deborah Meaden is known for her no-nonsense approach to entrepreneurship on BBC One’s hit show Dragons’ Den.
In real life though, she is warm, chatty and hardly a fire-breathing dragon — except perhaps when it comes to sustainability.
Businesses that mislead with deceptive advertising and marketing used to persuade customers their products and services are environmentally friendly “shouldn’t be forgiven”, Meaden said in an interview with City PM
But, “there are different types of greenwashing”, she went on to say. “There is unintentional greenwashing. So these are businesses that do intend to do the right thing, but they’re early stage and they get stuff wrong and I forgive them because, for me, it’s all about the intent.”
For companies that do intentionally mislead, the bad news is that “the customer knows and cares a lot more now. So they’re not getting away with it”, she added.
According to a recent UK study by KPMG, over half of consumers say they would quit buying from a company if they were found to have been misled in their sustainability claims.
Meaden, who entered her family amusement arcade business and worked her way up to become operations director, pointed out that the UK, once a leader in green business, has lost ground and needs to regain its momentum.
She said: “We’re great inventors and it’s a space that we genuinely, genuinely did own and should own. But we’re getting behind the pace and it’s so disappointing to me.”
She was also disheartened by the UK’s backpedalling on net-zero targets and the lack of consistency in government policies. Meaden believes that businesses can play a pivotal role by being more agile and taking the initiative to drive sustainability.
“I think business is able to say: ‘You know what, we understand where this is going, we can be more fleet of foot and in the absence of legal structure business can say, well, this is what we are going to do’.
“I actually genuinely think business is our great hope. Because we are getting on with it,” she said.
Meaden is currently involved in the Royal Academy of Engineering’s competition, closing in November, which aims to encourage the public to share their “every day” ideas to make daily life more sustainable.
The investor, who works alongside multiple environmental charities, joined as a result of her passion for nurturing innovative and sustainable business ideas.