@conscious.app: You've seen what happens when private equity buys a company. Here's what happens when a founder sells it to his workers instead. In the late 80s, Guy Singh-Watson started growing organic vegetables on his family's farm in Devon, England. In 1993, he founded Riverford, delivering veg boxes to about 30 local homes. By 2023, it delivered 65,000 boxes a week across the UK. Along the way, it raised what it pays its farmers to help cover their rising labor costs, and invested in solar power, electric delivery vans, and compostable packaging. In 2015, The Observer, a major British newspaper, named its veg box the Ethical Product of the Decade. As it grew, he turned down numerous investor approaches. He said selling Riverford to outside investors would feel like selling one of his kids into prostitution. In June 2018, he sold 74% of Riverford to his roughly 650 employees for £6 million, a fraction of what accountants said it was worth, and said they'd have the power to fire him. Staff didn't buy a single share. Their stake went into a trust held for every employee equally, funded with help from Triodos, one of the top-rated ethical banks on the Conscious Spend app. In 2023, he sold his last 23% for £9.8 million, making Riverford 100% owned by its staff. Ethical companies like Riverford rarely get the attention they deserve. If you want to fight this, you can use the Conscious Spend app to see how ethical a company is, who owns it, and find better alternatives when a company scores low.

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Friday 23 October 2026 01:48:36 GMT