Amplify Goods is showing FMs how everyday purchasing decisions can create a significant social impact.
FM Director recently spoke exclusively with Camilla Marcus-Dew, co-founder of Amplify Goods, about how her social enterprise is demonstrating that supply chain choices can transform lives while meeting ESG targets.
When Camilla Marcus-Dew co-founded Amplify Goods in 2021, she had already accumulated significant experience in the soap industry since 2015. But her new venture represented a fresh approach: one that balanced commercial viability with social and environmental impact.
“We’re really creating a new vehicle that is very scalable,” explains Camilla. “What we were doing before, I don’t think was as scalable. Now I think we have the price point right and the product selection right. There’s an opportunity to grow nicely and do lots of good with that growth.”
Amplify Goods began manufacturing in July 2022, making this summer their three-year anniversary. In that short time, they’ve established themselves as a certified social enterprise providing high-quality soap products while creating meaningful employment opportunities for people who face barriers to work.
All foam and plenty of action
“We talk about wanting to take a stand against brands that are all foam and no action,” says Camilla. “The ultimate aim is for people to make more considered purchasing decisions, and that often involves people slowing down.”
This philosophy underpins everything about Amplify Goods, from their product development to their employment practices. The company describes their products as “suds and scents designed for impact and packed with purpose,” a description that captures both the functionality of their products and their wider social
mission.
For facilities managers, the proposition is compelling. Soap is, as Camilla points out, one of those essential items without which a building simply cannot function.
“Soap is that thing that you can’t open a building if you don’t have – along with toilet roll. They’re almost the two most crucial things needed to run a building of any kind,” she explains. “It’s a unique touch point with people; almost every user that comes into a building, for whatever reason, will use soap.”
Creating pathways to employment
What sets Amplify Goods apart is their commitment to creating employment opportunities for people who might otherwise be excluded from the workplace.
The company works with individuals who have disabilities or have experienced homelessness, providing them with paid work experience and a supportive environment.
“What we can do is be that stepping stone back into work,” says Camilla. “We’re traditionally working with people that are not ready for work and helping to get them ready. We tend to offer up to 10 work experience days – paid London living wage, above the London living wage – paid work experience days to give people that sense of what it means to work, build their confidence, give them a reference and something to put on their CV.”
The impact of this approach is profound and sometimes immediate. Camilla recalls a recent new starter: “Yesterday we had a new person called Taylor who came and joined us. That was Taylor’s first ever workday in their whole life. They have disabilities and being able to come and stick paper tape on the package item, stick the
labels on… you could see their excitement about working for the first day ever just brimming out of them.”
The company helped more than a dozen people back into work last year alone. Some continue working with Amplify Goods, while others have moved on to full-time work elsewhere. For those who
weren’t quite ready, the door remains open.
“For various physical or mental health reasons, or just the complexity of some people’s situations, some aren’t able to continue working,” Camilla acknowledges. “We’ll stay in touch with them, we’ll offer them work again, and we’ll hope that they can come back.
“That is something that other employers wouldn’t do – they’d say, ‘Oh, you didn’t turn up last time, well, that’s it, you’re struck off.’ But we try and understand why and give people a second chance and a third chance, because that’s what we should be doing as a society.”
Helping meet ESG targets
For businesses looking to meet their ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) commitments, partnering with social enterprises like Amplify Goods offers a straightforward way to create positive
impact through their supply chain.
“A lot of businesses don’t really know how to build [ESG] into their supply chain,” says Camilla. “They start with volunteer days, and then by giving money to third parties. All these things are really valuable. Then comes this thinking about, ‘OK, what’s our biggest area of influence?’”
She explains that procurement represents one of the most significant opportunities for businesses to create positive change: “When businesses begin to see that actually procurement is their biggest area of influence, along with what they do with their own employment… In their supply chain, if you look at carbon, 80-90% of emissions in total are from scope 3, which comes from supply chain.”
By switching to suppliers like Amplify Goods, facilities managers can contribute to their organisation’s social and environmental goals without compromising on quality or functionality.
“That absolutely does not mean that they have to compromise on any part of function, cost, quality or service delivery,” Camilla emphasises. “Those always have to be top notch. The other things are the sort of value-add for corporates. For us, it’s the core, but for them, those are the value-add bits.”
Accessibility through established distributors
Thanks to partnerships with major distributors including Bunzl, Lyreco, Mayflower, and a handful of Jangro members and smaller local distributors, Amplify Goods products are easily accessible through existing supply chains – making the transition simple for facilities managers.
“We will make that super easy for them to move due to the partnerships we have with some of the leading supply chains across the world,” says Camilla. “We’re here to make their job easy. So I say to them – Come to us,
explain what you need. I’m pretty certain that we’ll have a product offering that will fit and be workable.”
Looking to the future
Rather than focusing solely on financial growth targets, Amplify Goods is committed to growing sustainably, within planetary boundaries and their own capacity.
“We really want to grow sustainably and within boundaries of the planet, within our capability and capacity,” explains Camilla. “Growth is not this big target thing. It’s really much more about being considered and taking steps towards replacing products out there that are not providing value to people and planet.
“The ultimate goal is broader than just selling soap. It’s about changing mindsets around procurement. We try and understand why and give people a second chance and a third chance, because that’s what we should be doing as a society.
“We would like to replace those products and in doing so, we can demonstrate that products can do much more for people and the planet.
“And that gets people to think, ‘Oh, it’s not just soap. Let’s think about all these other things. Let’s think about the chairs that we buy and the bins that we buy and the legal services that we buy.’”
For facilities managers who recognise their influence and want to make a difference, Amplify Goods represents an opportunity to turn an everyday necessity into a force for positive change, demonstrating that good business and social purpose can go hand-in-hand.
