“One person can’t change the world, but a community can! Leverage the communities around you, and always try to build bridges with new groups who can help you on your way, and if you can help someone on their journey, do it! You never know who will help you when you need it in future.”
I had the pleasure of interviewing Brandon Reynolds a young entrepreneur from the UK who founded “Activ8” — a company dedicated to breaking down the barriers to participation for environmental activism. Through Activ8, the goal is to reward users for every environmentally sustainable decision they make in their day to day lives through the use of its app and its reward scheme.
Brandon is part of beVisioneers — the Mercedes Benz fellowship, a programme helping young people combat the climate crisis. The fellowship program provides young eco-innovators with the training, mentoring, expert support, and resources to develop planet-positive projects.
beVisioneers is the world’s largest fellowship program for young environmental innovators.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
When I first began my journey into environmental activism, I had just graduated from Bournemouth University, and the COVID lockdowns had started. Spending countless hours indoors, I immersed myself in studying IPCC reports — one of the few times in my life I had genuinely felt overwhelmed. At the time, I didn’t realise I was experiencing climate anxiety. My response was to get involved with local groups and take action, marking the beginning of my commitment to driving the change we need to see.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company or organization?
When I first set my sights on climate activism, I had proposed an idea in a university project that was quickly shut down. As a headstrong student, I was convinced I knew better than my lecturers! Determined to prove myself, I applied for the UN Young Champions of the Earth Award, envisioning a massive fundraising drive — essentially a modern-day Live Aid — where proceeds would support sustainable solutions alongside established global charities.
Unfortunately, after the COVID lockdowns, the award program disappeared, leaving me without a clear path forward. That’s when an Instagram ad for beVisioneers appeared. As you can probably guess, I jumped at the chance to level up both myself and my idea!
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
The biggest mistakes I made were during the earliest days of my venture. I was working full-time in London, studying for my MBA, building a business, and maintaining my charity obligations, all at once, with no one to help.
Needless to say, I was on the fast track to burnout, so to maximise my productivity, I’d often work on the trains to and from work. Over time, the stress started to build, and on my way home from work whilst I was working on my laptop, a stranger accidentally spilt their drink over it as they were passing through the train! I was livid at first, but after seeing how kind and apologetic the person was, I decided to take it as a sign to find something that resembled a work/life balance and reclaimed some time for peace and quiet whilst travelling between tasks.
Can you describe how you or your organization is making a significant social impact?
My app — Activ8, is designed to break down the barriers to participation in environmental activism and reward its users for participation in forms of activism across politics, economics, education, legislation, and local activism. Despite still being in its testing and development stage Activ8 has been helping increase participation at local charity events over the last year. By promoting events to our test groups, leveraging the prototype, and promoting events over our social media stories, we’re reaching new activists with each and every event we facilitate.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started”? And why?
There’s a lot of lessons I’ve learned over the last year or so now, but if I had to choose a few…
· Never be ashamed to ask for help.
· Learn when to pivot and when to stick to your guns! (Test all the time and prioritise the effectiveness of the product over personal preferences!)
· There is always another way! Just because one route didn’t work out, it doesn’t mean there is no other way. Take funding for example, there’s scholarships, grants, venture capital firms, and crowdfunding companies. There’s always another way to achieve your goals, sometimes you may have to think outside the box to achieve it. Don’t give up!
· One person can’t change the world, but a community can! (Leverage the communities around you, and always try to build bridges with new groups who can help you on your way, and if you can help someone on their journey, do it! You never know who will help you when you need it in future.)
· Above all, be kind. No one knows what people are going through in their own lives, so taking some time to be kind to people and supporting people who need help can sometimes be just as valuable as achieving your goals. This links to my previous points, we all fail at times, and sometimes you just need the right advice or someone with the right motivation to remind you what you’re fighting for. Be the change you wish to see, just start with kindness.
Can you please give us your favourite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“The key to confidence is realising there is no lock.” is a quote I coined myself. I’ve struggled first-hand with climate anxiety and feelings of overwhelm about the scale of the issues we face, but by recognising the need for change and our need for people to champion that change, I realised that nothing was stopping me from driving that change myself.
Why wait for someone else to do it when I can? Sometimes it takes a little courage to be the first to fail. To try hard, improve, and overcome. Some people wait until they have overcome the challenge before letting themselves feel good but the truth is, real confidence is having the faith that you will achieve your goals despite any challenges that arise.
No one is going to give you confidence, you have to take it yourself, and that journey starts when you realise that “The Key to confidence, is realising there is no lock” and you can quote me on that! Dream it, do it, and work hard for it because nothing worth having in life is easy!
Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Brandon Reynolds of beVisioneers Is Helping To Change Our World was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.