In conversation with: Nick Doman

Nick co-founded Ocean Bottle in 2019 with a clear purpose: to do something about ocean pollution. Proceeds from its reusable bottles have so far funded the collection of 8m kilos of ocean-bound plastic.

What’s the best thing about your job? Impact is why we started the company and what gets me out of bed – doing something positive for people and the planet. Impact is very important to both Will (Pearson, cofounder) and me. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for that.

What is Ocean Bottle’s purpose? To bring people together to turn the tide on ocean plastic. Creating Ocean Bottle was always about community and behaviour change, empowering people and groups to take action. We did a survey which showed that 99% of people want to commit to having an environmental and social impact on the world, but 88% find it too challenging and expensive. We enable people in coastal communities around the world – who are most affected by ocean plastic – to earn a living wage, paying them to collect the plastic. Our primary mission is to fund as much collection as we can, in the way that will best support them.

What has the impact been so far? Every one of our bottles sold funds the collection of 1,000 plastic bottles before they get into the ocean. We’ve collected more than eight million kilos of plastic [March 2023] and impacted thousands of collectors and families in coastal communities.

Why is it important for companies to have a purpose? That’s an odd question for me as we’ve always had a purpose. Without our purpose, we wouldn’t be here and wouldn’t want to be. It’s intrinsic to everything we do. Without it, we wouldn’t be where we are now. We’ve grown to 40 people and our mission binds us all. From the start, even consultancies and agencies wanted to work with us when we had no money because they believed in the big picture.

Who inspires you? People who show that with purpose comes profit and if you believe in what you do and treat people well, everyone benefits. We try to embody that. Patagonia has the right way of doing things. Its return and repair scheme is incredible. From a capitalist mindset it makes no sense but long term so much goodwill is born from that.

Without our purpose, we wouldn’t be here. It’s intrinsic to everything we do

What are you reading? I’m revisiting Build by Tony Fadell. A friend, who’s also a founder, has read it multiple times and said I should spend a lot of time with this book. It’s like an encyclopedia for founders.

What’s your destination of choice? A cabin by a lake, quiet and secluded. I couldn’t live there but my life is so hectic at the moment that it’s what my mind yearns for.

Finish this sentence: I need more… Optimism! It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the data and seeing how far we have to go to fix the environmental crises, but there’s a lot to be hopeful for and people around the world are working to solve these problems. We need more glass-half-full thinking

This is an excerpt from our latest book Purpose: Built. Ot’s all about making change happen and designing a brighter, better future. If you’d like one, request your copy here .

Interviewed by: Aidas Zvirblis

Magnetic is a design and innovation company that helps design better futures. We worked with Nick on optimising customer engagement. To find out more get in touch: [email protected] .