The zero-waste beauty brand showing businesses they can still make a profit without harming the planet

Brianne West tells Martin Friel that Ethique is ‘living proof’ that environmental ethics can be good business

West says she’s never had to compromise her sustainability principles in her business (Ethique)

In 1970, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman said that the only social responsibility of business “is to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits”.

Although this view has remained largely unchallenged in the succeeding five decades, there are a growing number of entrepreneurs setting out on their business careers with more than just profit in mind. One such individual is Brianne West, founder and CEO of Ethique, a zero-waste beauty brand determined to change the way beauty products are manufactured and eliminate the use of plastic packaging in the process. Ethique emerged in 2012 from a competition for young entrepreneurs at the University of Canterbury where West was studying marine biology. She credits this experience with giving her the grounding necessary to turn her idea into a reality.

“We were given a business mentor and they coached us through writing a business plan (which was a new experience for me) and helping prepare a pitch for the judging panel. We didn’t win the competition, but we are the only ones still standing,” she says. That early mentor is now West’s business partner and together they are on a mission to not just make a dent in the 80 million plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles thrown away every year, they want to show the world that financial success is not incompatible with ethical integrity.