Have you heard of CoGo? They’re the app that’s creating a network for ethical and sustainable businesses. Much the same as Deliveroo does for restaurants, and Uber for taxis, but for businesses doing good in the world!
When I’m on the go in London, CoGo has become the app I use to find nearby shops and restaurants that do good.
How does CoGo work?
CoGo stands for Connecting Good but also means “gather together” in Latin. Their mission is to bring together ethical shops and give us customers the ability to easily choose where to spend our money, and which business practices to support from fairtrade to reducing packaging waste.
Right now, CoGo is in the first stage of app development. They already have 62 businesses in 133 locations on the app, with a central focus on London. The network lists independent shops, nationwide chains, and online shops across sectors such as:
- Food & Drink
- Fashion
- Groceries
- Homeware & Gifts
- Health & Beauty
CoGo is available on both the App Store and Google Play, and they’re currently working to expand their network across the UK. Plus, if you now you will join their Founding Community, meaning you can give feedback and ideas to improve the app!
Shop your values
If you haven’t downloaded CoGo already, you’re missing out on tailored recommendations for places to shop and a chance to tell the businesses on the platform which social and environmental issues are most important to you.
When joining the app, you can choose from 25 different values that are important to you (and you can choose as many as you like!) Recommendations will then pop up for businesses that:
- Reduce their packaging waste
- Offer products with reduced environmental impact
- Don’t use slave or child labour
- Pay their staff the living wage
- Actively reduce their carbon emissions
…and many more. Personally, I’m a stickler for fair treatment of staff, so the living wage and anti-slave labour values were immediate picks, along with cruelty-free products and supply chain transparency.
See your impact
The best thing about the app is the measurable impact we all have when using it. The app connects with payment cards, so it can highlight when you shop at one of its member businesses, and tell you what your money has gone towards. (You can’t make payments through the app though, meaning it’s super secure!)
The app also shows how the community is creating a positive impact. So far:
- £215,000 have been donated to community and environment projects
- 188,000 items of packaging have been saved from going to landfill
- 95,000 kilowatt hours of energy have been saved
I love the way our individual efforts are shown like this, meaning we really do have an impact when we shop better!
Sign up to CoGo
I’m excited to be part of the first group of people using CoGo, and my wish is that we keep it growing! If you like to shop at places like BuyMeOnce, Po-Zu, Sourced Market, The Soap Co, you’ll find them all on the app – and many more likeminded places.
now, and see what you think – I’d love to hear your feedback!
