That's a wrap on 2024

Small Steps Vol. 112: China’s sanitary pad scandal sparks debate on women’s health equity 🩸; talking waste and circular economy at Christmas 🌱; and deep tech inspiration 🦾.

👋 What a year! Through its challenges and turbulence, the resilience and passion of Australian founders and operators have stood out brighter than ever. As the year comes to a close, we’re filled with renewed optimism and hope everyone enjoys a well-deserved, recharging break.

This is our final newsletter for 2024 – we’ll see you back in full force in mid-January 2025 😎🏖

What we’re thinking about

🩸 Sanitary pad scandal sparks debate on women’s health equity. Sanitary pad manufacturers in China are being called out for producing pads that are significantly shorter than the advertised size, resulting in discomfort and leakage for users. Almost all brands in China have been implicated, prompting women to speak out for their bodily and consumer rights. The debate goes deeper than just the products, to issues of social trust and gender equity – alongside previous similar scandals such as the 2016 ‘fake sanitary pad’ scandal and a woman finding a needle in a pad from a popular brand in 2021, it’s reflective of a broader trend of women’s health products not delivering on women’s needs.

🌱🐒 Jane Goodall at 90: On fame, hope and empathy. We loved this Mongabay podcast interview with Dr Jane Goodall, renowned primatologist, anthropologist and environmental advocate on how conservation has changed over her lifetime and the importance of giving people hope for the future of our planet. Listen here.

🎅🏼🗑️ There’s no throwing away at Christmas. The rampant consumerism of Black Friday and the holiday season always puts the urgency of circular economy solutions top of mind. Filling up stockings inevitably leads to filling up landfills – as this series of photos shared by Marcus Feldthus reminds us. A new report from The Australia Institute also notes that a quarter of Aussies will receive a gift that they will never use or wear this holiday season, leading to more than $1bn of wasted spending on gifts that no one wants. That’s one to think about this silly season.

🥤 Where do your Starbucks cups really end up? Despite efforts to recycle, most single-use Starbucks cups don’t end up where you’d think. This investigation explores the reality of recycling systems—and how we can do better.

🇫🇮♻️ Keeping on circular economy, Finland is leading the way. Finland is setting the standard for a circular economy after becoming the first nation to set a circular economy roadmap in 2016. It’s now leading 75 nations working to use fewer resources. We love the take that the focus shouldn’t be on asking consumers to make sacrifices, but on putting the onus on policymakers and businesses. Listen to the podcast episode here.

🏡 Visualising how climate risks are hitting home. The climate crisis is hitting home as insurance premiums rise across the US. This visualisation shows how the financial burden of climate change is growing. See the data.

😷 The plastic-chemical link to breast cancer. New research has linked over 400 chemicals found in everyday plastic items to breast cancer, possibly driving increasingly elevated cancer rates in young women. This research highlights the urgency of addressing plastic pollution at every level, from both a health and environmental perspective.

🧑‍⚖️ The future of TikTok could be decided this week. As regulatory scrutiny intensifies, TikTok’s future hangs in the balance, with parent company ByteDance asking for an emergency pause on its imminent US ban. Decisions made now could reshape the landscape of social media and data privacy.

🤖 Deep tech inspiration. Giant Leap Managing Partner Will Richardson shares his insights into the future of deep tech and the potential for transformative information. Read the interview with Andrew Scott from Deeptech Journeys here.

New Paths

💻 Small Giants Academy is hiring a new CEO (Melbourne). Small Giants Academy (SGA) is a not-for-profit, global centre that nurtures & empowers conscious leaders for a hopeful future.

🎧 Mindset Health is hiring a Performance Marketer (Melbourne).

👩🏼‍⚕️ MoreGoodDays is hiring a GP and Health Advisor (Australia).

🔋 Amber Electric is hiring a Senior Customer (CX) Operations Specialist - Battery & EV Optimisation (Melbourne) and a Senior Product Manager (Melbourne).

📦 Sendle is hiring a Software Engineer (Australia, remote).

Want to work for an impact company? Fill out our expression of interest form for roles across our portfolio. There’s even more jobs at ethical companies on the global B-Work job board.

Save the date

📅 December 12: Inaugural Melbourne Startup Pickleball competition. Hosted by Rampersand and Mayfly, this one’s open to all founders, investors and techies of any description. It’s a fun, free event for any skill level. Sign up here.

📅 December 12: Tech Ready Women’s 2025 Investment Ready Program Webinar and Q&A (virtual). Interested in learning more about the February edition of TRW’s program? Join the Q&A to learn more. Register here.

📅 December 12: Aussie Founders Club’s ultimate EOY celebration - Australia’s biggest startup storytelling event (Melbourne). The event name says it all. Sign up here.

📅 December 12: Startup&Angels’ end of year ecosystem drinks (Sydney). Tickets here.

📅 10 February: Applications close for EnergyLab’s 2025 Scaleup Program! Designed to help innovative startups and energy companies work together to roll out technology that will help decarbonise the energy sector, the program runs virtually and is free to join. If you’re an Australian or international startup with proven technology, learn more and apply here.

📅 March 4: _SOUTHSTART 2025. Get in early and grab your tickets here.

Thanks again for being part of the Small Steps community – we appreciate your support and can’t wait to see you next year! 👋

Giant Leap’s office will be closed from Friday 20 December 2024, returning on Monday 6 January 2024.