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Founding an Eco Guesthouse
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DEVELOPING SINCE 2018

​As of 2024 we in the final stages of finding the right property.

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We continue to be open to your ideas and feedback as we move towards opening.​

PROFESSIONAL & ORGANISED 

TEAM

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Noah Walton | Founder & CEO

Born in London, Noah is passionate about creating a hostel and hub for sustainability and social change in the city. His passion comes from first-hand experience of visiting communities around the world.​ Noah was recently the Head of Operations & Finance at the refugee charity Migrateful. He is well organised with a track record of successful projects:

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  • Formerly a Chartered Structural Engineer at Ove Arup & Partners, Noah worked on projects ranging from the landmark Coal Drops Yard in King's Cross, to Buddhist schools in the Himalayas.
     

  • He has co-founded three residential communities in London. Having lived in communities for the past 9 years, he has extensive experience in facilitating successful group environments.
     

  • In 2015, Noah co-founded Family Sangha London, the city's first all-age mindfulness group for families.​

2019 Concept Launch Event
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Elana Chesler | Environmental Sustainability Lead

Elana joins us from the Sustainability Accelerator team at a global professional services firm. With a Professional Diploma in Governance, an MSc is in Public Policy & Management and a PRINCE2 qualification, she brings huge rigour and dedication to the environmental sustainability project at the core of Eco Soul. She has a passion for circular economy principles.

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John Kam | Property Search Support

As a case handler in a law firm's property department, John has experience working across the property market with mortgage brokers, estate agents, and banks. He is generously supporting our property search.

TRUSTEES

An independent not-for-profit

Eco Soul is a not-for-profit company and Registered Charity. 100% of profits are reinvested in our work or donated to support social and environmental causes and broaden access. Our Trustees are completely independent and do not get paid for their role in leading and providing oversight of the organisation. 

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Marcos Troia | Chair of Trustees

Marcos is a certified lawyer and accountant with an MBA in Finance. He was previously a partner in an investment firm. He has worked for the Foundation of Developing Compassion and Wisdom, and was recently the Executive Director of the Jamyang Centre in London. From this role he brings valuable experience of managing volunteer-run accommodation, a community centre and cafe in London. He brings with him the experience of running this flourishing centre:

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  • Jamyang Centre's short-term accommodation has close to 100% occupancy, despite not being advertised.

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  • Resident Volunteer roles at Jamyang receive high numbers of applicants and are filled months in advance.

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Irina Bolychevsky | Trustee

Ira is passionate about using technology to create social change. She is the co-founder of Redecentralize - promoting and bringing together networks for decentralised and democratised digital technologies. Working as a Director within NHS digital, Irina brings significant senior experience from her previous roles in companies and governments.

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Anusha Fotedar  | Trustee (elect)

With her experience in ashram and retreat settings, Anusha shares the vision of creating eco-communities and social change. Driven by her passion for well-being and holistic health, she is currently training as a cranio-sacral therapist, and embodiment coach. Professionally, Anusha works as an orthopaedics designer in biomedical engineering. Anusha is a trustee elect, to be confirmed at our 2023 AGM.

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Satyam Sukumaran | Trustee

A human rights advocate and environmentalist, Satyam understands the potential for community spaces to deeply inspire. He brings professional excellence and technical rigour to the team from his work as a civil engineer at Ramboll where he currently works. He compliments this with insights from his time working as an MP's assistant in the Houses of Parliament, assisting in the running of a human rights advocacy charity, and his time working in intentional communities to host self-enquiry retreats. Satyam is a trustee elect, to be confirmed at our 2023 AGM.

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Florence Scialom | Trustee

​Flo has worked extensively in communications and community-building roles at non-profit organisations such as FrontlineSMS and the Humanitarian Centre. She holds her MA in Anthropology and Development from Leiden University in the Netherlands, and her BA in International Relations and Development Studies from the University of Sussex in the UK.

 

Currently Communications Manager at the Network of Wellbeing, her core passions lie in connecting people and communities. She enjoys enabling individuals and like-minded groups to work together to make a positive difference on issues they feel strongly about.

WORKING WITH 

Eco Soul is working with the best in the industry.
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  • We are raising capital through Ethex, one of the most ethical banks in the UK (source: Ethical Consumer Magazine). They have independently reviewed our business plan.
     

  • We take legal advice from Bates Wells, one of the most reputed firms in London who have been at the heart of the not-for-profit sector for decades.
     

  • We are proud to work with Third Sector Accountancy, a brilliantly professional workers-cooperative Chartered Accountancy specialising in social enterprise.
     

  • We have sought advice from the best in the industry including the CEO & Senior Leadership Team of the YHA, and the planning consultancy Collective Planning, as well as community centre, cafe and hostel managers from across London, the UK and Europe..

ADVISORY TEAM

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Robin Prospect | People & Programming

Robin was a barrister for 8 years, before pivoting their career towards social change in 2020. They are a fellow of the On Purpose programme, where they trained in systems thinking and human centred design.

Passionate about co-creating spaces where everyone can flourish, Robin works as
 an organisational development consultant and diversity & inclusion trainer. They are a committed yogi and meditator, and facilitate circling, a relational group mindfulness practice.

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Alex Nunn | Community Development Expert

Alex is a communications and mobilisation specialist with 10 years experience developing innovative projects in the third sector. In his current role at Action for Happiness he has trained volunteers across 19 countries to deliver interventions that deliver measurable increases in wellbeing, compassion and social trust.

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Samantha Moyo | Community Development Expert

Samantha is a spiritual entrepreneur who specialises in community building, innovation and culture change. She designs transformational campaigns with positive social impacts and is the founder of Morning Gloryville.

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Morning Gloryville is a social movement that championed the sobriety movement and grew a community of 190K globally within 18 months. The organisation won the award for best Zero-Alcohol initiative in the UK and featured in over 3,000 press features worldwide. Sam has been on TED, NBC'S Today Show, BBC, Chanel 4 amoungst others. ​Everything Sam supports companies and movements that facilitate the expansion of hearts and minds. 

Anika Jacobs | Eco Hostel Founder

Anika is a social entrepreneur who founded and runs the successful EcoMama and CocoMama Hostels in Amsterdam. She is well-known in the field of social innovation for the integration of sustainability in the hotel and hostel industry. Anika and her team offer pro-bono support and advice to the Eco Soul project. We shadowed and consulted with her and her team in Amsterdam for 3 days in May 2018.

Charlotte Newman | Social Enterprise Expert

Charlotte is the Managing Director of the tech charity CareFree. Prior to this she was the COO of the Rainmaker Foundation, an accelerator programme for small charities.

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Laurie Parma | Impact Analysis Lead

Laurie is the founder of Lifecloud and an ambassador for the Art / Earth / Tech Institute. Previously a Researcher in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge, Laurie holds an MSc in Neuroscience and recently led one of the largest studies focussing on the benefits of yoga to wellbeing. Her research also covers environmental and behavioural economics, and she will be the lead researcher measuring the impact of Eco Soul on visitors’ wellbeing, citizen engagement and attitudes towards climate change. This will be measured via both qualitative interviews held periodically by PhD students on research residencies, and quantitative European Social Survey social engagement and well-being modules.

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Conor Cregg | Community Cohesion Expert

Conor is a psychologist, counsellor and coach. He designs processes that help groups and individuals to deepen their self-awareness and create mutually supportive community environments. He is overseeing our programme design for the Resident Community and Short-term Volunteers 

Nina Jankelson | Volunteer Fulfilment Expert

Nina lives in a London based co-living community and works as a consultant offering workshops to transform organisations.

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As a previous Volunteer Coordinator at the The Barn retreat centre in Totnes, Nina has in-depth experience in structuring and managing and organisation to supporting the fulfilment, well-being and happiness of resident volunteers.

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Paul Pizzala | Finance Advisor

Paul works with clients, like Noah and the Eco Soul team, who have a vision of a positive future, the entrepreneurial smarts and tenacity to make it happen. He has a background in investment, finance and holistic science providing strategic advice, encouragement and access to a wide network of like-minded people and partners.

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Steve Clarke | Social Enterprise Cafe Expert

Steve founded Cafe Van Gogh, a plant-based social enterprise cafe in Oval, South London. Steve is the founder of Café Van Gogh, a successful not-for-profit vegan restaurant and social enterprise in Oval, South London. He is advising Eco Soul extensively on the on-site plant based café,  and will assist in recruitment of chefs, design and procurement.

RESIDENT COMMUNITY

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Our community, hub and hostel is part-staffed by seven Residents. They are the beating heart of Eco Soul. Residents volunteer to live at the hostel for 6 months.

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What our volunteers receive:
  1. The experience of living and working in a close community.
     

  2. Advanced development and training in community organising and facilitation.
     

  3. Accommodation on site (in a separate flat for the Resident Community).
     

  4. Food and reasonable living expenses.
     

  5. A one-week residential training course at a partner institution or ecovillage of their choice and a mentor of their choosing.

A fair exchange

Residents volunteer to work 32 hours per week (27 hours of shift-work plus 5 hours of training and team-management). They take ownership of up-fronting Eco Soul as close-knit team. The work includes welcoming guests, facilitating shared spaces, cleaning (supported by our cleaning staff and short-term volunteers) and administration.

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Residents tend to be motivated by the learning and social value that comes from growing, connecting and experiencing life at Eco Soul. They are fully supported by the staff team on site each day.

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Find out more

We will be opening to applications from people with a passion for community who are interested in being a part of our Resident Community from late 2021.

community.
sustainability.
social change.

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