The former chief executive of Singapore-based blue economy fintech startup Sea Green, Fred Puckle Hobbs, has launched a sustainability communications consultancy with former colleague Shreya Mallabadi.
Named Tathva, the new firm aims to fill a perceived gap in the consulting market by offering business advisory services as well as sustainability communications.
Puckle Hobbs left Sea Green in December after three years with the seaweed supply chain platform. Sea Green has since appointed former Indonesia-based entrepreneur Alan Steele as the firm’s new CEO.
Puckle Hobbs takes on the role of CEO of Tathva. Mallabadi, previously Sea Green’s communications and partnerships manager, is co-founder.
The duo launches in a busy market for sustainability communications offerings in Singapore, with former Ogilvy sustainability head Andy Wilson‘s new firm Early Majority among numerous new ventures to emerge over the past year.
“We noticed a gap in the market for a holistic approach to sustainability. We believe that communications and operational expertise are not isolated entities but intricately intertwined,” Mallabadi told Eco-Business.
Sustainability communications consultancies tend to be heavily focused on writing sustainability reports for companies, and less on driving meaningful change on the ground, she noted.
“Some companies focus on putting out reports to improve their public image without really digging deep and making impactful changes from within. Tathva is all about authenticity and creating long-term impact, not quick fixes,” she said.
Recent projects Mallabadi has been involved in include working with seaweed farmers in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, while Puckle Hobbs has been working on carbon abatement technologies with farmers in Cambodia.
Over his career, Puckle Hobbs has worked for finance groups HSBC and UBS. Mallabadi comes from a marketing communications background, having previously worked as a digital marketer for Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority.
Tathva’s offering includes facilitating investor engagement, from individual project liaisons to building financing mechanisms, with a focus on the blue economy.
