Co-Founder of Carma, Jim Holland, swapped the Navy for Nature and now empowers companies to make an environmental impact while creating employment pathways for veterans…
Jim Holland served 13 years in the Royal Navy as a Weapons Engineering Artificer, an experience that he “absolutely loved.” However, on being medically discharged from the Navy and returning home to Barnsley, Jim found a distinct lack of opportunities, despite having a Degree in Computing, an HND in Electronic Engineering, and a wealth of life experience.
Short-lived stints as a publican and a roofer saw Jim struggling to pay his mortgage but, out of the blue, opportunity found him via one of his old bosses from the Navy – shortly thereafter he was working for Vodafone and loving it.
“My time at Vodafone was effectively my Resettlement,” Jim explains. “When you leave the Armed Forces, you lose three things overnight: your Forces family, your purpose, and your identity. Vodafone gave me those three things back. Massive company, clear mission, clear vision, clear values. All of a sudden, I had a set of objectives to deliver upon and I absolutely smashed it.”
While at Vodafone, Jim met his wife Sally and, as he puts it, “four kids later, I took a job at Sky.” His time at Sky was spent as Head of Quality and Compliance, Head of Sales, then a move to Stansted Airport as Head of Commercial. An excellent career trajectory, but one that was stopped in its tracks when Covid hit and Jim lost his job.
For many this would be cause for despair, but Jim was able to find a silver lining:
“I had six full months at home on a cracking wage, during the best summer ever, to work out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. And that’s when we came up with the idea for Carma.”
Carma – winner of the Soldiering On Awards Business Start-Up category, supported by GKN Aerospace, in 2023 – is B-Corp Certified and makes social and environmental impact simple and affordable for businesses.
“We do this by planting trees, help offsetting, and selling carbon credits,” Jim explains. “Predominantly the trees are planted by veterans and service leavers, providing them with positive pathways to employment through nature-based tasks. We’ve also got a digital platform – an impact hub – where businesses can demonstrate the value they’re giving in terms of work days created.”
The level of detail Carma’s system provides is quite remarkable – this is not limited to how many veterans or impoverished communities have been supported or how many trees have been planted, companies can drill down and discover the species of tree, where they are planted, and how much social value is created.”
Jim continues: “When you plant a tree, three wonderful things happen – first of all, you employ someone to do it, helping them with their mental health and social mobility. Secondly, you get net biodiversity gain because things live in trees and hedgerows. Finally, and empirically, as a tree grows, it absorbs CO2 and breathes out oxygen. So, planting trees is a wonderful thing to do.”
Reflecting on the experience of winning a Soldiering On Award in 2023, Jim repeatedly uses the word ‘magical’. One of the obvious benefits for businesses taking part in the Awards is nationwide exposure and recognition, but beyond this there is being part of a network of like-minded individuals and organisations.
“Going to the Finalists’ Reception at the House of Lords, meeting everyone, the sponsors, the fellow finalists, and then the awards night itself, was just magical,” Jim enthuses. “I’ve now been to two Awards nights because I’m a Soldiering On Awards Ambassador. “I enjoyed the first immensely, but it was like walking on egg shells then walking on air! All the people you’re introduced to is amazing and you go from being a business to an award-winning business instantaneously. No one can ever take that away from you and it’s just a wonderful award to win because you don’t nominate yourself, there’s a bona fide judging panel.”
Jim is now an Ambassador for X-Forces Enterprise (XFE) as all as the Soldiering On Awards, and always happy to support others in our Military in Business® network. He regularly hosts virtual networking events and acts as a Business Captain and mentor on our Knowledge Exchange Hub, both of which are supported by the Royal British Legion. So, it seemed fitting to ask him for some advice for those who are leaving or have left the Forces and are curious about self-employment. Naturally, he was only too happy to oblige:
“Join networks of business-owners because it isn’t easy, it can be quite lonely running your own business, and you’re always looking for new information. I met James Wilthew (owner of The Afghan Rug Shop and fellow XFE Ambassador) through the Military in Business® network and I’ve learned a lot from him. You need to be with people who are on the same journey because you can’t possibly know it all. I always say 2020 hindsight is a wonderful thing, but it costs you a lot of money. If you can get the foresight and learn from other people’s mistakes, it can save you a lot of time and a lot of heartache.”
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