Just a Drop Changemakers: Holly Budge, Founder of How Many Elephants
In celebration of Just a Drop’s 20th anniversary, we spoke to four inspirational people who are doing their bit to change the world we live in for the better.
How Many Elephants founder, Holly Budge, is an adventurer and passionate conservationist. She was quite literally on top of the world when she summited Mount Everest to raise awareness and funds for wildlife conservation. She founded ‘How Many Elephants’ whilst studying for a masters in Sustainable Design to raise awareness of the plight of elephants in Africa and funds for anti-poaching projects.
'Few people know that 96 African elephants are poached each day for their ivory. At this rate elephants will be extinct in the wild in the next decade. I used my design skills to bridge the gap between scientific data and human connection - design has shown to be a powerful methodology in the public and private sector yet it has not been widely utilised in the field of wildlife conservation.
Part of the originality of this campaign is in my approach to avoid gruesome and shocking imagery to portray the facts. It is not about scaring people, it’s about sharing the sheer scale of the poaching crisis. To actually see and connect with this data visually is very impactful.
'My motto is think big, dream big – don’t listen to the naysayers! I’ve tried to keep that mindset over the years.'
You have to be passionate about your ideas and projects and just keep at it – I don’t work normal hours and I’m comfortable with that, I’ve always worked for myself and you get used to that. It doesn’t feel like work as I'm so passionate about what I'm doing and I enjoy it!'
