Select Page

Jimmy Östholm

Home » Sideshifters » Östholm, Jimmy

About Jimmy

Founder, Velosophy

  • Bicycle enthusiast
  • Founder of Velosophy, a bicycle manufacturing business where a circular mind set, profitability and social responsibility go hand in hand
  • One for one business model: for every bike sold, one is donated to a girl in Africa to make it easier for her to access school and receive education
  • Determined to find a deeper purpose for the bike business
  • won a prize of the European Parliament for best innovation in circular economy in 2019
  • Believes a bicycle is well fitted to meet the transportation, infrastructure and sustainability challenges that large cities are facing
If you could invite 1 person to a dinner party – who would it be and why?
Jeanne d’Arc. Not only is she a strong female convincing a male world (at a time when the patriarchy was rule) that her dream was worth following, she did it without any obvious personal gain – for a greater cause. To discuss courage, grit and belief with her would be great. The only problem would be my poor French …
What motivates you? Makes you happy?
A bike ride. Definitely a bike ride.
What advice would you give your 10-year-old self?

I’m not sure I have so many advice for the 10-year me … I followed my dreams then as I try to do now and when you are 10 anything is possible, right? So telling a young me to stick to my dreams would be ”pushing at an open door …” And I wouldn’t tell young me that stubbornness is a great quality, because then already stubborn young me’s family would have gone completely mad …

If you could make 1 global change – what would it be?
Oooh, that’s a hard one … But I would make sure that boys and girls across the world had the same rights to study and make choices about their own lives. I think that would have a huge impact on improving quality of life and reducing conflicts across the world.
What are your Top 3 achievements?
– Taking my dream seriously and daring to act upon it.
– Founded a company that really makes a difference.
– Reduced my carbon footprint based on travel habits and food preferences.
What does sustainability mean for you?
Common sense and responsibility.
What was the most important event/influence that changed your perspective?

My perspective is changing all the time. For me it’s a consequence of learning and finding out new things. Like when I learned that a bike can be the difference between life and death in some parts of the world – which lead me to start Vélosophy.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?
Often we focus a lot on success stories, but what I think is far more interesting are the stories of struggles. The struggles that sometimes lead to success. Because it’s in the struggle you find the learnings.

Calling all Sideshifters!

Know somebody who should share insights and effective solutions as one of our Sideshifters? Or want to add your own expertise?