About Claire Sancelot, biography
Claire was named a recipient of the UN Award 2017 by United Nations Malaysia, one of three national recipients.
About Claire
Claire grew up in France, in a household that treated waste as a failure of imagination. New York gave her the training: a BA and an MA in Economics from Hunter College, and the start of a working life spent reading markets rather than trusting them.
She moved to Hong Kong in 2005. After her first daughter arrived in 2010, the family stripped waste out of its life entirely. The household discipline hardened into a conviction: if a family could run on zero waste, so could a business.
Hong Kong is also where the advocacy began. By 2013 she was speaking at plastic-free events across the city, years before sustainability had a marketing department.
Kuala Lumpur, 2015: The Hive is founded. A year later Malaysia's first zero-waste store opens in Bangsar, selling groceries the way she ran her kitchen: unpackaged, weighed, accounted for. It grew into Southeast Asia's first zero-waste retail chain, six outlets at peak, plus one in Singapore.
120+
Zero-waste SKUs, wholesaled nationwide
Jaya Grocer · Village Grocer · Watsons
The press arrived: Tatler, The Edge, Time Out, the SCMP. On UN Day 2017, United Nations Malaysia had named The Hive a recipient of the UN Award, one of three national recipients. The claims never needed inflating; the record carried them.
Twenty minutes on the TEDx stage, hosted on ted.com. A year later, the National Geographic Summit in Porto, on stage alongside Brian Skerry and Lucy Hawkes.
Roots
N 50.6293° E 3.0573° Lille / FR
N 3.1390° E 101.6869° Kuala Lumpur / MY
In 2024 the market turned, and Claire closed the last store after eight years. Suppliers paid, story intact. She says it plainly: the model stopped clearing, and the lessons compounded. It is the record she now teaches from, at EDHEC and IÉSEG, between Lille and Kuala Lumpur.
Press & recognition
Total: 14 features · UN Award 2017 · TEDx · Nat Geo
/24
- 2024 Vulcan Post The Hive closes down its last store in Bangsar after 8 yrs, but that doesn’t mean it’s failed
- 2024 The Edge Malaysia Malaysia’s zero-waste stores are struggling for survival
/19
- 2019 National Geographic Claire Sancelot, A voz do desperdício zero · National Geographic Portugal
- 2019 BFM 89.9 Night Shift · Enterprise: “The Hive Mentality”: two episodes
/18
- 2018 Tatler Asia #ZeroWaste KL: Meet Claire Sancelot, the UN awardee fighting for the planet
- 2018 Options · The Edge The Hive on a zero-waste mission
- 2018 SCMP Coverage · South China Morning Post
- 2018 Astro Awani Coverage · Astro Awani
- 2018 Green Queen Coverage · Green Queen, Hong Kong
- 2018 1 Million Women Coverage · 1 Million Women, Australia
- 2018 Zafigo Coverage · Zafigo
- 2018 SilverKris Coverage · SilverKris, Singapore Airlines
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/17
- 2017 UNHCR Malaysia UN calls on Malaysia to champion Sustainable Development Goals
- 2017 Time Out Kuala Lumpur Claire Sancelot on the zero-waste life: interview
The full story, told from your stage.