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.
Before The Hive · 2001–2015
- 2001–2005 Antepo New York Commercial roles in technology, in an international environment
- 2005–2007 Pop Art Hong Kong Sourcing Manager: point-of-sale and retail projects for Louis Vuitton, Lancaster, Cacharel, Luxottica and Christofle
- 2007–2009 Addict Hong Kong Branch Manager: business development, operations and client management
- 2009–2015 Thomson Press Hong Kong Asia & Middle East Sales Manager: Pernod Ricard, Monin, Valrhona, Jura, Tabasco
By 2010 Hong Kong was home, and her first daughter had arrived. The family stripped waste out of its life entirely, and 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, 2016: The Hive Eco Store opens in Bangsar, Malaysia's first zero-waste store, selling groceries the way she ran her kitchen: unpackaged, weighed, accounted for. One store grew to six across the city before Covid, and The Hive became a pioneer of zero-waste retail in Malaysia and Southeast Asia: less a shop than a platform for changing how people consume.
120+
Zero-waste SKUs, wholesaled nationwide
Watsons · Village Grocer · Ben's Independent Grocer · Jaya Grocer · QRA
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.
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
Covid changed retail. The Hive expanded to Singapore in 2021, then leaned into e-commerce and wholesale, and by 2022 Claire was lecturing in Lille. In 2024 she closed the last store after eight years: suppliers paid, story intact. It is the record she now teaches from, at EDHEC, IÉSEG and the Université Catholique de Lille.
Press & recognition
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 · The Hive Mentality · HerVantage: three 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 This woman opened Malaysia’s very first zero waste supermarket
- 2018 Zafigo Coverage · Zafigo
- 2018 SilverKris Coverage · SilverKris, Singapore Airlines
The full story, told from your stage.