[Music] welcome back and in this segment we will be talking about the green interpretership and how we can create an echo and the environment friendly business and i’m happy to have with me today mr abdul mahdi and he’s an entrepreneurship expert good morning thank you morning games first define to us what does it mean by a green startup yeah i think like green usually when the world is used it has to do with the environment so like when we talk about green business we’re getting startups we’re talking about businesses that’s taking the environment into perspective on and built around objectives to sustain the environment and like take care of the environment by conducting its businesses so i think in the vast decade or something there have been a lot of talks around like uh csr and the social responsibility of the businesses to consider the environment while operating their businesses this is almost the naked generation or the second generation from this thinking is that you’re creating businesses on top of ideas that’s about taking care of the environment so that’s what green startups is yes and what about your particular program because i understand that you’re part of an interesting initiative as well yeah i think that the switch med initiative is executed by the european union and they have the partners here in egypt to kind of like get in touch and work closely with green startups which is something that’s had been happening in the past like almost three to four months so and like a process for green startups those we with interesting ideas and projects in socially responsible or environmentally responsible businesses around the theme of responsible consumption and production like applying to the switch med program which is like executed by a number of organizations including the unido and particularly funded by the european union and throughout the process there were like eight companies selected to pitch their businesses to startups so they went through the process of training and capacity building in order to kind of build the core business model for their businesses and also be ready to pitch their businesses to investors so yeah like switch med uh contests it’s actually executed regionally around the uh mediterranean like the house of the mediterranean so egypt was one of the participating companies in the contest and we had eight companies selected to pitch and like in the event itself there were seven companies that presented their businesses to investors and stakeholders so in your opinion uh why for-profit companies might consider uh the environment that’s a very good question i think it’s one of the first questions that we have got while working with the entrepreneurs themselves because they asked why would investors invest in a something that takes care of the environment other than something that goes after profit so i think the bottom shift that’s happening right now is that beside operating a business that seeks profit like considering the environments and the concepts around the environment might actually make the business more profitable which is what one of the most obvious cases in the companies presented is like utilizing like assets that does not have value right now and actually generating value out of this through the the the process managed by the company would actually one of the cases one of the companies that participated in the program it’s actually creates a new material out of getting to like recyclable materials and mixing them together like creating a like another material with better mechanical properties and as a result using this material to build usual products that’s used in things like lighting poles cetera and the result of their products is uh three times cheaper than the ones in the market so for them they can keep a profit margin that’s much higher and they would actually supply products that’s very effective and fulfills the objective with even better properties so if we look at it from this perspective there is a lot of innovation that can take place in using recyclable materials to create both profit while also taking care of the environment another idea that was shared is is dried uh fruits and vegetables and like the idea is that in egyptian farmers they almost waste like 40 50 of the crops especially for very specific crops and like one of the innovators in the program like um like he created a device through which these farmers can actually dry these vegetables and fruits in-house in the farm itself so they actually they can ship it or they can transport it to the markets in which it’s being sold way way cheaper because by then you can condense like 50 tons into just one ton like when you dry it which actually was a very smart idea which like it would have both an economic potential and also it kind of solve like an immense problem that’s facing like farmers and the economy at large yes i understand also that there was one of the projects where they mixed the fiberglass with cut was cotton or cartonage yes yeah that was a project that i was i was uh like initially talking about yeah mixing fiberglass was hardened cartoons yes and by then creating a new material and the good thing is that like these products are being bought by even like ministries interiors and some high profile customers who are using it in lots of applications like in-street booths traffic booths like polls and different applications in which that the material is proving to be a very good alternative the ones in the market so and that’s potentially a huge market to be addressed so like there’s a lot of scope for innovation for new ideas that like goes around recycling while also being under the theme of being responsible in in consumption and also responsible in production so you’re not abusing the environment in any way and you’re using materials that’s already partially produced yes so tell us about the investors where are they interested in adopting some of these projects and start implementing them yes definitely i think when it comes to investors investors usually look at like um two perspectives like there is a perspective which is like the hard part which has to do about the the business model and the financial aspect because that’s their job they are investing money and they’re expecting return so for the when the hard part is kind of fulfilled with the data and the entrepreneur being ready and presentable by then i think lots of these especially private investors they would actually consider projects because they also take care of the environment so there is a sense of being motivated by the fact that this is an environmentally responsible business is even a plus for some of the investors once the the interest in the profit is secured of course yes i understand that there were several projects as well and i’m quite interested in the one that turns waste into fertilizers that that’s a very interesting project especially that in egypt we have a lot of waste yeah i think that’s that’s right i think that’s that’s one of the interesting projects that was presented is that you can use waste and we’re building a quite a big device so that’s that’s one of the challenges for the entrepreneurs that they needed the capital in order to build like um like a large uh chamber for kind of processing the waste and um and basically the idea is you’re collecting organic waste and then they they have a device like a champer through which they convert this into fertilizers and basically this fertilizer can be used as a cheaper inter alternative to uh kind of planting even in like um like areas in which that currently it does not have the right soil for like plantation so the project has a lot of potential especially when it comes to like egypt’s objective to expand uh the green uh parts of egypt so they produce fertilizer that’s much uh cheaper and also fulfills a lot because i think we import lots of fruit felt lighter so there is a gap in egypt’s production versus the import and we have been trying to reduce the uh the gab for importation so that’s another interesting project that fulfills the gap of our need to import and also opens up lots of potential but then if we have cheaper filterizer fertilizers that’s usable for creating much more green space in egypt i think that’s a very interesting idea and a very interesting concept usually the challenge that entrepreneurs get stuck at the execution challenge because to do something like that you need at least half a million egyptian pounds so who’s gonna do the initial half uh a million pounds so i think that’s why there is also beside the private investors who would probably could consider the risk once they see the maturity i think there could be engagement with different government and if you told me that they were cooperating with the ministry of environment as well in these projects right yes what other institutions are you cooperating with well i think in the event itself we had representative from the ministry of trade and industry and the ministry of investment and and foreign relations so these were all official parties and we were also doing engagement with gaffy and multiple other entities like under the umbrella of these ministries so i think there was some quite good engagement with different institutions and also we produced some materials after the event to continue further engagement with these projects and mobilize support for these entrepreneurs now so you’ve spoken about some of the challenges but what other challenges are you facing especially to be able to promote for your startups yeah i think like um like part of the challenge for startups is actually building a startup because building a company sounds like an exciting venture but there’s a lot of work behind the scenes so there’s a lot of challenges in getting the entrepreneur ready and get them committed and get them to work in the business for an extended period of time because like all these projects we’re talking about you can look at that entrepreneurs have been working from three to five years to read to get the projects to this level of maturity so this is a lot of work and a lot of commitment that’s being put into the the project so guaranteeing this continuous commitment is something that’s uh that’s uh very vital to the survival of the idea the concept and its potential us also building a team like moving beyond the innovation because like we’re talking about innovative concepts here like if you’re capable of moving beyond the originator of the idea and building a team and an institution i think that’s the most difficult transition is that there is someone who built something of value now we want to appreciate this person recognize what they have done and they want to build an institution which is what the company is around this concept to be able to scale this impact and have people with different skill sets and like marketing and business in sales etc to be able to expand the company so moving from an individual innovator’s idea which is pretty smart and has an impact into a company that’s executing this aggressively in the market that’s where we need lots of stakeholders to be involved and that’s why the event took place in order to collect and gather the stakeholders and investors to support these projects so what are the next steps for green startups in each well i think by now i think these green startups who participated as a switch med contest i think they gained quite an exposure and experience when it comes to their businesses like one of these participating companies is uh traveling to barcelona uh like to participate in switchmate connect next year so they are having even international exposure uh to represent egypt in an international contest yes switchmark is an annual occasion annual event yes i think it’s uh it’s a program by the european union i think we have an annual event that that takes place together uh different parties and that beside this uh like a single company that’s presenting it’s a project is that the the rest of the companies are continuously working on a project we’re continuously in contact with them to make sure that they are proceeding with contacting investors and stakeholders and we we look forward for opportunities to connect with any stakeholders so i think to find online even if you google and search for green startups in egypt i think it’s gonna you’re gonna land on some of these projects and uh potentially they would be very open for different types of collaboration now how expensive are are these startups like to create a business which is environment friendly is it is it cost friendly or is it expensive inexpensive because of the devices you’ll need to use well i think that that would depend on each individual case but we can say that like these entrepreneurs the strap their companies so far so they were actually spending on their own so we would think that they spend probably a few thousand dollars in kind of building the devices etc and they reach the prototype stage and i think that’s the stage in which that a business needs an external capital so i think like most of the startups were raising some somewhere between 500 000 to 2.5 million egyptian pounds like 500 000 egyptian pounds to 2.5 million egyptian pounds these it starts at least in a sense that’s a lot for a young person isn’t it well i think uh this might be young for like um like much for a young person but i don’t think they were young i think like some of the participating companies were more mature individuals i’m talking about the youth themselves the entrepreneurs who started the idea itself yeah i think like um like we can be pretty flexible in defining youth so i think some of the participants like 45 and 50 years old so that that’s a still an innovative uh concept and they’re still entrepreneurs so they actually also they are managing cash flow so they are used to running companies some of these are already existing companies with existing cash flow the mixing of the fiber glass et cetera that’s an operating company so they they know what to do with the money and uh and by then even like some of them who are at a less mature stage they would require less amounts of capital but when it comes also to investing for like professional investors they would be looking for like amounts like 500 000 different pounds 2.5 that’s still very comfortable for investors so how do you choose the participating companies well the parts many companies was choosing that contest itself which is like managed form from barcelona so i think like the um the idea was looking at the startups with the most potential those who already have exerted efforts in building something they have a product and you would need this kind of training and exposure in order to like take it to the next level do you find many egyptian companies interested in this uh event yeah i think this is uh this is almost one of the yearly times that’s being done in egypt and i think the level of participation and commitment of the participants have been very good now apart from this particular event tell me more about what do you advise entrepreneurs when they are starting their projects well actually there there there could be lots of lots of uh pieces of advice when it comes to what people like need to know once you’re starting their businesses but i think one of the uh of the core components that we even sense it with this program is the need to have like a sense of a timeline in which that during the timeline you’re going to be extremely focused on a very particular idea so for example the next six months my company’s objective is to present the business in front of this panel in this event so i would be very focused on like bringing everything into a very specific objective that i have in mind so i think especially when we’re talking about like underfunded understaffed companies we’re talking about the need to be very focused because by then it’s it’s all mobilized in the mind of a single individual so once we have a very a single objective just one thing to be done and then they bring everything under the umbrella of this one thing because these things would be necessary for the execution so i think like focusing on a very specific objective on a on time intervals would be a very good strategy for startup startups like to keep moving forward whatever is happening around them okay mr abdul mandi entrepreneurship expert thank you for being with us sir thank you thank you and now we will be going to a quick break and we will be looking at our live news and we’ll be back for more on breakfast [Music]
Tech Entrepreneur, engineer, teacher and researcher.
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"A vigorous, trustworthy and meticulous hard working man. He was the principal organizer of the event"
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