Sustainovation Hub Building a Business Case for Sustainability through Youth Entrepreneurship
Impact Pathway 2013/14
Sustainovation Hub’s Pitch Day with entrepreneurs, judges and Egypt’s Minister of State for Environmental Affairs May 2014!
Contents
• At A Glance • Starting Point • Pilot Program • Teams’ Projects • Lean Startup Approach • Impact Pathway • Going Forward
At A Glance
“ I have seen great & innovative ideas in today’s presentations & I believe that such competitions that tackle real waste management challenges and present recycling solutions is what Egypt needs right now.” Dr Ahmed Gaber, CEO Chemonics
Key Facts 70 Entrepreneurs from 35 universities across Egypt
!
Skilled Volunteering PwC 1 Partner 2 Directors 1 Manager 5 Associates 63 hours in total
External Volunteering 15 External Mentors 4 Subject Matter Experts 10 Judges
Starting Point Our Sustainability Agenda: Youth & Environment Sustainovation Hub was created out of PwC Egypt's commitment to sustainability and supporting social entrepreneurs, in collaboration with Takatof Foundation. Since its involvement with youth through Triple Effect (a CR program at PwC Egypt), the interest to support youth further expanded leading to the creation of Sustainovation Hub in September 2013. From there, the journey of Sustainovation Hub’s creation was highly influenced by the approach that we would like our entrepreneurs to embrace; the Lean Startup innovation cycle of Build, Measure and Learn.
Primary Research Interviews with: • • • •
Aspiring Entrepreneurs Established Entrepreneurs Support Organizations Startups in Selected Fields
Secondary Research • •
• •
Accelerating Entrepreneurship in the Arab World, World Economic Forum, Oct 2011 Enabling Entrepreneurship in Egypt: Towards a Sustainable Dynamic Model, Entrepreneurs Business Forum Egypt, Dec 2010 Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Directory, Egypreneur Understanding the Social Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Egypt, Inji El Abd
A Youth Revolution Since 2011, there has been mass interest, activities and support in the area of youth entrepreneurship in Egypt as a means to job creation, innovation and economic growth. There are 505 entities providing support to entrepreneurs in Egypt in different stages of development in 52 categories. However, lack of coordination and duplication of tasks in existing initiatives and support organizations prevents: • Specialization in support function; • Customization of support depending on the various industries; • Scalability As it stands, entrepreneurship is an almost linear process, with support organizations intervening at various stages & sometimes to ‘hold the entrepreneurs’ hand’, until their venture is another ‘case’. Source: Enabling Entrepreneurship in Egypt: Towards a Sustainable Dynamic Model, Entrepreneurs Business Forum Egypt, Dec 2010!
Starting Point cont. This calls for a dynamic, comprehensive, flexible & self-sustainable model acknowledging that new businesses demand different types of support based on: • •
Their stage of development; & The industry in which they operate. “ If you look at a good model of social entrepreneur, he/she does not come from just one program. It’s related to a gift, context, ability to make observations & connect dots, how he/she is thinking of the systems. You can’t manufacture all these contexts. ” Yassein Mohamed, Mesaha co-working space
From Youth Entrepreneurship to Environmental Stewardship Recognizing the need for specialization in both industries and support offered, we focused the scope of Sustainovation Hub to: • Their stage of development: Pre & Post Incubation • The industry in which they operate: Environment (Waste, Energy, Water)
Inspires a new generation of entrepreneurial leaders committed to the triple bottom line (people, planet, profit) being the benchmark of business existence. By building sustainable businesses in the area of environment through youth entrepreneurship.
To create a pipeline of potential entrepreneurs capable of contributing to the green economy as a means to Egypt’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Pilot Program With this vision in mind, we focused our pilot program firstly on testing the type of green solutions that young innovators can offer. Through one of our long-standing partners; Enactus, a global student organization committed to enable progress through entrepreneurial actions, we organized the PwC Special Competition on the theme of Recycling & Solid Waste Management Solutions:
2014 Lean & Green Camp (6th – 8th Feb) •
• •
Aim: 1) Inspire young innovators to develop viable environmental based solutions; 2) Provide basic tools & approach to help validate business models Participants: 70 students from 35 universities across Egypt Key Topics/Speakers: - Amr Sabri, Industrial & Efficiency Engineer, MARS Egypt on ‘Sustainability at MARS’ - Ahmed Huzayyin, Professor at Cairo University on ‘Top 10 Future Inventions’ - Ahmed Dorghamy, Energy & Environment Expert, Centre for Environment & Development for the Arab Region & Europe on ‘Key Environmental Challenges in Egypt’ - Mahmoud Galal, Entrepreneur, Dayra for Waste Management & Recycling on ‘My Journey as an Entrepreneur’
Mentorship (March – May) • •
•
30 mentors from corporate sector matched to 30 teams; 6 weeks mentorship period focusing on helping teams to ‘Get Out of the Building’ to validate business model by speaking to 10-15 customers each week and updating team’s Lean Canvas via online tool; Teams were also matched to PwC’s financial expert & subject matter experts (biogas, animal feed, fertilizer, recycling)
Pitching (30th – 31st May) • •
Day 1: 22 teams presented in front of 3 panels of judges from environmental, finance and entrepreneur/business background; Day 2: Top 3 of each panel presented in the finals in front of judges like Prof. Ahmed Gaber, one of the top environmental experts and consultants in Egypt and attended by guest of honor, Dr Laila Iskandar, Egypt’s Minister of State for Environmental Affairs
Lean Canvas!
Team’s Projects
Team Helwan-BIS building a prototype biogas unit with farmers in El Shabwary Village, Aga
Team Shorouk with their prototype collection of home furniture made from recycled tires
Team Helwan’s value proposition to recycle can waste and aluminum scrap into raw aluminum
Lean Startup Approach Mentor
Subject Matter Expert
Team
Start From Validating Problem / Customer Hypothesis Get Out of the Building
Yes
No
Create Solutions & Unique Value Proposition
Talk to more customers or another customer segment
Minimum Viable Product
Pivot
Persevere
Each Week BUILD!
LEARN!
MEASURE!
Share • • • • •
Hypothesis: Here’s what you thought Experiments: So here’s what you did Results: So here’s what you found Iterate: So here’s what you are going to do next Communicate with Mentor & update Lean Canvas
!
Impact Pathway
65%
Started this green project specifically for the competition
Top 3 most useful component of program
PwC-Enactus Special Competition “Recycling & Solid Waste Management Solutions”
100%
1. Mentorship 2. 3-days Camp 3. Pitch Day
Will continue this project after the competition
Mentorship helped me to: • • • •
Connect between the engineering & marketing side Be introduced to business leaders to market our product Guide us through our business start up journey & provided support Push us to a more validated learning approach
Top 3
What did you learn most: Using the Lean Startup approach, Business Model Canvas & other business theories to put an idea into action, create a business model, approach customers, consider added value
Other Entrepreneurial skills & values: • Commitment • Perseverance • Hard work • Confidence • Working in team
100%
Believe they are more likely to be an entrepreneur following this competition
How to be an entrepreneur, gain money at the same time while saving our environment
most challenging aspect of program
1. Establishing a financial model 2. Creating a prototype 3. Securing funding
“ Through this competition, I learnt that recycling can be a means of ensuring a sustainable future which is also unthinkably profitable.” Enactus Suez
Impact Pathway Input
By highlighting the context of environment & the causes & effects locally & globally, we inspire students to innovate on environmental solutions. In combination with the Lean Startup approach and other business model tools, we not only want these aspiring entrepreneurs to develop green solutions but also match them to real market needs. This immersion experience aims to inspire a new generation of successful green startups.
Outcome
Output Learning
70 entrepreneurs participated in 3-days Green & Lean Camp
Development of green business solutions
Condition
Understand Customers’ Needs
Increased entrepreneurial & business mindset towards environmental solutions
First hand experience of validating business model
Test Customers’ Feedback
Reduced period of time-to-market
Refinement of business model based on professional feedback
Modify & Refine Solution based on Feedback
23 teams pitched at Competition Day in front of 10 judges
First hand experience of pitching in front of potential investors
Pitch learnings & validated business model
3 teams to receive prototype funding
Management of budget to create prototype
Build prototype of green solution
Acquired knowledge of Lean Startup & business modeling
PwC CR: $7,000
In-kind contribution of time from staff, mentors, judges & teams
Increased awareness of environmental challenges & solutions
Action
6 weeks ‘Get Out of Building’ Lean Startup approach 30 mentors matched with 30 teams for 2 months of mentorship 6 teams matched with subject matter experts
Increased likelihood of successful green startups: revenue, customer, funding
Going forward We aim to connect startups with industry leaders to match entrepreneurial innovation with real market gaps. The idea of which is to create win-win green solutions through startups as a trigger point to enable industry players to minimize their carbon footprint from a business perspective while spurring innovation and growth. Reduce Environmental Footprint
Spur Innovation & Growth
•
Reduce carbon emissions
•
New market opportunity
•
Increase recycling ie. 0% waste to landfill policy
•
Enhance internal culture
•
Create market-based solutions to social impact
•
Recover & repurpose valuable resources for reuse
1. Environmental Startups
2. Support Services / Funding
4. Market Linkage • Market Based Challenge • Early Market Adopters • Mentors • Subject Matter Experts
5. Industry Partners
3. Incubators / Accelerators
Introducing Egypt’s Green Startups
Energy
Gaia is a solar energy services provider, providing multifunctional solar systems such as backup units, independent unit for off-grid sites & outdoor lighting solutions. !
Contributing to the Green Economy Providing solutions to Egypt’s most pressing environmental challenges
Waste
RecycloBekia is an electronic waste company offering green recycling of e-waste & safe data destruction services. !
While creating a pipeline of high potential entrepreneurs
Waste to Energy
Dayra offers a holistic environmental waste solution to energyintensive corporations such as recycling of biomass & RDF as alternative fuel to cement factories. !
Ultimately, embed sustainability into core business strategy