As the dangers of climate change become more tangible with more droughts, water scarcity, acute heat waves, and desertification, environmentally friendly solutions have been growing in popularity and are needed now more than ever.
The result is a new wave of climate-focused startups, also known as green startups, and new competitions to try to attract the best projects that can help to save the environment.
Three national winners were named last week at the Climate Launch Pad Egypt Competition, the world’s largest green business ideas competition and part of the entrepreneurship offerings of EIT Climate-KIC, Europe’s largest public-private innovation partnership focused on climate innovation to mitigate and adapt to climate change. The "youthinkgreen Egypt" is the national host of Climate Launch Pad competition.
One of the three winners, Biopre, is a startup focusing on producing biodegradable products. Biopre first product are bio-degradeable bags with more green products to follow.
“We worked on research for biodegradable bags to replace single-use plastic bags,” said Laila Ayman, founder and CEO of Biopre.
She explained that Biopre bags are degradable, meaning that they are absorbed naturally into the earth. “After eating a piece of fruit, for example, the remains can be put in the bag and thrown into the soil to work as a natural fertiliser,” Ayman pointed out.
Though these bags are double the price of plastic bags, their added value includes extending the shelf life of organic food products.
She added that her main market is the organic food industry at present but that she aims to expand in the near future. The organic food industry is ready to invest in biodegradable bags for wrapping their products, since they cost significantly more than ordinary food, she explained.
“This market is growing in Egypt and worldwide, and it is ready to invest more,” she said, adding that the organic food industry is Biopre’s niche market because the cost of the biodegradable bags is double that of ordinary plastic bags.
The organic food market to ready to pay higher prices for higher-quality products.
Biopre aims to produce several more bio-products in the future as more regulations come into effect to help to save the environment. Sharm El-Sheikh on the Red Sea banned single-use plastic bags a few years ago, and more governorates are expected to follow suit as the world shifts towards environmentally friendly products.
Another winner of the Climate Launchpad was Akoub, a smart tech solution startup company that aims to integrate artificial intelligence technology into the agricultural industry to motivate farmers to work in more environmentally friendly ways.
Mohamed Akkad and Mustafa Mohamed, co-founders of Akoub, said the goal was to reduce emissions from tractors, pollination tanks, and pesticide sprays.
Akoub uses battery-powered drones for pesticide spraying and pollination, and it uses artificial intelligence to analyse data on agricultural land, helping in the detection of diseases in plants, particularly palms.
“One drone can cover a farm of more than 5,000 palm trees,” the co-founders said, adding that Egypt has planted about two million trees since 2020 as part of its national project to plant five million trees by 2030.
The New Valley governorate alone has about 2.7 million palm trees. The total number in Egypt is about 16 million.
“We are the largest country in the world in terms of dates production, but only three per cent of them are exported. We are trying to help the country to increase exports,” the founders said.
Akoub’s advantage, according to the founders, is the ease and speed of pollination, the quality of it, and the protection of individuals from injuries due to the traditional method of climbing up the palm trees to pollinate them.
Akkad and Mohamed are hoping that their company can acquire permits for the use of more drones in their project.
DAYRA was also one of the winners of the regional competition. "It is the first sustainable retail platform to sell pre-owned high-quality clothing in the region," said DAYRA's founder and CEO Basma Tawakol.
The main concept is waste minimisation, with this leading to less pollution and accessible fashion at reasonable pricing, Tawakol said, adding that the start-up aims to raise awareness about buying second-hand clothing while saving the environment.
The local winners of the Climate Launchpad contest will compete next month on a regional level, and the winners of the regional contest will qualify for the final stage and compete on a global level by the end of the year.
Over the past six years, Climate Launchpad has generated more than 6,700 ideas that have resulted in the creation of over 8,000 jobs at 1,900 startups.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 8 September, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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