Green Entrepreneurship and Grassroots Ecological Innovation as an Innovative Pathway towards Circular Economy: SCP/RAC’s Switchers Support Programme — SwitchMed

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Green Entrepreneurship and Grassroots Ecological Innovation as an Innovative Pathway towards Circular Economy: SCP/RAC’s Switchers Support Programme

Which are the main impacts achieved by SwitchMed’s GE & CS Programmes?

 

 

What did we aim at?

 

The main objectives of this session hosted by the SCP/RAC Green Entrepreneurship & Civil Society (GE & CS) team were :

 

  • Sharing with the SwitchMed Community and participants the main achievements and impact of the GE & CS Programmes at the regional level
  • Sharing experiences and lessons learnt from SwitchMed in promoting green entrepreneurship in the region, and building a community.

 

Panel discussion: What are key take-aways from the GE & CS Programme?

 

Main moderator: Giorgio Mosangini, SCP/RAC

 

Speakers:

  • Ali Abo Sena, ENCPC
  • Lotfia Harbi, SwitchMed Mentor, Centre National des Technologies de Production plus Propre.
  • Yassine Ben Menadi, Bio-intrants Technologie
  • Tracy El Achkar, Diane Foundation

 

 

 

"2,368 Green Entrepreneurs have been trained, and 48 incubated, thanks to SwitchMed Green Entrepeneurship Programme". - Giorgio Mosangini.

 

 

Giorgio Mosangini shared the Green Entrepreneurship Training Programme main achievements:

 

  • 2 368 Green Entrepreneurs were formed, 48 of them were incubated
  • The programme has contributed to the creation of more than 200 green businesses and 1 000 jobs.
  • 161 trainees (49% women) at the Civil Society Training and Support Programme and 14 eco-innovation initiatives incubated.

 

The main recommendations for the future are:

  • Promote coordination & synergies between Business Support Organizations
  • Mainstream sustainability approach among Business Support Organizations
  • Facilitate the matching between investors and Green Entrepreneurs
  • Develop support policies (e.g. regulatory framework, green public procurement…)
  • Promote demand for green products and services

You can view his presentation here.

 

Representing the national intermediaries, Ali Abo Sena, from ENCPC (Egypt) explained the process of the Green Entrepreneur programme in Egypt, which started in september 2015. 10 Local Trainers were selected and trained and a call for Green Entrepreneurs was launched through social media among universities, governmental institutions, NGOs, development agencies, etc.

From the 787 applications received, 432 (20% women) were accepted and 300 trained in Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Sohag. More than 20 Green Entrepreneurs have started their business.

Among the lessons learned: great potential for Green Business in Egypt, great training contents, materials and methodology. To transfer of knowledge and experiences in the regional is highly recommended.

 Ali Abo Sena

 

You can view his presentation here. 

 

Loftia Harbi, Local Trainer in Algeria: training in Algeria was developed by 12 trainers. 130 eco-entrepreneurs were trained (35% women). 6 switchers participated in the incubation programme and 10 took part in the event “Green companies meet the investors�. Through this programme local capacities were reinforced, local resources were capitalized, training materials were enriched and diversified.

For the future, Ms Harbi proposed to improve the evaluation of projects, reduction of the duration of the trainings and programme in general, to work with business schools for developing the training programmes, and with governmental institutions and youth programmes to adopt SwitchMed methodology.

You can view her presentation here.

 

Representing green entrepreneurs, Yassine Ben Menadi explained his Green Entrepreneurship project: BioIntrants Technologie, for the production of agriculture eco-inputs. This products are produced in a sustainable way, reducing environmental impact and without adverse effects on humans, animals and plants.

They work on the upgrading of organic waste by recycling it on soil fertilizers, through a “lombricompost� process.

SwitchMed contributed to this initiative by supporting them in the design of the Green Business Canvas and the Green Business Plan and with technical assistance.

You can view his presentation here.

 

Tracy El Achkar, shared key ideas on SwitchMed and Access to Finance in Lebanon. 60 applications were received, more than 250 attendees to the A2F event, involving more than 10 investors and 9 entrepreneur-financial institutions. They organizing other events, like green markets, public events, competitions, etc.

Among the recommendations to promote GE in the region, Ms. El Achkar proposed for the start-ups to measure the environmental impacts and knowing when is the right time to scale-up. For the training materials: elaborate materials on how to write a business plan, involve governments and banks and create market to promote products and green services.

 

 

 GE panel

If the entrepreneur is not well trained, the project will not succeed. - Tracy El Achkar.

 

 You can view her presentation here.

 

After the presentations, some recommendations were collected:

 

  • We need to build synergies and promote coordination among all the GE stakeholders
  • We mainstream the SM and the sustainability approach in green business development
  • There is a need to promote matching between investors and Green Entrepreneurs.
  • It is necessary to develop support policies, and to get full support from public institutions
  • To raise awareness to increase the demand for green products and services.


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