The survival guide to the Circular Economy - For (future) entrepreneurs and corporations (Part One)
- 18 juil. 2016
- 7 min de lecture
It started from a Facebook-ad, a subscription & ended to be a life changing experience.
First things first, the name 'Entrepreneurship School' (ES) attracted my attention immediately (as an entrepreneurship passionated I couldn't resist this tempting ad, I admit). I never heard of an entrepreneurship school before (expect of these very expensive summer business schools I could not afford, anyway). Thereby ES, unusual again, was free. No kidding. Totally free.
Uhu.
Like you I became suddenly very skeptical.
Then, when I saw the ad, remembering all those other eye-catchy ads with the 'free' in big letters and begging for some in-comprehensive fee at the check-out, I went through anyway (badass, right?).. Well this time, no. Nothing, any fee at the end of the tunnel.
Instead you got a summer school (without teachers, only real entrepreneurs, not a dream!), excursions, food (breakfast and lunch!) and unlimited drinks at your disposal. And on top of that a network of amazing people. (A little aperçu of these amazing people I got the chance to share the journey with: Hong Kong - team).
Et voilà.
Go ahead, say it. You don't think it's true, do you?
Well, I'm still thinking it was maybe a dream too, but nah. Pure Reality. (Thank you Andrea and the ThinkYoung-team, by the way!). (check it out!!! ThinkYoung).
I came to the ES with a special interest for entrepreneurship and the special topic of Circular Economy but without any specific expectations.
The ES was so organized that entrepreneurs would be interviewed by the ES fellows, instead of giving a classical lecture, on 5 topics:
Entrepreneurial Idea,
Marketing,
Communication & Networking,
Resources and
Failure.
Very useful when what you really want to know, is how to get along the practical issues of doing the actual business.
In reflecting upon my week at the ES, a few lessons from each entrepreneur stand out. With specific attention to the Circular Economy (CE).
In an era where the circle economy is evolving and capturing more attention the most widespread myth to start with and to absolutely get rid of is: 'a fancy term for recycling that will cause profits to slump'.
Let's be inspired by the tips and tricks given by entrepreneurs who made it and are active in different sectors. They are all unanimous about the opportunity, business and human wise, and huge profits the CE has to offer.
Consultancy Business
How do we get it done?
Tell a story of quality, be passionated about it and inspire your stakeholders by involving them in the process (ask the customer what the problem is).
You don't have to talk about CE per se (think out-of-the-box; who said the box was square?), but about the idea and mindset behind it. You could develop a workshop for organizations as a learning experience and networking event.
Further networking (hint: LinkedIn, networking events, etc.) is crucial in closing the loop too, therefore keeping your circle up to date about what you are doing, is a must!
- Good to keep in mind:
Cities want to create jobs!
Companies are interested in the payback (talk about that money), in saving costs and the resources of interest.
Stay honest about the potential failures of the circular economy (bear in mind that it's a team work, we build and achieve together!)
In short speaking about the result, communicating from their point of view on a passionated way and delivering consistent high quality is one of this receipts to closing the loop.
However the CE is so a new field that you got to have a lot of creativity, because there's not only one way to do it, keep innovating.
Fashion Business
It sounds harsh, but she's right! People has to understand the big picture, if they're not ready to convert, they'll never be.
What?!
Again. Explain, explain a lot, how you are working, what you are doing. But even so some people will just not get what you are doing and what you stand for. You don't have to take that personally, some people won't understand and they don't need to, it's not for them.
Explaining yourself over and over comes with a cost! The cost of making your margin shrink with each repetition. You don't want that, right?
Anyway, keep talking to a lot of people, go to circular economy events (like: The world circular economy forum) and keep pitching your ideas around the world.
Furthermore if you want to get big players on board, like Tale Me did with Patagonia, network, network, network!
And when you are in front of the person you want to convince, bear in mind that it's about: truth, confidence, believing and being honest with them.
To make a partnership work you should evaluate what kind of partnership it is in the first place, a small/big one, evaluate the relationship on matching values and put a lot of your time into it, for this reason: choose your partnerships wisely (think about your values, they'll guide you!). As said before you've to be convinced it will work, and never ever show self-doubt, ever, especially when you are in front of big brands. It's gonna work no matter what! (If you still need some motivation: Tony Robbins, Eric Thomas, Gary Vaynerchuck, etc. will be pleased to give you some kick in the ass, de nada!)
The circle economy is a niche, therefore your marketing-strategy also needs to be matched with your targeted customer group.
Using Google ads with keywords: 'renting clothes', is useless since the idea of it (which I think is brilliant!) has to be first widely accepted before making use of such tools.
Instead you could spot bloggers, influencers, and so on, using the different social media available; like Instagram, Pinterest, etc. Examine your niche: where do they go, what do they eat, to which events do they go? Okay, there you should show up too! The community of the CE is getting even stronger with the time, get inspired and know how to get along with them!
Money matters too, to get further, understandable. Well, Mrs. Balez puts it this way: "The more money you have, the more money you'll have.", so do not be afraid to ask for money. Just ask it and be mindful about how you use it.
Sadly but true, as women we seem to be less trusted by investors.. = opportunity! To all the bossladies out there, once the trust is gained, it's for real, so choosing our investors has to be accordingly done and the relationships wisely chosen. Preparation is the message !
Lastly, if your fear of failure has you still stuck and keeps you paralyzed in the procrastination hood, let yourself be inspired by Mrs. Balez' motto about failure:
"The biggest failure you can have, is to die."
Bam. Uhu, there is no failure, if you lose your money it's not a big deal, make sure people get their salaries paid, the loans get payed off and by trial and error you'll get to better places. With other words, make mistakes, embrace them all, learn from them and take action according to what you learned from the owies.
Social Enterprise (abroad)
Mrs. Janssen started The Ketchup Project (TKP) in Kenya because a lot of vegetables and fruits are thrown away when the market goes down. Thereby tomatoes are perishable, which brought TKP to the idea of making ketchup from dried tomatoes, which also saves energy costs from keeping them in fridges and makes a smoother running transport afterwards.
Now, how do you start a business abroad in the first place?
Again, it all starts with a good network and finding a good team as crucial component. Besides attending networking events, you should know beforehand what you want from your network.
Once your team is up and you are ready to make the leap to adventureland, you could talk with local ambassadors, lawyers, village heads (!), ngo's, etc. They will connect you with the right people. To choose the right local partner it's important to partner with someone who has a big name to sustain, because if it fails he/she will have a lot to lose. Furthermore the local team should be one who want to make your product a success. A hint: the 'Mutulo' or head of the village knows his people well and can point you out who is the most suitable person to make the project work.
The DirectChainFoundation is an initiative who helps with stimulating the local economy and farmers community in developing countries by sharing valuable information for (future) entrepreneurs who wants to be active in such regions, check it out!
Next, doing your homework about the culture of the country you want to be active in is crucial to make the process go smoother. In Kenya, for example, employees who are suddenly very quiet is a sign of something going wrong and feeling ashamed about it. Therefore, communicating in the right way and knowing the social cues of the region can help you better tackle setbacks.
Once the relationships are established, keeping them alive and nourishing them remains a pillar in making projects, in general, work. So next to the work, work, work, work, work, work, we got to talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk (maybe the next Rihanna-soundtrack who knows).
Now.. the money matters. Before begging investors to believe in your project, we gotta compare the pros and cons of going to the big poppa's.
Pro: you can get a little money for your good cause, but the investor will claim (in most of the cases) 40% of the shares of your company (this latter is a big con).
Alternatives could be asking for grants to friends, family, strangers, getting a loan, etc. Or getting funds by telling a good story on Kickstarter.com, which at the same time will create exposure for your product, which is not the case when knocking at the door of an investor or bank.
Once the funds are ready, it's important to keep track of where the money goes and is spent on. A useful trick could be to create a big saving account which will give you all the necessary information about when, at what time and how much has been spent and used for each transaction.
To have a better grasp on a well-going process it's recommended to be on spot, often, and (once more) be surrounded by a trusted local-team!
In brief, remembering that the CE is a niche, emphasizing on storytelling (boring you again with it) and differentiating yourself from your competitors by being transparent about the costs, the loans of the farmers and the earnings within the value chain, remains a key to success.
After all, the CE will remain a fancy term for some, but is definitely not the cause of shrinking profits. By this I declare the CE myth tackled for once and for all.
PS: Let's be honest about what the CE truly is...
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