This blog reflection has been co-authored by Raysa França from Youth4Nature and Linda Nieminen from the Council of the Baltic Sea States.
Social change can look like many things - and one path towards a green future can happen through social entrepreneurship.
This is the spirit that we brought to the “Breakfast talks” webinar, organized jointly by Youth4Nature and the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBBS), through the Baltic Sea Youth Platform. During this webinar, three entrepreneurs based in the Baltic Sea region - Finland, Latvia, and Estonia - showed us what social entrepreneurship looks like, and today we bring you a little piece of that inspiring talk!
The webinar was part of the #SpringofHopeY4N campaign - we want to show youth that a hopeful future is possible, and we can act together to create change.
Blokgarden, by Tuomas Ilander: transformation through urban agriculture
In Finland, the growing season starts in May and it's over already in September. It's extremely short! So if you live in Finland, are not successful with your gardening attempts, you need to wait a whole year to try again. That's where you see how convenient Blokgarden's solutions are.
Blokgarden offers seedlings already in boxes, and weekly tips and tutorials are shared on how to take care of your plants. By the end of the season, the boxes are collected and the soil is recycled. This is a clear example of a business model that generates value for society and for the environment alike.
In this, Blokgarden is a company that helps people grow food in the urban environment.
The idea for the green business idea came up when they started growing food by themselves and started thinking, would there be an easier way to do that? Customers can choose the size of their already planted garden boxes. Customers can also choose their plants, and Blokgarden offers ready-made plant combinations that are optimal to grow and support each other while growing. Collaboration in the garden and collaboration for the planet! Tuomas Ilander is the co-founder and the CEO of Blokgarden, and one piece of advice Tuomas offers to young people who want to be green entrepreneurs:
“All starts from a team – get a team involved and people involved. Do not do it by yourself.”
SWIMBE, by Laura Zukovska-Supe and Elena Dmitrijeva: tackling waste while empowering women
Normally swimwear is made from synthetic fabrics - nylon, polyester, elastane - as they can manage UV radiation, salty water, chlorine in the pools, many washes. Unfortunately, synthetic fabrics are made from oil, so in essence they are the same as regular plastic.
Did you know that by 2050 there will be more plastic waste in the world's waters than there will be fish? Furthermore, fast fashion is damaging the environment as 73 % of fast fashion is thrown out. In this troublesome context, two entrepreneurs are leading on a solution through their social enterprise based in Latvia - SWIMBE.
SWIMBE is a sustainable swimwear brand that offers personalized, custom-made swimwear made of sea waste plastic. SWIMBE uses unique fabrics for swimwear creation, such as old fishing nets, carpets, PET bottles, among other recycled materials. These fabrics feel and look like typical swimwear fabrics, and so they can create great garments without using more of the planet's resources. SWIMBE is cleaning out waste that kills marine life and creates beautiful swimwear for women of every size. They also have a zero-waste manufacturing process, which means creating accessories such as crunchies from the left-over fabric.
“Be brave with your ideas, do not be scared! Start small and ask for help!”
SWIMBE is a youth-led initiative, and Laura and Elena often share advice to young people who want to start their own businesses. Their top piece of advice? It’s simple and transferable to all actions for climate and for nature:
Single.Earth, by Merit Valdsalu: acknowledging nature’s value in economic terms
Together with her team, Merit Valdsalu enacts a transformation inside the financial system, using satellite data, big data analysis, machine learning, and blockchain technologies. These tools help translate nature into its real ecological value (and not only as raw material!). Merit is behind Single.Earth, a platform that democratizes the carbon and biodiversity offset market. The startup was even recognized as a shortlisted Innovator on Uplink by the World Economic Forum.
“We make nature the new gold”
Single.Earth wants to translate nature into an investment, rather than an externality. In that sense, the company wants to prove that nature can be monetized without being sold as a raw material. They started with the question: how could the economy support the preservation of nature? Now, Single.Earth is creating alternative business models for landowners that support sustainable land management. In this way, landowners can monetize their forests with minor selective cuts or no cutting at all. They aim to monetize the value of nature and make carbon and biodiversity tradable on a global marketplace between landowners and environmentally responsible businesses and individuals.
Merit is also an environmentalist and animal rights activist, passionate about diversity and gender equality. Her story is illustrative of change from deep passion and commitment. In that, Merit highlighted the importance of having a power team in driving ambition towards the protection of nature.
More about this event and our #SpringofHopeY4N campaign: