Youth innovators plan green startups

Published On: November 24, 2016 09:39 AM NPT

Winners of the Greenovation Startup Challenge (GSC) posing for a photograph on Sunday. Photo Courtesy: WWF Nepal

KATHMANDU, Nov 24:Four different youth groups have been selected for green entrepreneurship support through the competition Greenovation Startup Challenge (GSC), which is taken as a platform to transform innovative green entrepreneurship ideas of young entrepreneurs into tangible business enterprises.

Four outstanding green business ideas namely Ground Apple, Tyre Treasure, Sishnu, Chepang Ra Paryatan and Wood Gas Stove were awarded with a seed amount of Rs 150,000 each to start their ventures.

Top twelve green ideas competed at the final award gala of the Greenovation Startup Challenge on Sunday.

WWF Nepal in collaboration with Nepal Entrepreneurs’ Hub (NEHUB) kicked off GSC in September 2016 and within a period of two months, 55 shortlisted participants out of the 160 applicants were mentored to build a common understanding of entrepreneurship and green enterprise principles which would help them turn their green business ideas into reality.

Susan Chakradhar, one of the team members of Tyre Treasures, said that their innovative idea in environment protection helped the group win the award.

“Our team came up with such an idea which would be realistic and could be implemented in daily life and also help protect environment,” Chakradhar told Republica.

Tyre Treasures is an idea of five enthusiastic youths who are passionate about the protection of environment. This is a soon-to-start business plan that upcycles old and reusable tire to produce household and commercial furniture such as seats and pet bed which come in different sizes depending on the size of the tires and in a variety of designs and colors.

The team came up with this innovative idea as they found lack of organizations in Nepal to recycle tires. After a research, they found that tires were usually sold to brick kilns to generate fuel. Such fuel is harmful for the environment as the tire doesn’t go through the complete combustion process.

The team has already designed four products: Tyre mark couch, Scooby’s rest, Tyre garden and landscape of play ground made up of tire in which they have incorporated tire as a raw material.