Transcript Greening the Entrepreneurial Spirit of Montenegro

Green Economy: Greening the Entrepreneurial Spirit of
Montenegro
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Environmental Protection Agency, Podgorica, Montenegro
Enrique Villamore, CP/RAC project coordinator
Green Economy (UNEP): economy that
results in an “improved human well being and
social equity, while significantly reducing
environmental risk and ecological scarcities”.
Our planet is a finite system facing a great
problem of resources depletion and unequal
social distribution of those resources. So, to
solve this problem, we must adapt our
economic models to the planet and not the
other way around
ENTREPRENEURS
driving forces in economies
Throughout human history, in moments of crises and socio-economic
changes, entrepreneurs have played a key role in the development of
new formulas for innovation, introducing new technologies, increasing
efficiency and productivity and generating new products and services to
satisfy human needs and generate new forms of employment and wealth.
Entrepreneurs: key drivers of economic progress, contributors
to technological innovation and new job growth
World Economic Forum
What is a GREEN ENTREPRENEUR?
 Integrates environmental, economic & social axis into core businesses
 Provides eco-innovative solutions to the way goods and services are
produced & consumed, offered….
 Proposes a business model whose scaling-up contributes to the greening of
the economy
... A
CHANGEMAKER
TAZIRY ECOLODGE (EGYPT)
GREEN TOURISM
Tourism facility integrating traditional construction, renewable energy, organic
farming and cultural heritage.
Economic
29 full time jobs & 80 part time sustainable construction
workers
Environmental
Use of locally sourced renewable construction materials,
reduced pesticide, fertiliers & fossil fuel use
Social
Preservation & celebration of Siwa culture (caligraphy,
arquitecture, poetry)
In Montenegro...
Garmin doo: production of various types of
biodegradable bags,
Winsol doo design, installation, servicing and
maintenance of renewable energy sources (small wind
generators, solar systems for electricity generation,
solar water heating systems and additional systems
based on biomass for heating buildings, solar lighting
systems and electric bicycles).
Vila Jelka doo: Eco-tourism
Green Entrepreneurs as drivers for Green
Economy in the Mediterranean region
Meeting of the Mediterranean Commission for Sustainable
Development (Budva, 2011):
support successful cases of green entrepreneurship among the
Mediterranean countries so that they can have a better
knowledge on the environmental, social and economic benefits
brought by those initiatives to the transition to green economies
Paris Declaration (Conference of the Contracting Parties of
the Barcelona Convention (Paris, 2012)
support (…) capacity building and other activities associated with
green economy as means to achieve sustainable development,
such as the promotion of sustainable production and
consumption patterns (…) and ecoinnovation
Identification of
assets and challenges
for Green
Entrepreneurship in
the Mediterranean
region
Collection of
successful case
studies.
Mediterranean Green Entrepreneurs:
tourism, food, housing, textile, mobility, waste, etc
Terre de Liens
Ethical
investment
Concepto Verding
Textile
Cop (M)adam
Recycled
products
Steppen
Eco-design
Compostadores
Compost units
Bugday
Farmers markets
Karagönler
& agrotourism
Biofuel from waste
Gaea
Food production
VIP dry car cleaning
Eco-design
Tanaïl Ecolodge
Ecotourism
Souk el Tayeb
Farmers markets
Green Chip
Electronics Recycling
ASSID
Natural medicine
Ezgi Gida
Food production
Ecobike Israel
Cycling tourism
ADAPT Egypt
Housing
Sakrah Women’s Cooperative
Agriculture & crafts
SEKEM
Organic Production
Taziry Ecolodge
Ecotourism
JES
Recycling
Challenges
• General lack of entrepreneurial culture in the Mediterranean
• Business technical support to entrepreneurs is scarce
• Limited access to investment from financial institutions and
the private sector and weak support from public
administrations.
• Specific barriers for green entrepreneurs:
! scarce local market: lack of awareness from citizens on the environmental and
social impacts associated to consumption choices and low interest from
consumers to green products and services.
! competition with multinationals with outsourced operations and reduced
costs, major challenge for local, small scale green entrepreneurs
! new green entrepreneurs (NGE) lack of experience to start a business properly
while experienced green entrepreneurs (EGE) lack contacts and opportunities to
scale up their business model abroad.
Mediterranean Training
and Networking
Programme for Green
Entrepreneurs.
Training Programme for Mediterranean Green Entrepreneurs (2012)
-Based on GE trainings developed by CP/RAC
-Based on existing successful training tools led by reference
organizations (e.g. SMART Start-up Programme) and adapted to the
Mediterranean context
- Collaboration from relevant institutions (e.g. the UNESCO Chair on Life
Cycle Assessment)
- Partnerships with regional and national agents in order to train trainers
and facilitate the integration of the programme in business incubators,
universities and business schools
Summer School (2013)
EntrepreMED
(Project proposal for ENPI Funding)
Cross-border exchange program for
Mediterranean Green Entrepreneurs
Overall objective: increase green employment by promoting green
entrepreneurship, increase the GDP contribution of the green business
sector in the Mediterranean Region.
Specific objective: boost green entrepreneurship, especially among
young and women.
Partners: Association of Organizations of Mediterranean Businesswomen
(AFAEMME), the Mediterranean Universities Union (UNIMED), Young
Arab Women Entrepreneurs (YAWE), the Confederation of Tunisian
Citizen Enterprises (CONECT) and AULE (Jordan).
Hvala Vam!