AUBG held its first-of-a-kind Green Startup Fair where professionals from the sphere presented their companies and gave a talk on sustainable business development and motivated students to aim to apply easy techniques in their future work environment. During the panel discussion, the startup founders shared their advice with the students who were about to go out on the job market.
The Green Startup Fair marked the first of many events for 2023 that aim to put sustainability practices in the spotlight. Organized by the Sustainability club and supported by the Sustainability committee, faculty, staff, and students, the event fulfilled the goal to show that step by step these practices are easy to apply in the personal and the professional lives of every person. On March 6, 2023 the ground floor at ABF was buzzing with enthusiasm from students who were looking to find out more about the products and services of green-oriented companies. Learn more about the event itself and the list of advice professionals shared.
Participants
Odonata Cosmetics seeks to provide pure, ethical, and eco-friendly beauty, makeup, and clean home products. They want to change the way women think and encourage them to consider where their beauty products come from, and what goes into them.
Green Revolicia, the first zero waste store in the country that aims to make an eco-friendly lifestyle accessible to everyone, by creating and distributing alternatives to single-use plastic products, partnering with local environmentally friendly companies, and only importing products from abroad when no local alternative can be found.
Photo by Anastasiia Garyainova
Photo by Mihail Mishev
FoodObox, an innovative app that allows businesses to sell surplus food, instead of throwing it out. Through this business model, FoodObox ensures that resources invested in manufacturing and preparation are not wasted. At the same time, users aid in the reduction of carbon emissions
Urban Embassy Specialty Coffee is the first zero-waste coffee shop in Bulgaria that aims to change the coffee culture in Bulgaria through educating and exemplifying.
ManEco Foundation’s mission is to raise awareness on climate change-related topics. The foundation seeks to promote sustainability, energy efficiency, and climate neutrality.
Starseeds NaturalS, founded by AUBG alumna Iliyana Petrova (‘18), makes handmade, natural artisan cosmetics that take care of your skin while not harming the environment
Plastic Free Life Bulgaria has everything one needs to start their low-waste journey.
Unboxd, founded by AUBG alumni Vilislav Slavev (’19) and Nikol Peeva (’22), is Bulgaria’s first fashion-focused clothing resale platform in Bulgaria that strives to give people the power to resell their clothes.
Organic Tee Star was recently named one of the “greenest Companies in Bulgaria”. This is the first company in the country to obtain the Global Organic Textile Standard certification for its commitment to sustainable fashion, ethical clothing, and fair production.
Lessons to follow
The end of the evening was highlighted by the question of a student who asked what were the challenges that these social entrepreneurs faced and what should one do to overcome them.
- If you want to be part of an ecosystem that drives itself, you need to share.
- If you provide a good customer experience; you have nothing to worry about.
- The most important is to believe in your goals and to make small steps each day.
- Packing is a huge problem in cosmetics. It is interesting that today ladies ask first what the impact of the product is going to be for the planet and then for their skin.
- You need to have a realistic perspective of what you are doing. And you need to surround yourself with people who motivate you.
- Go back to the question of why you started it. Even when you know you helped one single person, this should keep driving you.
- Do not limit yourself to one country, explore the examples of the world. Check where are you on the world map.
- Education is key to growing the customer segment, when thinking of a new product to offer, make sure to think about what the benefit for the customers is.
- Make a step back. Create content and educate the people. Make sure to raise awareness of the problem.
Photo by Anastasiia Garyainova
Photo by Anastasiia Garyainova
Worldwide Teach-in
The initiatives on March 6, 2023 were part of the 250 events on Worldwide Teach-In on Climate and Justice, a massive grassroots initiative led by OSUN’s Solve Climate by 2030 project, which invites network members to sign up and present a diverse set of speakers to identify what needs to be done in the state, region, or country to actually stop climate change. This was the second time AUBG took part in it with the support of the AUBG professors Daniel Adsett, Evelina Van Mensel, and Carter Mandrik.
“We are thankful for having you on campus and teaching students how to make sustainable changes in their lives,” said the student initiator Nikol Kishkin
