Green Economy: Greening the Entrepreneurial Spirit of

Montenegro

Enrique Villamore, CP/RAC project coordinator

Environmental Protection Agency, Podgorica, Montenegro

Thursday, 22 March 2012

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: key drivers of economic progress, contributors to technological innovation and new job growth

World Economic Forum

ENTREPRENEURSdriving 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.

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

What is a GREEN ENTREPRENEUR?

... A CHANGEMAKER

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)

TAZIRY ECOLODGE (EGYPT)

GREEN TOURISM

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

In Montenegro...

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

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

Paris Declaration (Conference of the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention (Paris, 2012)

Green Entrepreneurs as drivers for Green Economy in the Mediterranean region

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 LiensEthical investment

CompostadoresCompost units

Concepto VerdingTextile

Green ChipElectronics Recycling

GaeaFood production

KaragönlerBiofuel from waste

Sakrah Women’s CooperativeAgriculture & crafts

Ezgi GidaFood production

Souk el TayebFarmers markets

BugdayFarmers markets& agrotourism

ASSIDNatural medicine

Ecobike Israel Cycling tourism

Taziry EcolodgeEcotourism

Tanaïl EcolodgeEcotourism

VIP dry car cleaningEco-design

Cop (M)adamRecycled products

SteppenEco-design

JESRecycling

ADAPT EgyptHousing

SEKEMOrganic Production

• 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:

Challenges

! 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)

Cross-border exchange program for Mediterranean Green Entrepreneurs

EntrepreMED

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).

(Project proposal for ENPI Funding)

Hvala Vam!