Green Economy 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? Ø Integrates environmental, economic & social axis into core businesses Ø Provides eco-innovative solutions to the way goods and services are produced & consumed, offered…. Ø Proposes a business model whose scaling-up contributes to the greening of the economy . . . A CHANGE MAKER

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 Compostadores Compost units Cop (M)adam Recycled products Steppen Eco-design 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 trainers and facilitate the integration of the programme in business incubators, universities and business schools Summer School (2013)

Entrepre. MED (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!