Youth Innovation Panel: Building Careers that Restore the Planet - Action Dome, UNCCD COP17

All right, good morning, anyone. Thank you for coming. Please all MUN delegates take a seat in the audience. So these last two weeks we've been working on Model United Nations, an educational simulation of UN debates, negotiations, and coming to conclusions and consensus on global issues. However, MUN is not here just to teach you how to work within the UN. It is here to teach you how to solve global issues. And many will tell you that there are much better opportunities or more people being able to turn those commitments into actions when you go into the private sector. With the latest troubles that we've been having in global multilateralism, there is a lot more engagement of the private sector, diversity, diversifying of fundraising and engagement. It's not only imperative to include the private sector in the UN's work, it's imperative to also support the private sector and especially young entrepreneurs. So today, I would like to welcome you to this session on the YECO, the Young Entrepreneurs Program, ECHOpreneurs from the G20 Initiative. Please welcome the two directors of this program to the stage. Thank you.

Hi everyone, my name is Milena, Milena Niehaus. I'm working at International Trade Center. Sure, we want to make it really interactive and also not that you're only listening. We heard you have done some Model United Nations the past days. So our question is, and I want you to stand up if you feel like this is what I'm aspiring to do. So those ones who want to work Government representation, please stand up. Okay. Kind of like a third. Thank you. Please sit down. Now, who wants to work for the UN? Please stand up. Awesome. Okay. And Has anyone even considered to go into the private sector and start your own business, like to be an entrepreneur? Yay, wow, that's actually the majority here. Okay, thank you. Awesome. Okay, so this is also the topic of today. We really want to talk about entrepreneurship and how are we working with young entrepreneurs, how we call them geckos, as part of our program, which we are running together with the G20 Global Land Initiative and ITC.

It goes beyond the negotiation rooms, right? It needs to be actioned and for that we need the solutions that are out there from the communities and that are activating as well markets so this can make the change and the restoration sustainable. And this is what we do at the UNCCD when we engage with the private sector, mainly within the G20 Global Land Initiative. We have the mandate to promote and to work towards the restoration economy. So to prove or to showcase the benefits that there is when a business has a purpose and an impact, not only the profit, but also the benefit for the communities and their livelihoods.

And so a couple of years ago, actually in Mongolia, around three or four years ago, I'm not even sure, we had the Youth Entrepreneur Awards, at what was at that time really an award, a competition. to run against young entrepreneurs with really green solution. And that's where ITC, so the International Trade Center, we partnered up with the G20 Global Land Initiative. And that's where all kind of like everything was born as part of the Youth Ecopreneur Program. And Fabiola mentioned what is G20 Global Land Initiative doing, and I'm here from the ITC side. So if you haven't heard about us, it's the International Trade Center, and we are the UN agency for the small and medium-sized enterprises. So really, really supporting, yeah, enterprises around the world with a focus on the global south. And personally, I'm working in the team all around youth. And when we say youth, everyone below 35 counts as a youth, particularly in the entrepreneurship scene. So we're really working to support young people to start a business, to scale a business. And as part of that, we also have the Youth Entrepreneur Program. Um, which is now the already in the second edition, so it's a whole one year program, um, where we supporting a lot of different, um, entrepreneurs around the world, and Fabiola is gonna go deeper into it, what it actually means to be part of the program.

Sure. I can stay longer. We can, I think, stay longer talking about the program and how interesting it is. But just in a nutshell, so you understand what it's about, we basically have break out this program into three phases, thinking in the actual operational and practicalities of a business needs. We have partnered with EY, WIPO, Google for Sustainability. So we have, uh, on board those partners that have helped us to give kind of like 360, uh, support overview to the business existing so they can become investment ready. Uh, we go from, uh, global boot camp. Last year we proudly got 225 participants from all over the world, which is very interesting. From there, we select the 25, uh, more companies that are ready to get investors and then we got into the pitching competition in an international event where we have a winner for our two tracks that we have within this program which is the green track meaning business that are overall working on solutions and then the ones that are working on land restoration. So their businesses are linked to restoring land.

And we don't want to only talk about the program and give you all the details. We really want to give them some faces to it. And that's why we have some of the YECOs actually here who are at COP and even more are coming. In total, we have 11 young entrepreneurs who are part of the Youth Entrepreneur Program, either this year or past cohorts. We're proud that we have by now really an alumni network with a lot of young entrepreneurs from all over the world because the program is really global. And with this, Fabiola, do you want to invite them on the stage?

So, to today's session, we have four brilliant eco-preneurs that I cannot wait to introduce you and you listen to them. So, let's start welcoming, please, Mashrur from Bangalore, please. Like a clap of applause. I'm sorry, Bangladesh, my bad. Carlos from Ecuador, Rickat Moon from Nigeria, and lastly but not least, Daniel from Senegal. Welcome, guys. So shall we sit again to be comfortable? So We would like from them, to each of them, to tell us a little bit more about like the storytelling of their journey, the problem that they have seen and addressed, and when was that defining moment for you when you decided to take action, when you thought that that idea that you have can be a business, it can be a profitable one. So with that, Shall we start with Mashrur?

Hi everyone, I'm Mashrur Hussain. I'm an entrepreneur from Bangladesh. And our work is relevant to provide small farms with the data of soil, weather, and we use the soil, weather, and farm intelligence to improve their agronomy. And once we do that, we also use the same data-driven analytics to connect them with financial institutions so that they can be more investable or buyers so that they can actually be more sourceable. Our work is now supporting more than 33,000 farms in Bangladesh, and we are rolling out a small pilot in the Gulf region based in the Emirates and the African region based in Malawi. So that's what we do.

This one is on, okay, thanks for really the introduction and I'm in, okay. I mentioned that we have a big network of alumni already here, right? So you're one of the initial kind of like awards finalists last time we were in Mongolia, so three years ago. So really cool to see that now we have even on this panel a mix of young entrepreneurs from different cohorts. And with this actually, can we go to Kalust, over to you. Can you share a little bit about your business, how did you end up going there, and what problem did you really feel like to be solved. Over to you.

Thank you, Milena. And hello, everyone. I'm so honored to be here representing Ecuador and South America. I'd like to say that Latin America is the garden of the world. Historically, we have so much diverse ecosystems from glaciers to volcanoes to deserts to tropical rainforests. And it's very suitable for agriculture. But after almost 150 years of intensive land management, intensive monocultures, and inorganic management of soil, I witnessed how land is being degraded and desertified. So it was really heartbreaking to see places where used to be productive places, farmlands, ecosystems, became deserts. So additionally to that, I used to work in the forestry industry. And we could see how much biomass is wasted, is burned or left in the fields to decay. So these two factors combined were my decision maker to become an entrepreneur in biochar. So we transform all these agroforestry residues into charcoal ecological cousin that goes back to the soil as an amendment. And at the same time, stores carbon, regenerate soil organic carbon, soil organic matter. And after five years of hard work, we've proven that it's actually improving plant yield and it's saving other resources such as water and fertilizers and improving farmers' livelihoods.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, Carlos. So from Ecuador to Nigeria. Now we're moving to Ritkamun. Thank you, Carlos. So now tell us, Ritkamun, how did you came up with your solution and when was that realization moment and the problem that you saw that needed to be addressed?

All right, thank you, Fabiola, and thank you for being here, everyone. So for me, I am a farmer. And it started off from a more personal perspective whereby as a smallholder farmer, the expectation on me to produce more food while the soil could not support it was overwhelming. And being in a network of other smallholder farmers, it was a common problem. It was not an isolated problem. That was the problem that's now triggered the solution which we have created, and it's quite similar to what Mashore is doing, whereby we leverage on the real-time data that we collect on the farm to help farmers make better and informed decision so we no longer overwhelm our soils with impute, which causes degradation of the soil. We have a hardware device that is on the soil, it's solar powered and it's sustainable for the farmers. And the moment we realized was that the farmers were not merely buying land restoration. If you meet a farmer and tell the farmer, oh, it's land restoration, if it doesn't make sense economically to the farmer, they don't buy it. So it was at that moment that we knew we had to position and transition into a business. Thank you. Thank you.

Oh, perfect. Um, so then from there, we keep moving.

Exactly. So, last but not least, Daniel, can you share us a little bit about your business, which is based in Senegal? Um, what do you do, how did you come up, and why Senegal? Over to you.

Thank you, Milena. It's great to be here. Thank you for inviting us. I'm Daniel. I was also a student like most of you not too long ago. And during my studies, I did a small land restoration project and realized what's possible when you put carbon back into the soil, you plant trees. And this was a great inspiration for me because I realized I wanted to do this on a bigger scale. You can, of course, choose to do this as an NGO, but I specifically chose to continue as a company like my peers here on stage. Because if we can make the demand for sustainable farming visible and in a way that farmers will understand and support it, then it can scale further than the work that an NGO can do. So it's super important that you guys become entrepreneurs and through the private sector scale ideas in soil amendments and planting trees like I do. I'm working with Fero, a startup based in the Netherlands and in Senegal. We have actually looked at land restoration as a business, and we realized that it takes too much time when you plant trees to get your returns. So what we do is we combine it with something that makes money faster, a greenhouse. And we grow onions in the greenhouses because in Senegal, people love onions, so we thought this is an excellent opportunity. So you mentioned problems Milena, but it's also really, really important to understand the market opportunity together with the problem, and because if you're only solving a problem, it's not enough, you also need to be able to sell, uh, your products, thank you.

Thanks, Daniel. I think you brought up quite some interesting points and, um, particular the business part, right? Um, and I think this is also one of the core objectives why we are here as a program and with the different entrepreneurs here to showcase that land restoration is a business opportunity. You can, um, generate revenue by also supporting the planet, um, and really enriching soil. So great that you brought it up, Daniel.

And actually picking up of what he was mentioning of making money faster a little bit. Now we are moving on into some questions kind of like to understand the turn out point. And maybe Mashhur, if you can in this context maybe share with us what has been the hardest part for turning your environmental business into a viable business, profitable business, because I think this is the biggest myth when we talk about environment. Majority of the people see it as an NGO, as just one plant, three thing, but definitely, as you have seen the proof here, it can become a business as well. So, Masure, what is your experience on that?

Thank you, Fabiola. That's a very important question to be discussed in front of young people like you. When we talk about land restoration, when you talk about environmental impact, it sounds like it's a bit difficult to monetize it, right? The only monetization that you might be thinking, we might be thinking is this carbon credit program that has recently been very much discussed. But I would disagree. That is not the immediate way of monetizing. So that most pressing challenge for business like mine where we, uh, literally work with the farmer to help them improve their agronomy while also reducing their, uh, climate impact on the, on the, on the climate, is to convince the stakeholders that this works. For example, when we first started our journey back in 2021, just in the middle of pandemic, So our idea was to first go with an IoT soil testing device, which also working on. But the problem was back in that time, we had a hard time to make our stakeholders realize the fact that, well, a sensor can actually bring the data and that can actually support real time decision for farming. Because the accuracy level, the technical part, it was all being discussed questions again and again. And of course, I was being asked, the hard question of why I am in this. I'm not an agronomist, but I'm an electronics engineer. So why am I thinking of getting into agriculture? So making the stakeholders, even the farmers, the stakeholders of the solution, right, making them believing in the solution is the most hardest part. And I must add to the fact that climate enterprises or climate tech companies, they can start Uh, now the impact will be coming a bit later, but, uh, that doesn't make the business less lucrative for the stakeholders because, um, it might take a bit time, uh, to get into a point where you can actually sell your business to the stakeholders in a more profitable manner. But right now, at the very beginning, the most important part is to get your tech addressing the right problem. So if it is on the soil, it should be able to, uh, uh, capture the soil data with more accuracy and then present it to the farmers in a manner that they can understand it. Don't just present it in a manner of scientific process like the farmer don't have anything to do with the pH data. They don't have to do with anything with the nitrogen data. They need to be told that based on the pH and electrolytic conductivity, this is the seed you should be selecting, this is the fertilizer you should be applying, this is the dosage you should be applying. And that is how we need to convince the first stakeholder, the farmer for our case. And then when we see that those stakeholders, the farmers are actually seeing tangible value, we need to measure that. Because when we can measure that, we can manage to represent it to the next layer of a stakeholder who can actually be giving us money, the banks, the investors. So that's what the problem and that's how we solve it.

Thank you, Mashura. I think this is really at the core, right, of a business. You need to be able to sell your idea to your customers, right? In this case, your customers are farmers. It needs to be broken down in language. And I think this is some, in an easy, understandable language. And I think this is also a valuable lesson for the UN or kind of like big conferences, right? Talk in a way that is understandable to the people you're working with. So avoid acronyms, avoid kind like too high language, really break it down. So Carlos, on your heart, on your end, thanks for passing the mic. Business is a complicated matter. There's a lot of things you need to do simultaneously, you need to think about, you need to manage people, manage finance. So what would you say, what was the hardest part for you to access when you started? Was it finance? I know that's always a problem. Was it more the technical knowledge, the customers, the networks, credibility, or was it even something else?

Thanks Milena, that's a really good question for almost every entrepreneur. And in my case, it was building credibility. I came up with a innovative material, the biochar. Farmers in Latin America, 80% of them are smallholder who don't have access to technical education. And the complexity of translating and simplifying complex soil science language into something they can understand was the first challenge. Then They say, okay, I get, I get the concept, uh, biochar can improve my, uh, my plant yield, but how much and how much I'm going to save in water, in fertilizers, and in many other things. So it was quite a long time, about two years of pure research and development. to build up credibility. The test, this biochar material across many soil types, across many crop types, including bananas, cocoa, roses, et cetera, it was quite challenging. And after a while, we came out with results, and then they said, "Okay, you're doing the research, but you're also selling me the product. I don't believe you." Then it was like two years of hard work just to begin again. Then we learned that the best is to team up with research institutions, such as universities or private research institutions, to objectively prove how an innovation is going to impact soil and agriculture. After we jumped that gap, then we were able to stabilize sales, and that took us about four years since our beginning. Innovations has to come by hand with research so we can build up credibility. And of course, like every entrepreneur, I'm an agro-industrial engineering professional, but I'm not an expert in finance, I'm not an expert in human resources, not in regulations, and many other skills and knowledges that are necessary to develop a business. So that was also quite a challenge. I made many mistakes in calculating budgets, in calculating cash floats, because I felt the urgency to begin the business, because it's actually urgent to regenerate land. But from these mistakes, I learned that it's better to be surrounded by people who can, who has different skill sets to team up with. And also from the JECO program, I learned many of these things and skills. that allowed me to do better in other areas outside of my professional degree. Thank you.

Thank you, Carlos. I think Mashur and Carlos had exemplified the journey of an ecopreneur. And you might notice that this is how we call them or address them like ecopreneurs and not, they are entrepreneurs for sure, but entrepreneurship as general, of course, has its, a journey, a very interesting one. But the reason that we label them as ecopreneurship is to recognize that this business, even though it's within the same route, it has its challenges as they have Mashrour and Carlos have mentioned, related with credibility and knowing your stakeholder and simplify your language from the business perspective to a farmer, for example. And in that context, perhaps, Ritka, you have thought maybe, like, what do you think is an environmental business, the building of, what, if you would have took another, like, a normal business, what it will be, what is the difference, like, between a normal business or one that is focusing with purpose in environment?

So, a conventional business or a regular business would most likely focus solely on the output, whereas an environmental business like we're building at Grenadian Farms, we focus on the output and the outcomes. So we don't just focus on the numbers, number of farmers using our technology, number of technology that we've sold and all of those things, but we focus on the change that those outputs bring about. An environmental business is trying to generate revenue while at the same time protecting a natural asset, which is land. And that differs because, like I said, we're not just interested in those numbers, but we want to know the farmers that are using this technology, are they actually saving water? Are they actually using less inputs? Are they using resources at the right time and right places like they ought to. And it's not just about the, our impact is wider. We have both the environmental impact and the social impact as well. It's more intense for an environmental business because, why not ask, would I say superficial, like the conventional, businesses out there. We're not just about selling, but we care actually about what the outcome of what we're selling is.

Thank you.

Now Daniel, YECO, the youth entrepreneur program is run by two UN agencies. And maybe also given that we're here now in Mongolia at the COP, What is something you feel like policymakers, governments or international organizations often misunderstand actually about entrepreneurs such as you? What is like where, yeah, help us to understand a little bit maybe the misunderstandings in the systems.

Thank you, Milena. Great question. I think we're all here for the same reason, that's to restore land. And we have to realize that this is a value chain that is still in development. A lot of things that we need are just not available. So we need lots of biomass, we need lots of compost. And the result is we need to start doing all those things on our own. It's very challenging. But that's not going to stop us. I think everyone on this stage is very committed. But I think The conclusion from that statement is that there's a big opportunity for this transition. There are things in this value chain of land restoration and sustainable ways of doing agriculture that need to be developed. So my message would be that they should think along with us to put practices in place and access to seeds, access to biomass. and help us to really make the change that we want to make. It's not easy, but I think this should also be thought of for us.

So to really look at the whole value chain, right? Like, so to see it as a whole system and you need, you also rely on different actors in that value chain to operate your own business. So yeah, ecosystem really matters.

And then Maybe moving on to the other side, Mashrour, what part of the engagement that you had with the UN organizations through programs such as JECO has been the most useful for your business?

Well, Fabiola, that will require a lot of time to discuss because a lot, a lot. So just to give you a bit of sneak peek, back in 2003 when we were in the uh, WEDF program, so World Export Development Forum took place here in Mongolia back in that time and we pitched it there and luckily we got to be the champion. So after that program, immediately we got engaged with WIPO and Sightly, so Sightly and WIPO both were the sponsors of the program, right? And also Google for startups. So these three actually supported us in the early days very well. For example, WIPO being the, uh, UN agency for intellectual proprietary rights, uh, advised and guided us, uh, towards how, towards the design of our IP strategy. You know how much that would cost for an entrepreneur to get that kind of counsel from a, from a lawyer? More than $5,000. So that was a huge value for us. We also got to connect with the Google for startups and they offered us a $250,000 of credit, which is still we are using for our data engine, the core data system that we are using. So that's a good investment. We also work with Sightly. So they are one of the finest legal counsel in the United States. And we are a US incorporated company. And Sightly in the early days helped us to shape up a few corporate agreements which we are still using. You know how much that would have costed us if we went to a lawyer? $1,500 per hour. So these are the tangible value that we have captured from the very early days of engagement with their program. With the passage of time, we also got in touch with the C4E-CRAF, the UN agency for soil testing and their soil analysis and their headquarters in Kenya, Nairobi. So that particular introduction helped me to get in touch with world class renowned scientists and a couple of them became our mentor. I can remember Tony Simons, the former director general of C4 Africa who has been a significant support to our strategic approach towards how we can sell our soil testing services for governments. So, you know, these are the values that we have been capturing and there are many more to talk about. So, I would summarize in saying that this kind of program, being a part of this kind of program, and I also know that it was not only for me being the champion, all the five, seven participants got the same access to these opportunities. In fact, one of our participants from Madagascar, what was his name? Max, so Max was an entrepreneur when he took part in our program and because of his presence in the program, when he got back to his country in Madagascar, his prime minister asked him and eventually nominated him as the minister of environment. Max is now the Minister of Environment because his Prime Minister saw the potential in him. Even though he was not the champion, he's now championing his country to lead his country towards a more climate resilient future. You see, those are all the intrinsic benefits that are being delivered to the YECO program participants. So yeah, that's how I would summarize our experience.

Thanks for sharing. And yeah, why are we also asking these questions is also for all of you, right? So the Youth Entrepreneur Program has yearly cohorts and intakes. It's also embedded in our community for young entrepreneurs, the gay community. So all of you, if you just Google Youth Entrepreneur Program, you find our website and you can also get signed up to actually get notified when we have the next call for application coming up or also just be part of the community where you can learn how to start a business, on all the different aspects. Maybe one of the things you mentioned now was also getting access to, right? Like getting access into these networks. And this leads me to our second question we have is has the access to mentors, networks, or international platforms created opportunities for you specifically now that maybe otherwise you wouldn't have had or way later? Can you maybe share some?

Definitely. Thanks, Milena. So first thing, knowing that I was not alone trying to regenerate soil was very encouraging. Getting to know my fellow YECOs from different corners of the world working hard to restore Mother Earth was really motivating. But then the program itself gave me very valuable mentorships. I remember very well the investment readiness course. I was not aware that there was so much resources available to develop sustainable agriculture businesses. So after the YECO program, I could learn how to structure my business model, how to showcase my business to investors, how to define the numbers and how to value my company. So that was really valuable, getting that knowledge is the baseline to go after investors. And then, of course, the second step, the JECO program gave us an important network of different kind of investors, mentors, fellow partners that work hard for restoring land. And putting all that together allowed us to sign some partnerships with research institutions, capture some investment, overcome some legal situations that we were having. But all that learned from the J-Cubed program really was a change maker for Pachar, for my business, and for our team. So I'm really thankful, and I strongly recommend to apply to next cohorts.

Thank you, Carlos. And I think I want to pick on what you started saying that when you came into the program, you realized that you were not alone. So there is not only this aspect of mentorship and all the business perspective, which of course is the most important, is the meat of our program, but we also work into generate a network and an alumni as we call, you know, like a community that support each other among peers, CEOs, founders on their own business in different you get yourself a read of contacts everywhere in the world through your partners and your colleagues through the YECO program. And maybe I would like to ask Ritka on the overall experience of the YECO program. What was something that you expected of the program that became true or surpassed that expectation that you have?

Thank you so much. I have a really long list of things that I would want to say about Yako, but I'll summarize it all. So first of all, I recommend Yako because the tutors we had in our master classes, they were carefully selected and were excellent. Till today, I think if you wake me up from sleep and ask me, I'll tell you the first thing I remember, Oana, I really enjoyed her sessions, right? The sessions were very practical. It was not just some collection of theory and all of those things. They were very practical sessions where we have activities to do. Till today, the data room that I created as a result of Yeku is what I still use, is what I even tell other entrepreneurs what I put them through. The slides from Yeku teachings are still with me. That's what go over, even the recorded videos and all of those things. Then I also like the fact that Yeku was very intentional with matching you with a mentor. So you have a mentor who guides you through your business and it's not just done at random. It's, um, my mentor was Vincent and It was done in such a way that this person has expertise in what you are doing in your field and is actually relevant. I've been in other accelerators and programs whereby, I don't know, it's a severe mentoring your mentor back, but it wasn't the case with Yako. Then what I particularly enjoyed was the sessions on IP, IP management. I had, my knowledge regarding IP was really low. I had heard so many things that I didn't even know what was true and what was not regarding intellectual property. But Yeco matched us with consultants from WIPO and I had three consultation sessions. I don't know, That was a lot for me, it did a lot for my business and as a result of that, immediately I was able to secure some intellectual property for my business as a result of Yeku. So, most importantly, the networking. I had met both Carlos and Daniel quite a number of times online through our Orbit sessions and I'm so glad that Yeku has brought us together. It's as though I've known both of them for a very long time in person, but this is like the first time we're meeting in person, and it's as a result of the kind of community that Yako develops. You have a community of entrepreneurs, people that are doing bold and amazing things just as you are doing, encouraging and pulling yourselves up. The conversations you get out of them are very rich. Just this morning, Ilun, we're having a conversation amongst ourselves, and an idea just came up immediately. I had to quickly note it down. So these are part of the things that I really love so much about being part of the Echo family.

Awesome. No, I'm really grateful to hear that all of these different elements are so useful for you. And we didn't tell them to say all of that, right? Like just to set the stage here. Maybe... you knew kind of like what you got into, like you read when you were applying, what is the program about, what are the partners, but maybe Daniel, could you tell us what was there something you did not expect to actually be valuable where you were like, ah, I know this already or what do I need this for? But then at the end, it actually made sense for you. Thanks, Daniel. Was there anything like that? Maybe there is also not, right.

Yeah, definitely. I think all of us will agree that Being part of an accelerator is super important as an entrepreneur. It's not just having the willpower to start a business. There's a science to it. And all of these aspects, you need someone to teach you if you haven't done an MBA. So I didn't. I think all of us haven't either. So you need to learn how to sell. You need to learn about IP, like was saying. All these things are really important. and are not too complicated to learn the basics of. So joining Yeco, I realized all these aspects, which of course, you know you need to sell your product, but you also need to know that you can't tell everyone everything about your product before it's launched, because otherwise you don't have an IP. I had to learn the hard way. So yeah, there's many more aspects, and also I think the mental support is super important.

Was there something, Daniel, where you thought, oh, I wasn't aware that this is actually so important, or you were thinking, yeah, I've already covered that. Was there somewhere where you had a realization, oh, I need to focus more on ABC?

Sure. I think, like I mentioned, the IP was really critical. And no one teaches you that before you become an entrepreneur. Yeah.

Yeah. It doesn't need to be a long answer on this. I think IP is a common, like, I've been doing this now, like, since three years, right? And so IP is, especially with youth entrepreneurs, always a topic which comes rather as an afterthought, I feel like, and people only realize while engaging with the topic how vital it is or like how dangerous it can become if you're not protecting certain assets of your business, especially when you scale. So I think that's also a big learning from my side on how IP in general, intellectual property, so we said no acronyms, goes a long way. Like it really has a lot of elements in daily life which affects it. But yeah, thank you so much for all these answers here on the stage. And we would like to turn now to the audience. To all of you, you have been engaging more on policy discussions. You were doing your Model United Nations. And you spent time there to really think as diplomats, as representatives of governments. So I want you to imagine now that you're one of these entrepreneurs here. would walk into your ministries of tomorrow, let's assume you're like in one of the government officials, and what would you want to understand from them, and what could your government do to help businesses like theirs succeed? So this is the question we have for you, and I would ask you to just raise your hand if you want to answer this question. Perfect. There's one question here. And please introduce yourself. Like stand up and introduce yourself.

Hi, my name is Noah from Germany. I recently written like a small report for my studies in environmental sciences about soil drought in a part where I'm from. And one thing I was then, like, it was a policy brief, and one of the policy advices was like, okay, subsidies. But then I just realized, okay, are the subsidies that you may be currently receiving in the places you work in useful for you? Should there be like a change in subsidies? I know it's a very national question, but I guess like it's a question of how the state can support you and then which specific ways right now it may not be supporting you.

Great question. I think subsidies is a big, big one where actually governments can do a lot and it's not so much done yet. Is there any volunteer here who would like to answer this question? Yeah, Daniel.

Thanks for the question. Definitely subsidies are hyper important for us. But we need to exit the phase of only being dependent on subsidies. We need to have a business model that can run itself. But in the beginning years, we wouldn't be where we are without subsidy. So we still need to pay people to do the work of the pilots. And we were lucky enough to get some subsidy. But I think in many countries in the world where similar startups are needed, We got Dutch subsidy, but in Senegal it's much more difficult to get a subsidy to begin a startup and doing really important work in land restoration. So I think these subsidies are really important. Thank you. Yeah.

I want to add to that what Daniel just said. I'm sorry if I sound critical, but it is the fact that subsidies or climate tech companies or startups, uh, are one of those few benefits that are being very oddly distributed across the world. For example, you're from Germany, right? So I know there are programs in Germany where the startup founders in climate tech programs are being supported for all the year, 12 years, uh, 12 months, uh, a year with their, uh, with a stipend so that they can actually pay their bills while they can keep focus on building their product. You see, that's a subsidy being done by the government. But I'm quite sure that is even uncommon within other EU countries, rest all on the African or Asian part. So subsidies are something definitely is needed for climate companies for any part of the world. And now the problem with that is if you don't have equitably accessible subsidy program for specific type of founders, then the success rate would be very much different for different part of the world. And we definitely don't want to see that, right? So we definitely don't want to see that part of Nepal or part of Sri Lanka or part of Bangladesh is going down the water while part of the world is still up in the water and having subsidy. So it has to be equitably designed so that founders from all across the world can actually get equitable benefit, I'm not saying equal benefit, equitable benefit.

Thank you also for your question and being brave enough for the first comment. Anyone else? Like the question just to repeat is what would you want to understand from them? What would your government do to help businesses like theirs succeed? Any other volunteer? Okay, no one? All right, everyone a bit shy, that's okay. We are still around, so if you want to have also one-on-one questions, please feel free to come around. We would like to do actually one rapid fire with you. I think that might be easier. So one of the questions, and we could start maybe with one of the entrepreneurs here, but then really just finish the sentence also on your side, is The restoration economy needs more young people who dot, dot, dot. And let me press, I think we have also this. Sorry.

No, no. Just to restoration economy needs more young people who, and then Daniel, you want to fill up the blank.

Sure. The restoration economy needs more young people who are fully committed to the cause.

It needs more people who can easily adapt and are patient.

We need more people that, who spread the message of regeneration to raise awareness on how important it is to regenerate soils and lands.

The restoration economy needs more young people who are coachable.

And now I would like to go to the audience here. How would you finish this sentence? Any volunteer who would like to go first.

The restoration economy needs more young people who are proactive.

Great one. Yes.

I would say the restoration economy needs more people who are willing to face insecurity and people who are supported to face that insecurity.

To take the leap, right? Yeah, over there.

I would say the restoration economy needs more young people who are creative and think outside of the box.

The restoration economy needs more young people who are really enthusiastic about sustainability. Now they're coming, love it. Okay, over here.

The restoration economy needs more young people who are bold enough to turn ideas into action.

The restoration economy needs more young people who are willing to take risks.

The restoration economy needs more young people who are passionate with engagement and kindness.

Yeah, that's what we need in the world, indeed. Awesome, I think that went very well. Already big applause for you to be brave enough to finish this sentence. Because if I would, Yeah, finish the sentence. I would really say the restoration economy needs more young people who are brave and really who are standing up and advocate for themselves, advocate for their ideas, advocate already for their businesses. I feel like often youth are being seen as... that youth are for the future, but no, youth are actually already doing stuff. They're already having running businesses, as you can see. They're leading governments. So don't always listen to youth are the future. Youth are actually, you know, we are all doing already a lot in this world. And be brave enough to also mention this, take the seat on the table, right, not wait for someone to take the seat, but really also claim it and be active in those discussions. And yeah, Fabiola, you want to close out the session of today?

Yes, I think with that, we want to thank you all for having the time to listen to us, to the young entrepreneurs, to get to know more about the program, to be willing to understand another angle from the restoration and how does it look in their different countries. There are no separate worlds. You'll be sitting in a negotiation desk versus them going into the action. So these are four faces that are so beautiful that I'm sure you are going to be to remember them. And they are going to be around for the rest of the conference. So feel free. I'm sure they're always open to discuss and talk about their innovations and maybe inspire you. So thank you very much. on behalf of the YECO program, Milena and myself and all the young eco-preneurs.

Thank you and we have a couple of more events also coming up. So if you want to learn more a little bit about access to finance which also came up as a topic or really about the different stories of the entrepreneurs, feel free to also check out the reception area where there are some more information on where you can find us. And with this, thank you everyone and have a good COP.

Can we get a big round of applause for the YECopreneur panel, please? Everyone! Thank you so much.