Presentation of Ecopreneur, at the international workshop "Divest from Fossils, Invest in Green Business" that was held at Impact Hub Barcelona on World Environment Day, June 5th 2015.

3. Goals

4. • Link the "divest from fossil fuels" movement
with the "invest in green business"
• To present alternatives to responsible investors
under the form of green businesses
• To outline a common strategy to fund green
businesses in EU
Goals
#InvestGreen

5. Agenda
• 9:30 - 10:00: Introductions
• 10:00 - 10:40: Divestment Campaign
• 10:40 - 11:20: Funding green businesses
• 11:20 - 11:45: Coffee break
• 11:45 - 12:45: European green businesses
• 12:50 – 13:50: Workshop: Divest → InvestGreen
Divest
Invest
Join
Green
Business

6. #InvestGreen
1. Divestment Campaign
(10h)

7. #InvestGreen
2. Funding Green Businesses
(10h40)

9. A European Network of Green Business

10. Ecopreneur.eu

11. 2009: first steps towards Ecopreneur.eu
• Initiative of Grüne Wirtschaft (Austria), Entreprendre Vert
(France) and UnternehmensGrün (Germany)
2015: founding of Ecopreneur.eu
• January: founding press conference in Vienna
• January: first joint workshop in Madrid for and with green
start-ups. Outcome: Guidelines and Video
• June: second workshop here today in Barcelona
• Summer: third workshop in Berlin (planned)
History

12. Objectives
All member organizations are unified in their acceptance of
responsibility for our economy, our environment and our society.
• Green New Deal and reformation of EU economy
• Promotion of social innovation
• Focus on regional economic structures and SMEs
-> Together we set a course for sustainable economic policies

13. • Energy (renewable energy, energy-union)
• TTIP
• Agriculture/GM
• Networking for green start-ups
• Establishment of new green markets in Europe, e.g.
framework for a European-wide green energy-, mobility- and
food market
• Improvement of conditions for self-employed
• Circular economy
Perspectives

15. • Founded as early as 1992
• Representing more than 160 members
• UG© is a non-profit association
UnternehmensGrün

16. Goals and Vision:
• Protection of the environment and a sustainable economy
• An economy structure in favor of sustainable SMEs
• Establishing regulatory conditions for entrepreneurs to do
business in a sustainable, eco-friendly way
Main areas of work:
• Political lobby: Renewable energy, agricultural genetic
engineering, TTIP
• Projects: Education for Sustainable Development
Goals and Work

18. Network of
Green SMEs
Innovation Incubation Member
services
Think Tank
Research
A dual model
Large
corporations
 Administrations
 International
organizations
SMEs
Eco-entrepreneurs

19. Network of Green SMEs
Promotion
Networking
Funding
Best
practices
Innovation Providers

20. Innovation
Research
Think Tank: Green Economy
Incubation
Collective
intelligence
Ecosystem
development
Training of
trainers
Multi-agent
co-creation
UNEP
Methodology

24. Who we are
• Founded in 2005
• Non-profit organization under the Law of 1901
• Around 300 network members ranging from individuals to SMEs
• Our goal is to bring green-minded entrepreneurs and professionals together
and to be a voice for the greening of our economy.
• Special lens via entrepreneurship
• We address the economy as a whole, not simply green industries because
we believe that although the latter play a key role both in our organization
and in the green economy
• We seek to provide a network and informal services to our members and to
society as a whole.

25. 25
What we do
• Over 80 events organized.
• We lobby local, regional and national decision-makers and are also keen to
express our views on corporate and business administration.
• We have been working with 100s of entrepreneurs
• Concrete achievements range from blocking an unecological megaproject in
the wood industry in Eastern France to helping 3 start-ups source investors to
a wedding.
• We have undertaken international projects such as cooperation to support
green entrepreneurs in Palestine or European projects via Ecopreneur.

26. Needs of Green Businesses
Madrid's workshop, January 2015

27. Needs of Green Businesses
Strategies for Ecopreneur
• Networking and exchange: knowledge, practices and examples
• Dynamic & diverse & dynamic: sectors, tech or regions
• Connection with rural areas
• Co-working: online and offline
• Promotion and marketing: joint communication strategies
• Green certifications
• Sustainable rural development
• Lobbying
• Providing insights on green trends and niches
• Adequate funding mechanisms and creative funding solutions
• A platform for SMEs to transfer knowledge with other
agents (e.g., academia) -> EU research grants: Horizon 2020

30. Plenary Session:
Funding Green Businesses
• What is your take on the current situation?
• How are you going to contribute?
• How can Ecopreneur contribute?

31. #InvestGreen
5. Greening the
Economy on the ground
European Green Businesses
(11h45)

32. 11:45 – WohnWagon (Aust.): independent living
11:52 – EcoHortum (Spain): eco-agriculture
11:59 – IWOP (Spain): energy efficiency
12:06 – Growinpallet (Spain): eco-agriculture
12:13 - Moves to Slow Fashion (Spain): sust. fashion
12:20 - Blyss Chocolate (Germ.): food production
12:27 - African Clean Energy (Neth.): energy & safety
12:34 - Pur Projet & Treez (France): ecology
Q & As
Presentation of companies
(Ecopreneur Network)

33. #InvestGreen
6. Closing the Link
(12h50)

34. Groups: 4-6 people (mixed), 1 speaker, 3 areas:
1.The future we want: available & adequate funding
for green businesses
2.Signs in the present: current best practices of
funding
3.Common strategies: bridges from the present into
the future
Collective work

35. Thank you very much 