One of the current pressing issues related to the climate change is the freshwater crisis that is affecting countries across the planet.
Regions that never suffered water stress are currently faced with drastic water shortages and are expected to reconsider their future resource availability.
In line with circular economy principles, we always want to focus on reducing current and future resource use, for example by limiting the amount of freshwater used as well as the amount of water being discharged or wasted.
What if large consumers, such as water-intensive industries or farms were able to reduce their footprint and directly reuse their own water in a circular way?
Ama Mundu, a Luxembourg and France based start up, has developed a mobile water recycling machine whose purpose is exactly that: to limit water wasting by filtering and reusing it within the same cycle.
Additionally, the technology supports the fractionation and recovery of liquid effluents (slurry, manure, methanisation sludge, digestate) by extracting pure water on the one hand and dry recyclable materials that, for example, can be used as fertiliser on the other hand.
By filtering through a complex and highly sophisticated set of membranes, the Ama Mundu technology is able to turn used or gray water into clean and, if needed, even potable again.
The centralised filtering technology is especially developed targeting large water users, such as local authorities in charge of water management, managers of biogas production units & farmers, industrial site operators and builders and managers of eco-responsible housing that all have different kinds of waste water they currently need to dispose of (and oftentimes pay for the disposal as well).
But once the target client, the market placement, and product development has been established, how can a business effectively launch its own innovation?
TheGreenSpring supported Ama Mundu in structuring some of the key features to kick off their market success:
To begin with, TheGreenSpring developed an investor pitch deck to easily explain the technology and grab the attention of potential investors.
Subsequently we developed a clear roadmap, supporting the company in the definition of KPIs and OKRs along a five year time frame. The ultimate goal of the roadmap setting was to ensure the upscaling of the company through an expected proof of sales and a steady growth plan. To set up the latter, TheGreenSpring together with the client in a series of workshops defined several fields of action including digitalisation, sales, production and R&D.
Lastly, TheGreenSpring designed a holistic go-to-market strategy across various dimensions such as:
Product & market roadmap
Market strategy
Pricing strategy
Marketing plan
Sales strategy and team set up
Customer support set up
Controlling & success metrics
Thanks to the support of TheGreenSpring throughout these initial steps, Ama Mundu had a solid plan on how to kick off its business.
Yet, they - like many impact companies - soon realised how innovative, sustainable solutions are faced with several challenges. One of the most relevant issues that emerged throughout the business development phase was that there still is a lack of awareness on the freshwater crisis and resource scarcity our world faces - so client education is lagging behind.
Moreover, for a sustainable tech innovation like their water filters to effectively establish itself on the market, a systemic change is required so that innovations can obtain the deserved success. For example, a building that wants to use water recycled on site needs a very different pipe system to one designed for single-use, which most houses have today.
The Ama Mundu experience has shown us how important it is for sustainability innovations to develop a solid business strategy in order to face the current market and all the challenges that come from a lack of awareness and urgency. Nonetheless, impact initiatives shouldn’t be discouraged but channel their efforts into structuring resilient long-term business plans that also include lobbying for systemic change with local and national stakeholders.
If you’re new to this, a good place to start is finding and following the example of current best practices.
How does your organisation face the challenges of today's market?
Have you experienced the need to sacrifice your mission and compromise on the expected impacts in your go-to-market?
We would love to know at info@thegreenspring.de
Comentários