Enabling Young Innovators with Big Ideas: How One Platform Is Catalyzing Change in Pakistan

Plastic waste is a global crisis that’s only getting worse with time. It’s worrying even the developed nations that are miles ahead of developing countries when it comes to smartly handling their trash; poorer countries hardly have any effective and sustainable way of tackling the mounting problem.

This is one of the many problems that the world is faced with right now. Luckily, the younger minds are now getting sensitized to making the world they live in a better place for themselves and those to come. And helping them materialize their plans is the technological innovation of today that’s only getting better.

“The menace of plastic waste has always worried me and I’m aware how ignoring this problem any longer will slowly and surely kill our planet,” shares Anusha Fatima, a young innovator who is the brains behind the startup called TrashIt. She is an alumnus of Shell Tameer Awards 2021, an entrepreneurial skills development program for young people aged between 18 and 40.

TrashIt – Helping Communities Reduce their Waste Footprint

Aiming for a sustainable solution to the plastic waste problem, Anusha created a tech-based waste recycling start-up enabling communities to reduce their waste footprint while creating opportunities for informal waste pickers in the supply chain.

It is expected that by 2040, global plastic flows into oceans will triple. Pakistan alone produced an estimated 3.9 million tonnes of plastic in the year 2020. Around 70% of this plastic waste goes unmanaged, in dumps, left in landfills, or strewn about in water bodies all over the country. Anusha’s idea is in pursuit of changing that.

“What I loved about being a part of Shell Tameer Program was the great interaction they provided even in difficult times. It is remarkable to see how they facilitate all the participants and give them enough time to prepare a great pitch on their own,” Anusha shares her experience of working with the Shell Tameer platform.

“Through this platform, our start-up TrashIt has helped promote sustainable energy in Pakistan by collecting organic waste and turning it into a natural fertilizer,” she informs.

How Shell Tameer is Helping Bring the Change

Despite being a country that is continuously battling its own challenges resiliently, Pakistan presents an immense untapped potential that is its youth. With a massive young, English-speaking population with a fast-growing, tech-savvy middle class, Pakistan’s thriving start-up ecosystem has the perfect ingredients to boost its momentum.

Considering the aptitude of Pakistani youth, Shell Pakistan launched its globally popular program Shell Tameer in January 2003 in Pakistan, after its massive success in 18 countries worldwide. Shell Tameer is an entrepreneurial skills development program for young people aged between 18 and 40. The program offers training on enterprise skills and starting a business, and networking with expert organizations to develop business plans and secure start-up finance.

In almost two decades of its existence in the country, Shell Tameer has engaged more than 800,000 people and supported over 1,000 new ventures across the country.

Continuing the tradition of recognizing some of the most excellent start-ups and ideas by an energetic youth, last year marked the 8th Shell Tameer Awards where young entrepreneurs from all across Pakistan competed to win and be acknowledged for their ideas and innovative businesses.

ENENT – Clean Tech to Reduce Energy Waste

With an aim to curb the effects of power distortions in Pakistan, an issue that has been a constant in our country, Osama bin Shakeel, along with his team won the award for his start-up idea ENENT in the Clean Energy Solutions category.

ENENT is a clean-tech electronics start-up focusing to design innovative products that can reduce energy waste. In a consumer unit (i.e., homes, offices, shops, etc.), powered by a 3-phase power supply, a lot of energy gets wasted at the consumer side due to a phenomenon called load unbalancing. Osama, with his team, designed a device that balances loads in 3 phase units and can save up to 20% of electricity bills for the consumer.

“Intellica – 3 Phase Automatic Load Balancer” aimed to reduce electricity bills and power loss by up to 20%. The device is creating a sustainable and green impact with up to 1,600 tons of C02 emissions can be reduced (for every 1000 devices installed for 01 year) and the saved energy is enough to power an additional 11,000 homes.

Power distortions cost Pakistan’s economy much more than 6.5 percent of the country’s total GDP each year. Solutions such as ENENT, if implemented correctly, can help Pakistan yield huge economic gains and push it towards a more sustainable future.

Shell Pakistan has played a pivotal role in the technical validation of this product as they have trusted the technology by allowing Osama to install his product in one of their pumping stations, causing a 15% reduction in electricity bills on average. This was the very first Industrial Validation of Intellica. There are a total of 700+ sites of Shell and the expected revenue from this opportunity is around USD 0.5 million.

Talking about his experience with Shell Tameer, Osama says, “Shell Tameer program has taken all of us through a very smooth process where we were provided with the proper guidance and mentorship via a virtual system. Through Shell Tameer Awards, our idea for ENENT got the big break we were hoping for, by projecting us into the right market and obviously the financial incentives.”

Asani.io – Improving Water Security for Households and Industries

One of the major problems that Pakistan currently faces is water scarcity. Despite having one of the largest irrigation systems and the fourth largest groundwater aquifer in the world, the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) warned in 2016 that by 2025, the country would be touching the absolute water-scarcity line.

The recent low flows in the rivers and the associated water issues due to climate change and heat waves are clear indications that the country is fast approaching the projected situation.

Ansab Naqvi, one of the winners of the Shell Tameer Awards 2021, came up with a brilliant idea to tackle this challenge. With his technology innovator Asani.io, Ansab and his team provided water management solutions to households and industries through their smart app and IoT-based technology.

“What sets this program apart from the rest is that through Shell Tameer, start-ups and new businesses get a proper platform and coverage to market themselves. They have been very facilitating since the beginning. They provided us with guidance and insights that helped us improve our pitches,” shares Ansab about his experience with Shell Tameer.

Shell Tameer – A Firm Resolve

The Shell Tameer platform offers training on enterprise skills and starting a business, and networking with expert organizations to develop business plans and secure start-up finance.

Unlike their older generation, the youth of Pakistan is more inclined towards entrepreneurship today. The thought previously was to have enough money for investment to be able to start a business. Today, our youngsters know that just innovative ideas can turn into viable businesses.

Shell Tameer Program, in its true essence, promotes a friendlier business environment towards aspiring entrepreneurs, providing them with not only market insights but also the financial support they need to transform their ideas into reality.

It sets the bar higher for other brands and encourages them to inspire the promising youth of Pakistan to build successful ideas from scratch. For all its participants, Shell Tameer has acted as a catalyst to provide them with the necessary training that is much needed for the explosive growth that every start-up aspires for.

Applications are open for the upcoming Shell Tameer Awards. Click here to apply, or explore more about the program here.