Seven newly certified CIRCO trainers, seven companies with a circular business case, and a network that now spans 24 countries. What began with a launch in April by Program Manager Pieter van Os became concrete in recent days: CIRCO trainer Bas Roelofs and Bassam Jabry (CIRCO Hub Singapore) spent three days at the drawing board with Egyptian entrepreneurs in Cairo.
Program Manager Pieter van Os was the first to travel to Cairo this spring. Two sessions: a kick-off for the new CIRCO trainers in training, and a gathering of forty stakeholders from Egypt’s business community and wider ecosystem, including a roundtable on collaboration opportunities. Both sessions were supported by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Egypt and Averroes Ventures (CIRCO Hub Egypt).
Officially certified trainers
Last weekend, Bas Roelofs travelled to Cairo for the train-the-trainer programme, which he delivered together with Bassam Jabry, trainer at the CIRCO Hub in Singapore. Three intensive days with seven candidate trainers and seven companies from the food, packaging and agriculture sectors. The core of the programme: where does value get lost in the value chain, and how do you design a concrete response to that?
The Averroes team of Dr Ahmed A. Alsharif, with Sana Sherif and Rana Eltanbadawy, took care of the organisation. The participating companies came with concrete challenges and translated them directly into plans. Bas Roelofs shared his enthusiasm for the drive and creativity of both the new trainers and the companies in the room.
At the end of the program, all participants received their certificates from Ambassador Peter Mollema at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Seven certified CIRCO trainers, ready to get to work with Egyptian businesses.
Eman Wahby of Circularity Labs saw in the launch a combination that works: the international CIRCO design methodology with Dutch roots, applied by local entrepreneurs with knowledge of their own market. For Egypt, that means innovation rooted in local context and a stronger position in a changing global market.
Averroes Ventures will continue to develop the hub, with support from the CIRCO team.
Bangladesh is also making strides
Egypt is not the only new hub gaining momentum. The CIRCO Hub in Bangladesh, launched earlier this year with support from RVO and hosted by LightCastle Partners, has already completed its second CIRCO Track within three months of opening. Participants came primarily from the RMG and textile sectors and worked on circular business models and roadmaps for their own organisations.
Two new hubs, in two very different contexts, with a shared goal: advancing the circular economy one step further.