Meet a green Emirati entrepreneur

Gulf News

Meet and Emirati entrepreneur who's passion for the environment was the driving force behind her innovative products. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00There are more and more entrepreneurs trying to bring their ideas to life in the UAE.

00:10We've come to meet one Emirati entrepreneur who's taken her passion for green design

00:15and turned it into a business.

00:17My name is Lemis Harab.

00:18I'm from Dubai.

00:19I'm the founder of Biodepacking and Packaging, the first Arab supplier and designer of biodegradable

00:25packaging and biodisposables.

00:28As a woman in the UAE, I'm actually in an excellent place because it encourages entrepreneurship.

00:34It encourages leadership.

00:36So I have all the opportunity that I would need.

00:39I have the education, and I do have the passion as well.

00:43I love design, and I'm very interested in being a designer, just designing what I want

00:47to design and not something else.

00:49I want to use design to do something worthwhile.

00:53The majority of plastic pollution right now in our oceans are related to single-use disposables

00:58and food-related.

00:59So that was something that I was kind of jumping on as like a starting point.

01:03Okay, we have this problem and influx of single-use disposables.

01:07It kind of gave me this insight into viewing waste as a design problem.

01:13I was already kind of looking at plant-based materials and compost and how it fits with

01:17the New York tree-planting programs and things like that, and I was like, okay, what can

01:20I do in the UAE?

01:21I decided to design all our products.

01:24So we have a reusable line.

01:26We have our compostables, the regular ones, and we have our household lines as well.

01:32We had our problems with the products in general.

01:35Bioplastics made for Europe aren't great for the Middle East.

01:40Their melting points are much lower than we need for storage.

01:44They degrade easily.

01:45We've had problems with straws breaking and cups kind of melting in the car.

01:52So, you know, just in our test, so to me it was, you know, distribution was really a research

01:56and development year.

01:57Since we stocked the product of Lamy's and BioD here, the results, the sales were very

02:03good, excellent, to the point that we are now thinking of using them in our Café de

02:07Taste initiative for our deliveries and for all our needs here in the restaurant.

02:13We specifically use materials that can work within the UAE and further biomaterials use

02:18in the UAE.

02:19We're going to follow Lamy's to meet with a client that she's been in talks with about

02:23changing their disposable products to BioD's food and beverage line.

02:27I understand what it means to be working with people who've never done a specific business

02:36before in their lives.

02:38It's hard, but the rewards are magnified.

02:43Lamy's ticks all the boxes from our perspective.

02:49So it is in both our interests to be doing this work and building a future.

02:56I think entrepreneurship is really something that, it's different, having your business

03:00and being an entrepreneur is completely different, but when you, you know, when you're passionate

03:05about feeling like, okay, I have this product or I have this idea and I want to see it in

03:08the world in some kind of way, whatever that idea of yours is, if you're passionate enough

03:13and if you're really willing to work hard, you are in an environment where you can follow

03:18your dream or safe, you're okay.

03:21You know, whatever you're, you think is hard right now really is not the hardest thing.

03:25So just go for it.

03:26You can do it.

03:27There are so many opportunities for Emirati entrepreneurs in the UAE and Lamy's is proof

03:33that if you're passionate about something and you're willing to work hard, you can achieve

03:36your goals.

03:38I'm Sarvi Granpaya, Golf News.

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