Startups have many great ideas — but what happens next? Every entrepreneur in the sustainability space dreams of seeing their startup grow to great heights and deliver the impact they had envisioned, but that’s often hard to do without investment support. Join us as we learn more about what corporate investors look for in a startup and what that decision-making process is like.

For episode 5, Changing Tides with The Incubation Network speaks to Dr Vasimon Ruanglek, Senior Alliances Manager for Climate Impact & Circularity at SCG, a leading Asian industrial conglomerate and one of Thailand’s biggest companies. It invests heavily in research and development, which makes it a key player for startups looking for financing.

“Different ventures have different gaps, but if company leaders have a good vision and mentality, we will be more interested to help. I advise all entrepreneurs to put away their ego and passion, and seek help.” — Dr Vasimon Ruanglek

On this episode we discuss:

• How are corporations fulfilling ESG commitments?
  How are big companies working with startups?
• What can startups do to attract more funding from large corporations?
• What are the common pitfalls for startups when they try to look for support?

We rely on 20 million waste workers worldwide who pick and sort 50-100% of our waste across cities every day. Yet, these informal waste workers are often overlooked or working in unsafe conditions. Join us as we explore why and how the informal sector matters, and what more can be done to ensure their livelihoods, while improving our waste management systems.

For episode 4, Changing Tides with The Incubation Network speaks to Nalini Shekar, co-founder and executive director of Hasiru Dala, a social impact organization that works with informal waste workers across more than 27,000 families in Karnataka and Andrah Pradesh, India.

“You have to look at the community as your partners to co-create strategies. We both learn from each other. I have learned to be stronger, looking at these women going out on the street and being on their own at 4:30am I get energy and fearlessness from them.” — Nalini Shekar

On this episode we discuss:

• Why is the informal sector so important?
• What happened to our waste during the pandemic?
• What kind of challenges do informal waste workers, especially women, face?

Encouraging people to collect, sort and deposit their waste properly is key to ensuring quality feedstock for the recycling industries — and important for the revenue and scaling up of environmental startups working in this space. For Trash Lucky, this requires an incisive insight into local culture and attitudes. Join us as we understand more about changing people’s behaviours to encourage recycling and what kind of opportunities and challenges startups face to improve this issue.

For episode 3, Changing Tides with The Incubation Network speaks to Nattapak (Nat) Atichartakarn, founder and CEO of Trash Lucky, a Thailand-based startup that works with communities to plan and design recycling programs that teach people how to properly collect and sort their plastic waste, which is picked up and sent to recycling centers.

“We try not to get people to worry too much about sorting 10 different things — just identify the one easy thing first and start with that. What we’ve noticed is that people often come back to us and say, ‘hey I noticed that this plastic doesn’t have the same recycling code, what is it?’ So it gets them curious and they start to wonder how they can sort more difficult-to-recycle materials such as UHT cartons and septic packaging.” — Nattapak Atichartakarn

On this episode we discuss

• How do we get people to care about recycling to change their behavior?
• How does local culture play a role?
• How can changing people’s behavior lead to success for environmental startups?
• What are the top challenges for an environmental startup?

Startups are mushrooming all across Southeast Asia, especially those focused on creating an impact while making a profit. At the same time, investments into startups doubled in the region in 2021. Startups need support with institutional partners — be it governments and multilateral agencies, or corporates and private investors — to help to launch their ideas, test their concept, and increase their access to market.

For episode 2, Changing Tides with The Incubation Network speaks to Anurag Maloo, Regional Director for Asia-Pacific & VP of Global Partnerships & Business Development for Seedstars, a global community that runs acceleration programs for startups around the world to develop innovative, commercially viable solutions to marine plastic waste.

“The infrastructure and overall ecosystem support is not going to happen in one year, or one program will not change anything. It’s a decades-long journey, it’s a journey that takes time. There is still a lot of room for innovation, which opens up a lot more opportunity for talented entrepreneurs to come and start building ventures that solve plastic pollution for the region, rather than copying something from the west and just try to replicate it here,” says Anurag.

In this episode we discuss:

• Why is it challenging for startups to grow and scale?
• How do we increase startups’ access to knowledge, capital and networks?
• What kind of startups do partners consider for cooperation?
• How can we support the growing industry in the Southeast Asia innovation space?

The flow of plastic waste into rivers, oceans and other natural ecosystems is expected to triple by 2040. Yet, the plastic pollution problem can be solved by taking a systems approach and involving all stakeholders. Join us as we explore solutions across the value chain, how insights can play a role, and what each of us can do to solve this crisis.

For episode 1, Changing Tides with The Incubation Network speaks to Umesh Madhavan, research director at The Circulate Initiative (TCI), a non-profit organization that develops insights and tools to create more circular, inclusive and commercially viable waste management and recycling systems in emerging markets.

“Without drastic action, the flow of plastic waste into the rivers, oceans and other natural ecosystems is expected to triple by 2040. It seems like a huge problem, but it’s not one without solutions and one which can be tackled through collective action.” — Umesh Madhavan

In this episode we discuss:

• How severe is plastic pollution?
• What role does South and Southeast Asia play?
• What are the solutions to tackling the plastic waste issue?
• What can we all do — as a business, consumer, policymaker or investor?