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Current cewas Start-Up Teams

The first cewas Start-Ups were set up in May 2011. They are now in the process of founding their company or are already in operation managing their first projects. You can find a description of some of them below. 
You want to be one of them? Find out more about the Start-Up programme.

Biluna Birotunda LLC – Molly Danielsson and Matthew Lippincott, Portland, USA

Matthew is Director of Production in Education for Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science (PLOTS). This June, PLOTS was awarded a Knight News Challenge grant of $500,000 to support citizen-based, grassroots data gathering and research. He is Co-Founder of the Cloacina Project, a project to create replicable sustainable portable sanitation services for the Pacific Northwest.  Partner, Biluna Birotunda Design; B.A. Oberlin College Philosophy.

mathew@cloacina.org
Cloacina c/o Biluna Birotunda LLC
2322 N Webster St Portland Oregon US 97217

Molly received her BA in Environmental Studies at Oberlin College in 2007, and uses her interdisciplinary training to lead research and development initiatives for IceStone, a triple bottom line countertop manufacturer based in New York City, developing countertops from 30% cement and 70% recycled glass. Molly is currently working with Co-founder of the Cloacina Project, Mathew Lippincott, to deploy ecological sanitation services at a gathering of 500 people in the Pacific Northwest this fall.  Molly also volunteers with ReCode Oregon to address the legal barriers preventing and actively discouraging ecologically sound businesses in Oregon.

molly@cloacina.org
Tel: +001 269 615 3481
Cloacina c/o Biluna Birotunda LLC
2322 N Webster St Portland Oregon US 97217

Concept WaSH - Priscilla Mabhande, Harare, Zimbabwe

Priscilla Mabhande holds a Master of Science degree in Water Resources and Environmental Management from the University of Twente, The Netherlands, where she graduated as a surface water hydrologist. She has worked as a research scientist for two years with the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Center (SIRDC)’s Environmental Science Institue (ESI). Her experience is in conducting Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), use of Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing for project management, evaluating effectiveness and appropriateness of community development programmes and assessing environmental performance of production and manufacturing industries regards air pollution, and management of solid and hazardous wastes. Her start-up is called Concept WaSH.

Concept WaSH is an initiative that connects global expertise for cost-effective, water, sanitation and hygiene interventions in peri-urban and rural settlements in Zimbabwe and Southern Africa through sharing and adaptation of best practices from around the world, to the respective beneficiary countries. The thrust behind Concept WaSH is knowledge transfer (as a knowledge node) and selling water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) as business ventures to small and medium enterprises (through tailor-made training courses). The inception of Concept WaSH will see the forming of a partnership between Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas, starting in Switzerland, Southern Africa (Zimbabwe, Zambia, South Africa), India and Portland (USA) respectively.

As a founding member of Concept WaSH, Priscilla aims to balance philanthropy through provision of critical water, sanitation and hygiene interventions to the poor (economically challenged zero and low income households) and marginalised (geographic location with little or no access to water or inability to support conventional sanitation infrastructure) and the income generating of the Start-up as a whole for financial autonomy and profitability.

p.mabande@yahoo.com

Skype: priscilla.mabhande

Mobile: +263 772 959 127 (Zimbabwe)

Aquasis – Varun Vats, Félicien Mazille, José Luis Carrasco

Contributing to Water and Energy Sustainability

After working a couple of years on environmental science and sustainability in different international organizations and academia in Switzerland, we joined the first group of entrepreneurs at cewas. Educated at the EPFL in environmental science, chemistry and economics, we decided to create Aquasis based on our common desire to work on water and energy sustainability.

Aquasis an environmental consultancy company, aiming to reduce water intensity and improve energy efficiency and security in production, consumption and distribution of goods and services. It offers services in the field of water and energy accounting to reduce intensities and improve efficiencies with companies and organizations. Our market segment includes food and beverage companies, corporate offices and municipalities.

Holistic approach we have, combines internal measures - water and energy efficiency - and external measures – water compensation – to reduce water consumption and to induce environmental impacts of a product. Similarly, we aim to work on energy accounting to better manage energy consumption of goods and services.

Varun Vats 
varunvats2004@yahoo.co.uk
Mobile no. +41 77 410 0533

Félicien Mazille
felicienmazille@msn.com
Mobile no. +41 78 739 4198 

José Luis Carrasco
jluis.carrascot@gmail.com
Mobile no. +41 78 864 1356

Ethical Water Exchange – Valérie Issumo

Valérie Issumo, Economist (+MBA), Laureate of the Belgian Prize of Foreign Trade, with 15 years working experience as soft commodities trader is designing an environmental and sustainable growth tool - the Ethical Water Exchange - using her multicultural background and life experience mainly in Africa, South America and Europe. 
Ethical Water Titles would transfer ownership of waste water to buyers of treated water or water treatments via an Ethical Water Exchange (or existing commodity exchange). 
Ethical Water Titles, as commodity futures contracts to be traded on a futures market, will transfer waste water ownership into treated water/water treatments. 
Ethical Water Titles representing treated water as commodity should be valued by matching the following commitments: 

• certified waste water treatments at listed sanitation locations with
• reuse water demand and/or waste water treatment requests to be delivered locally (i.e. in the operating range of a sanitation plant) or internationally via agreed water footprint of underlying internationally traded goods/services.

The main idea is to reduce amount of untreated used water leading to the reduction of the water-footprint and consequently to organize water reuse infrastructures and to limit environmental damages. The Ethical Water Exchange will also create the possibility for medium and long term strategies for investors and industries,  looking for procurement market security (to leverage effects of increased sanitations, product incentives by purchasing guarantee of reuse water input of underlying commodities). 
Valérie Issumo is a diver and active in numerous associations for nature conservation & sustainable finance and a volunteer member of associations active in creating business enterprises and jobs. 
Please find more information on www.pranasustainablewater.ch.

International Water Management & Recycling – Akbar E. Boosejin

Akbar holds a PhD in environmental materials from Nagoya University, Japan, in 2008. He worked as research associate for 3 years. The focus of his research in PhD was on water and wastewater treatment especially P-removal eutrophication area with 2 international patents in Japan. His diverse background encompassing interdisciplinary degrees in engineering, applied sciences and environmental. Combined with more than 10 years working experience in research institutes as well as the unique upcoming skills from cewas, round up his research expertise and apply environmental engineering fundamentals in complex and multidisciplinary situations. Having a scientific and technological background in mining and mineral processing, provides him a good knowledge and capabilities in water recycling and management for mining and related industries in a global scope. 
He has also a broad knowledge in the following areas: 

• Green materials for water remediation
• Applied sciences water
• Nano and magnetic in water treatment
• Kinetic of pollutant uptake from water
• Smart memberance for water purification
• Integrative water management sanitation
• Sustainable solution for lakes and water reservoirs

For further inquiry, please contact Akbar at 2009.akbar@gmail.com.