Business Models For The Enterprise Of Tomorrow With Gunter Pauli | Author of The Blue Economy

Gunter Pauli has published over 40 books, including his most famous, The Blue Economy. He is an economist, serial entrepreneur, Ted talker and founder of ZERI (Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives). Gunter was the first person to register ‘Zero Emissions’ as a trademark and recently won the 2021 Goi Peace Award for his contribution to society. He continues to contribute by sharing different business models that aim to leave the world in a better place. His vision for the future of business is inspiring and challenges us to go one step further than current ‘sustainable’ models and practices.

Here are a few things we discussed in this great chat;

• The difference between the “Green Economy” and the “Blue Economy”
• Listen to Gunter's story of how he started his own “green” business, which leads him to question what a sustainable business should really look like, and the economy that needs to be created to ensure that something that is good for us, and the planet, isn’t the most expensive in the market.
• The need to change from competition on price, which leads to cutting corners, to competition on value, which is a defining part of the Blue Economy.
• Concepts and business models within his two new books - Coffee Solutions and Plastic Solutions.
• Why we need to focus more on physics rather than chemistry.
• Industry Symbiosis rebrand to the Circular Economy, the principles of which have been around for a while.
• Creating something out of nothing.
• The need to relearn that we are being taught at school and university, especially, for those studying business, sciences and engineering.
• Where short-term thinking gets us - you might be surprised to learn that our hand sanitizers have plastic in them, causing billions of microplastics to pollute our waters.
• The importance of multiple revenue streams, burn rate and return on investment when developing your business. Gunter suggests forgetting the use of spreadsheets, Google, or Wikipedia. If we’re using sources that everyone else is using, then we aren’t able to think outside the box to create opportunities that no one else sees. He also recommends not building a business plan until you have your first sale.
• Listen to Gunter chat through multiple business models and their simple ingenuity to create value both to people and the planet.

Relevant Links

• Coffee Solutions
• Plastic Solutions
• The Blue Economy
• Children’s Fables by Gunter Pauli
• Blue Economy innovations & business models

Join our community

• Linkedin
• Instagram
• Website

This podcast was made in partnership with Ecologi, a subscription service that helps you take action on the climate crisis via funding climate projects & planting trees.

This podcast was made using SquadCast.