Sustainable women entrepreneurship

An initiative meant to put women entrepreneurs in the spotlight

Christine Leșcu, 28.02.2024, 14:00

Sustainable enterprises, based on reconditioning older products that come back to life through the recycling of materials, are rapidly emerging across Romania. Many of these companies are led by women, which is why the ALTRNTV social business, which was launched by two women entrepreneurs, designed a program meant to promote women who start and manage businesses titled “Voices of Wom(en)trepreneurs”. The project also consists of an actual store selling products obtained either via upcycling or by using eco-friendly materials. ALTRNTV is in turn part of the Mercy Charity Association, which runs a social workshop devoted to recycling old clothes. As a result of the “Voices of Wom(en)trepreneurs” program, some 2,000 pupils and students got to know the people behind these sustainable businesses, what they consist of and more importantly, how these products are manufactured. More details from Daniela Staicu, one of the coordinators of this project.

“By means of this project we wanted and we succeeded in familiarizing pupils, students and teachers with Romanian designers producing sustainable products, namely products from recycled materials. To give just an example, there’s one company in Sibiu that collects and recycles T-shirts. Later they are used as raw material to manufacture carpets which are later resold in stores and on our website. Some 30-40 T-shirts are required to produce such a carpet, instead of ending up at the landfill. Another designer works only with natural products, with recycled plastic and coffee dregs, which, again, instead of ending up as waste, is incorporated into the fabrication of sunglasses. The frame of these glasses is also made from coffee dregs. There many other such examples, and we wanted to bring to the fore the women who are behind these products, and who more often than not remain unknown to the public. We don’t see them because most of the times they’re in the workshop, working on their products”.

The first phase of the project, which has been unfolding since July 2023, included around 15 of the total of 140 designers hosted by the social store launched by Daniela Staicu and her partner, Alina Țiplea. The former told us more about the effort to promote women entrepreneurs.

“We took the filming crew to their workshops and we asked them to share their story for the record, to tell us how they ended up making such products and became entrepreneurs. The videos reached high-school pupils and students, who later discussed them in school with their teachers, in entrepreneurship and environment classes. We have the Alternative School and Green School programmes right now, which translate into more possibilities of discussing and examining such cases”.

And such examples have multiplied in recent years, as the number of young people who get involved in social and sustainable businesses is on the rise, Daniela Staicu says.

“More and more young people choose to make products from recycled materials. A lot of materials can be recycled, apart from the ones we’ve already mentioned. Some designers work with recycled plastic. They basically collect PETs, melt the plastic and reshape it as various accessories – earrings, necklaces, which are all really good-looking. They can also use broken keyboard keys or CDs. Some products are made from CDs, such as handbags or broaches. Additionally, computer motherboards can also be recycled to produce earrings, pendants and other similar accessories.

Therefore, a lot of products can be recycled into raw materials for new products”.

Daniela Staicu and Alina Țiplea won’t stop here, as they plan to organize the “Voices of Wom(en)trepreneurs” this year as well, to include the rest of the designers they collaborate with.

“Most of the entrepreneurs are women, and we wanted to start with this first set of 15 videos about women entrepreneurs, as they can be highly motivational, and can inspire mothers who’re looking for a career change, for instance, or other women who simply approach the retirement age and need something to fill their free time with. Thus we wanted to show there are many ways anyone can become an entrepreneurs. We wanted to show how these products are made, perhaps it will serve as an inspiration to people who want to make a difference and start a business in the recycling and creative entrepreneurship sector”.

Daniela Staicu, one of the coordinators of the “Voices of Wom(en)trepreneurs” program, funded by the US Department of State. (VP)