[ad_1]
Meet Sahar Mansoor, who was just 24 when she launched Bare Necessities, a brand promoting zero-waste living.
Did you know that nearly 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic enter oceans, rivers and lakes worldwide? The United Nations estimates that 19-23 million tons of plastic waste enter aquatic ecosystems annually. It affects climate change, food quality and livelihoods. 30-year-old Indian entrepreneur Sahar Mansoor’s work focuses on increasing plastic pollution and poor waste management.
A socially conscious millennial, she is the founder of a personal care and home care brand that offers bare essentials, waste products, educational and consulting services. Products are made ethically, using local and naturally sourced ingredients. But sustainability is an underlying idea at every stage: manufacturing, distribution and consumption. The packaging consists of reusable, recyclable and biodegradable materials such as glass containers, recycled cardboard and paper tape, which, as Sahar puts it, gives her products a “responsible end of life”.
How Sahar Mansoor became an entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship is not her ultimate goal. “I always knew I wanted to create an impact. I was very socially inclined in my interests in high school and college. As I got older, I started reading about climate action and wanted to be more a part of the solution.
A Cambridge University alumnus with an M.Phil in Environmental Policy, Sahar spent the early years of her career working as a mobile health researcher at the World Health Organization in Geneva. After that, she worked as a policy analyst and project manager at a solar energy social enterprise in her hometown of Bangalore. Back then, she was “obsessed with waste” from an academic lens.
Working with the waste collecting community, she opened her eyes to the issues of waste management and the social issues associated with it. “I had to put aside my elitist Cambridge, WHO perspective and I started looking at it through a human lens. “I decided to live a low-waste, low-impact and single-use plastic-free lifestyle,” explains Sahar.
Also read
Birth of bare essentials, Sahar Mansoor brand
Slowly and steadily, the idea that more and more people want to eat more mindfully has seeded the bare necessities. The 3Ps of People, Planet and Profit have become her key drivers in establishing a business where its financial and environmental goals are aligned.
Bear Learning, the sustainability education arm of Bear Needs, Sahar is also working to create and share educational content for those looking to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.
She explains the rationale: “For so long, we’ve assumed that businesses should be valued by just one metric – financially. But more and more companies are showing that it’s important to build brands that care about the planet and people. It’s about how you’re going to create social and environmental impact as by-products of what you’re building.
On the consumer side, she admits, it’s changed to “maintain Instagram cool,” but it’s a win-win either way. Despite the perception that sustainable products come with a high price tag, Sahar believes that it is only a matter of time before economies correct things.
Besides, generating less waste saves people money, she stressed, pointing out the difference in cost and environmental impact of switching from sanitary pads to menstrual cups. “We need more communication about how the environment and economy link to achieve sustainability,” added the author of “Bare Necessities: How to Live a Zero-Waste Life.”
Choose the topics that interest you and let us customize your feed.
Personalize now
Overall, Sahar feels encouraging, happy and optimistic about the evolution of people who care about the sustainability and planet they want to pass on to future generations.
Check out Sahar Mansoor’s video interview for She Slays Health Shots!
Sahar Mansoor on her entrepreneurial journey
Sahar Mansoor was just 24 years old – when she started her brand – very promising, but also a little naive. Growing up, she believed that hard work was “the only formula” to always get results. It worked for good grades in school and scoring a scholarship to her dream university, but not when she sought funding for her business.
On her journey as a female entrepreneur in a sustainability business, she says, “I don’t know if it’s a combination of my age, or the fact that I’m a single female founder, or an underdeveloped sustainable ecosystem. But it’s really hard. I made over 200 failed pitches! After that, I decided to put my head down, get laser-focused on building an awesome, kickass brand, and the rest would follow.
She stopped raising funds and expanded her product line. Her work has acted like a magnet in organically attracting impact investors aligned with her social, environmental and economic goals.
“Entrepreneurship builds a lot of resilience and you are definitely tested. I love what I’m doing, but within an hour, I’m thinking, “Why exactly did I start this?” You may ask yourself that. But in the end when you persevere, you will look back with a smile. I am truly grateful to have built what we have built in the last 7-8 years. We all know that fast moving consumer goods have contributed to the huge waste problem we are living with today. So doing something that goes against us, making conscious consumption the norm and not the exception gives me great pleasure.
[ad_2]