Evolena de Wilde and Ali Nezamolmalek want to combine feminism, sustainability and war aid with a new campaign for International Women’s Day.
(Photo: Mario Heller)
Düsseldorf Climate protection and feminism are topics that have driven Evolena de Wilde since childhood. “I’ve always had this fire in me that I want to protect the planet,” says the founder of the start-up Faircado, looking back.
When she was 12, she championed more bike lanes in her city, today it’s the circular economy. From the Berlin start-up scene, the Belgian wants to make this sustainability concept suitable for the masses.
Faircado’s business model: Display second-hand and remanufactured goods from different suppliers on one platform. On International Women’s Day, the entrepreneur combines the fight for sustainability with the fight for equality. Faircado starts a campaign with which it also wants to draw attention to the social inequality between men and women.
The start-up cooperates with seven artists from different countries who produce so-called upcycling art. It will be available for purchase on the platform in March. These include, for example, pictures by an artist made with used textiles, or pieces of jewelery made from recycled stones by a Berlin goldsmith. All proceeds should go to organizations that support women and children in the war zones.
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The market for remanufactured products, especially electronics, saw increasing investments last year. Back Market, one of the largest marketplaces for remanufactured electronics, raised €450 million in Series E funding in January and is now valued at more than €5 billion. Grover, a rental electronics platform, has raised more than $1.3 billion in aggregate debt and equity in 2021.
A third of German companies accept remanufactured electronics
A survey by the Bitkom industry association also shows that half of Germans would buy used electronics if they were properly processed. “It’s amazing how many new companies are out there that offer used or refurbished products,” says de Wilde. The economy sees it similarly: The technology managers CHG-Meridian and Yougov surveyed more than 500 German companies with the result that almost a third use refurbished IT devices.
Iranian artist Dorsa Ahari’s image entitled “Her Strength” is part of the International Women’s Day campaign.
(Photo: Dorsa Ahari)
Together with her co-founder Ali Nezamolmaleki, de Wilde came up with the idea of creating a page that gives an overview of all offers. “The more sales platforms there are, the more difficult it is for users to find what they are looking for quickly and easily,” she says. If you are looking for a specific second-hand smartphone, for example, Faircado will show you which options you have with which company.
Since the start in July 2021, the founders have collected half a million euros in investments. De Wilde received public funding from the EU, but was also able to win over a number of business angels, including Monique Hoell, ex-CEO and founder of Hellobody, and Johnny Quach, Purchasing Manager at Hostelworld. As she explains, the entrepreneur had previously been able to gain experience in other start-ups for six years.
She studied European studies, PR and communication in Belgium and the Netherlands. At first she wanted to go into politics to do something for the climate. But then she ended up in Berlin and realized: “As an entrepreneur, I can achieve so much more change and positive influence on the environment.” And possibly also on society.
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