During two days in which Casa do Impacto was the meeting point for new entrepreneurial minds, we worked hard to provide a complex experience and a 360º view of Impact Entrepreneurship. As always, we were never alone. Once again, we had Entrepreneurs from the House who joined us as Mentors. Who better to accompany and advise the applicant teams than those on the ground daily who have experienced all the challenges of getting started?

Just as the range of solutions in the running was very heterogeneous, the list of projects represented by the mentors showed that Impact covered several areas. Many thanks to Marta Brazão (Circular Economy Portugal), Rosário Sommer (Generosa), Joana Leal (SeaTheFuture), Patrícia Gomes (Studio8), and Filipe Reina Fernandes (Windcredible) for their willingness to share knowledge and for showing, once again, that competition doesn’t exist at Impacto.

How we build the Bootcamp can be seen as deconstructing the perfect pitch and exposing all the elements that make it the best representation of an Impact Project. We have to talk about the Problem, the Value Proposition, the Solution, the Theory of Change, and how you can use Impact Communication to defend all these parts of the whole. All this, alongside the transmission of concepts about the Impact Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and Introduction to the Social Economy, individual work and exercises to put into practice the knowledge acquired and more relaxed moments of networking, sharing inspiring Impact stories and examples of good pitches that only could be delivered by Generosa, first runner-up in the last edition of TRIGGERS and a more than a worthy example to follow.

Of course, our Travelling (and Life!) Partners were part of the pitch evaluation. They accepted the responsibility of asking the tough questions, always keeping in mind a constant exercise of deepening knowledge about each project and contributing to their evolution.

Of course, our Travelling (and Life!) Partners were part of the pitch evaluation. They accepted the responsibility of asking the tough questions, always keeping in mind a constant exercise of deepening their knowledge of each project and contributing to its evolution.

As is our modus operandi, we ensure that the decision-making process is not limited to an analysis by Casa do Impacto alone but involves various organizations of different natures, visions, and needs, all of which have a solid connection to the sustainability sector. One of our priorities is that the judging panel comprises Men and Women. In this case, we could count on the pertinence and validity of the inputs from the representatives of our Partners, Cascais City Council, EDP, Galp, and the Ageas Group and 3xP Global that supports the program.

To the Casa do Impacto judges, Inês Sequeira, Founder and Director, and Nuno Comando, Head of Programs, Investment & Communications, joined Raquel Chagas Santos, Municipal Environment and Sustainability Department at Cascais City Council, João Arbués Moreira, Social Impact Projects Coordinator at EDP, Cláudia Varandas, Open Innovation Project Manager at Galp, Flávia Nobre, Sustainability Manager at Ageas Portugal Group and Bárbara Leão de Carvalho, PhD, Regeneration Ecosystem Developer at 3xP Global. Many thanks for the enthusiasm shared year after year!

And now, for those of you who have endured the suspense up to this point and haven’t got around to the paragraph that holds the climax of this article and announces the ten selected, here they are:

• > Digna Engenharia de Impacto aims to build a Sustainable Marketplace focused on promoting the sale of construction waste and leftovers, fostering ecological recycling, social justice, and economic viability;

• > Horta Harmonia promotes soil health and biodiversity by reusing coffee grounds and other organic materials for composting. This creates new soils and regenerates those that are already degraded. Their product reduces the need for herbicides, pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and monetary, labor, and time resources. They also offer farmers technical support through composting workshops and soil tests;

• > Humiverso is committed to developing innovative modular machines for transforming organic waste into fertilizer using the vermicomposting method (earthworms). Thus, Humiverso promotes the circular economy in the business context, decentralizes waste treatment, and promotes the self-production of organic fertilizer;

• > Musa Azores aims to promote the sustainable and socially inclusive use of Azorean banana trees by using their fiber to create art and design crafts and promoting training and leisure experiences around this creative process. They are also committed to developing strategic partnerships with organizations in the Solidarity Economy that enable vulnerable communities to have a source of income; 

• > No Impunity provides the digital infrastructure needed to systematically address and finance Impact, Climate, and Human Rights litigation. It simplifies investment in ESG claims and supports law firms in assessing the viability of their cases;

• > Petit Fox is an online shop based on the Circular Economy model in which it is possible to buy and sell second-hand maternity and children’s clothes, thus taking on a concern for environmental and financial Sustainability and the quality of the products;

• > Raro is an online retail platform that unites areas such as Curatorship, Communication, and Technology. It will allow customers to find rare products known for their excellence and exclusivity while contributing to the preservation of the good, biodiversity, and ancestral production techniques;

• > Take Carbon presents itself as a direct financial ecosystem without intermediaries, which will simplify the Carbon Credits market, linking projects through its trading platform to final consumers and investors, providing access to fair and adequate financing. They also address the challenge of the heterogeneity of Carbon Credits by offering a standardized and transparent market, which increases the efficiency of trading and investment activities and allows stakeholders to support green projects with economic viability in mind;

• > Tintória is a Circular Economy project committed to producing natural paints from agricultural and forestry bio-waste;

• > Volthaica‘s mission is to offer sustainable and customizable electro-energy services integrated into the construction of wooden houses, focusing on intelligent, efficient, and affordable electricity.

They’re already working hard to reach the next stage as you read this. Only three teams will reach the final of this Casa do Impacto program, which is focused on environmental solutions.

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