Sahar Mansour: The accidental entrepreneur promoting zero-waste living

Did you know that around 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic end up in oceans, rivers and lakes around the world? The United Nations estimates that between 19 million and 23 million tonnes of plastic waste enters aquatic ecosystems every year. I’m guessing that you are. This impacts climate change, food quality and livelihoods. The growing problem of plastic pollution and waste mismanagement is at the heart of 30-year-old Indian entrepreneur Sahar Mansoor’s work.

A socially conscious millennial, she is the founder of Bare Necessities, a personal and home care brand offering zero-waste products, education and consulting services. Of course, our products are ethically made using local, natural ingredients. But sustainability is an idea that underlies every step of the way: manufacturing, distribution, and consumption. The packaging uses recyclable, reusable, and biodegradable materials such as glass bottles, recycled cardboard, and paper tape, which Sahar says allows the product to have a “responsible end of life”. It brings.

How Sahar Mansour became an entrepreneur

Becoming an entrepreneur was not her ultimate goal. “I always wanted to make an impact. I was very social throughout high school and college with my interests. As I got older, I started reading more and more about climate action. , it made me want to be more part of the solution.”

A graduate of the University of Cambridge with a master’s degree in environmental policy, Sahar spent the early years of his career working as a mobile health researcher at the World Health Organization in Geneva. She then worked as a policy analyst and project manager at a solar energy social enterprise in her hometown of Bangalore. By that time, she had become “obsessed with waste” from her academic perspective.

My interaction with the waste picking community made me more aware of waste management issues and related social issues. “That’s when I put aside my elitist, Cambridge, WHO perspective and started looking at it from a human lens. I decided to live a lifestyle where I don’t use anything,” says Sahar.

The birth of Sahar Mansour’s brand Bare Necessities

Slowly and steadily, more and more people wanted to consume more consciously, and that was the seed of Bare Necessities. His 3Ps of People, Planet, and Profit were key drivers in building a business where economic and environmental goals were aligned.

With Bare Learning, the sustainability education division of Bare Necessities, Sahar also strives to create and share educational content for people looking to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle.

She explains her reasoning as follows: “We have long believed that companies should be measured on just one metric: financials. But more and more companies are showing us that it’s important to build brands that care for the planet and people. It’s about how you create social and environmental impact as a byproduct of what you’re building.”

On the consumer side, she admits that it may have become “cool to be sustainable on Instagram,” but either way, it’s a win-win. Although there is a perception that sustainable products come at a higher price, Sahar believes it is only a matter of time before economies of scale level the playing field.

What’s more, she argued that reducing waste can actually save money, pointing out the difference in cost and environmental impact of switching from sanitary napkins to menstrual cups. “All we need is more communication about how it makes sense to move in an environmentally and economically sustainable direction,” says Bare Necessities. Adds the author of “How to Live a Zero-Waste Life”:

Overall, Sahar feels happy and optimistic, encouraged by the evolution of people who care about sustainability and the planet they want to give to future generations.

Watch the Health Shots She Slays video interview with Sahar Mansour.

Sahar Mansour’s Entrepreneurship Journey

When she launched her brand, Sahar Mansour was just 24 years old and extremely optimistic, but a bit too naive. From an early age, she believed that her hard work was the “only formula” to always get results. She did well in school, which helped her get a scholarship to her dream university, but not when it came to finding funding for her business.

Speaking about her journey as a female entrepreneur in the sustainability business, she says: “I’m not sure if it’s because of my age, because I’m a single female founder, or because of a sustainable ecosystem that just hasn’t been developed.” But it was really difficult. I made over 200 unsuccessful pitches! After that, I decided to just keep my head down, focus on building a great, great brand, and the rest would follow. ”

She stopped chasing funding and expanded her product line. Her work acted like a magnet that organically attracted impact investors that aligned with her social, environmental, and economic goals.

“Entrepreneurship builds a lot of resilience, but it definitely tests me. I love what I do, but after an hour I ask myself, ‘Why did I start this?’ You may end up doing it. But in the end, when you persevere and things go well, you can look back with a smile. I’m really grateful for what we’ve built over the last seven or eight years. We all know that the rapid movement of consumer goods is responsible for the massive waste problem we currently face. So it brings me great joy that we do the opposite and try to make conscious consumption the norm rather than the exception. ”