February 2008: Students in Frisian newspaper

Students in Frisian newspaper (English summary).

They graduated in September 2007 and already have managed to start a company in the Netherlands. Anselm Iwundu from Nigeria and Carolina Mori from Peru founded MMW: Milieu, Mensen en Winst (Dutch for: Environment, People and Profit).

In their small office on the top floor of the Cartesius Institute they tell their story to the journalist of the Friesch Dagblad. They explain that their strength lies in the combination of their education, their experience and their personal background. Anselm came to Leeuwarden in 2006 to participate in the Master of Environmental and Energy Management at the University of Twente. In Nigeria he already finished his Bachelor in Geology. Carolina also came to Leeuwarden in 2006. She was awarded an NFP scholarship which enabled her to study the same Masters programme.

After finishing the programme it would have been logical to return to their home countries to implement the new knowledge they obtained in the Netherlands. But they decided otherwise. In 2007 they started their own company with 4 people because they realized they had something to offer that was a weak point in most development projects: local experience. They said to each other: “Let’s do something, we can make a difference”.

MMW offers research and gives advise to (Dutch) companies who want to start projects in developing countries. But they also try to find existing projects in these developing countries that match their targets for sustainability so they can find sponsors for these projects in the Netherlands. In both cases success depends on the availability of local knowledge. Next to the 4 founders of the company, they already have 22 co-workers on locations in South America, Africa and Asia. Most of these co-workers are former students from the Master of Environmental and Energy Management. They benefit from the knowledge they obtained during their study at the University of Twente, combined with the local knowledge they already have in their home country.

One of the projects they are involved in is a sustainable waste management system in Santa Anita at the city border of Lima, the capital of Peru. This project not only involves a collection service, but also a local company that can make profits by recycling. Waste is a major problem in many developing countries. It leads to health problems, pollution and also economic problems. When waste lies on the streets, investors stay away and criminals think they can do anything they want. The opposite happens in a clean environment. Anselm and Carolina know this, because they experienced it themselves.

Of course it is not always easy for them to be so far away from their family and friends. Iwundu: “it gets easier when your parents say that this is your future, and therefore this is what you should be doing”

Carolina: “My family taught me to make a difference in this world. It is their own fault that I am here, and not in Peru”.