Aseem Das, CEO and Founder of World Centric

THE INNOVATION:
Designing, producing and distributing compostable one-use food service products from annually renewable materials.

Aseem Das, CEO and Founder, World Centric

Watch the short Video intro...

Listen to the full conversation on podcast...

Excerpts:

• We provide compostable [food service] products which replace styrofoam and plastic.  These products are made from corn, wheat straw and sugar cane... the reason we are doing this, is because we want to use a resource which is annually renewable, as opposed to a resource which is not renewable.  [Not to mention] the toxicity and pollution which is caused by the extraction of the oil, refining it and then making the end product. Lastly, but not least, the pollution that is caused form the disposal of [the petroleum based] products.  These products do not degrade in the environment.
• The main challenge when you are running a business is how do you maintain the values and the mission which you started out with.  And the question is, is this business about financial returns, or is it about doing good in the world... It is the thinking behind why you are doing it. One thinking is “I want to increase sales so we make “x’ amount of money” and the other thinking could be “I want to increase sales because that is going to displace ‘x’ amount of styrofoam and ‘x’ amount of plastic and stop the pollution that is going into the environment.
• Our products are disposables and they are seen as commodity products. So we are always faced with pricing pressures... I think that is one of the issues with environmental or green products in general where they don’t have a wide spread adoption... People want to do the right but they don’t want to pay more.  So for us, as a company, what we are striving to do is to see if we can bring products to market which are sustainable and environmentally good but at a cheaper or the same price point as plastics and styrofoam.
• I think...  our whole economy needs to move to the place where things are done for the good, both the environmental and the social good, as opposed to just the financial good.

World Centric is a Benefit Corporation.
This interview was conducted via Skype.