If you’re following the Young Entrepreneurs Challenge then you’ll have seen our five finalists announced recently. These talented young entrepreneurs will go head to head at our Grand Final on 1st March, competing for the £10,000 Grand Prize!
We wanted to get to know our finalists a little better, and allow you to get an insight of who they are and what they’re about.
Today we talk to our fifth and final finalist, Alexander Witty from the United Kingdom. Hi Alexander, tell us a little bit about yourself!
“Hi everyone, my name is Alexander, I’m 24 and a recent product design graduate from the University of Brighton. I’m now based in Bath and developing my own sustainable sneaker brand ‘Compound’ – shoes that convert waste tyres and fabrics into recycled and fashionable footwear.”
Tell us a little more about your future ambitions?
“I’m ultimately driven by the desire to create truly great, sustainable products, and I strive to help build a cleaner and greener tomorrow, not only for ourselves, but also for future generations.
I want to build something that’s fun, exciting, and something that people can not only enjoy, but be proud of – and really want to show off to the world.
I want to do my part when it comes to helping save our planet, create something that benefits as many people as feasibly possible, and inspires others to take a similar path to create a better future.”
How did you hear about the Young Entrepreneurs Challenge?
“I heard about it from a business development network (SetSquared) that I am a part of. I had been sent an email just before Christmas about the challenge and thought the Young Entrepreneurs Challenge was the perfect place to showcase my vision for a cleaner, more sustainable world.”
How did you find the application process?
“The application process was a useful challenge. It asked questions of me and my business that I hadn’t considered before, and forced me to improve areas of my work that I didn’t even know needed fixing.
I am fortunate enough to have an incredibly strong relationship with my parents, so much so that we discuss the development of Compound frequently and applications were no exception to this.
When you start a business from your bedroom during lockdown you take all the help and extra eyes you can get!
The process has been a great deal of fun and I have enjoyed every aspect of it, from the late nights spent sweating over word counts and the optimal choice of synonym for my sentence to planning and shooting fun, high octane, creative videos to better translate my business to a wider audience.”
What inspired you to come up with your business idea?
“Compound is very much a personal passion of mine. I’ve always loved motorsport, growing up watching my Dad immerse himself in the sport with his work, falling in love with the smell of molten rubber on the track, and the sounds of V8 engines roaring past at 200mph.
Twin that love with a passion for sustainability which my Mother instilled in me from a very young age – as she shared unbelievable experiences and stories with me from her time working with the BBC Natural History Unit, alongside the likes of the great Sir David Attenborough.
All of these experiences paired with my affinity with design led me to specialise in “sustainable design” at University, which enabled me to have the freedom and support to study what problems the world faces, and taught me an understanding of how one can try and fix them.
Compound was created out of a culmination of all of these factors. Seeing the waste within motorsport, and the current state of our climate led me to try and find a solution using the skills I possessed from a mix of University, childhood experiences, and personal passions.
After reading Victor Papaneks book, “Design for the real world”, I became obsessed with the study of circular economies and how, in fact, sustainability isn’t just great for our planet – but also great for business. Pair that with a love for trainers and a project was starting to form in my head.
This led me to create Compound, a unique brand of sustainable sneakers that takes wasted tyres and converts them into recycled, fashionable footwear.
I am determined to inspire others to look at design and product ‘end of life’ differently, and question how ‘rubbish’ can be turned into valuable products, limiting the need for fossil exploitation.”
If you win – how do you plan on investing the prize money?
“If we were lucky enough to win The Young Entrepreneurs Challenge, the £10,000 prize fund would be spent on prototyping, further research and development, and product testing in the lead up to our crowd funding launch next year.
With the help of the Young Entrepreneurs Challenge we can take the next big step – to prototyping, production and protecting our planet.”
Alexander thank you so much for talking to us. We wish you the best of luck in the Grand Final on the 1st March!
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