The first 100 fellows of beVisioneers: The Mercedes- Benz Fellowship came together recently at three Regional Summits: in India, South Africa and Germany. beVisioneers is a global program for young environmental innovators and independently implemented by a non-profit organization.
Failing energy grids in Johannesburg. Climate refugees in Kerala. Dying coral reefs off the coast of Denmark. The list of challenges in many Fellows' local communities is long. But for each of the challenges listed here, and dozens more besides, the young participants of beVisioneers’ Regional Summits brought back ideas for solutions. With the support of beVisioneers, the environmental innovators are now putting their solutions into action. Since January, Mercedes-Benz has been funding the program by way of charitable donations to the non-profit organization, The DO School Fellowships. As the donor of beVisioneers, Mercedes-Benz was invited to meet-and-greet sessions at all three Regional Summits, which took place earlier this month in Stuttgart, Germany; Pune, India; and Johannesburg, South Africa. It was a great opportunity for us to experience the energy and dedication of the first 100 fellows, to learn about their projects, experience their “community building” first-hand, and to discover at least one thing they and Mercedes-Benz have in common—a pioneering spirit!
From CO₂ reduction to sustainable building materials.
The variety of project ideas is big: for 24-year-old Adrian Bösl of Germany, who is currently pursuing a Masters degree in industrial engineering, the mission is as clear as it is ambitious: Adrian wants to create the world’s largest CO₂ sink. He and three partners have already prototyped a technique for turning fast-growing brown seaweed into biochar, a way to fixate carbon for geologic time scales. “Aim for the moon,” says Adrian. “If you miss, you might hit a star.”
Just 18 and already in her second year of medical studies in Spain, Ana Sofia Bastos Mendes Vidal is at work on an app that lets users scan products at the supermarket. This allows them to find out about the environmental friendliness of the products before they buy them - and avoid waste by making the right choice. “My motivation is to challenge the status quo,” says Ana Sofia, “and build a better world for the next generation.”
36% of all CO2 emissions coming from construction, but 25-year old Aleyna Gültekin, wants to change that with new sustainable building components. She is an architect from Turkey who currently lives in Spain and developed a material, Nera, made of up-cycled sawdust waste mixed with eco-friendly binders. Using a 3D printer, she can create all kinds of sustainable building materials, from tiles to wall panels to exterior cladding. “Old buildings lack in energy-efficiency area,” says Aleyna, “but we can leverage the thermal-insulative properties of sawdust to improve their efficiency, all while reducing waste and building more sustainably.”
The ingenuity, resourcefulness and resilience of the fellows in Stuttgart was perfectly mirrored by those attending the summit in Pune. With her project to convert banana biomass into sustainable cellulose packaging material, Muskan Gupta aims to tackle several massive challenges at once: Reduce plastic waste while minimizing food waste caused by faulty packaging immediately after harvest. She overcomes climate apathy by being the change she wants to see.
“As someone from the Indian state of Kerala, I have experienced the challenges of climate change firsthand,” says Akhilesh Anil Kumar, whose home state has become increasingly vulnerable to floods, cyclones and coast erosion, forcing many to flee. For his beVisioneers project, the 23-year-old UN Youth Climate Leader is establishing an NGO, The International Alliance for Climate Refugees, that aims to protect the human rights of those displaced by climate change, helping them to re-build their lives.
The ideas of the fellows from South Africa were equally promising. Buyiswa Twala, 22, taught herself organic chemistry and created her own lab in order to develop her project, an affordable, organic compost to replenish soil and combat food insecurity. “I would like to inspire other young people and show that it is possible,” says Buyiswa. “We are not limited by age or where we come from!”
Linda Kaumphawi, 27, began developing her project back in 2018, at a time when she lacked funds to complete her environmental studies at university. Motivated by a friend, Linda decided to keep studying on her own, researching solutions to waste management problems in her township of Winterveld, on the outskirts of Pretoria. The result is a multi-pronged plan that includes creating a digital marketplace for recyclable waste.
After the summits is before implementation.
After the summits, fellows returned home to begin turning their ideas into action or continue working on their projects. In addition to 24 hours per month of online training and quarterly meet-ups at local hubs, one of the most important components of The DO School Fellowship’s gGmbH’s beVisioneers program is the 1-to-1 mentoring.
Mercedes-Benz employees who were selected by The Do School Fellowships to mentor this years’ cohort will meet their respective fellows later this month. As beVisioneers expands—to 500 fellows next year and 1000 fellows per year from 2025—the need for qualified mentors will only grow.
