An Interview with the Co-Founder of UFOLO's Database

This week, for our series of interviews with young entrepreneurs, E-HUB sat down with Cara, Co-Founder of UFOLO and UFOLO's Database.

CARA: UFOLO started as a Hult Prize Idea in 2018. I teamed up with two other friends/aspiring social entrepreneurs from my university – Elizabeth and Laura. We knew of each other’s ideas through the in-house incubator already, and figured we could put those ideas together to create something great for the challenge. The challenge was to create a social enterprise that can provide 10,000 jobs for unemployed youth. So our focus was waste (mis)-management in Luanda, Angola, the hometown of one of our co-founders. Youth unemployment was at 20% and the city is known for its failing waste management system, especially around the city centre and informal markets. So we wanted to collect un-recycled plastics and recycle them into filament for 3D-printers while involving the communities to help them maintain these sustainable practices.

“UFOLO” was the name of Elizabeth’s previous brand, and it means freedom. It is supposed to represent the freedom we are enabling for young unemployed youth by securing them with job & growth opportunities while making their hometown more sustainable. While our mission was purely social, our clients were going to receive sustainably sourced materials for their own productions, which were often local as well. For example, we had potential clients reaching from Hospitals (3D printing of a child’s face while the woman is pregnant) to Construction and Architecture firms (Prototyping and Interior Design). As in most African countries, the best way to get your brand out there is through word-of-mouth, so we attended as many networking events as we could while working from our co-founder’s home and shipping small machinery through our luggage (beware of the excess luggage fees!).

We travelled to Angola during and after our time at Hult and were sponsored and funded by local companies as well as through a GoFundMe campaign. Through the Hult Prize we managed to secure pitching rounds in London at Hult and in Oslo at the regionals. After that, we bootstrapped and received a lot of help and support from local institutions and fellow entrepreneurs who believed in our idea.

EHUB: What is the vision behind UFOLO?

CARA: The vision was to take something we are all passionate about and that solves a problem that is global. Plastic pollution is a growing and international problem that everybody knows about. There are many approaches for us to have an impact on this problem, however the biggest contributors are still large production firms. What we tried to do is to firstly prove that production can be circular and that it is the future, and that secondly the customer should be given an easy opportunity to contribute to a circular economy. Our products would be created through wasted plastic, then reused and recycled and when not needed anymore, recycled with us again. The Filament can be re-processed and printed into a new item.

EHUB: You started with UFOLO and have branched out into creating UFOLO's Database, what was the thought behind this? / How do you generate new ideas?

CARA: The main reason for UFOLO’s Database was quite honestly failure! And it is important to be transparent about failure and understanding what works, what doesn’t and what needs more time. Amidst the start of the pandemic last year, we realised we had no way to enable this project in the economy we were in. We had no way of receiving funds and the Angolan economy was already seeing some fluctuations before the pandemic arrived. It was the wrong time for a niche product like ours, and there is nothing we could have done about that at that moment. So, we decided to put a pin in it (not abandon it) and move on with our lives. We could not let our valuable network that we had built go to waste though, so we thought “Why not create a little database of these contacts”. The biggest problem we had when going into the entrepreneur scene in Luanda was finding the right people for the right jobs. They usually found us, to be honest. We are just trying to simplify this process for the next generation to come. There is no science behind getting this or any other idea we had. All we do is identify problems we experience and try to see if something can be done about it.

Spoiler Alert: There usually is something that you can do.

EHUB: Did you always want to become an entrepreneur? What was your biggest inspiration or key driving force to become an entrepreneur?

CARA: Before I went to university, I didn't even know what entrepreneurship was. But yes, I actually always wanted to create my own things, even when I was small. Then I learned that I could have monetized all my ideas and actually generate positive impacts on society and the environment at the same time. That’s when there was no going back for me anymore. The social entrepreneur inside me was released and she has been full of ideas ever since. My first business idea was actually recycled spiral hair bands that were supposed to support the protection of the shores & beaches of my hometowns. Knowing I had the power to achieve this, has been my driving force.

EHUB: What is your favorite aspect of being an entrepreneur? Main challenges? Anything specific to social entrepreneurship?

CARA: There is a list of 1 million items that could account for both pros and cons of entrepreneurship. But my two favourite things about the industry are the connections you make and the creative freedom you have. I meet fellow entrepreneurs all the time and it is truly amazing and humbling to see how many great minds are out there. There is not the same type of capitalistic competition as there is in the corporate world. Especially when looking at social entrepreneurship. Just today I have had two meetings with entrepreneurs starting businesses, both at different growth stages and I have had the honour to consult both with the experience I have made. And then of course there is the aspect of freedom that you will get nowhere else. You are your own boss, and you do everything exactly the way that you want to. However, this is also one of the biggest challenges because you have no one to tell you how to do things which can be very scary and daunting at times. Especially when you are entering a new industry. But the reward is ALWAYS worth it, even if you fail.

EHUB: Can you describe a typical day? Anything you can share that helps keep you focused and motivated?

CARA: If you are expecting a detailed agenda and inspirational advice, this won’t be it. I wake up in the morning, have my coffee or tea while relaxing, and then I stress because I realise the workload, I should be working on right now. The biggest mistake I do is to not set deadlines. As an entrepreneur it is easy to procrastinate, no matter how passionate you are about your idea. So, I always try to allocate certain hours, timings, KPIs and/or deadlines to everything I do to make it feel like I have to report to my boss, which is me. If you struggle to stay focused there are apps that help you with that. Try around with different apps including Meditation, Focus, Organisers and Task Lists. Different things work for different people. I find that apps that organise my whole day into mini tasks and allocating times for everything help me the most.

Another helpful thing is to schedule all your meetings in the morning (personally). If you are working on your idea mostly full time or don’t have a full-time job it will help you get up in the morning with a purpose and Agenda. Then you can organise your day based on the content of the meetings. I try to step away from my laptop when I do non-work things like eating Lunch. It is easy to think “I can do my zoom call, eat lunch and edit my website at the same time for efficiency” but all it does is it takes away your break for your brain and it decreases the quality of all the other tasks you are doing simultaneously. The rest of the day I try to stick to my to-do lists as tightly as possible until I get a message from someone to tell me to eat dinner. Then I eat, gym, reflect on what I did today, look at my agenda for the next day, spend unnecessary amount of time on Instagram (for research purposes obviously), potentially read and SLEEP.

EHUB: What has been your proudest or most satisfying moment so far?

CARA: When someone called me “boss” and smiled at the money we gave them. One fed my ego, one my heart. Both great!

EHUB: If you had the chance to start over again, would you do anything differently?

CARA: YES! I would put much more priority on budgeting, on setting out a proper communication and action plan with my co-founders and on being less stubborn. Sometimes it is too easy to let go of something because you are passionate. But some ideas have to be tweaked at the beginning just to get them off the ground.

EHUB: What advice would you give to someone wishing to start their own business? Any skills you believe an entrepreneur should have?

CARA: Here comes the one advice every entrepreneur will give you, but we repeat it because we know it is true: Take care of your mental and physical health! 50% of entrepreneurs have mental health issues. You can decide if we have it because we are entrepreneurs or if we are entrepreneurs because we have issues. At the same time, do outdoor activities and do some sports. It helps your brain, and it helps your body. To be an entrepreneur you have to stay sharp because you have start-ups popping up out of nowhere by the minute. Trends change and you have to keep feeding your creativity. So, get off your desk, go to an exhibition, try a new type of sports class, keep educating yourself, but most importantly believe in yourself, your brain and your heart. I don’t want to be ultra-cliché, but it will really help you keep a positive attitude even when things are going completely downhill.

Now in terms of actual skills, you really need good soft skills. It doesn’t matter if you are an engineer, artist or finance person. Soft skills apply to everyone and every industry. You are going to have to make connections, network, pitch, communicate and sell. And for that, you have to learn to be confident, how to speak and be emotionally intelligent.

EHUB: What’s next for UFOLO?

CARA: Right now, I am working mostly on the website and the optimisation of the business model, as well as using social media to get the brand out. I want the website to be up and running within the next two months. There will be a new domain, so we are currently shifting everything to our new server.

For now, the network is focused on the African market, but everyone is welcome and eventually I want this to be a global platform to empower and connect all social entrepreneurs out there.

THANK YOU CARA FOR YOUR TIME AND INSIGHTS!

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