Earth Day Spotlight: 6 Planet-Positive Products from EO’s Global Student Entrepreneur Awards

By Anne-Wallis Droter, EO Global Staff Writer

On 22 April 2025, we recognize the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, with its theme, “Our Power, Our Planet.” Student entrepreneurs have long taken this message to heart, seeing problems in their communities and creating products that address them in a sustainable, Earth-friendly way. EO’s Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) program supports and empowers passionate student entrepreneurs who run companies while simultaneously attending university.

Many GSEA student competitors are forming companies with product lines that have the potential to transform our world. The GSEA program supports student entrepreneurs by providing them with mentorship, recognition, and connections to help them take their businesses to the next level of success. Top finalists are mentored by business founders and EO members to help them grow both personally and professionally.

This Earth Day, we are spotlighting 6 GSEA alumni and their eco-friendly businesses that create a positive impact and with a minimal environmental footprint:

1. Protein from Insects

Did you know that by 2050, the United Nations expects the world population to reach 9.8 billion people? Scientists forecast that population growth combined with climate change will result in food demand that current protocols cannot supply.

That’s why forward-thinking student entrepreneur Sofía Abigail Taday Leon, who represented Ecuador as a 2023 GSEA Global Finalist, believes insect protein is the answer both to prevent human and animal malnutrition and save the planet! 

Sofia founded Allikay Food Tech to address the forthcoming protein demand sustainably through insect-derived biofoods.

Insects represent the food source with the highest profitability and nutritional value to replace animal meat — they even surpass its protein value. When compared with traditional meat production, insect production:

• Generates 100x fewer greenhouse gases than animal meat production
• Uses 14x less land and 5x less water
• Produces twice as much food per kilogram of feed

Another perk: insects feed on organic byproducts, so the industry also helps to manage environmental pollution while growing insects as a new eco-sustainable food source for humans, animals, livestock, poultry, and fish farming. It’s a win-win!

2. An Eco-Friendly Fiber Alternative

 Yara Yousry, a 2024 GSEA student entrepreneur competitor from Egypt, founded Bahtinet, a sustainability-driven startup transforming her country’s abundant banana agricultural waste into premium biodegradable banana fibers. These eco-friendly fibers provide a sustainable alternative to synthetic and conventional fibers, and can be used to make a variety of biodegradable products, including fishing nets.

She got the idea from visiting an Egyptian fishing village where the community was suffering without enough material to weave fishing nets. When she later encountered a sustainable business that manufactures furniture out of banana fibers, she had an Aha! moment.

“Suddenly, things connected: Why can’t you use the banana fibers to manufacture fishing nets?” she asked. “There are tons of banana agro-waste in Egypt, and nearly 50% of the workforce in fishing villages are women, who weave the nets.”

Yousry and her co-founders are helping to revive fishing communities while simultaneously reducing the amount of banana waste as they create sustainable fibers for fishing nets from banana fibers. Fishermen have already tested and validated the product idea.

“Our mission is to reduce plastic waste, empower local farming communities, and drive sustainable innovation,” said Yousry. “By offering biodegradable, durable, and premium quality fiber solutions, we help brands meet growing consumer demand for sustainable skin friendly materials while fostering positive environmental and social impact.”

Yousry appreciates that the GSEA competition gave her access to EO member mentors to help her navigate patent issues and penetrate the market. “Having their expertise and their valuable feedback has been amazing,” she continued. “It made me rethink a lot of things.” 

3. Charcoal Substitute with Lower Emissions

Another student entrepreneur who is transforming agricultural waste into an environmental win is Ni Kadek Karina Dewi, who was born and raised in Bali, Indonesia. She grew up in a simple family where ambition was not a top priority. But seeing that 85% of sorghum plants grown by local farmers ended up as waste that they typically burned to get rid of made her want to make a positive change in her community.

She co-founded BioGhum, which uses that untapped agro-waste resource to make eco-friendly briquettes for cooking and heating. These “bio briquettes” not only uplift sorghum farmers in Bukti Villa, Bali, by providing a new revenue stream, but also reduce carbon emissions by 28% compared with burning conventional charcoal briquettes.

“I grew up in a simple family where dreams and ambition were not a top priority, but I had a childhood dream of being an entrepreneur,” she said. She secured a scholarship and became the first person in her family to go to college, and now she is making a positive change in her surroundings in an Earth-friendly way.

Karina’s innovative product and passion for uplifting farmers while reducing carbon emissions won her the title of 2024 GSEA Global Champion. She surpassed 1,350 other competitors to take first place in EO’s 2024 Global Student Entrepreneur Awards with her environmentally friendly innovation. 

4. A Waterless Way To Clean Clothes 

Everyone knows you need water to clean clothes and other textiles, right? That’s what student entrepreneur Gernot Sümmermann from Aachen, Germany, set out to disprove. He saw how much water and detergent was wasted in cleaning clothes, and set out to revolutionize the process. 

He developed a washing system for clothes and other textiles that sanitizes and cleans them without water or detergent through a combination of varying wavelengths of light and air pressure; it is revolutionizing the future of clothes washing.

Gernot’s company, RefresherBoxx, cleans clothes and shoes with a minimal environmental footprint, much to the delight of businesses including fitness studios, hotels, and any company that needs to wash textiles as a part of its product offering.

“The RefresherBoxx is the future of washing; we use no chemicals and no water,” Gernot said, explaining that the company offers various use cases for medical, professional, and home care applications.

Since he was named runner-up in the 2023 GSEA competition, RefresherBoxx has experienced rapid growth into the EMS fitness studio market, which was in need of a water free and chemical free solution to refresh their expensive sports equipment in a short amount of time. “Every fitness studio is saving thousands of liters of water, which is helping largely to reduce the human footprint,” he said.

“Our goal is to unite a greener future with the same level of living standard. Instead of using dozens of liters of water and detergent, producing microplastic and destroying textiles -- RefresherBoxx enables a fast and eco-friendly option.”

5. The Potential of Pineapple

A 2023 GSEA student entrepreneur representing Mexico, Adolfo Martin Vidal Ruiz, co-founded Celal-Mex, a biotechnology startup that pioneers sustainable solutions to address the global challenges of agricultural waste and the scarcity of eco-friendly materials. Martin and his partners use agricultural byproducts to sustainably produce cellulose, starch, and other materials.  

“At Celal-Mex, our mission is to promote a circular economy in rural communities, generate positive social and environmental impact, and offer real alternatives for use as raw materials,” Martin explained. “We harness the power of green chemistry to transform pineapple leaves, a massive waste stream, into high-quality cellulose, the most widely used industrial material.”

This innovative approach not only reduces environmental impact but also empowers farmers by converting waste into a valuable resource.

6. Treat Wastewater and Capture CO2 with Algae

A Global Finalist in the 2023 GSEA competition representing Turkey, Selen Señal is the founder of ALGBIO, which harnesses the power of algae to treat industrial wastewater and capture flue gas emissions — transforming them into carbon-negative biofuels and bioplastics.

Algbio operates on a circular economy model, maximizing resource use and minimizing waste with its zero-waste policy — since they produce bioplastics from algal waste. The company’s innovative solutions for carbon capture, waste management, and renewable energy can help the world move from a fossil fuel-based economy to a more sustainable, eco-friendly one.

Algbio leverages the amazing ability of algae to remove heavy metals, coliform bacteria, plus excess nitrogen and phosphorous from wastewater. It can also capture CO2 from flue gases, and generate sought-after carbon credits for companies trying to minimize their environmental footprint.

The Future is Bright

“These student entrepreneurs are not just aiming to build successful businesses—they are committed to making a positive impact on their communities and the world at large,” said EO Global Chair and GSEA judge, Jamie Pujara. “I am proud EO initiatives like GSEA that nurture the talents and ambitions of young entrepreneurs supports. Their creativity, drive, and commitment to making the world a better place are truly inspiring.”

The 2025 GSEA Global Champion will be awarded in June 2025 on Season 4 of Start It Up; stay tuned for details. If you are a student entrepreneur interested in learning more about how to become a GSEA competitor, visit the GSEA website, watch the GSEA YouTube channel, and apply for the GSEA competition.