Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another exciting episode of “Young Entrepreneurs who know what’s up.”
Today’s episode will be featuring Arthur Kay, the innovative noggin that founded Bio-Bean. You see, young Kay was developing a coffee bean roasting plant at his college that was powered by the school’s waste disposal system, when all of the sudden, a (metaphorical) light bulb shattered agains his cranium. Kay realized that coffee shops produce an exorbitant amount of wasted grounds (especially when you’re in the UK, mate), so he devised a system where he would cycle around the shops, collect their grounds, and convert them into biodiesel and biomass pellets which would then be sold to transport and heating industries. It’s all in his daily grind. That’s the sort of idea that causes young entrepreneurs to beat their heads against a wall in envy and frustration.
Kay gained a large amount of funded euros (I don’t know how they convert and you probably don’t either, so we’ll just leave it at “a large amount”) by snagging first place in a 2013 British pitch competition. One could say that he is good at…espressing himself (that wasn’t funny). And he beans business. Since its birth, Bio-Bean has gained a latte of outside funding and support from various large British business. Kay’s natural energy company is on a roll and will surely remain above grounds in the projected future.
This just goes to show that eco-friendly business ideas in this day in age make the general public (as well as investors) go nuts. They won’t be able to stop themselves from throwing fistfuls of money at you. As we continue to convert our planet into an industrial garbage dump year by year, anything eco-friendly seems like a glass of water in the desert. It would seem that we as a society have figured out how to operate efficiently with technology, but not yet in a way that’s mindful of the world inhabit.
Pretty cool idea honestly. He realized that there was a bunch of waste and decided to make a change for the better. Honestly inspiring to all that he had such a great idea! great article.