A plan to reduce transport demands in Wellington while boosting the e-commerce marketplace proved a winning formula for a Victoria University of Wellington supported start-up.
PoOol has beaten teams from all over the world to win the International Climathon competition.
Victoria University commerce student Kang Lin, Isa Miralles and Kim van Sparrentak (graduates from Wageningen University in the Netherlands) are the PoOol founders.
The trio developed an e-commerce business model focusing on small to medium enterprises (SMEs).
It aims to help SMEs make sustainable procurement choices while reducing transport demands through collaborative purchasing.
“SMEs easily make up the majority of businesses in New Zealand and collectively have a big impact on the environment,” says Van Sparrentak.
“By bringing them together using e-commerce we hope to reduce this impact by helping them make more sustainable business choices.”
According to Miralles, the initial idea came from an awareness of the need for a strong channel to develop the market for environmentally sustainable goods and services and to connect and facilitate the transactions of local businesses.
“PoOol provides an e-commerce platform for businesses that sell an environmentally friendly product, service or technology,” she says.
“As well as promoting the market itself, the platform will benefit urban transport logistics by aggregating the deliveries of multiple companies, thereby reducing CO2 emissions,” says Miralles.
“It’s estimated that a reduction of 8.1 tonnes per year in Wellington by just the second year of operation is possible,” she says.
The trio will now head to Paris in December to present their business plan and participate in a three-day workshop as part of the UN climate action conference.
