E119 - Philipe Moreau from Greener Act

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Welcome back to the Green Element Podcast, where we feature business leaders and innovators transforming their operations to be more environmentally and socially sustainable. I'm your host, Will Richardson, and I can't wait to meet our guest today and help you on your journey of sustainability. Welcome to the Green Element Podcast. Thank you so much for joining us today. Today we have Philippe Moreau from The Greener Act. He founded and the Greener Act. It's a app, and I first heard about this app back in 2000, and I'm gonna get this wrong, aren't I? 2017. When was it for me?

I think it was. I think it was. You're right.

It was two years ago. November 2017. And we have. actually both been on a fairly similar journey together, helping organizations become more sustainable. And over that time, we've been helping each other on that journey. So I'm really, really pleased to introduce you, Philippe, to this podcast because you encapsulate pretty much everything that we try and talk about on the podcast. So could you tell us a bit about who you are and your business, please?

Thank you, Will. Very nice to see you again. Nice to be on this podcast. Who am I? I don't want to bore too much your audience, but I'm French and, you know, that's already a showstopper. No, I've— my main activity is tourism development and especially sustainable tourism development. For the past 10 years, I've been involved in the project in Saint-Tomé and Principe, which is on the west coast of Africa. It used to be a Portuguese colony. It became an independent state in '74 after the Portuguese Revolution. It's now the 2nd smallest African nation after the Seychelles. Most of the people haven't heard about it. You might have heard about it because they used to be one of the biggest cacao exporters, and they've got the best chocolate in the world. I mean, literally, there's an Italian guy there called Claudio Corallo, and the expert says that he produces the best chocolate in the world. And in some of the hotels there, you can try this chocolate mousse, which is just like out of this world, you know, really, really delicious. So if you like good food and if you like unspoiled destinations, Saint-Domingue and Principe is definitely the place to go. This is just to put a bit of context in what we do, because as it's a sustainable destination, at least that was the intention of the development that we've been doing, we were always very careful about, you know, our footprint and the impact that we would have on these 2 islands. And one of the projects that we developed when I was there had little to do with tourism development but more had to do with environmental protection and community engagement. We realized one day I was there and there's a big turtle conservation project there and we were visiting this project with some people from UNESCO because it's now part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. And in 2012, where we had that celebration, some guys from UNESCO came to visit the island and to give that diploma, and we visited that turtle conservation project, and I was very shocked by the amount of plastic, single plastic bottles that we could find on the beach, you know, and I was challenging them saying, you know, how can we really solve that problem, you know, such a small nation, small resources, and it's in the middle of the Atlantic and a lot of plastic washes up there. And they were like, well, you know, if you come up with the right project, we'll help you to finance it. So we brainstormed with some people down there and we came up with an idea which was, you know, a water and recycle project where the idea was, you know, the main idea was to remove all the plastic from the island and the second idea was to provide purified water to the local population because you didn't have purified water there and third one was to sensitize the local community and, you know, for them to be conscious about plastic reduction. So we started this project in 2014, I believe, and in 4 years, it was a 4-year project that eventually was financed by UNESCO, we managed to remove nearly a million, it was just short of 900,000 plastic bottles from the island. You know, when you think about Príncipe, it's just under 100 square kilometers, so it's very small, there's 7,000 people living there, But we managed to remove 900,000 plastic bottles, we installed 15 purification water fountains around the island so you could have access to purified water, and after we defended, you know, 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals, you know, which was, you know, number— let me remind you— number 8, which is clean water and sanitation, 12, responsible consumption, and 15, life on land. But this project gave us an idea is that What we realized, the guests staying in our hotels, they wanted to get engaged with that. They were like, no, no, we want to participate when you have one of these collection days. It was more or less once a month we used to have these collection days. Just to give you an idea, in one day, the first day, we collected 27,000 plastic bottles just in one day, you know, so it was quite astonishing. But the clients, they wanted to engage, they wanted to participate. So we're like, well, what about if we come up with a digital solution where people who do good things can showcase it well and attract more movement and more engagement from the clients? So that was the idea. And 3 or no, more, 5 or 6 years later, boom, we came up with this concept of Greener Act, you know, which is travel and act in a more sustainable way. So that's just to put a bit of context in that.

And It's a really clever app, isn't it, in the way that you engage with people and with hotels and resorts and the tourism industry as a whole. Could you tell us a bit about, you know, how that fits together and a bit about Greener Act as an app, please?

Sure, so if I would give you the 20-second pitch about Greener Act, it would be, you know, Greener Act is the one-of-a-kind app which allows travelers to make positive changes by engaging in community projects and to support local causes in order to create a more sustainable world. That would be the pitch, you know. So what it is, it's an app where stakeholders can just register. It's a free app for the traveler, and you can really showcase the good practice that you, that you're having, you know. Sustainability is about, you know, small steps, and it's about being able to communicate to your potential clients the good things that you're doing. And this app allows you to showcase all these good practices, link them to the Sustainable Development Goal, which is, you know, very identified and very known framework. And once you register, you can start organizing these events, which are called Greener Events, you know, whether it's a beach cleaning or tree planting or any kind of social responsible event, you can start creating it on the app. And after you can as well create some causes, some local causes, you know. I'll give you a couple of examples, you know, some causes which have been, you showcased on the app, which has been fantastic. Since lockdown, I'm based in Madeira Island in Portugal. That's where I live most of the time. And there's this group of hoteliers who had to close down during lockdown, and they created an association which was, you know, I'll say it in English, it's the Hotel Association is Helping Madeira. And basically there's a lot of of who have been passing really difficult times during COVID and they decided to cook for the vulnerable people in Madeira. So they set up a temporary kitchen, they went every day to cook about 200-250 meals in the morning and distribute it in the afternoon, you know. But they needed funding for that and didn't know where to go. So I had a meeting with them just at the beginning and I said, hey, maybe I've got the app for you, you can just register and you can start showcasing, you know, this amazing project that you're having, and hopefully you'll get a bit of funding. You know, we didn't know how much they would get. At the end of the project, it was a 3-month project, they got 77 donations and the total was just short of €5,000, you know, so they managed to get, you know, a lot of money and to sustain that project. So it was just a great example. And more recently, I can see you're doing a kind of Movember like me, we're doing a— You're not? Okay. No, that's what he thought. Oh, you always have the Movember on. And we're doing the same thing, you know. Movember has a bit shifted from awareness for prostate cancer to try to help any kind of association. And right now we're doing a campaign and our objective is to raise about €1,000 so that we can help vulnerable people who are living around a golf club where we will do a dinner, Movember dinner, and we will buy first necessities items for them. You know, there are people who live still in a very precarious way, and we decided to help the people who are surrounding the golf club where this dinner will happen, you know. So Greener Act allows you to do good things, you know. So it's a platform that allows you to, to help out people, to participate in community projects, and to create greener causes to help, you know, people in need, basically, you know.

Okay, so in a nutshell, what would you say your purpose is? was and who you work with?

So the purpose, I call it a multiplying engagement effect to increase the force of good. The more you try to engage is that we realize that people who are staying in hotels, tourists, they also want to participate in community projects and they also want to give back a little bit to the community. when they're on holiday. We talk, there's a word which is experiential holiday, but it's a bit, it's more than experiential holiday. It's about getting under the skin of a destination and in a much more immersive way. And at the end, you can make a real difference when you go on holiday. And the feeling, you get that feeling of accomplishment. You've done something a bit more important just going on and lay on a beach. And it's a way of being a bit unsensational. And, and, and to engage and to help communities when you go on holiday, you know, that's, that's how I feel, you know.

And what would you say your business superpower is?

Uh, business superpower, you got these funny questions, Will. Well, it's—

Well, I'm actually sticking to script this time. I'm, I'm actually largely because you very kindly answered a lot of the questions beforehand. I was like, I've never seen anyone like you properly thought about it. I thought It would be wrong of me not to ask the questions and not stick to script.

No, no, I understand. I mean, it's giving the right tool to do the right thing, you know. I think that we, we have learned during COVID you know, a lot of priorities have shifted in our lives, you know. We are much more aware of people around us, we are much more aware of people in need, and what GreeneraQ allows you to do is really to make a difference in your community. So I think that's the superpower of it, and it's a free app for the travelers. It's got a very small subscription fee for the stakeholders, but it's an app which you can really use, and especially after, you can use that for your CSR, which is what you call your corporate social reporting, where you get all the information about the engagement, your KPIs. So it's a full package which allows you to really see your positive impact you have done in the surrounding communities, you know.

And having used it, it's a really intuitive and smart way of doing it as well. You've actually done it, I think you've done a really good job of—

Well, you know, we went the long way, you know. At the beginning, we were thinking, you know, maybe we need some, you know, some VCs to help us and all this, and which we met at Web Summit. I remember, you know, talking to you about that. But you want to be free in life and you want to be able to mold it the way you want and to have a real purpose. And sometimes these guys just don't see that, they want to see the return on their buck. So we took much longer time than expected, but at least now we believe that we've got the right framework which can really help destinations.

I think that's it, isn't it? We're veering onto a different subject now, but that whole, do you take money or do you not take money, can have such ramifications on everything and the future of your business and you as a person as well.

Of course, of course. So we took longer time, but we're not depending on anybody. And now we believe we got a, what you call an MVP, you know, minimum viable product to go to market. And the feedback has been tremendous, you know, from especially the people who are in the sustainable marketplace. They really see the value of it. But But right now the engagement, because you can't do any beach cleaning, because you cannot organize, the social distancing is just messing up everything for many people. But once this is over, and hopefully we're seeing the end of the tunnel, the engagement will be fantastic.

Can you tell us about how you engage your staff, suppliers, and customers with your mission and purpose?

So the mission, I'll read it to you, it's improve the livelihood of local communities and protect the natural environment while contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations by traveling and acting in a more sustainable way. And the vision is when transformative travel meets sustainable development. And when I mean transformative travel, it's not just you know, you helping people when you're on holiday. It's you doing something a bit different as well when you're on holiday, you getting out of your comfort zone so that suddenly you experience something that you haven't experienced before, you know, that feeling of, wow, I got out of my shell, I got out of my comfort zone, but something really special happened there. Well, you can do that with Greener Act.

Okay, and when it comes to running an ethical and sustainable business, what has been your biggest struggle so far, and can you tell us a bit about how you've overcome it?

That's a good question. One thing that we've noticed is that a lot of, you know, businesses, stakeholders in the tourism industry, they're still reluctant to embrace sustainability, you know, and they're reluctant because first they always think that it's more expensive, you know, they relate this to, you know, organic food, you know, organic food is more always more expensive than supermarket food, you know, so they think that it's more expensive and as well they believe that their business won't be sustainable. Well, for us sustainability, it's all about a journey and it starts with really small steps, you know. Before you used to call it niche market, now it's not niche any longer, you know, it's definitely going mainstream and by just showcasing the good things that you're doing in your company, you know, you're reducing electrical consumption, you're reducing water, you're recycling, whatever you can showcase to your client, you know, he will relate to that and he will find you much easily in the sustainable marketplace, you know. So whatever you're proud of, showcase it, you know, it's easy and it's in a very transparent way because sustainability, you know, you need to get away from greenwashing, you need to be totally transparent. And this app allows you to be transparent, show what you— the good thing that you're doing. And if you're doing something wrong, the client can also comment, you know, can also say, no, no, you're saying that you're recycling, but you are not recycling, you know. So it has to be, you know, sustainability is about transparency.

Yeah, no, absolutely spot on there, I think. So could you offer one piece of advice to our listeners which could help them with their purpose, and what would that be?

I think COVID has brought a real new perspective in our life, and we have— everybody's working remotely, and this has irreversibly entered into the mainstream, you know. And I think it will have a knock-on effect on how people will combine work and pleasure, you know. But more importantly, I think that when they'll combine this work and pleasure kind of holiday, they will want to make a difference and a purpose during their holiday. I think that there's definitely a more eco-conscious mindset where people look into alternative destinations and even choosing destinations which are less crowded, going in the low season for instance. And there I'm just going to do a little talk to you about the Low Season Traveller. I don't know if you're familiar with this new association.

No.

It's led by a guy called Jed Brown, you should Google him. And this is exactly what he came up with. He said, no, we're going to come— and that was before COVID He says, we're going to come up with a concept which we're going to showcase great destinations to visit on their low season, but the experience will be much more immersive and much more true. So you will totally avoid the crowds. So I suggest the people who are on this call or will be listening to this podcast, definitely have to have a look at this company, and they're even doing a summit on, I think it's on the 26th of November in the afternoon, it's called the Low Season Eco Hotel Summit. I recommend that you follow it because this guy, Jed Brown, he's definitely ahead of the curve and he's such a good travel influencer, so watch him, you'll hear about him very soon. Sure.

No, brilliant. That sounds really interesting. And have you— sorry, go ahead.

No, no, another thing, you know, people talk about staycation, you know, and I think there is a great transition from staycation to workation, you know, and obviously you need good connection, you know, internet connection is a must now, but I strongly believe that there's another transition. It's from digital, and I'm talking a bit against myself now, to natural, where people really disconnect to reconnect with themselves, you know. It's giving you that space, it's giving you that possibility of, you know, COVID has had a tremendous toll on a lot of people, but now you have to think about what is the simple thing that I really enjoy and how can I help, you know, people when I go on holiday, you know. Just to finish up, you remember Dimitri, that you met on—

Yes.

Exactly, on the Web Summit, who's an incredible— he's a— how can I describe it? He's a jack of all trades in the premium hospitality sector, you know, and he's been an advisor for Greener Act as well. But this guy recently, I was on a call with him, and he was telling me that during lockdown, and like many of us, his income has gone down, but his charity support has gone up. you know, he himself has been supporting much more charity than he has done in the past, you know. So there's a true sign of a shift here where, you know, it proves that there is a moment when there's uncertainty, you know, people are looking around us and they see how can they help more effectively people around them. And, you know, you can do this instead of going on a fancy short break, you say, no, you know, instead of spending, you know, $300 on a room in a really nice hotel, I might help people around me and communities. And I believe that post-lockdown, people will be more keen to embrace this new way of immersive traveling and just the appreciation of simple experiences, but meaningful ones as well.

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, have you carbon footprinted your organization?

So not yet. And as you know, you are part of our network and organization. But I really believe that you've got the right system or the right framework for that. And hopefully the people on this call can see that, you know, this is one of the first steps you want to do. You want to understand your footprint. And small companies as well, I think they're a bit reluctant to start that because they think it's a difficult process. But I think that what you have done or come up with is something quite simple, you know. and that every small to medium company could really benefit, you know. But right now we haven't done it yet.

Well, we need to work on that, we need to work on that. And what's the best way that we can connect with you?

Best way is just, you know, through our webpage www.greeneract.com or just info@greeneract.com, you know, that's really the best way to connect.

All the links and everything will be on our website.

Correct.

Thank you so much for being on this today. It's been an absolute pleasure having you. And I think I urge anyone listening to go to greeneract.com because I'm not just plugging, and I might just say I don't get paid to plug either, but it's well worth the experience. And you know what, we're not traveling at the moment, So go on it and pretend you're traveling and look at all these exotic places and, um, have a look at the app. Thank you, Philippe. Thank you.

Thank you, Will. It was great to be on this podcast, and I'm looking forward to seeing you personally one of these days.

It'll happen one day, won't it?

Take care. Thank you.