The interview below was featured as part of a Thought Leader Interview Series by TSP, an award-winning property investment & management business committed to decarbonizing the sector. They have posed some questions to the Founder & CEO of Seeders Capital, Emad Hefny, on the value of healthy buildings within smart and sustainable city zones.
- What is the main work and goal of Seeders Capital?
Seeders Capital helps creates healthy buildings within smart and sustainable city zones. These are: Clean Air Zones, Zero Waste Zones, Clean Energy Zones, and Clean Water Zones.
Leveraging green financing, impact investing, IoT technology, carbon monitoring, and more – Seeders empowers individuals, businesses, and governments to adopt sustainable solutions across value chains.
Our solutions are ecological and modular. They aim to holistically improve city life.
Seeders currently represents and works with over 20 top global entities to create healthy buildings and zero pollution zones.
- With a background in Finance, how did you get into sustainability and the area of healthy buildings?
I have always been fascinated by waste management and circularity, digging deepener during my BSc studies to examine Waste-to-Energy feasibility in Egypt. In 2015, I published a research paper: “Strategic planning of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries”.
Finance took me to waste management – it was easy to connect the dots and add healthy buildings to the portfolio.
- When it comes to the built environment and sustainability, what is the biggest challenge we face?
We are the biggest challenge. We have always been taught that the only constant is change yet the human brain is wired to certainty.
Too often, we see leaders viewing sustainability through a short-sighted lens of operations rather than using it for business transformation and growth. Shifting this mentality is our biggest challenge – and opportunity.
- What are some of the most innovative solutions you’ve seen to transform today’s buildings?
Biophilic designs, modular renewable energy, and onsite waste management.
The move towards green energy has long been a hot topic but diversifying the renewables mix has become a necessity. Today’s buildings can be largely self-dependent on energy: through optimised solar, modular wind, and onsite waste recycling and transformation.
Seeders is delivering exactly that. A building can be a Clean Energy Zone, a Zero Waste Zone, Clean Water Zone and a Clean Air Zone – a huge leap towards independence and business model optimisation.
- How do you envision our global cities looking in 2050?
It’s too hard to predict how things will materialise in even the next 3-5 years!
However, I predict few companies will survive to 2050, business models will change, consumer behaviour will continue to drive innovation, and sustainability will eventually lead to smart, automated, nature-driven and wellbeing-focused urban centres.
