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Catherine is with Pierre-Emmanuel Saint-Esprit, the co-founder of ZACK, France’s leading company enabling the second life of electronic products, through recycling, repair, resale and donation. Last year, the TECH FOR GOOD report by the Presidency of the French Republic named ZACK as one of the top 3 French circular companies.
Pierre-Emmanuel has won multiple awards, and is nominated in the Forbes France 30 Under 30 entrepreneurs list.
Pierre-Emmanuel is also Professor of Circular Economy, President of the ESSEC Alumni Entrepreneurs Club, pioneer of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for the Circular Economy, among other mentoring and advisory roles..
Pierre-Emmanuel explains how his MBA in entrepreneurship at Berkeley, California, helped him create a business to fight climate change, and reduce our pressure on natural resources.
We hear how ZACK co-founders tested their minimum viable product concept, so they could get clear on the value proposition. Pierre-Emmanuel explains how ZACK works with customers through the process, understanding the potential outcomes for the end-of-use products, processing the equipment and building up detailed impact and financial reports for customers.
We discuss the cognitive bias we all suffer from, where we focus on the short term, often favouring the lowest price, and Catherine recommends Wilful Blindess, an excellent book by Margaret Heffernan.
Podcast host Catherine Weetman helps businesses use circular, regenerative and fair solutions to do better, with less.
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Read on for more on our guest and links to the people, organisations and other resources we mention.
Links we mention in the episode:
- Email Pierre-Emmanuel pe@zack.eco
- ZACK website zack.eco
- Social media @pesaintesprit and https://www.linkedin.com/in/pesaintesprit/
- Book: Wilful Blindess, by Margaret Heffernan.mheffernan.com/book-wilfulblindness.php
- People mentioned – Maud Sarda – Label Emmaus https://www.label-emmaus.co/fr/
- United Nations Association UK COP26 online support event – Tuesday 19 October, 6pm UK time. Tickets are free – info and booking links here: https://www.unhscotland.org.uk/consumption-retail-and-marketing
About Pierre-Emmanuel Saint-Esprit
Passionate about the circular economy, Pierre-Emmanuel Saint-Esprit co-founded ZACK at the age of 22 while studying at ESSEC and the University of California Berkeley.
ZACK is the leading company in France in the second life of electronic products and the extension of their life (recycling, repair, resale, donation to associations). In 2020, ZACK became one of the top 3 French circular companies according to the TECH FOR GOOD report of the Presidency of the French Republic, with Phénix and Castalie.
That same year, Pierre-Emmanuel won the vote of all BCG employees for the social entrepreneur of the year award. In 2021, he was included the top 50 of the Giverny Circle x Le Point of young committed leaders under 40 who contribute to the acceleration of the digital, ecological and social transformation of France.
Pierre is also nominated in the 30 Under 30 ranking of Forbes France which devotes a list of rising stars of the French entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Pierre-Emmanuel is also Professor of Circular Economy, President of the ESSEC Alumni Entrepreneurs Club, pioneer of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation for the Circular Economy, mentor at Antropia ESSEC, Ambassador of the IMPACT FRANCE Movement and Executive Director of the ESSEC Global Circular Economy Chair.
Pierre-Emmanuel is regularly invited to discuss the challenges of the circular economy and its progress in France (UEED 2020, BFM TV, Le Point, Le Parisien, Le Figaro, Produrable, LH Forum, Cercle de Giverny and others).
If you’re new to the circular economy, you might like the ‘getting started’ playlist. There’s also an interactive podcast index, making it easy to find episodes on each of the key circular economy strategies or for a specific market sector. And to dig deeper, please check out Catherine’s award-winning A Circular Economy Handbook, published by Kogan Page.
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