The future of protein nutrition – Macedonian green business awarded at a regional competition
On September 23rd in Thessaloniki Greece, the winners of the regional competition “Green Ideas from the Balkans” were announced. In the category of green businesses, the winner was the Macedonian idea “Insect pilot room “of Aleksandar Karaviloski from Prilep which won 10.000 dollars. Other winners in the category green business are: Organela -The Garden Can Do Anything (Serbia), and Sporos – Regeneration Institute (Greece) while in the category of embryonic concepts the winners are: Organic Recycling Yard (Montenegro), and Eco Solution Research (Kosovo). Every year Macedonian green idea is awarded in a competition of 21 ideas participating ideas and this is the 9th award in total, which proves that our country has real potential in green social entrepreneurship.
”Our idea is to use the enormous potential of insects for the benefit of the global population and to make contribution to the protein challenge 2040, to meet the needs of protein in a way that is affordable, healthy, and good for the environment. The way we feed animals must change drastically. Insects are the future of protein production and the food chain. We are happy to win the regional competition and the award will definitely help us realise our idea faster” said Aleksandar Karaviloski (Ve Dog Food) Macedonian winner.
The competition was held over two days and a total of 20 innovative ideas from the 6 countries of the Western Balkan and Greece participated, which apart from the competition part, also participates in expert sessions for better negotiation skills and persuasion. The competition “Green Ideas from the Balkans” supports the development of successful green ideas in the region of the Western Balkans and Greece for 11 years in a row. The competition is a tool for raising awareness, education, and financial support of green social businesses.
ARNO has been the national organizer of the event since 2015, and as an association working in the field of social innovation confirms that the green and social economy are close to Macedonian citizens and are areas that have great potential for the development of the country.
“Green Ideas” is an annual competition that for a decade supports the development of small, local and sustainable business ideas in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Greece. Every year, three representatives from each of the countries are in 2 categories for awards in the amount of 5,000 or 10,000 dollars for the realization of their ideas in their countries. ARNO, for the eighth year in a row, administers the national competition “Green Ideas” and is proud that so far the country has regional winners and a total investment of 85 000 dollars for the development of green businesses in the country: The first cooperative of organic consumers “Our good country”(2015), the initiative for repairing old furniture that grew into a small business led by architect Marta Moysova – “SPIN” (2016), the platform for selling cheap meals “Food for All” (2017), education through illusionistic eco-messages “Green Magic Production” (2017), “Bio Smart Rice” rice production in a sustainable way (2019), “Challenger” a mobile application that rewards citizens for all green kilometres travelled by walking (2019), “Weis Additive”, a green business that produces a food additive by processing pomace (2020), youth social enterprise “O-Krug”, which started the production of flavourings and oils from waste orange peels (2021) and this year’s green business of Ve Dog Food which will pilot an Insect Room to produce protein for animal nutrition.