Streema: Undertaking after being part of SABF organizing team

Martin Siniawski and Juan Trouilh were two SABF organizers in 2006/7/8 y 2005/6 respectively.

After working for the forum, they decided to undertake something together with Richard Monte (jury member for SABF since 2006). The company name is Streema, a social network for radio listeners. In this interview, they tell us the whole experience…

1)  What is Streema and how was it born?

J: Streema is a social network for radio listeners where anyone can listen, share and discover new radios from all around the world. It came up as a necessity that one of the partners had, who was looking for listening to his favorite radios in just one place and in a simple and fast way.

M: The really big problem we first dreamed to tackle down was to gather all radios in one place, without having to go to every single radio website to listen to them, and so to experience listening to the radio in a much more interactive way.

2)  Which were the difficulties that you had from the very first moment?

J: A lot… to begin with, we had to learn “how” internet works. It’s a whole different thing to be a user of a product than to be a developer and, at the same time, generate a business. In the specific case of this industry, it is a particular one, because there are no written rules and, if they do exist, the ones that rule today are bound to stop existing tomorrow.

Second, to learn to build a company starting from zero, which means that you have to solve everything by your own: product, business plans, capital investment… there are a lot of specialties that normally correspond to one per person.

Third and most important, to develop personal qualities like: tolerance, patience, perseverance. Those are some of the must-have characteristics that one could have, but in a venture, you experience them 100%.

M: I agree. More deeply, in particular moments we suffered something like a change of paradigm related to the way we should face the whole project. Firstly, we were completely focused on the product; we were truly believers of “build it and they will come”, until we realized that is not always true.

We started to focus more in distribution, and at that point we figured out that finally we did it perfectly! This remain the same for a period of time until the simple fact of people using our product does not mean that it is a sustainable business, that’s why we began to focus on monetizing the product also. Today, we firmly believe that these three products are somehow like the three fundamental pillars in a company creation of a company that aspires to be successful.

3) What did your experience in SABF bring to the project and your personal lives?

J: A lot! We both think that it was the most responsible job that we had in our life before Streema so, it was fundamental to learn how to work in a team, be a Project leader and be completely auto responsible.

M: At personal level, as a participant and organizer, it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had. It really gave me so many things that if I start mentioning them in this interview it will not end. Regarding something so hard and risky like undertaking I think that puts you on a most favorable situation to do it, from what Juan just mentioned to the people you meet, the ideas you are exposed to and the change of mind that happens inside of you.

4)  What do you recommend to those who are starting their first own venture?

J: The truth is that it’s not easy at all, we won’t say that it is when it’s not, but when one is young you have the opportunity to take that risk because in general terms, there’s no other moment in your life where you are going to have such a great independence. We all think that is not true, then you have a lot of restrictions that you’ve never imagined that existed and if there’s a characteristic to do undertake, is that you need plenty of time, all you’ve got.

M: I have always defend the idea of undertake as soon as possible, if there’s a moment to do it, it’s now, because of the reasons Juan has just mentioned. There’s another reason that is related to something I’ve Heard once in a conference and that we use to tell the people who join for the first time the SABF organizing team.

At the moment of closing a conference, a speaker was giving the congratulations to the organizing team (also students, like in SABF) y made us meditate about something like: “When you finish university and look backwards, what are you going to remember? The way you present yourselves at exams on time and quietly or the fact of having built something like this?” I think that in the case of undertaking a company like Streema it’s the same but extended to reality, not only university life. What kind of memories do we want to have? A reflection like this, I think, it’s the best recommendation we can share to them.

Published by Daniel Lobo under English, Interviews, radio, SABF, social network, Streema

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STS Rosario Project

For over a year, Nurit Weitz and Rámiro Picó, two ex-participants from SABF founded the STS Rosario Project, in order to contribute to the sustainable development of their native city. We invite you to know more about this project in this interview.

Why STS Rosario?

Nurit: STS Rosario is a NGO (ongoing legal proceedings) which objective is to contribute to the sustainable development of Rosario and the region through the development and implementation of Sustainable Technological Solutions, with the participation of professionals and students from a wide array of academicals formations.

Rámiro: We started in June 2009, in a group of 11 students and graduates from different engineering careers, gathered by the will of returning the society the education received in the public university.

Nurit: We proposed ourselves to detect issues and to realize projects in the city that end in an improvement of the life quality of the people who live here, providing a professional outlook, innovative solutions and encouraging the use of new technologies.

Published by Daniel Lobo under agents of change, argentina, Citizen Participation, entrepreneurs, Interviews, participants, Rosario, student

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Interview to Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber

The SABF had the honour of having Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber answer some questions regarding climate change. Professor Schellnhuber is the Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and is a reknown specialist in his field. On behalf of the SABF team, we thank Professor Schellnhuber for taking his time to adress our inquiries.

SABF: How do you rebut those who claim that Climate Change is an issue which is exaggerated many a time, and that global warming is at times another form of Yellow Journalism?

HJS: Simply because climate change has become a popular issue on the political agenda, I consider it totally wrong to write it off as just another form of
Yellow Press. Climate change is an extremely serious matter which increasingly concerns me and which needs to be taken very seriously around the globe. Latest scientific findings show that business as usual could cause a 5 degree warming by the end of the century, with sea-level rise of more than one meter in the same period and of tens-of-meters in the long run. You can imagine that the world would look totally different then. Looking back on the development of the climate debate, I rather think that we have underestimated the issue.

SABF: Developing countries are the most vulnerable to climate changes, and of course, to the phenomena associated with global warming. Which are the measures that such countries could take to minimize their risks to the greatest
extent possible? What about cost-effective measures that such countries can indeed afford?

HJS: That is indeed a difficult question. The impacts of climate change do have different effects on different countries. Some might be affected by floods, others by the shortage of drinking water, others again by the increasing
frequency of hurricanes. Hence the various forms of adaptation such as disaster control, malaria prevention or sustained management of the water resources have to be different according to the different forms of impact. Seen
globally the impacts of climate change are unfortunately distributed very unfairly. Industrialized countries, which cause most of the worldwide emissions, are able to protect themselves more effectively than developing countries. But we have to keep the following in mind: the most cost-effective measures against all risks of global warming are substantial steps to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

SABF: How can youth the world over get involved in understanding this complex issue, because it is of utmost criticality that the young leaders learn about climate change, its effects and start spreading the awareness on a local level and global level?

HJS: The younger generation must develop an awareness of not only being able to influence its own future but the future of our planet as well. The key to understanding lies in generating and disseminating profound knowledge about
climate change. Education is a crucial instrument on the local as well as on the global level. If you, the young people, do not care about the future, who else will?

Published by Georgina Becciu under Climate Change, Environment, Global Warming

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