Fifty Shades Greener
WestBIC is an Enterprise Ireland partner providing hands-on startup support, funding readiness and investment preparation for early-stage founders in the west of Ireland.
Fifty Shades Greener is an award-winning educational company for sustainability providing green skills education, certification and consultancy to businesses, governments and educational providers worldwide.
The company was founded by Raquel Noboa in Liscannor, Co.Clare, in 2017, but became a Limited Company in 2018.
Challenges experienced during start-up process
My key challenge was lack of knowledge from a business perspective. I knew what I wanted to teach, and I knew how I wanted to market it, but running a business involved so much more then having a good idea.
I found that I needed to become an expert on marketing, accounting and now in the later years as I hire more people I find it difficult to know simple things like HR, company policies, etc. I am an entrepreneur, but in this journey I realised you also need to be a business person if you are to be successful.
How you tackled these challenges
With time! I signed up for online courses on marketing, found templates to keep records of my accounts, I pulled favours from people I knew could help me. At the start of my journey, I had time to learn all that, but time is now become more and more precious as the business scales, and so my solution now is to hire people that know how to do the things I do not know, which also helps me keep learning.
Key supports received during start-up process
My biggest challenge at the beginning was my lack of knowledge from a business perspective. I knew what I wanted to teach, and I knew there was a big gap in the market, but running a business involved so much more then having a good idea.
I found that I needed to become an expert on marketing, accounting and now in the later years as I hire more people I find it difficult to know simple things like HR, company policies, etc. I am an entrepreneur, but in this journey I realised you also need to have a business mindset if you are to be successful.
In 2019, I joined the Female High Flyer entrepreneur academy at UDC, where I worked to upskill in those areas as well as meet and network with a group of 10 amazing women in business.
Completing that programme opened my eyes to the fact that there was a big network of start ups out there, and there are whiling agencies like EI and WestBIC ready to help where they can.
Over the past number of years WestBIC have helped promote my business through their website, socials, recording a podcast and putting my company in front of decision makers.
Words of advice for new start-ups
- ALWAYS KEEP LEARNING: Don’t ever feel you know everything, there is so much to be learnt in this world and by doing so you will also see gaps in new markets that you may have never thought about before.
- DREAM BIG; Set high goals and high standards for yourself, even when it seems impossible, if you work towards an ambitious vision, even getting half way there is a win.
- RELY ON OTHERS: Setting up a business can be a lonely place of long hours by yourself, dig from your family, friends and network. Take care of your own mental health and take time off as often as you can, do not feel guilty for having time off, that was a big lesson for me.
Future Plans
Fifty Shades Greener’s mission is to help upskill 8 billion people in the world, to provoke societal change for sustainable development. We want to empower people and organisations to reduce their environmental impact and improve their social impact.
Sustainable development requires that we change the way we live. the way we work and the way we act, we believe that education and training is the foundation of all cultural change.
Upskilling 8 billion people is a huge challenge, in order to succeed, FSG seeks to collaborate with other agencies and organisations around the world.
In the past 6 years, We have developed programmes of study, qualifications and on the job training at all levels of education, from Post Primary schools all the way to tertiary education.
Having entered the UK market in 2023, our goal for 2024 is to enter international markets: Kuwait, UAE and Uzbekistan. We have already signed partnerships with local agencies in each country and we have started developing our marketing strategies.
Our forecast for 2025, is to double our revenue from 2023, which will also see us doubling our current team.
We have been very lucky to meet international partners and work on projects funded by the European Commission, our founder has done public speaking for the European Union and even delivered a workshops in the Education Pavilion at COP28.
In 2023, we won two major awards:
https://www.princessroyaltrainingawards.com/project/fifty-shades-greener/
Tell us about your startup
Fifty Shades Greener is an environmental education company based in Liscannor, Co. Clare, founded in 2017 and incorporated as a Limited Company in 2018. They teach businesses, young people and community groups how to measure, monitor and reduce their own carbon emissions. They aim to create a society that is carbon conscious in the future, and has the right tools and knowledge to feel empowered to reduce their own emissions.
Find out more by listening to our podcast episode with Raquel. Click here to listen.