Nwanyinma Dike
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Atlanta Startup Podcast. I am Nwanyinma Dike the Managing Director of Startup Runway Foundation, the leading platform linking underrepresented founders to capital and investors. And on this episode, I am thrilled and excited to welcome Raha Saremi of EcoaTex. It’s a company at the forefront of sustainable fashion, and we’re proud. Raha recently snagged the women’s empowerment award at a recent Startup Runway Showcase Virtual Edition, and we’re just glad to have a conversation with her on the podcast today. So Raha, thank you for being here.
Raha Saremi
Thank you for having me.
Nwanyinma Dike
No problem. So let’s start by having you share a bit more about EcoaTex and the inspiration behind solving this problem in fashion and sustainable sustainability.
Raha Saremi
Yeah, EcoaTex is a sustainable materials company focused on creating eco-friendly fibers and alternative letters from agricultural ways. Our mission is to provide the Textile and Fashion Industry with high-quality, innovative materials that reduce environmental impact. As the fashion industry is the second looter of the environment, after the oil industry. So by turning waste into useful green products, we help the agriculture industry with their ways, as well as help with the textile and fashion industry, and offer brands and consumers a responsible choice so they can contribute to sustainability and a cleaner planet. So the inspiration behind this and why I started EcoaTex was first my background. I have a PhD in material science, and also I am very passionate about sustainability, and that was the reason I started EcoaTex.
Nwanyinma Dike
That’s incredible. As an engineer in my background, I’m so excited about women in the STEM field, and then also, of course, women who are moving forward and bringing their innovation to the market through entrepreneurship. So I’m so excited you’re here, and I’m excited that we were able to award you the Women’s Empowerment Award. How do you see sustainability being a factor in fashion, and how are people receiving your product and your service?
Raha Saremi
So, sustainability, especially these days, is a very important factors for many consumers, as well as for brands and manufacturers. So everybody in the fashion and textile industry trying to do, something a small step towards a sustainable future. Because there is a massive amount of waste in fashion, they study the industry, especially fast fashion. And, finding a solution to use all these ways, I need to say this as well. We are using base to make paradise, but our products, are biodegradable and recyclable, meaning that at the end of the lifecycle, we can make new products again. So, with our products, we are not contributing to the problem of waste and environmental degradation. Yeah, so that’s another good thing about EcoaTex products, but sustainability is very important. And I think because also the market is huge, and I think we have a chance here with EcoaTex to turn a very great idea into reality and contribute to a more sustainable, clean future, and have a positive impact on the planet.
Nwanyinma Dike
I just love that you guys are being a part of a solution in a space that’s been so challenging for everyone to wrap our minds around, even the government and society in general, trying to find solutions to different challenges to our planet. And here is a very, very clear solution that is helping to fill a gap, and so I appreciate what you’re building here. Share a bit about your entrepreneurial journey, and more specifically, some of the challenges you’ve faced in this process and how you’ve been able to get around them and overcome them.
Raha Saremi
My journey has been a blend of challenges, innovation, resilience, and learning. So I learned a lot, and I got great feedback, we faced a lot of challenges it’s like when you develop a new product. introducing that product to the market, to brands, to manufacturers, it’s a little challenging at the beginning, because you need to convince them that this is a great product. It works very well. And, competing the traditional materials, like conventional textiles. It’s been there for hundreds of years, right? It’s a little challenging. Also, securing the necessary funding, and finding great team members, mentors, and advisors. Yeah, it’s been challenged. It’s like a fun and a scary roller coasters at the same time. Yeah, you need to be very patient, It requires hard work. Sometimes I work like 24/7, I mean, I ask you, but sometimes you need to work really, really hard . d this journey is ongoing, with each my lesson, it brings happiness. It brings challenges and motivation, and we are pushing forward towards success. So yeah, but it’s not an easy journey, it’s complicated.
Nwanyinma Dike
Yeah, it’s complicated. It’s funny. I sometimes say that entrepreneurship is for crazy people the best time little crazy people, because you sometimes you have to talk about something that doesn’t exist as if it does, and you have to say with so much conviction, and there’s a special brand of folks that jump into it and really succeed. And I love that these are my favorite, crazy people, entrepreneurs, and a badge that can be worn very proudly. But what we loved about your solution is that even in the process of building that you’ve been able to engage NSF funding in your process. Can you share about how that’s been instrumental in you going to market with your sustainable textiles?
Raha Saremi
Yes. So when I started, we were very, very fortunate to get funding from NSF for our customer discovery process. So we went out, we talked to a lot of brands and manufacturers to really see if there is a market for our product before investing time and money in it, and we tied to over, I don’t know, 100 to 200 experts from the industry, from the whole supply chain, from the raw materials manufacture, all the way to fashion brand and consumers and customers. But after that, we got funding from the state of Georgia. We got Georgia Research Alliance funding for our research and product development. After that, we were very fortunate to get funding from USDA for our again, RND and a small pilot production and yeah, and we applied for more grants, hopefully we get some more very soon. And we are also planning to find investors and go from lab and bench-scale production to larger scale production. manufacturing.
Nwanyinma Dike
That’s amazing. And I wanted to talk about this piece, or just mention it on the podcast, because we at the mission. Our mission here at Startup Runway is to help underrepresented founders get to their first checks and often what founders don’t realize is that sometimes they race to go to venture capital, but there’s that friends and family round that you need to raise to help prove out whatever you’re building, that there’s a market for it, that there’s that you can create traction all of that, and for a lot of us, we don’t have friends and family who have can just sign really large checks. And so a really great alternative are grants. There’s so many grants out there, especially in the space where, if you have something that’s more science forward. And so I love that you were able to tap into that for your growth process and your birth story, for EcoaTex. So congrats on that progress. I wanted to also ask you a bit about your experience at the at the Startup Runway you were able to to win the women’s empowerment award. So obviously,your pitch was successful, but I would want to hear from your perspective, how your experience was.
Raha Saremi
Yeah, so, I think the Startup Runway was like the application process was very easy and straightforward. There was anything complicated about that. I really love that. And then the pitch day it was virtual, but the event very well. And I really loved the board meeting, talking to different mentors. I got really, really great feedback. Yeah, everything went very well. And we competed against really great founders with great ideas. And the fact that we won the prize is very motivating. And, yeah, we didn’t think that we were gonna win, because there were so many great ideas, so many great founders competing against us, but we are very happy that we did. So yeah, it was the highlight of that day. But everything went very bad and the process, but very easy and straight forward, and nothing complicated by that we really love it.
Nwanyinma Dike
That’s good. Oh, well, glad to hear it, and glad to hear that like we try to make it simple, simple, and we love the opportunity our families get to interact with mentors. Like, it’s awesome to come pitch for some money, but we thought it’s really meaningful to give you guys some a bit of mentorship and direction that, like, it’s kind of spot on to the message you’re telling that day. So I’m glad that you enjoy this experience good. I want to ask, what’s next for EcoaTex?
Raha Saremi
Next for EcoaTex is, we are still working on some of our RND. So I think RND is going to be forever for EcoaTex, because we are innovating new products every day, but for our existing products, we are finalizing some of the technical stuff, and we are going to have a pilot production very soon, in a month or two, and we are in discussion with local brands to have a small cap suit collection very soon also. And the next step for us is applying for more grants and securing funding from investors going for larger scale production. We applied for two patterns. We are planning to apply for more. Our goal is to have a larger-scale production in two or three years. So pilot definitely this year, and moving toward having a larger scale production.
Nwanyinma Dike
That’s incredible momentum. Congrats on your progress so far. That’s awesome. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for founders? There are many founders who will be listening to this conversation. Any tips that you have for pitching, or pushing through this entrepreneurship journey in general that you’d like to share now.
Raha Saremi
So for pitching, you need to be very clear. You need to be you have to have a compelling story that resonates with your audience and your concerns and practice, practice, practice. The more you fight is, the better that’s perfecting. But in general, be prepared for setbacks, challenges. View them as learning opportunities, and surround yourself with a strong network of mentors, advisers, team members. Yeah, because you need, you need to get a lot of support and stay adaptable and open for feedbacks and comments. I move forward don’t get discouraged or disappointed. It’s a bumpy road, but you will get there.
Nwanyinma Dike
That’s such great advice. So as a last point, where can our listen listeners find you stay connected with what you have going on. How can folks connect with you and EcoaTex?
Raha Saremi
So we have our own website. We are in process of changing, tending a little bit, but they can find connect with us through our website, EcoaTex.com, or our LinkedIn, our social media, Instagram, Facebook, yeah, we are everywhere, so they can find us.
Nwanyinma Dike
Good. Well, I really enjoyed this conversation. Congrats again on your progress, on your recent award through Startup Runway, the women’s empowerment award, and thank you again for sharing a bit more about EcoaTex and your story and advice for listeners.
Raha Saremi
Yeah. Thank you for having me.
Nwanyinma Dike
No problem. So thanks to the audience for listening and have a great rest of your day.
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