Interview with Mankaran Ahluwalia, Co-Founder and CEO at Carbon Footprint Tracking App YAYZY

Mankaran Ahluwalia, cofounder and CEO of YAYZY

YAYZY is designed to supercharge every user’s motivation to help tackle climate change by making their own environmental impact truly “up close and personal”. By showing them the carbon footprint of each purchase they make, the user will connect their own spending to its impact on the planet and then – hopefully – feel more compelled to adjust their lifestyle or even just tap the YAYZY button to offset their footprint.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
We were struck by all the research findings that show there is a big gap between what people intend to do and what they actually do when it comes to going green. The majority of people – more than 75% in Britain – say they want to help towards tackling climate change and yet most struggle because they don’t know how.

YAYZY tackles that gap head on by making people’s personal impact crystal clear to increase the desire to do something about it and then lets them offset their footprint with a simple tap of a button on their phone. We also provide tailored information to show users how to avoid climate damaging spending in the future.
 

What advice would you give to other aspiring entrepreneurs?

 
Work hard on making sure your idea is solving a real problem in the real world and isn’t just a ‘neat idea’ that very few people will be attracted to. Then stay committed to making sure your startup delivers against that, and doesn’t get watered down by all the challenges along the way as you build it.
 

What can we hope to see from YAYZY in the future?

 
We will be adding access to green savings accounts and then green investments – all of which will be real and not the ‘greenwash’ nonsense we see from too much of the older financial services industry.