WePlanet

WEPLANET is a social enterprise seeking to promote environmental consciousness, by using technology to educate and reward the public for living an eco-friendly lifestyle. 

WEPLANET is a Progressive Web App (PWA) meaning it can be accessed through the web. The functionalities of the PWA are curated to motivate, educate and encourage everyone, including businesses in the private sector to implement eco-friendly strategies in their operations.

We recognize the urgent need for a solution to the overuse and misuse of non-biodegradable products in the community. In response, we have developed a mobile app that rewards people, as well as, businesses for contributing to an eco-friendlier society. The app features 4 main sections:

• Eco-Points: Features a Loyalty Programme which rewards users for
  bringing in their reusable bags or doing an eco-friendly action at our various partner's locations.
• Eco-Spots: A graphical list of our partners and eco-friendly businesses where users can shop with their own reusable bags or earn rewards.
• Eco-Challenge: Eco-friendly challenges for our users to participate in on a quarterly basis
• Eco-Learn: Showcases videos, images, articles and links, that provide relevant information on various environmental topics.

WePlanet is more than just an app; it’s a changemaker, community builder, business collaborator, and planet saver! This solution will help reduce the negative impact that environmental issues are having on our region.

WePlanet wants to solve the problem of the overuse and misuse of non-biodegradable items in our environment.

Following the nationwide ban on single-use plastics in the Commonwealth of Dominica in 2020, the government passed several progressive legislations to support this environmental goal. These laws included the importation of reusable bags and the removal of taxes and duties on biodegradable items.

Businesses that already had a stock of single-use shopping bags were encouraged to sell these bags, at an added price to disincentive customers. However, as a longer time frame has elapsed this measure became less effective as customers were more inclined to purchase plastic bags than to carry along their reusable shopping bags.

As a result of this, there has been an increase the landfills waste, and litter in forests and rivers which flow into our seas and oceans, thereby devastating marine life.

Furthermore, the careless disposal of non-biodegradable products has become breeding grounds for carriers and vectors like mosquitoes and rats which spread communicable diseases. Non-biodegradable items frequently block drains and waterways which can lead to severe flooding during adverse weather.

In addition, Dominicans have also been slow to implement the use of other environmentally friendly products such as biodegradable trash bags, reusable straws, compostable kitchenware and many other sustainable products available on the market. Many have claimed that these products are too expensive or not available in local supermarkets and stores.

We believe creating incentives will give people the push that they need to live an eco-friendly lifestyle. 

WePlanet Co-Founders notice that citizens are encouraged by government and private institutions to be environmentally conscious and reduce their carbon footprint, but few are motivated to do so or know how to. So, this social enterprise not only provides an innovative solution to the increase in the misuse of non-biodegradable items in the environment but also provides businesses with a unique opportunity to be a part of social and environmental change. Our target population is Dominica, a country within the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). WePlanet is meant to encourage consumers, manufacturers, employers, employees, and the general public to make eco-friendly choices. 

WePlanet targets consumers, who frequently use non-biodegradable products or who are not aware of current environmental issues that Dominica and the world by large face. One of the first problems the web app tackles is the use of disposable plastic bags in supermarkets island-wide. Through partnerships
with businesses from small local vendors to regional companies, We-Planet will provide rewards to consumers for shopping with reusable shopping bags through our loyalty points programme. While many businesses have developed their own loyalty programmes to improve customer retention and satisfaction there is no other enterprise in Dominica that rewards customers for eco-friendly actions. WePlanet is a unique and exciting start-up that will bring the private sector together as collaborators and not competitors enhancing their corporate social responsibility.

As WePlanet is in its beta testing phase- where the public can access the beta version of the app, we are able to receive real-time feedback on the type of impact the app is making from the beta testers. One tester stated that "I appreciate how interactive the app is! Love the initiatives to earn points (raffles, challenges etc) which motivates users while helping them make a positive impact."

WePlanet conducted market research using Goggle Forms amongst potential app users, one of the questions asked was “Would you use biodegradable or reusable shopping bags and food containers frequently if there was an incentive or reward?”; 94% of the 80 respondents said 'Yes'. This market research has allowed us to understand people's needs, as well as, psychology, to further improve WePlanets incentive-based model. 

WePlanet believes in success through collaboration, so not only do we plan to build relationships with corporate entities but also, organizations who have similar missions to ours. By participating, and being a panellist on an Environment Conference hosted online by the Dominica National Youth Council, we were able to identify possible groups to partner with for different projects once we officially launch. 

WePlanet is currently in its beta-testing phase. Since WePlanet creates impact through using a mobile web application, we want to ensure the quality of our mobile application before it's officially launched. We began beta testing in December 2021 and this phase will continue until our official launch which is scheduled for April 22nd, 2022. To date, we have reached out to several local business entities and was able to secure almost five partners, and we expect to gain more partners before our official launching. Currently, we have 100 Dominican people testing our app and providing feedback on ways we can improve. WePlanet is slowly becoming a household name by having several interviews and articles written about us, participating in local, regional and international programmes/competitions, as well as, by building a strong social media presence. We are confident that our social enterprise will continue to go through the stages of development, as we do plan to franchise to make WePlanet available in other Caribbean Islands. By our launch date, we are expected to be legally registered as a Non-Profit Corporation and have our solution roll into the Pilot and Growth stages of development. 

WePlanet is a Progressive Web Application(PWA) meaning that the app can be accessed using the web, without the need of downloading via the App Store. PWAs are a new way to build mobile apps for the Web. Developed under Angular, PWAs are designed to work with all web browsers, on all types of devices: phones, tablets, computers. Their main advantage is to provide an exceptional user experience, including many benefits such as push notifications,  offline mode and direct access, without downloading.  

While our app will be made available on the Play Store and App Store, we see it very important to use PWA Technology, to ensure our app is easily accessible to all. Having a PWA means that users no longer have the excuse of not having space on their phone to download the app. 

The PWA has been developed using the Angular 6.0 framework, the latest generation. It is powered by the next generation of Angular Material UI Framework. Every interaction you build follows a unified modern style. The interface is clear, consistent, and built to work seamlessly across mobile tablets and desktops. It delivers app-like experiences in the web browser: high performance, offline, zero-step installation. 

The PWA can receive push notifications. This feature is supported by the majority of recent web browsers. For Chrome, Fox and Opera push notifications are delivered by Firebase, which is Google's platform. For Safari, notifications are delivered by APNs, Apple's platform.

WePlanet plans to officially launch in April of 2022. From our launching, within a one year period, we expect to serve 1000 people, through our app, social media platforms and events. Our app will engage people in eco-friendly activities like using their reusable shopping bags, engaging in challenges that contribute to sustainability, and even just learning relevant information on various environmental topics. Furthermore, WePlanet plans to partner with many businesses and organizations, to help fulfil our vision. 

Since we are currently in our beta-testing phase we have already engaged a small portion of the public. To date, we have 100 beta testers and 3 Eco-Partners. Our Eco-Partners are supermarkets and businesses where consumers can participate in eco-friendly initiatives.

The ultimate desire of this enterprise is to create a community that sees the beauty in taking part in eco-friendly activities and are conscious about how their actions affect the environment. The impact that WePlanet will have on Dominica and the Caribbean Region by large is engaging all sectors of society from a high school student to the manager of a company in activities that protect the environment. The number of active app users that WePlanet attains as well as the number of partners that come on board will determine the true success of WePlanet.

For the next year our impact goals are simple; to reduce the overuse and misuse of non-biodegradable items in the environment, build businesses green image, and increase environmental education in our communities. We believe taking care of the environment is everybody's business, and small actions lead to big changes. 

We plan to achieve our goals by building personal relationships with our Eco-Partners, growing our social media audience, interacting more with the public through radio interviews, articles etc., and of course by growing our app userbase. 

We measure our progress by taking account of the number of app users we accumulate annually, the number of users who participate in our quarterly Eco-Challenges, and the number of people who redeem rewards through our loyalty programme. All these social impact measures are numerical data that we receive in our database. For example, if we have 100 registered users and 50% of users have accumulated 65 points in our Eco-Points section of the app over the course of a year, that means that 50 people shopped with a reusable bag or did an eco-friendly action 65 times that year. So out of the group of 100 people, WePlanet was able to notice a 32.5% decrease in improper environment etiquette amongst users. This data shows that WePlanet is creating a direct impact on the reduction of non-biodegradable items in our environment. 

Some barriers that we currently face that hinder us in completing our goals are: 

• The business support needed to engage and build relationships with other businesses entities to come on board as Eco-Partners to help us fulfil our mission which is "To protect and improve the natural environment in the Caribbean for present and future generations by making small positive changes in our lives." In Dominica, it is very important to "know people, that know people". So, we are currently trying our best to build our network, because if we are unable to get partners we won't be able to create the impact that we want. 
• The financial freedom to plan our launch (scheduled for April 2022). The success of our launch is based on how many resources we are able to pull together with the limited funds that we have. To reach a wider audience/market during our launch and get people signed up on the app, we need to be able to have enough spending power to cover marketing and development costs. 

WePlanet is managed by the Eco-Defenders with Christianna Paul as the Chief Executive Officer. She is currently pursuing a BSc Entrepreneurship at the University of the West Indies and has had experience in app development through the running of her own small business venture. The other members of the team include top performers locally and regionally at the 2020 CSEC Examinations in Business Studies and former Ms.Teen Dominica who will lead the Marketing and Communications department. The other team members also majors in Computer Science at the Dominica State College and have participated in various Coding workshops. 

The WePlanet team is very passionate about finding ways to contribute to a more sustainable environment. We are action-oriented individuals, hence why we ensured our solution was promoting action in every possible way.  Each Co-Founder makes it a priority to be part of groups that contribute to community building and development. So, the ability to be able to tap into each other's networks has created opportunities for us that would not have been possible if done alone. 

WePlanet has participated in various local, regional and international programmes. Namely, Technovation, Dominica Youth Business Trust (DYBT) Social Enterprise Incubator, GEEP Youth Innovation Challenge and the OECS Island Ideas Challenge. Through participating in these programmes we were able to form relationships with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and DYBT, which are key organizations that will be able to help WePlanet financially, as well as, providing business support including but not limited to legal aid, forming partnerships with local and regional businesses and business exposure. The feedback we have received from these three organizations have all been supportive and they truly do believe in the impact WePlanet will have in the Caribbean. 

We currently have a few partnerships with local Supermarkets that are participating in the Beta Testing Phase with more businesses coming on soon.  The Dominica Youth Business Trust is also an important partner that provides training and technical support. We expect to partner with the Dominica Solid Waste Management, Dominica Chamber of Commerce (DAIC) and other local environmental organizations. The goals of these partnerships are to be able to reach a wider audience of our targeted market and to create more opportunities for people to contribute to a sustainable environment, and live an eco-friendly lifestyle.

WePlanet is a social enterprise that is run by five young women (all age 18 as of January 2022), whose aim is to create a more environmentally sustainable community and region. Our action-oriented solution to a major environmental issue contributes greatly to Sustainable Development Goal 13-Climate Action. If we receive the great opportunity of attaining The HP Girls Save the World Prize, we will use the funds to help us purchase our promotional material for our official launch (including merchandise, banners, social media ads, etc.), cover the cost of the rewards we give to our deserving app users, as well as, cover some of the cost of our app development and business sofwares. All in all, this prize will help cover a lot of ongoing and start-up costs, as well as, provide us with the opportunity to receive support outside of financial assistance on an even grander scale. 

WePlanet is a social enterprise that is run by five young women (all age 18 as of January 2022), whose aim is to create a more environmentally sustainable community and region. Our innovative solution addresses unmet environmental, educational, and economic needs in our communities. While reducing the use of non-biodegradable products, WePlanet also educates and challenges businesses and individuals to learn more about climate change and how to make a lasting impact.  If we receive the great opportunity of attaining The Pozen Social Innovation Prize, we will use the funds to support and enhance the social and educational features of the App which include quarterly national Eco-Challenges that empower individuals and groups, especially girls to create solutions for everyday environmental issues. 

Funds will assist in covering the cost of the rewards we give to our deserving app users, as well as, the cost of our app development and business software. All in all, this prize will provide an opportunity to provide the foundation needed to create a sustainable environmental solution in the Commonwealth of Dominica.