Renossence. The innovative. The resilient. The future?
Another company has started up in our very own school, bringing along its environmental and monetary value. It has gone through highs and lows yet our diligent student team have managed to keep their heads above the water.
This is an interview with Yousef Qasim, the CEO of Renossence, joining us to share what he has to say about the company!
Q: What exactly is Renossence?
Renossence is a start-up company some students in the sixth form have created with the help of Ms Hurinanthan and Dr Bassam Shuhaibar (An ex-NES student) as part of the INJAZ AL-ARAB Company program.
In a nutshell, we collect used cooking oil from restaurants and refine it so it can be reused in making scented candles!
The best part is that the candles don’t smell anything like the food they were frying earlier. The next best part is that we are saving the ocean and its sea life one drop at a time.
We currently offer 8 different fragrances, ranging from Lavender & Patchouli to Lemongrass.
Renossence, is short for “Renovated Essence”, as we believe that we have renovated and remodelled the way a calm and soothing scent can be spread in your cozy home.
Q: Can you tell us a brief summary of the timeline of Renossence?
We started in early October with only 8 members. The size doubled in Term 1 to make us a business with 16 employees- but now we have found ourselves with just 8 members again but we are more efficient than ever so I can’t complain!
Our original idea was to refine the oil and sell it to paint manufacturers so they could use it to make paint- a rather colourful way to save the earth. Unfortunately, this failed and we spent the entire first term with firm faith in this idea, oblivious to the obstacles ahead of us… Reality hit in the third week of Term 2, where a group of heads of departments within the company and myself got in touch with a few local paint manufacturers and asked them if they would be interested in buying what we were offering. We got constantly rejected by one company after the other as they all said unison, “The oils you want to give us are of no use to us. We use specific oils made in a lab.”
This really demotivated our budding company, and we were seriously considering just throwing in the towel. But from chaos comes order. One of us suggested using the oil to make candles ourselves rather than rely on other businesses to do the work for us, which wasn’t even a good option in the first place as this program is all about the experience.
We all immediately began intensively researching the topic and we finally learnt how to revamp this company. We made a few prototypes over the past three weeks, but it was only last week that we finally got the portions right to make the best candle possible.
We are now heading towards success at full speed, now knowing that any obstacle in our way can simply be overcome, and that we should not charge into it like a buffalo, risking our integrity in the process.
Q: How does your team obtain the supplies -more specifically, the oil- for your company?
We get our supply of used cooking oil from a few restaurants we know that previously used to dispose of the oil by simply pouring it down the drain. This oil either ends up in a sewage treatment plant or in the ocean. The first option costs Kuwait a lot of time and money whilst the latter costs the earth twice as much since used cooking oil isn’t meant to be floating around in the ocean; it has catastrophic effects on the ocean’s ecosystem.
Q: What has your company accomplished so far?
We have accomplished many things, and I’d like to thank Ms Hurinanthan and Dr Bassam for sticking with us through thick and thin. What I really like about them is their ‘mentor-approach’; they don’t “spoon feed” us – they simply guide us on a path and let us do the walking. This is a crucial skill a leader should have, and is highly empowering. They showed us what we could do if we worked together as a team. And quite honestly, I think I have one of the best (if not the best) team any human could wish for. We communicate impeccably and trust each other with tasks – and if we ever feel demotivated or tired, Ms.H. and Dr Bassam are always there to give us a push and remind us of why we are doing this.
I digress- my apologies… We have successfully been able to make a prototype of a candle that is functional and smells good, successfully secured a stall at the Qout Market, which was on the 9th of March, from 9 AM until 5 PM. But best of all, we have stuck with an idea that contributed to the sustainable development of Kuwait, however small our contributions may be- in our case, one drop at a time.
Q: What do you have planned for the future?
Our plans for the future are to start selling candles to the public, which is just around the corner. I am part of the team that tested the final prototype and let me just say- you will not regret buying a candle or two!
We also plan to expand and hopefully provide jobs to the public, where the residents of this country can also benefit from this beautiful cause.
Finally, we are looking forward to the national INJAZ competition where we will be representing the school and hopefully come back victorious.
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Well, there you go, folks! The company sure looks promising to me; make sure to keep an eye on their future progress and maybe even invest in some shares- and don’t forget to buy a candle or two!
For more information on NES’s brilliant, eco-friendly, student-run business, check them out on social media:
Instagram: @renossence
Twitter: @renossence
