Corporate social responsibility is very popular among both students and young professionals who start working after graduation. This also applies to one of our well-known and beloved alumnus, Léon Polman. Alumna Shazia Khan interviewed him.
From study books to colouring plates
“I am Léon Polman, 25 years old and I come from Houten. I did the bachelor’s in Public Administration and Organization Sciences at the VU, specializing in Organization Science. During my studies I came into contact with Enactus. At that time I became very interested in business as a force for good. After my time at Enactus I started running my own social enterprise: Green Side ”.
At Green Side, Léon and his team make sustainable notebooks from single-side printed paper. Old paper from for example books and coloring plates are collected at local primary schools. The notebooks are then bound in a social workplace by people with a distance to the labour market. Because sustainability is very important to Léon, his notebooks are delivered by bicycle couriers and they do not use paper business cards and only CO2-neutral stamps.
Leon’s Philosophy
Léon based Green Side on an inspiring philosophy:
“What I really learned at Enactus is that you can change the world by looking at it differently. Where some people see waste, other people see value. This is what I also do with Green Side: do you look at the printed side and see waste OR do you look at the blank side and see potential? At Enactus you learn to think in terms of opportunities rather than problems. ”
Time at Enactus
Where did Léon base his idea of sustainable notebooks? This all started at Enactus VU, where Léon learned what it is like to be a as a social entrepreneur.
“I started at Enactus as a project member in 2016, when I set up a start-up myself, Refugenius. Half a year later I started my board year as a project manager and HR manager, and I supervised 3 start-up’s. What is cool to mention is that at Enactus as a board you are really at the helm of an organization. You are in charge when it comes to strategy development and making important decisions. This gave me a lot of energy and I really enjoyed doing it. I also enjoyed helping the start-up’s grow. My biggest lesson was: “Dream big, start small, but quick!”, This has stayed with me a lot and is also what I do now at my own social enterprise GreenSide.”
Life after Enactus – next steps
Ever since Enactus, Léon has not stopped his sustainable mission to improve the world. Our social entrepreneur has more in store than just making an impact with his current start-up GreenSide. At some point Léon hopes to take a step towards coaching, to prepare the new generation for the future. His success formula Green Side is also just a steppingstone to a whole series of new sustainable ideas for the future:
“I want to do everything I am doing now on a larger scale. Get a new world-improving concept out into the world every few years that has a long-term impact. I want to become a sustainable entrepreneur with multiple social start-up’s. And yes, later I want to help the new generation to do the same through coaching.”
And of course, there is no one who will stop him during his journey to become a serial entrepreneur:
“If you want to achieve something and believe in it, you can do it. You do not necessarily have to have money or resources for that. Dream big, start small, but quick ”
More information
Check out more about GreenSide here! Do you want to become a social innovator, just like Léon? Then Enactus would fit you perfectly.