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My name is Rebeka Bahadorani, and I am here to talk to you about « Cynthia ».

CYNTHIA® is at the crossroads of 2 worlds; The world of Human Beings & the one of Nature.

A long time ago in South America, in the late 19th century, a man fell in love with a beautiful flower called Water Hyacinth. So beautiful that he could not resist bringing it back home. Since that day, Water Hyacinth is invading rivers and lakes, covering them with a dark, dense, green carpet, reshaping landscapes - This was the beginning of a silent pandemic. In the course of the 20th century, Water Hyacinth rapidly spread across the world - starving water of oxygen, Killing fish, having negative impacts on water evaporation, biodiversity and rivers economic uses.

 

Today, boosted by climate change, Water Hyacinth is causing harm in more than 100 countries confining development, access, and growth. The aquatic plant is seen as a weed, sometimes even called the weed from hell, a harmful enemy to eradicate. At best. Sounds familiar? What if we could turn the tide? What if we could turn this liability into an asset ?

2010, Here I am, on a field mission for assessing wastewater treatment in Burkina Faso,… .and feeling useless: « what’s the use to install wastewater treatment plants when Water Hyacinth covering local rivers prevent access to water?! » Back in Belgium, I was obsessed with the pandemic of Water Hyacinth, I had to find a way to transform that environmental emergency into an opportunity. In June 2010 I founded In-Between International to move forward and explore the potential of Water Hyacinth as an available natural resource rather than a burden, think out of the box and create a green profit from an inexhaustible resource! Green…. profitable… inexhaustible resource… Can do attitude. This is our DNA

 

After years of research and collaboration with various European universities and labs, we patented CYNTHIA®. CYNTHIA® is a brand new, bio-based, game changing fibre. A 100% natural fiber allowing various applications such as : thermal insulation - wpc - and alternative packaging. CYNTHIA® is recently labeled by Bertrand Piccard’s Foundation, « The Solar Impulse Foundation » as one of the 1000 efficient solutions for a better world,

 

In the meantime: Together we stand in the midst of a new pandemic that shows how vulnerable our societies are, and at dawn of a deep economic crisis, only the agile, innovative and daring leaders will go through it and define the new business consensus that will emerge. For sure green Economy will be part of that new consensus. Why? Because it is where growth and profits will be made. Responsibility and sustainability will mean profitability. Greenwashing is over now. Cynthia has the credentials to be pioneering and a game changer in this upcoming world: Sustainable, Circular, Systemic, Innovative, Feasible, Smart and…Profitable.

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