November 29, 2023

#168 Rana Hajirasuli: The Intersection of Technology and Sustainability

19 minutes

About Rana Hajirasouli

Rana Hajirasouli, the founder of The Surpluss, is a climate tech innovator on a mission to redefine sustainability. With a decade of managerial experience, including in the petrochemical industry, Rana leverages her international law and sustainability expertise to lead a global platform—the Surpluss pioneers resource sharing among businesses, aligning profitability with environmental impact.

Certified by GRI, Rana is a candidate at Cambridge University's Institute for Sustainability Leadership, focusing on waste-to-value solutions and biomimicry. She has been passionate about ecological change since childhood and initiated the UAE's first beach clean-up at age six.

About this Episode

In this episode, Rana Hajirasouli talks about revolutionizing sustainability. From her UAE roots fostering a love for nature to insights gained in Ireland on coastal erosion, Rana's journey epitomizes dedication to a greener world. Surplus, a climate tech gem, employs cutting-edge algorithms to guide SMEs toward eco-friendly decisions.

Rana shatters myths, emphasizing carbon's nuanced role and introducing biomimicry as a solution source. She unveils Surplus' triumphs in a captivating dialogue, notably feeding 24,000 UAE blue-collar workers.

Quotes

1:24 – I always loved animals very much, so I think it was something that was always in me to understand how I could better serve my community.

5:08 – There's a lot of work that could be done to equip SMEs better to manage their resources and also make a profit out of it

7:53 - What we're looking at is essentially tackling the root of the problem, which is actually organizational psychology

11:56 - Sustainability is a priority

16:45 - It’s important to understand the problem thoroughly

18:41 - “Sustainability” means different things to different people

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