Thought Leaders Interview Series: Emad Hefny, Seeders Capital

Emad Hefny is Founder & CEO of Seeders Capital, providing sustainable building solutions in Egypt and Spain.

Seeders Capital is one of the first global organisations to advance cities towards circular economies, through zoning and self-sufficiency initiatives.

Emad has an MSc in Finance and published research on waste management.

We posed some questions to him on the value of healthy buildings and smart, sustainable cities.

1. What is the ambition of Seeders Capital?

Seeders Capital helps creates healthy buildings within smart and sustainable city zones. These are: Clean Air Zones, Zero Waste Zones, Clean Energy Zones, and Clean Water Zones.

Leveraging green financing, impact investing, IoT technology, carbon monitoring, and more – Seeders empowers individuals, businesses, and governments to adopt sustainable solutions across value chains.

Our solutions are ecological and modular: holistically improving urban life.

Seeders currently represents and works with over 20 top global entities, creating healthy buildings and zero pollution zones.

2. How did you get into sustainability and healthy buildings? 

I have always been fascinated by waste management and circularity, digging deeper during my BSc studies to examine Waste-to-Energy feasibility in Egypt.

In 2015, I published a research paper: “Strategic planning of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries”.

Finance took me to waste management – it was easy to connect the dots and add healthy buildings to the portfolio.

3. What is the biggest challenge we face in making the built environment sustainable?

We are the biggest challenge. We have always been taught that the only constant is change yet the human brain is wired to certainty.

Too often, we see leaders viewing sustainability through a short-sighted lens of operations rather than using it for business transformation and growth. Shifting this mentality is our biggest challenge – and opportunity.

4. The most innovative building solutions you’ve seen?

Biophilic designs, modular renewable energy, and onsite waste management.

The move towards green energy has long been a hot topic but diversifying the renewables mix has become a necessity.

Today’s buildings can be largely self-dependent on energy: through optimised solar, modular wind, and onsite waste recycling and transformation.

Seeders is delivering exactly that. A building can be a Clean Energy Zone, a Zero Waste Zone, Clean Water Zone and a Clean Air Zone – a huge leap towards independence and business model optimisation.

5. In 2050, what will our cities look like?

It’s too hard to predict how things will materialise in the next 3 years!

I predict few companies will survive to 2050, consumer behaviour will drive innovation, and sustainability will lead to smart, automated, nature-driven, wellbeing-focused urban centres.