Abstract

Established in 2014, Avani Eco was spearheaded by Kevin Kumala (Kumala), an Indonesian social entrepreneur with a background in biology and business management. Kumala’s concern for plastic pollution and its increasing negative impact on the country drove him to look for a solution. He came up with a groundbreaking innovation with a root vegetable, cassava, to combat the plastic pollution. Avani manufactured a compostable bioplastic made from cassava starch, and also made a full range of sustainable food packaging and hospitality products from renewable resources. Its bioplastic bags gained special attention as the company claimed that the bags dissolved in water and were safe for aquatic animals and even humans. However, Avani Eco faced certain challenges. As the company did not focus much on marketing its products, not many were aware of its existence. Lack of awareness about the product made it tough for Avani to limit and replace the use of traditional plastic. Also, bioplastic was more expensive than conventional plastics, so the cost of Avani bags was higher than that of the usual plastic bags. There was a possibility that this would limit the sales of the Avani Eco bags. The company was also struggling to scale up due to lack of funding. The case highlights Indonesia’s fight against plastic, the journey of Avani Eco, its products, and the company’s future plans to compete with traditional plastic and emerge as a ‘green’ replacement.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• To get an insight into the impact of plastic pollution across the globe.
• To appreciate the protagonist’s initiative to come up with a ground-breaking solution.
• To formulate a strategy the company can adopt to make the product can replace traditional plastic.

Keywords

Avani Eco, Social Entrepreneurship, Environmental impact, plastic, Indonesia, Social Entrepreneur Models, strategy, sustainability