Olga Dubey – AgroSustain GmbH

Producers of agricultural goods are under pressure. To avoid crop and storage losses, chemical fungicides are used regardless of their negative impact on biodiversity and our health. AgroSustain develops ecological products for the prevention and treatment of a wide range of pathogens. These products are of interest to storage companies, the timber industry, gardeners and farmers.

What inspired you to start your company?
I grew up in a village, where we cultivated our own vegetables and berries, an activity that I enjoyed since my childhood. However, very early on, I realized that being able to achieve a high production was very challenging. Indeed, working hard was not always sufficient, and applying pesticides to prevent pathogen development was often mandatory. This was a major issue as most of them are not environmentally friendly and have adverse effects on farmers’ and gardeners’ health. Thus, when at the end of my PhD, I discovered a very efficient organic treatment against a broad range of plant fungal pathogens, I decided to take the opportunity to make a difference by creating AgroSustain, a startup that aims to promote sustainable agriculture.

What entrepreneur(s) do you admire and why?
It is hard to name one or two entrepreneurs that I admire the most. I believe it is more personal traits that inspire me, such as their PASSION and AIM to make something useful for other people, as well as «BEING UNBREAKABLE» while going through tough times and still managing to make their startup a SUCCESS.

Can you tell us a short story about a customer using your product?
AgroSustain is a startup that aims to promote sustainable agriculture by activating the power of plants. We are developing organic treatments against devastating fungal pathogens for food storage facilities, leading to a great reduction of food waste. In the long run, we also aim to develop organic treatments against fungal pathogens for farmers and foresters worldwide.

What do you love about your own leadership role in your company?
It is very exciting to share the vision and ideas you have with your team and to make what was an idea at the beginning into a real product that will be available on the market in the upcoming year or two.

Why did you apply for the W.A. de Vigier Award?
The W.A. de Vigier Award is well known for selecting promising entrepreneurs who very often become successful in the near future. Because AgroSustain is a very young startup, we wanted to know where we stand in the eyes of the de Vigier Committee and to get its support and feedback on what could be improved to make us successful.

What are your impressions so far about the W.A. de Vigier Award?
So far it has been an exciting journey. I find it particularly nice and motivating that the committee has a very personal approach for each nominee. So far, we’ve already gone through the evaluation of our leadership skills and the advice we were given after these sessions was extremely useful and provided us with a lot of insight on how to become successful leaders.