Brief description of the organisation/initiative
Renthis2me is a platform to rent or borrow belongings. The idea lays its foundation on the Airbnb model, allowing renting items wherever needed. Renthis2me’s vision is to create a community to fight overconsumption and foster circular economy principles. Renthis2me is a platform where owners can list the item they are willing to rent for a short period. This way, the Renthis2me team promotes sharing economy and tries to stop the trend of consumerism for single use. The main goal of Renthis2me is to avoid unused items until the moment in which they will be out of fashion or worn out because of time. Reducing waste and promoting the sharing economy are the main goals of Renhis2me.
Challenge overview
Renthis2me idea is built on the concept that consumerism boosts compulsive shopping without realising the times an item will be used or is needed. The main idea is to contribute to a circular economy, allowing everyone to borrow an item and understand if it is necessary to have in life or to use/enjoy it for a short period.
This way, Renthis2me has also tackled the problem of waste. By reusing items, there is no need to throw away something that someone else could use.
Establishment of the organisation/initiative/enterprise
Renthis2me idea bloomed by three students living in South Crete. While discussing the possibility of travelling and living without money limitations, they realised the power of the sharing economy. Firstly, as a concept that helps to fight overconsumption, and secondly, as a tool to save money – when you can borrow/rent an item you need without buying it.
The idea became a reality, while during the COVID-19 pandemic, the founders participated in one of the most famous accelerators in Greece, a leading startup hub, and a catalyst for the growth of the local innovation ecosystem named “OK! Thess”.
Management structure and governance
Renthis2me is a for-profit organisation. The platform offers free registration, and the items’ owners can establish the rental costs. The founders of Renthis2me are three young people: Kefalogiannis Aris (CEO), Kefalogiannis Konstantinos (advisor), and Venetsanakis Christopheros (CFO).
Additional team members there are Papadakis Haris (software engineer), Tsoniotis Nikolas (advisor), Vukolas Konstantinos (accountant), Helen (digital strategy consultant), and Kefalogiannis Konstantinos (counsel).
Principles of work, objectives and activities
The main goal of Renthis2me is to hinder overconsumption by offering the alternative of sharing items.
The vision of Renthis2me is to give people a platform where they can share everything, to put in motion a mindset where everything belongs to everyone. The idea is that people together can change consumption habits and fight over consumerism for a better society and a sustainable world.
Moreover, knowing that money is a barrier to experiences, Renthis2me aims to change that, enabling people to live a new experience without having to buy an item, just rent it.
Target groups
The average user of Renthis2me is the person who wants to live new experiences without limitations. For this reason, the slogan is “own to share”. The target group is young people with a passion for life. Generally, everyone can exchange or borrow items, but young people are the most open to this type of activity. In addition, youth may benefit from a platform like Renthis2me because it gives them the great opportunity to borrow items without purchasing new ones every time, while the platform allows earning extra income by renting items.
Innovation
The organisation is innovative per se since the founders started something unique that did not exist in Greece.
It is a creative and innovative idea at the same time since it tackles the issues of expensive and non-affordable purchases while considering the impact of overconsumption. Meanwhile, it creates an opening for everyone to share the items that are not used that often and give them a second life.
Key partners
Renthis2me is an independent organisation trying to build up partnerships with shared values of mentality and vision, although it has been proven difficult.
Nevertheless, they managed to create some partnerships, such as the most recent one with Plantee, a website planting trees and aims to reduce carbon dioxide.
Impact and Evaluation
Renthis2me has a positive impact on the environment and also on people’s lives and finances. The initiative allows renters to save money and owners to make money, giving attention to climate change and fighting over-consumerism. The evaluation of the initiative is positive, despite the difficulties due to Covid-19 and all the problems linked to establishing a new organisation. Renthis2me is well-known in Crete and Thessaloniki.
Recommendations
Such an initiative would not be as well appreciated as in Greece if implemented in other countries, where the sharing culture is less widespread. Besides promoting a concrete idea or initiative, it is very important to explain and promote the benefits of such a concept, so this innovative approach would be more easily accepted by the people.
Lessons Learned
While establishing a business initiative, it is important to be open to changing the initial plans and be flexible to adapt the business plan when needed.
One of the founders of Rentthis2me stated their motto: “wrong + wrong + wrong = success”, which shows that every obstacle and issue related to establishing entrepreneurial activity could become a new opportunity and lead to success.
References
The Renthis2me website.
The Renthis2me profile in Elevate Greece.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.