Interview Evaluation

Our business project is based on the creation of a sustainable net, made of hair, which would be
placed around the fuel tanks of boats. The main purpose is to avoid and minimize oil leaks in
the ocean. The main purpose of the interviews was to get feedback from customers: people who
might buy our products for their personnel boats. For this section, we contacted students from
ESCP and our closed circle. Secondly, it was to hear from experts, people who are related to
hair recycling, the protection of oceans, or related to boat shipping companies. Regarding the
customer sector, my team and I have conducted 24 email interviews. The email interviews
aimed to know if potential clients were aware of the oil leak catastrophe and if they own a boat
or have the project of owning one. And finally to know their reaction regarding our project, and if
they were interested in buying it. The results are the following. First of all, around 80% of
customers (from the 24 email interviews) are aware of the negative impact of oil leaks.
Moreover, more than 50% of clients own a boat or have the project of owning one. Finally,
regarding our project, more than 60% believe that the creation of a sustainable net could help to
prevent environmental disasters. Around 20% didn’t believe in the project, and the rest were
mitigated for the following reasons. They doubt the resistance of the net in case of an impact.
About the size of the ship, if it’s for personal use or shipping companies. Then when we
presented them with the same net, mentioning that it would be made of hair, the reactions were
different. The people who believe in our project moved from 60% to less than 35%. And people
who refused to believe in our project increased from 20% to more than 40%. Around the same
amount of people were doubting the effectiveness of the net for the following reasons: the
amount of hair needed for the project, and again regarding the resistance of the net. Finally,
around 75% of them would be interested in buying this sustainable net for their boats.
What we can conclude from the email interviews is that this project is challenging because of
the amount of awareness regarding its resistance. More specifically regarding the effectiveness
of using hair as a solution to prevent the spreading of oil in the ocean.

Moving on, regarding the export sector we were able to receive two answers, one from a small
boat owner, and the other from a marine expert in the ministry of agriculture and sea in Cyprus.
Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for answers from other experts we have contacted. The point of
the face-to-face interviews with experts was to know their awareness of the oil leak impact on
the oceans, to know their solutions to prevent this environmental disaster from occurring and to
know their opinion regarding our product. To begin with, both were highly educated regarding
the impact of oil leaks. More specifically, they expressed how it impacts the ecosystem, and how
it’s extremely harmful for both humans and animals. Moreover, they believe that increasing
maintenance and avoiding uncontrolled activities would be possible solutions to prevent this
catastrophe from happening. Finally, regarding our project, both were deeply interested in our
project and believed that it could be an accurate solution. The solution, in their opinion, still
required “a lot of research and tests to become one effective way leading to sustainability”.
Finally, they both advised us to continue our research continue being motivated, and be patient,
because our product required, as mentioned, much research and known people in the sector to
fully develop it.
What we can conclude from the face-to-face interview is that our project has a possibility of
working out, but we still need to continue our research on the production of the product (how the
hair and clay are assembled to create the net).