By Ana Ramírez, communication manager, and Marina Henriques, innovation consultant. (Original publication in Spanish)

Not everything was going to be shadows in this complex year. Throughout 2020, many people and organisations wanted to take advantage of the inevitable halt that our lives have experienced to reinvent themselves, nourish themselves, and face the future from a new perspective. This is the case of Salva Cayuela who, thanks to our Pentagrowth Online Academy, has managed to launch his new and inspiring business project: NEWUS Atelier, an initiative aimed at the construction and development of ideas, brands, and projects with a sustainable soul.

The embryo of NEWUS arose from the recognition of a fact: “we had detected that entrepreneurship in sustainability continued to face the same challenges as in 2013,” says Cayuela. While in other sectors like restoration and hospitality, operators appeared that fully focused B2C (business to consumer) on sales, while developing excellent support work as a solution in the B2B (business to business) realm, products with sustainable criteria continued to be positioned a step behind. A fact that marked the path for this new business project: “we wanted to provide entrepreneurship with a positive impact of professional services focused on their challenges, in time and costs,” continues the founder of NEWUS.

A methodology that ignited a business project

The idea was settled, but there were still many uncertainties that loomed on the horizon. A breeding ground that the Pentagrowth Academy ultimately ignited: “I believe that, for a long time, we have been told to ‘think outside the box’ and, while it is achieved at times, the reality is that many times you end up observing your more immediate environment, whether from the perspective of product competition or experience competition. More than thinking outside the box, what Pentagrowth does is to make you aware of all the elements you have to paint, whether inside or outside the box. That is: what do we do with what we already have or what already exists and how can we use it in our picture. Observing without presupposing the solution,” Cayuela assures about his experience.

It is no coincidence that the Pentagrowth Academy provides entrepreneurs, professionals, and students with entrepreneurial ambitions with the necessary tools to design a map to anticipate the future: “From the very first moment, you are fully immersed in the subject thanks to the process of reflection and observation. The evidence of the accumulated results from the practical cases presented is the best of papers. The methodology facilitates that the process can be lived and experienced in the actual case, without the need to enter into large theoretical discourses on innovation.

Leveraging what exists to anticipate the future

For the development of its business model, NEWUS based itself on a platform that was already operational, dothewoo.com, adapting and reformulating it to allow the promotion of products. A decision motivated by what was learned at the Pentagrowth Academy where the levers of Anticipate, Decompose, Explore, and Combine invite entrepreneurs to revisit everything learned to take it into the future. 

“Our aim with NEWUS is to ease the process of creating and developing a project, offering solutions tailored to each moment, each job, and each challenge faced. Supporting brands will lead to the sales space to complement this entire process,” concludes Cayuela. The beginning of a journey that, we are sure, will bring them many successes.

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