Kopernik — Goals, Process, & Origins of the @ZFEP Winner

Originally published on Sustainnovate.

Kopernik was the big winner in the nonprofit category of the Zayed Future Energy Prize this year. It was an honor to sit down with Ewa Wojkowska, Kopernik’s co-founder and COO, just following the awards ceremony to talk about how Kopernik came about, how it works, what its aims are, and how the name was thought up.

This was a particularly interesting interview for me since Kopernik is the Polish name of Nicholas Copernicus (who was Polish). I live in Poland and actually flew to the UAE out of Kopernik Airport. Ewa Wojkowska, who was born in Poland and lived there till she was 9 years old, told me about the origins behind the name, as well as several other matters regarding the company. Regarding the name, the website states, “Our namesake, Nicolaus Copernicus, changed the way people see the world. Like Copernicus, we want Kopernik to be a catalyst for change.” But Ewa provided more background and nuance on that.

Ewa also answered a handful of questions regarding Kopernik’s impact so far, challenges, donors, its wide range of products, and why Kopernik won the 2016 Zayed Future Energy Prize in the nonprofit category. Have a watch: