Petros Timotheou, Co-Founder, iceep

The Europe Entrepreneur is featuring Petros Timotheou as one of the Most Influential Entrepreneurs Positioning Switzerland as a Leader in Innovation in 2024, owing to his effective leadership. We at The Europe Entrepreneur want to tell his story to more people with an intention to inspire readers, especially budding entrepreneurs and thus embolden the entrepreneurial spirit of the region.  

This feature will talk about his professional journey: challenges, failures, successes, leadership approach, and the values he bring to people through his company. At The Europe Entrepreneur, we are truly inspired by his exemplary leadership, and we will continue to support his future success through our various programs.

1. Can you provide an overview of your journey as an entrepreneur, including the pivotal moments that shaped your path? How has your upbringing and childhood shaped your approach to entrepreneurship?

Rather than describe my journey as an entrepreneur, I invite you to visualize it by doing a  Google search for images “2-year-old child eating spaghetti bolognese”. In a nutshell, it is a bubble experience of a BLISSFUL MESS that has people around you in a sort of captivating state of shock.  No one knows how to react to what is going on and what you are going through and everyone seems to just let the show go on despite the fact that it’s a bloody mess. The only difference is I am 40 years old, not 2 and the people in the room were, for the most part, my brother and my wife. 

I can identify the pivotal moment when the pieces of the puzzle finally started falling into place. Making what I was doing viable in a way that I could “sustain” a fair way of living. But leading up to this point I would say the main driving force behind my journey was a combination of irritating restlessness with every job I took on and a fervent desire to be curious about things in a very playful way. 

I was born to a Swiss mom, who was an educational psychologist, and a Cypriot dad who owned his electrical engineering business. Growing up in Cyprus by the beach, I was lucky enough to enjoy a pretty idyllic childhood where I was safe to explore the boundaries of my personality. My relationship with science, nature, sports, family, and friendships all somehow existed in this playful type of context, thanks to the way my mom brought me up. I guess that is what set the foundations for my adventures and somewhat rebellious undertakings in my career.

2. What inspired you to co-found iceep, and how did you come up with the innovative concept of developing an e-commerce plug-in to facilitate the recovery of preloved products in the circular economy?

• Brands and their products have a mesmerizing relationship with human beings and this is something the circular economy needs to seriously leverage in its mission to close the resource cycle. 

• This three-way relationship breaks up when the product ceases to serve its (aesthetic, emotional or practical) purpose for the person that bought it and that is the moment it starts to be perceived as “trash”. 

• I am convinced that puppeteering the dynamics of this three-way relationship can deliver the systemic change we need to eliminate the notion of trash and keep products out of waste bins and landfills.

• The online store, and by extension the e-commerce space of brands, is the environment that hosts this relationship. Thanks to the Internet, a brand’s online store is its portal to the entire world. If this portal serves to reach out and deliver products to its customers anytime and anywhere then invertly this portal will also be the starting point from which the other half of the loop begins.

3. How has iceep positioned itself as a leader in circular economy end-of-life takeback solutions? How does it contribute to sustainability and environmental consciousness, aligning with the values of the circular economy?

iceep and takeback act as the gateway for the hardcore circular economy activities to happen. Products designed for circularity, disassembly for component recovery, recycling for material recovery, refurbishing and second-hand, and even end-of-life through energy recovery can only truly function effectively and as a collective unit if the takeback of a product is properly designed and applied. In essence takeback and by extension the WHY of iceep is to be the gel that makes all these elements work together to maximize the resource potential of a product. To be honest, I think humanity and the system we built needs a system reset, but we are not ready for this yet. Until then the circular economy is the best alternative we have to decouple the pressure we exert as a species on the planetary boundaries of Earth.

4. What significant challenges have you encountered in developing iceep, and how did you overcome them? Can you share a specific instance of failure or setback that taught you valuable lessons in your entrepreneurial journey?

I am a non-technical founder. In the intial stages, my lack of technical expertise was a challenge in itself; however, with the right mindset and perseverance, I overcame those challenges with fortitude. I simply took what the journey  threw at me. At times I had to build the skills myself because we simply didn’t have the resources to pull them from the market. Once I could get people in, very objectively,  I found it hard  to evaluate the quality of their work. Countless times I had expectations that saw me feeling let down and disappointed. I found myself assuming that people knew and understood what I wanted and expected of them but it was seriously nowhere close to convergence. With time I realised I unintentionally hurt the feelings of many people who simply tried to help me and this made me really sad because I value and love human relationships so much. 

I learned that getting emotionally worked up about my beliefs doesnt get me any closer to where I would like to be and that life usually gives you what you need to have at every moment. In the words of the late Steve Jobs you can only truly connect the dots backward. I worked a lot on managing my emotions using tools like ice baths and meditation and I would say today I am finally leading my life by the 4Ps of Petros “passion, persistence, patience, and perseverance”.

5. How would you describe your leadership style, and how has it contributed to the success of iceep? How do you foster innovation and a collaborative spirit within your team?

Personally, I believe at any given moment we all have one mission in life – to make decisions that help us grow in consciousness, skills,  knowledge, or spiritual enlightenment. If everything we choose to do in our life delivers even the smallest of wins in our personal growth then I think we will look back on life with a smile knowing we did our best to live our life fully. 

My purpose is to lead iceep not just as a company, but as a playground for personal and professional growth. I want to foster a culture of curiosity and self-discovery, empowering team members to explore their passions and aspirations within iceep’s mission. I want  encourage them to find satisfaction through curiosity, leading themselves authentically rather than being confined by traditional roles. Drawing from my own childhood experiences, I want it to be a nurturing environment where individuals can push boundaries, learn new skills, and embrace a playful mindset. This instills optimism and unlocks potential, fostering an atmosphere of possibility.

I don’t want people to be held back in their job because of money or fear. Instead, I want iceep to be a stepping stone, a ‘place from which they can spring board into the journey of life with less fears and limiting beliefs.

6. What is your vision for the future of iceep, and how do you foresee the company influencing the industry in the years to come?

iceep is here to deliver an entirely new customer experience for brands that will help them and our industries unlock the true 4.5 trillion dollar potential held within the circular economy. We know this opportunity is there but getting started has been hard, to say the least. With iceep we built the smallest component needed to help brands. By extension, their industries can get going with their minimum viable loop with the lowest friction possible. At the heart of this transition the tremendous relationship that exists between brands and consumers.

7.  Lastly, could you share a piece of advice or the values that have guided you throughout your entrepreneurial journey and continue to inspire you today?

I once told my wife while I was still working in my nine to six real estate job, that we are all writers but also at the same time readers of our own book. It’s our life story, and when the chapters in the story start to get dull, uninteresting, uninspiring, this is a sign that we need to bring change to our life. If you have writer’s block you need to do everything it takes, leave no stone unturned, to find the spark to bring your book to life. Make sure it is THE BOOK you want to be reading at all times, and if your gut tells you it’s not, then be fearless to take a leap of change. After all this is the least we can do to give back for the gift of life.