SAMAYA x PANGAEA X
SAMAYA SUPPORTS MIKE HORN'S ASSOCIATION
Pangaea X, the incubator created by Mike Horn in 2022, launched its second edition in August 2023. For one week, some thirty young people will join forces in Lausanne to consolidate their positive-impact project, take part in workshops supervised by professional coaches and spend several nights in a bivouac. Laura Favre, Program Director, tells us about the genesis of the project and its spirit.
What is Pangaea X?
Laura Favre: It's a two-year-old association that empowers young people by opening up the opportunities that Mike has for their project, an incubator of sorts. Where we can make a difference is by adding a personal development aspect. The program is based on 4 pillars: the solution, personal development, team collaboration and inspiration. Projects must have a positive impact on the planet and are based on 4 UN sustainable development themes: clean and affordable energy, responsible consumption and production, aquatic life and terrestrial life.
What prompted you to launch this association?
LF : Mike received countless messages from young people asking for help in giving visibility to their project. One day, he returned from an expedition to the North Pole, where something clicked. He didn't recognize his playground. The increasingly thin ice was proof of the dramatic consequences of global warming. When he got back, Mike wanted to help the young people who are so involved and aware of the climate cause.
Who are the young people behind Pangaea X?
LF : We have extremely varied profiles of young people, with different personalities that reinforce each other. We have a French 800-meter champion, ice-skating champions, engineers, biologists... Each team has a coach who accompanies them throughout the program to develop their innovative ideas and take their project and business plan to the final at Station F in Paris, in a bid to win funding. There are a multitude of different projects: from artificial reefs based on shells, to the introduction of plant-based beads that make cigarettes rise to the surface when they fall into the water, to the launch of an application based on green crypto-currency.
What does setting up a bivouac Samaya mean for all these young people this week?
LF : For Mike, to be aware of nature, you have to know it, experience it. If you never go to the mountains and never see the chamois, you don't care about them. Sleeping in tents Samaya is a bit like that too. It's experimenting, living in nature.
