Turning Eco-Pigments Into Sustainable Opportunities
How do you turn volcanic clay and natural minerals into a sustainable income stream for youth? For Live With Earth, a Lisboa-based NGO rooted in permaculture and circular economy principles, the answer lay somewhere between ancient craft and modern strategy. With a mission centered on eco-social innovation and youth employment through natural building and eco-arts, the organization needed help translating their hands-on expertise into market-ready offerings.
Through the I DO Project, a team of student consultants collaborated with Live With Earth to explore how the NGO could enter the eco-pigments market while strengthening their digital presence. What began as a question about pricing and positioning evolved into a comprehensive effort spanning marketing, business development, and digital redesign.
Building a Foundation for Growth
The student team approached the challenge systematically, creating tools and frameworks the NGO could use long after the project ended:
Market entry strategy: Developed pricing models, analyzed the competitive landscape, and identified key partnership opportunities for eco-pigment commercialization
Marketing assets: Designed ready-to-use social media templates, posting guidelines, and visual content to promote events and products
Business planning: Built a profit model and packaging plan to support future pigment sales
Digital redesign: Restructured the website for clarity and ease of navigation
While the original scope included executing campaigns and launching sales, shifting NGO priorities meant the team pivoted to delivering actionable frameworks instead. "We created a lot of tools for the NGO," Wei-Yu reflected. "We could only leave frameworks and templates behind, but seeing the founder's enthusiasm and trust in our work made us feel that we genuinely helped."
Value Beyond Deliverables
For Live With Earth, the partnership brought structure to possibility, turning intuitive knowledge about natural materials into actionable business intelligence. This collaboration led to more strategic clarity and practical tools to propel themselves forward, as they continue to strive towards their mission. On the students’ end, it offered something equally valuable. "I got really lucky with my team," said Saule. "Right now all of them are close friends of mine... we learned to trust one another, give honest feedback and challenge each other's ideas."
Wei-Yu echoed this sentiment as well: "Team 4 was amazing... This experience definitely allowed me to broaden my friend group and meet a bunch of amazing and ambitious individuals who make me strive to become a better version of myself."
Kudos to Team 4 of the 2024-2025 I DO Project cohort: Kevin Bui, Laura Márquez, Saule Baltrusyte, Wei-Yu Lin, Tim Stracke
Learn more about Live With Earth's regenerative work at their website and follow their journey in eco-innovation and youth empowerment: https://www.livewithearth.org