Michael Stausholm | Source | Founder at SproutWorld

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Michael Stausholm

Founder at SproutWorld
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Michael Stausholm is the founder of SproutWorld – the company behind the first pencil in the world that can be planted and grown into herbs, vegetables and flowers. SproutWorld’s journey began in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2013, when a group of robotics students at MIT came up with the concept of a plantable pencil, featuring a seed capsule that could be planted once the pencil was used up. When SproutWorld founder Michael Stausholm saw the pencil on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, he immediately loved its simplicity and sustainable innovation, saw its commercial potential, and bought the patent and global rights to the pencil.

The idea behind the Sprout pencil is to plant it when it becomes too small to write with, thereby giving it a new life. Since Stahusholm founded the company in 2013, Sprout has sold more than 65 million plantable pencils in more than 80 countries. In just one decade, he went from packaging in his closet to selling more than $10 million Sprout pencils in the U.S. alone with no venture capital funding.

SproutWorld's plantable products are an easy way to illustrate what sustainability means, a counterweight to our throwaway culture, and a symbol of possibility. Stausholm believes it takes small steps to reach a goal, and if enough of us take action, it will make a difference. After all, if you can give a pencil a new purpose and a second life, just imagine what else we can do.

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  • At SproutWorld, we focus on producing eco-friendly, patented innovations for everyday life, providing consumers a conscious and environmentally friendly choice that helps our planet. Businesses, organizations, associations and groups can incorporate Sprout products into their own brand for eco-friendly conference giveaways, event promotional items, corporate gifts and in a wide variety of marketing campaigns. SproutWorld customers include Coca-Cola, IKEA, Porsche, Toyota, Benetton, Marriott, Michelle Obama and Richard Branson.

  • In just 10 years as an entrepreneur, I went from packing pencils in my living room to growing SproutWorld into a global success with more than 65 million plantable pencils and makeup liners sold in more than 80 countries.

  • SproutWorld plantable pencils are much more than a product – it's what we call "a green messenger.” Many of our customers get messages or logos engraved and printed on the pencils and the packaging so they can build a story around what they are doing on sustainability.

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