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His Background

After a bachelor's degree in Business Administration at Lund University, he worked as an employee in the technology sector. He then started an entrepreneurship career by founding a few companies, including Ihopa, for which he has worked since 2017.

His work at Ihopa

As Ihopa is still a small company, Johannes is working on several fronts: fundraising, sales marketing, innovation, ...

The performance aimed by Ihopa is to enable efficient use and sharing of products in an area.

To achieve this performance, Ihopa is setting up a system of boxes for storing products intended to be used by residents. First of all, the needs will be discussed with the final users. The company will try to provide the most appropriate service with products that can respond to their issues.

Here are some of the services Ihopa offers to end-users:

• Access through the box to products that can respond to local needs.

• Simple instructions to make it easier to use products.

• Maintenance of the products in the box and end-of-life management.

• Flexibility of the products in the box. Users can contact Ihopa directly via the application to request new products. The data collected by Ihopa (which products are used the most and by whom, how many times, for how long, etc.) also enables the company to get as close as possible to the performance of use.

• Additional specific rental services, not included in the monthly fee: for example longer period of use, etc.

To achieve this performance, Ihopa is part of a cooperative ecosystem that will be described in the "Cooperation dynamics" part below. 

Ihopa is charging monthly fees to its customers (end-users, landlords, companies, etc.). This model encourages Ihopa to choose quality products from manufacturers that last over time. Ihopa does not own all the products in the boxes. As Ihopa get money via monthly fees, the more the products last, the more they could be profitable. 

Ihopa has several levels of maintenance. They have one employee (working around 5 hours a week) per box, to look after cleaning and product checking. Then a team is dedicated to soft product maintenance. Finally, the product owners (e.g; Bosch, etc.) take care of heavy maintenance (or annual maintenance).

Ihopa works on tailor-made solutions to its customers' needs (number of inhabitants in the residence, types of objects required, etc.). Proximity to customers is therefore essential to satisfy them the best way possible. Indeed, Ihopa and the users stay in touch throughout the life of the products via the application: replacement or introduction of products, etc. The wishes of end-users and the close relationship that Ihopa maintains with them, through surveys for example, represent a valuable intangible asset for the company.

Today, many of the objects we buy spend the majority of their time unused. By pooling these items through the Ihopa service, it can reduce the environmental footprint of the products: fewer unnecessary purchases and more efficient use of objects by sharing them. Furthermore, thanks to the contractual model of Ihopa, items are chosen for their durability, ease of use/maintenance.

The sharing of objects through the use of boxes has the potential to recreate social links between residents of the same building, who can get to know each other while exchanging items, for example. Ihopa could help to create a community of sharers, as Miutcank is doing in Budapest today.

Still in its start-up phase, Ihopa is experimenting with many different forms of cooperation with a wide range of players:

• As described earlier, the end-user is a key contributor to Ihopa. Who better than the end-user to know their own needs? Or rather their own issues, as Johannes explains. This cooperation takes the form of a close relationship with the consumer, surveys about the needs before installing a box and customer satisfaction surveys.

• In order to find the best quality products that are durable, easy to repair and easy to use, Ihopa works with manufacturers/commercial players. Concretely, Ihopa is collaborating with Bosch (tools manufacturer) by asking them to provide quality tools to the boxes. Bosch stays the owner of its products and Ihopa takes care of these (except heavy maintenance). Bosch benefits from the Ihopa services as they earn money from the subscriptions paid by end-users. 

• The company also works in partnership with the housing sector (public or private). This cooperation enables a different form of contractualization in which the landlord pays for the Ihopa service instead of each of his tenants. For the owner, it is an extra service that can be promoted to tenants. 

• Difficulty in using products that are already in the homes of local residents. Many consumers expect the service to use products that consumers already own and can contribute with. However, Johaness think that it is far better to use products directly from manufacturers, as this assures that it is the best possible product and standardization which ensures efficient maintenance and good support / user experience.

• Policy makers still underestimate the impact of products on the environment.

• Finding sources of funding other than end-users. Housing players in particular would be interesting, but given the current crisis, it's difficult to find efficient cooperation.

• Society in general underestimates the leverage that "as-a-service" solutions represent today. There is not enough investments yet to meet the social and environmental challenges of our time.

It's easy to see that sharing objects of all kinds is a much more sustainable solution than buying them for one-time use (for example, an amateur drill is only used for 11 minutes on average over its lifetime, whereas a good drill lasts around 2,000 hours).

Ihopa's "as a service" model allows one to concentrate on using objects rather than simply owning them. The aim is to achieve optimum performance of use of the different objects. 

To achieve this performance, Ihopa has clearly understood the importance of working with end-users to understand their issues and habits of use, in order to provide them with the best set of products. The potential for cooperation is enormous. Ihopa can position itself as a facilitator in the transition to an "as a service" model for manufacturers of quality objects. Step by step, part of the manufacturers' income becomes regular and based on uses rather than sales.

We believe that the close relationship that exists between Ihopa and the end-users means that Ihopa can be flexible over time to respond to the changing needs. This relationship of trust could be developed, for example, to enable residents to form a community based on the exchange of goods and services, as Miutcank does.

We would like to make it clear here that there is no question of negative criticism of this project. The aim is to imagine a fictional story about he development of a similar company through the FCE concepts. It is also a way to inspire people in a concrete way.

We are in 2030, Ihopa has continued its efforts. These efforts have become more productive, more relevant and more visible to more and more local actors thanks to the framework provided by the FCE...

More and more people are realizing the environmental and social benefits of sharing objects. The notion of ownership of everyday objects (tools, household appliances, etc.) has evolved. As a result, companies have understood the benefits of developing an "As a Service" model around the use of these objects. 

Ihopa, a precursor of this model in 2023, has succeeded in making more and more manufacturers of everyday products understand the benefits of the "As a Service" model. The company is facilitating the transition of these manufacturers' business models. Thanks to Ihopa, they have seen that they can earn money from the use of their products by end-users. As a reminder, manufacturers receive a commission on the monthly fees Ihopa generates from users. Ihopa understands end-user issues, and works with its partners to develop the best products (durability, ease of use, dismantlability, etc.). It's in everyone's financial interest that these products last as long as possible. Through this cooperation with Ihopa, manufacturers understand the benefits of switching to an FCE model. Ihopa is therefore helping them to follow this new trajectory.

After the success of the boxes, Ihopa is now experimenting with the integration of existing items in the neighborhoods. In 2027, an experiment took place. Before installing a box in a residence with 75 tenants, Ihopa evaluated the needs of the residents through surveys. In these, tenants were able to list the items they were willing to share, to make them available to other residents. Ihopa was able to judge the interest in reusing these objects thanks to data such as brand, model, condition, etc. Either Ihopa offered to buy the object back from its owner, or the latter could retain ownership and earn a small monthly commission.

This proximity to the end-user has inspired Ihopa to strengthen the social link in the residences. As the community was already present around Ihopa by using the application, the company improved its application with the aim of going further than just sharing products. Community members can interact with each other. For example, they can exchange services and knowledge, as well as create social events. In this way, they can recreate links between residents of the same neighborhood. Ihopa has a wide range of local partner such as craftsmen, and offers learning workshops on a variety of themes (sewing, bicycle repair, etc.).

Through user feedback, Ihopa has been able to demonstrate the social benefits generated by its services to the local authorities in which it operates. Some local authorities are therefore helping the company to develop its solutions.  A number of public bodies across the country are also involved in developing the solution to meet decarbonization objectives.

Similar initiatives 

• Miutcank: A community and a mobile app that aims to recreate social links between neighbours and reduce the consumption through sharing economy.