The Perfect World

Where?

We decided that the best place for our village would be the country of Romania. Why Romania? Our research showed that Romania is a country with one of the cheapest real estate prices in the European Union. It has a high percentage of educated population and at the same time low salaries and price of services which will allow us to hire professional employees and suppliers (e.g. construction workers) with lower investment. Romania has a great touristic potential with its beautiful scenic landscapes, greenery and mild climate. Besides, one of our team members is from Romania which makes it easier for us to have a local consultant who can speak the language and who is well acquainted with cultural, business and legal specifics of the country.

What will make the village ecological?

- Renewable energy sources for residents and any commercial/production activity.

- Ecological waste management: recycling, composting.

- Only electric cars will be allowed.

- No plastic packaging will be allowed in commercial and production activities.

- Organic agriculture and farming.

- Using natural and/or recycled construction materials, fashion garments, cosmetics and other everyday items as much as possible.

What is the purpose of the ecovillage?

The ecovillage will be built with several goals in mind.

- First of all, it will be literally the “village”, the living place for people who want to live and raise their children in ecological and green environment without fumes, plastic waste and other attributes of modern cities.

- Second, it will be a place for ecological production. We’ll invite small and medium size businesses working in the field of ecological farming, food processing, recycling, production of garments, clothes, cosmetics and beauty products, household items and any other businesses and organizations who want to produce and sell in the ecovillage.

- Third, it will be a place for ecological recreation (tourism) and education. The design of the village will be attractive for people from the European and other cities to come to this place for ecological holidays, to relax in a healthy natural environment. There will be a water park with sports attractions as well as artificial but ecological nature beauties like waterfalls.

The village will also have educational program for people of different ages to learn as much as possible about sustainable way of living, renewable energy and methods of production. We’ll ask all production businesses residing in the village to contribute to this cause by making their production units available for general public.

The recreational-educational part of the project will consist of an amusement park with purpose to educate people about ecology and healthy lifestyle, like an ecological “Disneyland” which tells a story and teaches about nature, culture and health. a

Where will the income come from?

As we mentioned before, the village will strive to be financially self-sustainable. The income will be mainly generated from three sources:

1. The permanent residents and the companies based in the village will either buy the buildings/land or they will sign long-term lease for the buildings/land.

2. The village will generate income from tourists coming to the place for holidays. There will be guest houses, villas, bungalows, etc. The tourists will be clients of local restaurants, gift shops, services (spa, rent of land and/or water sports equipment, etc.)

3. Educational programs will generate income from large groups (e.g. school children) who might come for even very short period of time like day trips.

Who are our competitors?

We have a few direct competitors who we believe at the same time can be our friends and partners. There’s Global Ecovillage Network (https://ecovillage.org/projects/) that connects villages like our, however, most of them are either small scale projects or they don’t have recreational/educational attractions, like we do. On the other hand, any kind of places/services for tourists are our competitors (e.g. amusement parks, resorts, agro tourism, etc.) as they attract people on holidays.

However, as we are 3-in-1, that is a residential village, eco production center and recreational/educational place, we believe to attract clients for all of them. Our main advantage is that we will not concentrate on either entertainment or luxury, as most our competitors in the field of tourism do, but we will focus on 'green' aspect of our project, which will undoubtedly attract people to visit 'The Perfect World'.

What investment is needed and where will it come from?

Investment capital is needed to buy the land, to complete the paperwork (legal and construction design), to design infrastructure and start construction of the first residential buildings, buildings for production and commercial activities, and the amusement park. As soon as they will have been built, the cash will start being generated from leasing the buildings and running the amusement park. The “green” energy will be either bought from the local existing companies or they will be invited to produce “green” energy for the village and will be able to sell it to anybody else.

We, as a team, will use our personal investment to start the company. We’ll attract all the possible sources, however, will concentrate mostly on “free” sources (that means commercial banks will be our last place to go for the money) as this project is not commercial. Therefore, we’ll attract as many donors (companies and individuals), funds (EU funds as well as privately owned), making partnerships with organizations focused on promotion of Eco living and so on.

Work done during the 1st Youth Exchange in Platres, Cyprus

Work done during the 2nd Youth Exchange in Athens, Greece