S03|06: From Science Fair to Clean Tech: Nivatha Balendra on Building Dispersa

Nivatha  00:01

I'm someone who loves innovation. I love ensuring that it's innovation that creates impact. And what better way to implement that than the perfect cross-section that is entrepreneurship, right? And I think that's really where I jumped into it, definitely not knowing what the adventure ahead would be, but it's just such a gratifying journey every step of the way, knowing that we're making something that is truly impactful, and not only helping the environment, but also helping improve the safety and health of lives. 

Leah  00:34

Hello and welcome to Season Three of The Founder Mindset brought to you by ATB. I'm your host, Leah Sarich, and I'm delighted to be back for another season of talking to Founders about what it's really like to build a company from that first big idea. If you've listened to previous episodes, you know I was a journalist for over 20 years, so I'm more curious about why anyone would ever want to become an entrepreneur, not so much about the business model, product, market fit and so on. I want to understand why entrepreneurs keep going, why they think they're the ones to solve a massive problem, why they want to make a real impact in the world. And if you're here, I bet you want to know why, too. Let's find out. 

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Joining me today is Nivatha Balendra, Founder and CEO of Dispersa, a clean tech startup converting food waste into sustainable chemical ingredients, replacing those used in everyday products like cleaners, detergents and cosmetics. Niv, thank you so much for being here.

Nivatha  01:34

Thank you for having me. Leah, it's really a pleasure being here.

Leah  01:37

How wonderful. All right. Now, as we tend to do in these conversations, we go way back in time to go—how did you even get into entrepreneurship? Now, do I have this right? It may have something to do with the science fair project when you were just 17?

Nivatha  01:53

That's it. It started way back. I mean, it's been, it's been quite a while. It's really quite an adventure that it's been, and what an amazing ride so far. It started back when I was 17, like you said, and at the time, I really would not have expected everything that would follow. It started off early in science for project, I was curious to learn more about the field of remediation in the context of an oil spill that happened close to where I grew up. So back in 2013 there was a train crash in a rural town called Lac-Mégantic, and it was a very disastrous accident that caused nearly over 5 million gallons of oil to spill into the rural town, and just hearing about this more and more on the news as a 17-year-old, I thought: What are oil spills? And what does it really mean, and how are these cleaned up? And so as I learned more about it, I was just fascinated to dig deeper, and also was surprised to find that at the time, we didn't have as many sustainable ways of cleaning up what is otherwise a polluted site. So for me, it just made more sense to clean a polluted site with something that was clean, right? And that's essentially what inspired the search for going into this field and me being a stage-up student at the time. So I'm from Montreal, stage up is pretty much the equivalent of grade 12 at the time in high school, and I had to submit for a school science project, and that's really how this all started. 

Leah  03:35

Wow. That is unbelievable. Okay, so help me understand the journey from science fair project then to Dispersa?

Nivatha  03:41

Yes, absolutely. So it's been quite the journey since, and you know, a lot of development, the science fair research really had to do with that preliminary findings of the oil spill context that I mentioned. So as a 17 year old, I put together this science fair projects. So you know, you have your scientific method you're trying to develop what it is that you're trying to solve. And in that case, I wanted to contribute to the existing literature around remediation in a way that was contributing to more about the field of microbes and how they can break down certain types of pollutants, like oils using a natural ingredient that they produce, known as a biosurfactant. So it's obviously a really technical term, but think of it like a soapy ingredient. So just the notion of some microbes producing what's equivalent to soap for me, was crazy. I mean, the fact that there are microbes that are producing something that we can't even see with our own eyes, and yet it could hold so much value in having an environmental and societal impact. So that really, really drove me to keep digging and keep searching and developing that research project. So, you know, at the end of that science fair project led me to discovering certain microbes that produce those soapy ingredients that could not only be used to treat oil spills, which was the main idea of the research at that time, but I continued it over the years after just to learn more about how… now that we have a science fair project, but how could we really deliver it into something that can be impactful for society. But there's a whole journey in between getting something from that preliminary high school science fair project, to then growing a commercialized business. So there was a few years of time between then and when I actually started the company in 2019, and I would say one particular inflection point for me personally was on a personal note, having been a cancer survivor and just experiencing that time of going through treatment and also being exposed to products that are not necessarily the most non-irritant or safe to use, especially for those going through chronic illnesses, really opened my eyes to how… simply by changing the ingredients that we have in our everyday products, how they can make a big impact on our health and our lifestyle. So that kind of all culminated together when I launched Dispersa and wanting to use this research for something that was for the greater good.

Leah  06:43

Okay, I'm going to stop you there, because I heard cancer survivor, and I heard student, and now and then I heard entrepreneur, and this is all happening at once.

Nivatha  06:53

I was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and at that time, I was in my second year of university. And during that time, obviously had to go through chemo, but also could not enter into any labs, because that would be too risky. And during those times that you just realize as well how short life is, right? And I really made a promise to myself to say, right, if I were to come out of this and have this second chance at life, what is it that I want to be doing? And for me, it was making an impact that would allow me to use what I love, which is science and innovation, but to make it such that it's able to contribute to the greater good, to our community, to our society. And so I continue the research after getting the all clear. And so thankful to still be in the clear.

Leah  07:53

No kidding, thank goodness. And I'm so glad to hear you're doing well, and I'm so glad that you're making this incredible impact in the world with this product that you're building. This is unbelievable, but I really just need to take a moment to reflect on that. Like, what is it about you as a person? Like, how did you know that you were the one to go—okay, I'm just going to do this, and I'm going to figure it out, even though I've just survived cancer and I'm just a young person, but I'm doing it. How did you know you could do that, or even that you wanted to take that risk?

Nivatha  08:24

It didn't come immediately. In terms of being an entrepreneur, specifically, I would say that personally, I'm someone who, if there is something to solve, I will pursue relentlessly to find the answer. And it was more of that, initially, to be honest, and somewhere along the lines, when I started seeing how, at the time, I discovered this microbe and that it produced these ingredients. And I thought, huh, how can we think about this on a larger scale? And as I started asking myself those questions, and also through the science fair, I was really grateful to have a lot of opportunities at an earlier age, to connect with industry experts, and just meeting folks who have seen the commercial side in other aspects, and hearing that this could be something of potential interest, really put one on one together for me in the sense of, right? I'm someone who loves innovation, and I love ensuring that it's innovation that creates impact. And what better way to implement that than what I felt was the perfect cross-section that is entrepreneurship, right? And I think that's really where I jumped into it, definitely not knowing what the adventure ahead would be, but it's just such a gratifying journey every step of the way, knowing that we're making something that is truly impactful, and not only helping the environment, but also helping improve the safety and health of lives. That's something that we're really passionate about.

Leah  10:15

No kidding. And clearly people are paying attention. I mean, we'll dig into the company in just a second, but even something like being on the Forbes 30 under 30 list this year, I mean, congratulations. That's incredible.

Nivatha  10:28

Thank you. Really appreciate it.

Leah  10:32

And so you're making these lists, people are starting to pay attention to what you do. You've also raised money, a significant amount of money, this year. Can you talk a little bit about that? How much money did you raise?

Nivatha  10:42

Yeah, cumulatively, since the inception of Dispersa, we raised over $14 million to date.

Leah  11:00

That's incredible. And how big is your company right now? Like, how many employees do you have? 

Nivatha  10:55

We're 17 people and going strong. We're in the middle of hiring more folks to join what I call our dream team. And we do have an official nickname for all of our Dispersa members. We are dispersions. So we're looking for more dispersions to join our journey. Yeah, we'll be about 20 people by the end of this year.

Leah  11:21

That's so incredible. I love that. Okay, so let's dig into a little bit, just so people understand who are listening to this of what exactly is a surfactant. You've got the proprietary technology called BioEterna, and then your product, PuraSurf. Can you tell us just a little bit about that?

Nivatha  11:37

Yes. So BioEterna is the name for our process, how we produce, what we produce. Taking a step back at Dispersa, we convert food waste into biosurfactants, the ingredient that I mentioned earlier. So think of a soapy ingredient that is very critical to everyday products that we use, such as soaps, all purpose, cleaners, laundry detergents, and my favorite example, which is ice cream. And just imagining how surfactants are literally in every neck of our lives is really fascinating when we just think of the sheer impact that ingredients have that we might not always realize thinking of our products and what we put on our skin, what we put on our surfaces, or even introducing to kids or pets, and all of these products contain surfactants. So at Dispersa, the BioEterna process is really enabling how we produce what we produce. So that's really at the heart of what we do and how we transform food waste, specifically oils and sugars, into this natural ingredient that is free of palm, free of petroleum, completely non toxic. It's biodegradable. And you know, the best part of it for us is creating something that doesn't compromise sustainability for affordability. Ultimately, we want to make sure that these ingredients are mainstream and accessible, and that's what we're doing. And so to answer your second question on what is PuraSurf, that is our product. So PuraSurf is the name for our flagship ingredient, and it's the world's first fully waste derived biosurfactant that we're really thrilled to be introducing into cleaning products as our first sector.

Leah  13:44

Wow. So, like, my mind is kind of blown here, like, this is amazing, and I'm just sitting here thinking about… I mean, as consumers, you know, we're just starting to learn about some of this stuff, but I would imagine that not only the consumer, but a lot of enterprises, are asking for and looking for cleaner alternatives, because everybody wants that moving forward.

Nivatha  14: 04

Exactly, you know, there, there's a lot more attention and awareness to the health of a product and how that impacts our health and the environment, and it's a really great time to be having these discussions, and it's at the forefront of the minds of the customers. And it's not only consumer driven, right? We have brands who are building their sustainability agendas as well as their goals for developing healthier products for a healthier planet, and as we're navigating those discussions with customers, it's clear that everyone is working towards that mission of creating better products and better not only from a performance point of view, but ensuring that performance is not negating the importance of of health, for the environment and for ourselves.

Leah  14:58

Wow, amazing. I love this, okay. But as we know, in the building of every company, every Founder I talk to, there is always at least one, usually more sort of a do or die moment or that pivotal moment. And the growth of a company is, can… does one of those moments come to mind for you?

Nivatha  15:14

Definitely, there's been, there's been quite a few of those moments throughout every inflection point, if you will, of our journey. It really paints the the journey as you know, not being linear, it's anything but, and every Founders, every company's journey, will look completely different from the other. I would say that for us in particular, one that I remember was around covid. So of course, covid time, everything is shut down and naturally as a startup, and just like many other startups and small businesses, and for ourselves as well. At the time, as a pre-revenue startup, we're thinking, right, how are we going to shift this so that we're able to get more traction? And at the time, we were catering our technology more for the oil and gas sector, because, again, my research had initially focused on this sector, and, you know, it was almost day and night when I was just thinking, right, you know, we're in the middle of covid. If we were to continue down this sector at this time, it might not be the ideal market segment for what we're trying to achieve, for the time that it represents the pandemic, right? And the impact that it had on the energy sector as well. And just looking at the news every day again, just reflecting on that, I thought, Wait, everyone's talking about soaps, we're talking about sanitation, we're talking about cleanliness. And if there's one thing that's on everyone's minds right now, it's, how are we cleaning our surfaces, and how are we cleaning our hands? And the other part of it was, well, we're producing surfactants, which are found in all of those products. So overnight, I said we need to pivot. We need to shift to this other market and focus on that. And so that was a really critical moment for our business, because, you know, we we pivoted our thesis entirely. We went straight into cleaning products and said, This is it. This is what we're going to pursue. And that meant catering our ingredient and curating it for a totally different target segment. 

Leah  17:44

Wow. I mean, how did you even know that you were just like, I'm on to this. I know we got to do this. Okay, everybody, we're doing this. How did you know and have confidence in yourself to do that?

Nivatha  17:52

It's not something that I thought too much about. I think it was more of a spur of the moment, and really at the time, I just felt we can either continue down this market segment that would be really great and awesome for us, but just looking at the market and where it's at right now, I was thinking, well, what would be the most responsible decision to do right now? Even if it's a tough one, we do need to make tough decisions, after all, to make sure that the business can continue to be relevant. And I think that's really where my headspace was at was we need to be able to pivot with market trends and stay relevant always. And that was really part of it. And for me, it just felt like a no brainer, where we're producing an ingredient and whether we produce it for one segment or another. At that time, it was the same ingredient. It just had to do more with how we were doing our applications testing, for example, and building our customer materials in a way that spoke more to the cleaning product sector. So it wasn't an easy decision, but you know, it's definitely one that put us on the the right path.

Leah  19:08

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So what did you learn moving through that experience? What did you learn about yourself as a Founder, in terms of making that pivot?

Nivatha  19:45

It was a difficult decision, and I would say that as a Founder, you're not only tasked with making these critical decisions for the business, but you're also shouldering a lot of responsibility for the company, for the people that work in the company and at the time, as a pre-revenue startup as well. And this is actually even before we raised our very first round, I just thought, well, we need to stay afloat. We need to move things ahead. And you know, that's the masked reality and responsibility, really, of all Founders is making the right decision at the right time.

Leah  20:35

Yeah, no kidding. It is all about timing, isn't it, and the relentlessness that you spoke of is so common in a lot of these conversations. Being an entrepreneur is not a nine to five job. This is an all consuming, you know, sort of work life. How does being an entrepreneur affect your personal life. If you don't mind me asking.

Nivatha  20:57

Absolutely, I'm just thinking, it's so intertwined, I would say there's no… w it's funny. I was just thinking the other day there, there's not really a work life balance, per se. It's more making it work. You know you you find pockets of time for making your own balance work. So it's less about finding a perfect balance all the time, and more ensuring that you know you have the right ratio as you're building up your business, and it's hard to define those boundaries between what's work or personal, because at least for me, all of this started off from personal motivation. So I absolutely love what I do, so I wake up just feeling so excited and thrilled every day to be living my dream and working with amazing people who I absolutely adore. And you know, the flip side of that is making sure that you know you're paying attention to your health and paying attention to making sure you get enough sleep, you're spending time with your loved ones and family and friends. So definitely, I think that that's important to maintain, but it's an ebb and flow.

Leah  22:29

Yeah, I asked all the Founders the same question too, do you give any thought to how you should stay well? But in your context, I'm actually thinking about this too, as a cancer survivor, you know, you might be a little bit more motivated, or at least have a bit more awareness of how important it is to stay well as you do this work,

Nivatha  22:46

Absolutely. And you know, thank you so much for for bringing that to light, I think, as a Founder and as any entrepreneur, it's so important to maintain good health, and well, you know, we're talking good physical health, but also good mental health, and just making sure that there's the ability to place boundaries around what that looks like. And especially when it comes from a personal motivation where it's just, go, go, go, all the time because of just how exciting it is, it's easy to lose track of that time. I would say the one thing that I've been pretty non-negotiable about since the start is really carving out time over the weekends. And I know that's quite you know, not all Founders may do that and balance looks very different for for everyone, but in sharing just what's been really important for me, weekends, not only for me, but for the team, are non negotiable. I wanted to make sure that at Dispersa, we were building a culture that was proactively supporting good health and not promoting burnout, and that really starts from within, and ensuring that, you know, the moment we come to the weekend, of course, there may be deadlines, projects that come up, and that's fine, you know, it comes and it's part of the game, but making sure that we're actively prioritizing time with our loved ones. So you know, that's really my time to spend time with my family, with my friends, and making sure that not only myself, but the team, we're all charged up and ready to go come the week.

Leah  24:33

Wow, that's great. I do know that you as an organization are growing really, really fast. Do I have this right—lab scale to commercial production in just a couple of years? Going that quickly must make it really challenging to protect that culture that you have just talked about, where you are protective of that weekend time.

Nivatha  24:54

You know, like you said, we're we're growing fast. But another really important factor for me, and I really appreciate that you touched on that, Leah, is, how are we ensuring that we're maintaining our culture, you know, our essence, regardless of where we go, and it's critical for me that no matter how we grow, that we maintain that. And of course, it's seen time after time, you know, as a company grows into a larger evolution of their company size, that essence might not always be there. However, at Dispersa, you know, what we're really actively and proactively trying to implement is ensuring that values are always aligned. You know, actively prioritizing discussions around not only objectives and KPIs and metrics, which are very important, but also talking about how our people are, where we are in terms of alignment and making sure that everyone's mission aligned, that's really critical. It's not really only me anymore, it's the rest of the team who are all doing a fantastic job and making sure that our values and mission are carried on, not only in themselves but in the teams that they manage. And this is where I feel that no matter how fast we grow, I'm confident that we'll be able to maintain that because, you know, we trust our people to carry on the torch and to make sure that essence is not forgotten, regardless of the scale that we're at.

Leah  26:36

I love hearing how mindful you are about that and how to your point, it's not just about the objectives and KPIs, like that's obviously, like you said, very, very important. But right alongside it is the mission, values, and culture right there. They work together. I love that. And of course, like you mentioned, you love being an entrepreneur, but I want to… I love… your face just lit up. That's so cute. I love hearing about what you really love about being an entrepreneur. Let's talk about that too.

Nivatha  27: 08

There's so many things I could say. I mean, do we have time? I would say first and foremost, having this opportunity that I'm so grateful for to work with amazing humans side by side and making this come to life and bringing it to reality is probably the most gratifying thing about being an entrepreneur. This all started with a science fair project, but there is such a difference between something being a project and then bringing it to the market. And none of this would have been possible without the team that we have right now. And I do emphasize that because, you know, I'm really lucky to be working with such brilliant minds every day, and just to see them so fueled with passion and trying to figure out the challenges that come our way. And that's what brings me a lot of confidence as well, and just what we're building and what we do is because we're a team that loves challenges, and that's also why we love innovation. We love figuring things out and tinkering. The other part, I would say, is impact. That's just something of value that was instilled in me growing up is we each have our own passion, we each have our own skill. How we use it will make a big impact, and ultimately for me, and that's what my parents would always say, is, you know, no matter what you do, just make sure you do it for the greater good. And you know that for me, was always instilled in me from a younger age, and so I think growing up and seeing just how I was really passionate about science, it was always… I was always driven and going towards—how could I use this to contribute in one way or another.

Leah  29:15

Yeah, and again, people continue to see that in you. I'm just looking at my notes here. Governor General's Innovation Award you just won, also. Congratulations. Thank you. It's incredible, but I'd love to talk about your notion of impact at thinner labs here too, we are very invested in the notion of creating meaningful human impact, and we love to support Founders that are working in this space. And so I would love to understand how you think about impact and the impact that you're creating in the world. What does it mean to you?

Nivatha  29:41

Impact comes in so many forms, and I believe that for me, personally, impact is really in the shape of number one. How are we contributing to a better future generation when we leave this planet one day, and want to make sure that the future generation is better off than the one that we're in. And that's really our responsibility, and making sure that we're doing our part and leaving the place a bit better than you know how we came into it. And I just think that that's our responsibility. And I think the second, for me is really about how we're looking at protecting not only our natural resources, but contributing to improving the environmental quality and impact. That, for me, is really, really important. How are we thinking about impact from an environmental lens and creating that. And I think the next point is also more related to health. And if we can contribute in some way to a healthier lifestyle, a healthier living, you know, I think it builds off of the Sustainable Communities. But, you know, sustainable can mean many things. It's not only the environmental sense, but it's also sustainable from, you know, how are we building sustainable communities and sustainable living?

Leah  31:40

Yeah, and, you know, the other thing that comes to mind, is the impact? I mean, you've spoken it more broadly, but even the impact upon the individual. You know that you're individually, you know you've got this cumulative effect, of course, but individually, you are allowing people to live a healthier way, and that can have a direct impact on their health, for example. And again, I'm going back to the cancer conversation. You know, you can't help but understand that, you know, when we're using products that are sustainable and better for us, that can contribute to lesser diseases, fewer complications, all kinds of things, what does that mean to you having that kind of impact on an individual's health?

Nivatha  32:12

It’s definitely the mission and our goal. We are working so hard because we want that impact to be seen, and even if we can have a fraction of input and ability to say, right, we were helping to move that dial forward, that's really a job done for us. I think that that's really what it culminates to. We want to be able to, even on the individual level, if it means, you know, reducing the amount of exposure to toxic byproducts at the end of the day. It's not that chemicals or ingredients are bad, it's more about how can we reflect on how they're being produced? Because we still need the same products that we need. We will still need soap, we'll still need cleaners, we'll still need laundry detergents. We still need all of these different products and applications. But if we can swap out those ingredients with ones that are produced in a better way, without the environmental impact, but are also not as harmful to us as humans and, of course, other living beings, at least, we're able to reduce the exposure that may cause damaging illnesses or, you know, hormonal imbalances, respiratory disorders. There's a list, really, that comes up in studies when we look at harmful exposure to certain toxic byproducts that come out of certain consumer products. And you know, we've heard of it time over time, we've heard of sulfates, we've heard of parabens, we've heard of phthalates. And now there's a more recent discussion around one called 1,4-dioxin. So these are all contained, and, you know, to a certain degree, found in different types of consumer products.

Leah  34:15

Wow. And so you're just gonna swap those out for your product, and it's gonna be better for all of us.

Nivatha  34:20

That'd be amazing. We're getting there.

Leah  34:25

We're getting there. I love that. And, in fact, I should mention this, one of the ways you're getting there is actually by building manufacturing capacity right here in Canada, which I absolutely love, you know, contributing back to the innovation ecosystem here in Canada. Can you talk just briefly about that?

Nivatha  34:39

Yes, you know, a localized supply for localized production is really something that we are truly motivated about and for the moment, when we look at just where Dispersa develops and produces its technology, we have our development center. And so our R and D product development that happens in Laval and Quebec. And then we have been doing our scale up in Nova Scotia, and just having that localized presence is something that's really meaningful to us. You know, being able to stay made in Canada and having a local supply especially during a time like we are right now, resiliency and local supply chain is just really important, and especially the ingredients that are found in products. Part of that is also part of our thesis. And of course, naturally, as we grow, being able to build that in other regions and being able to bring our technology across is also definitely something we look forward to, but not without ever losing our Canadian footprint.

Leah  35:58

I love that. I love it. All right? Well, as we come to the close of this conversation, I ask a couple of questions. You are the Founder of Dispersa. You're writing the story for your company. How do you hope that story goes?

Nivatha  36:12

I hope this adventure continues to build the chapter after chapter that we knock off our technology in being applied to not only the cleaning product sector, but to as many industries as possible. You know, we want to bring our product to many different sectors, maybe one day oil and gas, which is how this has all started, and really be able to see the greater impact. I mean just by seeing how impactful this can be, and cleaning products, which is just one vertical of where surfactants can be, and seeing just how our mission continues to grow at Dispersa and having so many more dispersions joining us on this journey to creating sustainable impact. 

Leah  37:01

I love it. And, of course, as a Founder, how do you hope your own personal story goes?

Nivatha  37:12

I love the evolution of being a Founder, and I really hope that continues to be the case, and I'm sure it will be in the sense that you're always learning, you're always on your feet. And that's what I love about being a Founder. The Founder that I was when I started the company nearly six years ago is completely different from, you know, the Niv that I am today, and I'm sure will continue to be the case over the years. And personally, part of that is also just being surrounded by such brilliant minds from whom I learn from each and every day. And so just as our team continues to grow, I'm sure that I'll continue to learn from them and the folks around us in our community to continue building Dispersa from one chapter to the other.

Leah  37:59

Well, I look forward to it. Niv, thank you so much for this conversation.

Nivatha 38:04

Thank you. Thank you so much. Leah.

Leah  38:15

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