ANTANANARIVO — With coral cover declining in Madagascar, Koraï, a Franco-Malagasy startup, has shifted its focus to coral reef restoration from its predecessor’s specialization in coral export. Jeimila Donty, its founder and CEO, is part of a young “pro-climate” generation keen to grow their businesses and earn a living while working to protect the environment. Two years after Donty’s father passed away in 2020, she decided to take over the family business and shift its focus to restoring coral reefs. Under her father, the business, called Marine Aquaculture, farmed coral for export to aquarists. She renamed it Koraï, and based it in Paris where she now lives. The farm and other operations are carried out on Nosy Be, a small island of idyllic beaches in northwestern Madagascar, where she grew up. The venture brings together both her family history and her love for Nosy Be. Although her studies in business didn’t originally seem to set her up for this line of work, Donty says she soon realized that entrepreneurship and environmental conservation weren’t incompatible. Even though her academic background could have let her work for big companies and earn a comfortable income, it didn’t fit in with her calling to protect the environment. “I’m part of a different generation than the ones before me — I want to use what I know to incorporate the environment into my business model,” she tells Mongabay. Jeimila Donty, founder and CEO of Koraï. Image courtesy of Jeimila Donty. In fact, Donty is following…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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