Kareem Azizi Tucker: Just Start and We will be Successful!

(Reported by Iris & Linda)

Azizi Tucker, an expert developer of green products, knows exactly how to bring great ideas into reality. Formerly, he worked as a senior supplier quality manager and engineer at Tesla Motors, a renowned high performance electric car manufacturer. He currently owns the Sketch to SKU, a product development and engineering consulting firm in Taiwan.

It's intriguing to know someone from the USA chose Taiwan over other Asian countries to start a firm focusing on engineering and development of sustainable products, such as low emission vehicles. What brought Azizi to establish a company in Taiwan was actually his vision to build locally sourced green products. He saw an opportunity for the kind of engineering he wanted to do, the kind of greener product he wanted to develop. The idea of sourcing everything locally and reducing carbon footprints motivated Azizi to start up a company in Taiwan. In addition, he was interested in developing typically higher cost and lower volume products. That’s something he felt Taiwanese suppliers, supplier chains, and the industry could really support.

Speed is one of Azizi's true passions and the love of cars brought him to the motor industry. Since he was young, he has enjoyed the thrill that speed and momentum bring to his life. He feels lucky to have many mentors in his life to motivate him and give him guidance and supports his accomplishments today. An avid car racer and mountain biker, he doesn't let anything slow him down. During the earlier years of his car racing career, he didn't think too much about the negative impacts of car racing on the environment. It was the experience at Tesla Motors that sharpened his "green" mind. After working there for six years, he fully understood the capabilities and what the electric cars could do as a real product.

In recent years, Azizi has devoted his time to developing high speed cars and bikes that provide the fun without hurting the environment. He is glad to be able to do more racing and also some long distance racing in the dessert without feeling guilty. Excitingly he said, "I always go really fast all the time, but now at least I am not polluting!"

"I think it’s just the idea, kind of concept of creating things that suits your needs is one of my motivating factors."

Being humble and realistic, Azizi explained that it's better to develop things he loves and will use in life than trying to please everyone else. He doesn't know what the exact needs of a 60 year old lady for her electric motor bike; simply because he doesn't live that life and would not understand a lot of details. However, he knows the specifications of what he loves, he knows how he likes his bikes and what speed he enjoys riding. Azizi emphasized his point: it's just easier to believe in your own products, the products suit your needs; then you are likely to push it harder in the developing, manufacturing, and also marketing and selling the product. He explicitly targets a smaller segment of the market and does it really well; because he is not trying to sell products he doesn't believe in and he wouldn't use.

Fun products sell easily but green products do not necessarily!

Azizi knows market demands well. He is aware that people often time buy products that they like and are fun to have, not because they are good for the world. And so he hopes to make products that are fun and people would buy it because of that, then he doesn’t necessarily need to advertise the fact that these products are actually good for the world.

For instance, noticing there is such a high number of scooters zooming around Taipei city, Azizi experienced how miserable it is to sit at a stop light breathing in the polluted exhaust. He realized he wants to try to convince the young guys to use something electric instead of something gas powered. So, he decided to build very “fun” electric bicycles; with the fun being the most important part he said. That hopefully can change some of the young guys in Taiwan to switch from riding gasoline scooters to electric bicycles or motorcycles. He believes that if he can get the cool young guys to start riding electric bicycles, the less cool guys follow the cool guys and so we can create a little bit of a chain effect and that will start a trend. He thinks if a product developer can attract people into doing things that are good for the environment by creating fun products that will be very helpful for the world.

Azizi has already started many green projects and will be doing more. He would like to invite all of us to begin as well. Azizi advised, "With the green product development, the most important thing to remember is to start! And don't be afraid to fail!!" He believes that you don't need to be an engineer to start up a green project. Whether you have failures or mistakes, always push your ideas forward. Be proud of your unique creative designs or projects. He encourages everyone to start working on a green product you love and you know you will use in your life. And this way we will all be successful and enjoy a sustainable world together. 

Azizi understands the importance of developing environmentally friendly and sustainable products. He plays an influential role in the low emission vehicles industry. He cares about the globe we all share. Providing a clean environment for future generations is the responsibility of each of us world citizens. Azizi is a great supporter and eager to participate in the movement of An Era of Conscience. This global movement was launched in early 2014 and aims for sustainable world development and concerns the common welfare of humanity; our kind words and good deeds create a world of love and peace. As of today, more than 188 countries and tens of thousands of people from around the globe had joined in support of this movement. Let’s all just start by visiting the website www.aneoc.org; and see what you can do next to contribute to our world in a great positive way!