Creating Impact Through Technology and Everyday Ideas
In briefAI summary — tap to read
Funda Erdin presented GreenIt, an app she developed to help users make sustainable choices through recycling guidance and product health analysis. The app uses AI and open databases to identify materials and product ingredients, providing environmental impact information and healthier alternatives without requiring downloads or subscriptions.
Key takeaways
- GreenIt uses photo and barcode recognition powered by AI to identify waste materials and provide recycling guidance with environmental impact context rather than alarmist messaging.
- The app includes a product scanner that grades household items and supplements based on ingredient safety and company sustainability practices, offering alternatives for healthier and more sustainable choices.
- The token-based monetization model allows free trials and pay-as-you-go usage without mandatory subscriptions, prioritizing user privacy and data protection.
- Future expansions include personalized allergy filtering, location-specific recycling directions, and integration with farmers markets to create a comprehensive sustainability pocket guide.
- Erdin emphasized that Rotary connections and community support motivated her development, and she advocates against age-related self-limiting beliefs as a driver for continuous learning and meaningful contribution.
About Funda ErdinFunda Erdin is a software architect with extensive technology experience who developed her first app from concept to publication, combining her skills in software architecture and coding with a passion for environmental sustainability and health-conscious consumer choices.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
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Program: Creating Impact Through Technology and Everyday Ideas
Speaker: Funda Erdin
Every week we bring you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how they contribute to service to others.
In this talk, Funda Erdin shares her journey from over 25 years in corporate roles to building her own technology-driven product from the ground up. Drawing on her experience in product, program, and customer success management, she walks through how an idea rooted in personal values—wanting better transparency around health, sustainability, and everyday choices—evolved into GreenIt. Along the way, she reflects on how passion, persistence, and years of experience came together with the support of AI to turn an idea into reality, driven by a genuine desire to help people make more informed choices.
Funda also explores the growing role of AI as a powerful enabler, especially for individuals and small businesses who want to build, experiment, and bring ideas to life without traditional barriers. This talk is about more than one app—it’s about rethinking what’s possible, using technology to create impact, and taking the first step toward building something meaningful.
This week's speaker, Funda Erdin, is the founder of GreenIt, a platform she created to help people make more informed everyday decisions, both for their health and for the environment. After more than 25 years in corporate roles across product management, program management, and customer success, she decided to build something of her own. Throughout her career, she worked closely with developers, turning ideas and business needs into real products, and that experience became the foundation for what she’s building today.
GreenIt started from something very personal: wanting not just healthier options, but also to support companies whose environmental values she could trust, and to better understand what happens to products after we’re done with them. Using her product background and the help of AI, she brought that idea to life. Today, she’s on a mission to use technology to connect people, create real impact, and help small businesses grow and succeed by giving them a stronger technological foundation.
Members and guests, please welcome Funda Erdin!
To learn more, go to:
https://www.greenit.app
https://anka-technologies.com
Our Three Podcast Series
Our main program speakers are available as podcasts in addition to YouTube videos.
Inspiring People — Stories of Innovation and Service
Inspiring Solutions for a Better World
Inspiring Women: Celebrating Trailblazers
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