The latest Goldman Environmental Prize winners have been chosen yet again from the ranks of Ashoka Foundation Fellows. What does this mean for the environmental movement as well as the social entrepreneurship movement.
The Small Business Administration lacks green resources to turn green jobs into green businesses and green careers. Obama and Van Jones would be wise to insist on changing that.
Generally speaking, social entrepreneurs are not involved with greenwashing (at least not blatantly or intentionally). However, being an ecopreneurist does not automatically give you immunity from scrutiny. The fact that so many companies have jumped on to the green bandwagon has created an environment of skepticism among potential customers that any company claiming to be green must overcome.
SC: As for running your organization, even though it’s a non-profit, there’s a lot of similarity to the corporate world. What advice do you have for social entrepreneurs looking to start a group like yours?
JN: You have to find something that is really needed and that other people want to donate to make happen. I see a lot of people start projects that are really difficult to get funding. You have to find something that people are really passionate about.
SC: And people are truly passionate about veganism and vegetarianism. Now, I find it interesting how people respond to their personal approach to sustainability. Many are willing to give up the SUV for a Prius, but fewer are willing to give up their burgers for vegetarian options. It’s a matter of marketing, I guess. So what do you tell people concerned about their personal footprint about their diet, without turning them off to the cause?
“One of the biggest ironies of our growth model is that we’re coming to relize that it has failed to make our society particularly satisfied–indeed, the number of americans who say they’re very happy with their lives was higher in 1956 than it is today, though the standard of living has trebled over that half century.”
Bill McKibben, in the Foreword.
In Ecopreneuring, Ivanko (a writer for Ecopreneurist) and Kivirist give us an inside view of what it’s like to be a social entrepreneur. There are frequent interviews with other social entrepreneurs, as well as an in-depth look at the Inn Serendipity (Ivanko and Kivirist’s green bed & breakfast), as models of social entrepreneurship lifestyles and business models.
If you’re wondering who these social entrepreneurs are, how they operate, how they think, and what their values and lifestyles are, this book demystifies it all–and replaces the conventional American Dream along the way.
Look in your bathroom. Got a loofah in there? Ever used one? You know, like a sea sponge? Now think about it being used for building houses. Huh!? This is exactly what’s happening right now in Paraguay. Elsa Aldivar, a social activist teamed up with Pedro Padros, an industrial engineer to make this happen.
It didn’t happen right away. Aldivar was searching for a way to give women an earth friendly way to generate income, and encouraged them to cultivate loofah, that grows easily there, to be dried out and made into cosmetic products. But they found that a certain portion weren’t up to export standards, and 30% of the quality material was being shaved off while making mats, slippers, insoles and the cosmetic tools.
So she wondered what use/value could be created from these. Material for house walls and roofs, she decided. After extensive trial and error, she and Padros devised the perfect combination of loofah, recycled plastic, and things like cotton netting and corn husks, all of which would otherwise be disposed of. At less than $3 a square meter, competitive with wood.
How do you sell $2 CFL lightbulbs in Nicaragua, a country where the average monthly income is $60-$100? If you’re Llamadas Heladas, you do it by directly demonstrating the savings, and appealing to their desire for reliable power. Let me back up. Nicaragua, especially in the rural areas, is a place that largely depends on generators for power. And it often goes out, due to various reasons, including too much power usage. People are quite price conscious there.
Putting those two together, Llamadas Heladas, a company that offers among other things a phone booth on wheels, partnered up with TecnoSol, a local renewable energy company, to promote the use of CFLs during Earth Month. Yes month, they don’t mess around down there. The joint campaign was called No Apagones. Basically, it’s reframing these lights to be a source of less blackouts, due to reduced energy use. They may cost four times a regular lightbulb, but they last 10 times as long, and use less energy, saving you both money and the headaches of power outages. A simple, compelling argument. Watch the video on their site. No Espanol needed, the message is clear.
The World Economic Forum, held this weekend in Egypt, featured speeches by luminaries like President Bush of the USA; President Mubarack of Egypt and King Abdullah of Jordan but, eco entrepreneurs shared the spotlight.
Young leaders from the Middle East have called on their business and government leaders to implement reforms immediately and transparently if they are to fulfill their potential by 2025. “We need faster change to keep pace with what’s happening in the rest of the world,” said Amira Abdel-Aziz, a masters student at Cairo University.
Jacob Malthouse doesn’t have a plan to make a profit. His business, Big Room,Inc. has just released its first product, ecolabeling .org to address a need in the market, a need for some way to make sense out of all the labels making green claims… not to make money.
Spoken like a true social entrepreneur, I told Jacob when I spoke with him this week.
Ecolabeling.org addresses the challenge that many of us have: What do all of these certifications, seals of approval, standards and verifications actually mean. Is it truly green or is it just greenwashing? The independent database of over 300 labels (and growing) seeks to provide a one stop site for information on all types of green labels.
In an entrepreneur’s world, staying current means staying ahead of the competition. Yet with all of the urgent tasks piling up on your to-do list, keeping tabs on the latest industry news and views can easily fall by the wayside. Don’t lose that competitive edge — listen to it.
My personal introduction to the growing menu of green business podcasts came while searching for strategies to make my commute time and gym visits more productive. Ranging from four minutes to forty-five minutes in length, these concise audio feeds speak directly to ecopreneurs through a mix of interviews, international news, trend analysis and expert commentary on the emerging green economy.
I’ve pre-screened the front runners and highly recommend these five favorites:
(descriptions after the jump)
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