Green entrepreneur
Courtesy : cleanairlawncare.com/
Green entrepreneurship is the business enterprise of actively addressing an environmental problem or need through a financially sustainable business plan that has a positive impact on the environment, community, and economy.
What is a Green Entrepreneur?
A green entrepreneur is someone who opens and operates a venture that is designed to address an environmental problem or need in its products and processes from the beginning of the business plan.
Clean Air Lawn Care franchise owners, for example, are considered green entrepreneurs because they start and run a green franchise that solves the environmentally damaging problem of harmful, toxic air pollution and lawn chemicals from conventional lawn care approaches.
How to Spot a Truly Green Entrepreneur
Be careful of “green” marketing that is the rage with companies. Look for green innovations. A true green entrepreneur will be a disruptive innovator, an innovator that provides a solution to the problem of our planet becoming uninhabitable. You see, the green trend isn’t really a trend. It’s not going out of style.
Here are five green entrepreneurial business categories. The high risk of entrepreneurship is taken away by teaming up with and capitalizing on the growth of some of the best duplicable established green entrepreneurs. For example, Clean Air Lawn Care uses high-quality organic treatments and utilizes solar panels to charge equipment on the go.
Solar Energy and Other Renewable Energy
We could power the whole world with a combination of renewable energy solutions like solar energy. Solar panels installed on rooftops are now a requirement for many new homes in California. New roofing materials are being made that look nicer than traditional shingles. They are just as easy to install and act as solar panels to provide energy to heat a home. Solar shingles by Solar City act as both solar panels and shingles. Solar generators can power your home or camper. Solar cookers are environmentally sound and widely used in areas of the developing world. Solar heaters heat water. Solar cell panels convert about 15% of the sunlight hitting them into electricity. Solar panels could produce more energy in the form of electricity than the world needs. There is an opportunity for the green entrepreneur here.
Organics
Green entrepreneurship in organic products is on the rise. As education and awareness of the benefits of eating organically grown foods increases so does the cost-effectiveness in producing them to meet that demand. There are currently many ways to get into the organic agriculture business. There are organic grocery wholesales, dairy farms, livestock farms, fish farms, markets, and stores. The most common is an organic produce farm. Owning your own sustainable organic farm is a viable and popular business option when locals buy shares of produce. This is similar to farming of the past except there are no chemical pesticides and fertilizers used. The Frey Family Farm in Ashford, Washington is the perfect example. They are a certified organic producer and use only organic practices, seeds and principles. Their mission is to provide healthy food for their family and their community while caring for the land which they steward. They offer large and small shares of certified organic produce in a Community Supported Agriculture Program or CSA. This program runs for 20 weeks.
Other business opportunities are available in the organic product industry, including beauty products, lawn treatments, and textiles.
Recycling and Reusing
Waste is an ever-mounting problem. Green entrepreneurship that solves this, profits from it or eliminates it is much needed. This includes ways to reuse paper, plastics, used appliances, glass, technology/electronics, tires, batteries, clothes, furniture, wood, construction materials, and textiles…to name a few. These are non-biodegradable wastes. On the other hand, biodegradable waste consists of matter such as food, natural plants and materials, and feces. Both can be turned into profitable resources by an innovative green entrepreneur. Entrepreneur Sally Quinn started transforming office waste into value when she founded Green Collect. They specialize in finding the most sustainable solutions for office items that are the hardest to recycle. By creating work opportunities for communities who face barriers to employment, they are not only a sustainable business but an inclusive one as well.
“Clean” Products
Many stores offer greener, “cleaner” products that have removed the harmful chemicals. Still, there is so much room for growth, improvement, and innovation. Products with natural ingredients posing no health risks are a standard that will continue to reign supreme. This creates a solid business opportunity for innovations in cosmetics, cleaning supplies, personal care products like shampoos, soaps, perfumes and lotions, vitamins, supplements, weight loss products, products for your home and garden like fertilizers, weed control, and pesticides. Many of these products get their start being developed by a green entrepreneur innovator and then are eventually sold through big retailers like Walmart or Target. Native deodorant is an example of this.
Green Knowledge
Technology, social media, and access to any information online via the internet are the future. Eco consultants teach others how to incorporate sustainability into their business practices using their green knowledge both in their community and through the internet and social media. These green consultants can be hired by businesses to help them incorporate more environmentally responsible systems, products and policies. They visit homes to show owners ways to create more eco-friendly spaces by conserving energy, getting rid of toxin exposure and eating organically. Furthermore, green entrepreneurs share their knowledge through podcasts and blogging to teach others and drive their business.
Green entrepreneur Colin McCrate founded the Seattle Urban Farm Company in 2007. It thrives on pioneering new ideas and empowering city dwellers to reap the rewards of urban food production. They believe that sustainable urban agriculture can promote healthy living, environmental stewardship, and stronger communities. They drive business to them and share their green knowledge through blogging and a podcast called Encyclopedia Botanica.
Green Entrepreneurs are Leaders and Innovators
Putting values into practice, green entrepreneurs are purpose-driven leaders. They view the future of our earth, its living creatures, and the environment as immeasurably important. A few years back this aspiration would leave you penniless. A career plus a noble cause equaled poverty living. Now, it’s no longer a dream to own a business that will ensure your prosperity as well as serve a noble cause.
If you’d like to learn more about being a green entrepreneur through our green franchise business model, get in touch today! We’d love to talk about our green franchise business model.
