Archive for Enviornmental – Page 3

Sustainable Ocean Alliance

The Sustainable Ocean Alliance is a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California.  Their main goal is to accelerate solutions for ocean sustainability.  They are seeking to clean the oceans and help bring the importance of ocean health into the public eye.  Since its founding the SOA has raised over 3 million dollars for ocean startups around the world.  It is the type of startup that upon first glance looks like the brain child of a wealthy venture capitalist seeking to use his capital to impact positive change.  However, the SOA started in a much different way and was started by a much different person.

The founder of the SOA is a young lady named Daniela V. Fernandez.  She came up with the idea in her college dorm room while she was studying at Georgetown University.  Fernandez is passionate about the ocean and wanted to come up with a solution for its growing pollution problems.  Since the conception of the idea five years ago the SOA has experienced a large amount of growth.  They now support over 150 startups related to ocean health in 60 different countries.  Fernandez is the young leader of a highly successful social enterprise.

There are a few traits about Fernandez that make her unique and the perfect person for running an organization like the SOA.  The first entrepreneurial traits she possesses is no fear of taking risks.  Few college students sit in their dorm rooms and think they have what it takes to save the oceans.  Fernandez thought she could (and so far she is).  The second trait she possesses is selflessness.  She did not start the SOA because she thought it would make her rich and famous.  She started it because she saw a real need for action before it was too late. Fernandez did not have a desire to make a lot of money but she wanted to start a business that would help millions of people.  The SOA is creating real change in the world’s oceans and it would not be where it is today without Daniela Fernandez.

iReTron

As a sophomore in high school, Jason Li, founded iReTron.com. Li cares deeply for the environment which overall inspired his creation. iReTron basically encourages or rewards people to “go green”. Electronics are found to be one of the fastest growing portions of trash; Li’s goal is to help lessen the amount of trash found on the earth. The solution Li found is reusing and recycling old electronics. iReTron.com helps an individual sell, upgrade, or recycle their used gadget in the most convenient and efficient way possible. Most people have electronics and gadgets siting at home in a drawer, you might as well make some money off of it or make the world a greener place. At the age of seventeen iReTron made an impact on Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran when Li took his business idea to a famous TV show known as, Shark Tank. iReTron earned a $100,000 investment.

Li was not satisfied with his highly successful iReTron business so he decided to found his second social enterprise, UProspie. UProspie is a web platform that helps increase the accessibility to higher education. This goes to show how motivated Li is and how hard he works.

I admire the fact that Li was risky enough to put his effort into two separate businesses. I have learned a lot from Li for example, one needs to be willing to risk the RIGHT amount, one needs to believe in their idea, and one needs to be creative when thinking up a business idea. Li changed the idea of getting rid of electronics and made it into something that can help improve the earth. Li is a terrific example of just how successful a young entrepreneur can be.

Mikaila Ulmer – Me and The Bees Lemonade

I think it is safe to say that most people remember their first bee sting as a painful experience.  Getting stung is not pleasant and most of us learned from a young age to steer clear of bees.  However, if you are a passionate, innovative 15-year-old named Mikaila Ulmer your first bee sting is a major factor in your story.  11 years before starting her business Mikaila was stung by a bee.  The bee sting combined with the timely arrival of a family lemonade recipe catapulted her into action.  Since that timely sting and via the encouragement of her family Mikaila has since grown her lemonade business exponentially over the last 11 years. What started as a fun way to make some spending money and help educate people about bees has become a growing enterprise for Mikaila.  Nowadays, Mikaila’s lemonade comes in 6 different flavors and is sold in regional Whole Foods, Kroger’s, and restaurants near her home in Texas.  So how did Mikaila become one of the most well-known young entrepreneurs in the country?

One of the biggest factors in Mikaila’s success has been the support of her family.  Entrepreneurs often have good family and friends who encourage them to take risks and keep their head up when things aren’t going well in business.  This was true in the case of Mikaila.  Another important trait I noticed when reading about Mikaila is her desire to care for the environment. Most individuals do not start a business that helps support one of their biggest fears.  When Mikaila was stung she began researching all about bees and decided to start a business to support healthy bee colonies.  Creating spaces for bees to safely produce honey can prevent them from making nests near residential areas.  Mikaila is helping bees thrive by selling a product she loves and believes in.  She is a young entrepreneur full of drive and desire.  Her lemonade business is just the beginning of her entrepreneurial career.

Gabe Blanchet and Grover Labs

https://www.digitalfoodlab.com/en/foodtech-database/grove-labs

Gabe Blanchet is the co-founder of the grove ecosystem which is a device that allows you to grown plants inside in a way that also decorates your house. Gabe designed this while finishing school at MIT. His inspiration for this was to allow for people to be able to have a garden no matter where they live. Gabe looked into the idea that certain areas can only grow crops for a certain duration of the year, however people in those areas still want to have gardens. So, Gabe decided to construct an indoor garden for himself. After collaborating with fellow students, he found that this idea could be profitable. Although after talking with people he found that his idea needs to be more appealing to people to want them to put it into their homes. After much redesign, Gabe and his fellow students were able to make a fashionable design to put into your home and from there Grove Labs was created.

Gabe took the idea of gardening and found a problem that people in certain areas had and was able to create a product to meet those needs. Along with just solving the problem and using the left side of his brain after talking with fellow students, he found that the idea does not only need to perform but be appealing to the customers more. Here we see Gabe had to exercise the right side of his brain and open up to the idea of interior designing and allowing a product not only to function but to look the part as well. I find Gabe inspirational because he has shown that in the world today to be innovative you cannot just have something that works it needs to work and appeal to customers. He shows how a young entrepreneur needs to be able to adapt and learn new things to allow his idea to grow and flourish.

College No. Six figures YES!

What started as a plan to earn money for candy, turned into a 6 figure/ year income for a teenager from Colorado. RJ Duarte was 8 years only when he began his entrepreneurial journey, with a red wagon, a lawnmower, and 5 neighborhood clients RJ began his business. Over time the venture grew, and soon he had a whole trailer park worth of clients. At this point RJ could not keep up with the work on his own. That is when a friend named Owen Johnson became the second member of the workforce. Now on weekends RJ could do more work which increased his income.

For marketing RJ relied on a simple “word of mouth” technique to get new customers on board. And in 2014 the two decided they would take it to the next step and create a legitimate business. They named it GreenWorx. After the hire of another employee, and another big season coming up they decided to try a new marketing technique. After many failed attempts, their story was picked up by a local newsletter that was sent to over 19,000 residents in the area. Let us just say it was a good season for them after that!

By the end of 2016, Green Worx was 300% bigger than the year before. Going into 2017, Green Worx has expanded its team, adding two new labor consultants to help with increasing demand. At this point the two were making six figures a year and growing. After more than five years of working with Green Worx Landscaping, Owen decided to part ways with the company in order to go off to college, but RJ had other plans. He had built something far more than that young 8-year-old in need of candy ever imagined. He decided not to go to college and stuck with the business.

Now with four trucks, and fifteen employees during season the company is bringing in annual revenues close to $750,000/ yr. Thanks to his work ethic, and some strokes of luck, RJ has built a business that will support him for years to come.

NOHBO, Planet-Friendly Personal-Care

Ever wonder when large clunky plastic containers of bathroom hygiene products will be a thing of the past? Nohbo, or NO-Hair-BOttles, has answered this question with, “right now!” Benjamin Stern thought up the innovative idea of Nohbo in his ninth grade biology class and ran with it. At the young age of fourteen, Benjamin watched a documentary about the plastic-bottling industry and how much plastic truly ends up in your bathroom garbage each year, rather than being recycled. He took it upon himself from that day forward to come up with an eco-friendly solution to the limitless plastic waste. His goal was to blend the innovative concept of detergent pods with every-day bathroom products such as shampoo, body wash, and shaving cream. Young Benjamin’s solution was the prototype he created that was a dissolvable ball of product inside of a biodegradable wrapper. He saw the problem of plastic waste in single-use products being mass produced and eradicated this unnecessary abundance with his waste-less product called Nohbo Drops. This product was just the beginning because it soon launched him all the way to the hit TV Show, “Shark Tank.” It was here where he struck an impressive deal with Mark Cuban for $100,000 with a 25% equity stake in his business. Success was bound to happen.

The years following this were big for Benjamin Stern, he not only had Mark Cuban on his side, but he had money and mentorship to aid his growth. On many accounts this young man has found himself deeply appreciative of the amazing business people and scientists that he is surrounded by. They have helped him avoid countless mistakes. In the past three years, Stern graduated high school, raised over three million dollars in business financing, and his Nohbo Drops have been bustling off of the shelves. Though Ben Stern has seen success on all levels, he has hit some pretty significant roadblocks along the way. The most major of the many was the “structurally instability” that the dry dehydrated product form caused within the biodegradable wrappers. This problem was fixed by filling the wrappers with a gel based product which not only worked better and was easier to ship out, but also cut the production cost to a third of what it had been. 

These eco-friendly drops of personal-care products are making Ben Stern a successful young entrepreneur, and they are making the abundance of single use plastic bottles, (that are overused in hotel chains especially,) a thing of the past. These Nohbo Drops melt in your hands once in contact with water and leave no plastic waste to discard following their use. As this environmentally aware entrepreneur has made clear, they [Nohbo] “are a mission driven research and development company founded on the premise of eradicating unnecessary single use plastic bottles in areas where there truly is no need for them.” 

From inspiration to innovation, Benjamin Stern has found a problem and solved it. Today, he continues to work hard behind the scenes at Nohbo. If only he had known that one spark in his mind during a ninth-grade biology class would lead to the prosperity he lives in today. It took only his pursuance of one single idea to inspire a whole generation of young men and women to find problems in the world and try to solve them just like he did. He has not only thought like an entrepreneur, but he has innovated an old commodity like one too. 


For More Information On Nohbo Visit: https://nohbo.com/

Or Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5TMemcpi3w

Sustainable Air Transportation

Wright Electric was founded by Jeffrey Mark Engler to solve the problem carbon emissions by airplanes.  Flying is an essential part of modern transportation, but it can triple a persons carbon footprint.  Wright Electric is working on developing an electric airplane that will have much lower carbon emissions than current passenger jets.  The Wright 1 airplane that is in development will be able to carry 186 passengers, and it will use batteries to power electric motors for propulsion.  Lower carbon emissions will be achieved by using electric power and a more aerodynamic design that reduces drag and makes the airplane more efficient.  Battery powered airplanes are becoming more realistic as a result of research by government agencies such as NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory that are making batteries more efficient and lighter.  An electric airplane has some additional benefits.  Electric motors are much quieter than traditional jet engines, and the decreased use of fuel will make electric airplanes cheaper to fly.  Wright electric is also designing their airplane so that batteries can be quickly swapped at an airport to allow for a faster turnaround time.

Wright Electric has partnered with experienced airlines such as EasyJet, Jetex, and VivaAerobus to get commercial, operational, and maintenance insight during the design process.  The Wright 1 will not have a very large range at first with 500km or 311mi flights from London to Paris, but it will be able to get up a 1,280km or 800mi range.  The Wright 1 will also have slower cruising speeds than similarly sized passenger jets, but Wright Electric expects this to be fine for the short flights that they will be starting with.  Wright Electric is planning to perform ground tests of its motors in 2021 and flight tests in 2023.  They are hoping to have the airplane on the market by 2030.

Jasmine Crowe: Goodr

 

Jasmine Crowe is a female entrepreneur who uses her innovation and knowledge to make a huge impact on the food supply chain and hunger in America. In 2017, Jasmine founded Goodr, a food logistics company that takes excess food from large conference centers, airports, and companies, and redistributes it to people who struggle with poverty-related hunger. According to Feeding America, 37 million people in America struggle with hunger (https://www.feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/facts) and Jasmine Crowe believes that this number can be significantly lowered by distributing food correctly, instead of producing more.

How does Goodr deliver value?

Goodr has a “triple-win” solution that delivers value to customers, the planet, and those struggling with poverty-related hunger. By donating excess food to food banks and other donation centers, companies can increase their bottom line through charitable tax donations. Additionally, companies are no longer sending the excess food to landfills and creating more greenhouse gases, which improves sustainability in the company and benefits the environment. Finally, Goodr delivers value to communities in need by delivering the surplus food to those who are struggling. Goodr does not deliver the food to communities and leave, instead, they take a hands-on approach to ending hunger. The company produces pop-up grocery stores in low-income communities that allow community members to shop a variety of fresh foods for free. Many of these pop-up grocery stores are sponsored by local companies and corporations, enabling and encouraging these companies to give back and care about the community they are in. In addition to these pop-up grocery stores, Goodr provides demonstrations on how to cook healthy meals.

Goodr has donated over 2 millions pounds of food from companies such as Netflix, Hartsfield- Jackson International Airport, NFL, and many more.

Inspiration

This is not Jasmine’s first innovative approach to giving. She is also the founder of BCG (blackcelebritygiving.com), a non-profit philanthropic company that partners with black celebrities all over the world to use their influence and resources for good. Jasmine is an inspiration to innovators worldwide who seek to make the world a better place through entrepreneurship and service.

To learn more about Goodr and their mission, visit goodr.co

Glass Half Full

For the past decade, young adults are becoming more and more aware of the impact that waste has on the Earth’s oceans and land. There have been multiple startups to help clean the oceans, but what about replenishing the sand on the beaches? Louisiana, the hot spot for hurricane hits, has its coast being greatly eroded every time there is flooding.

But in 2018, three Tulane University students decided to fight for their home. Max Landy, Max Steitz, and Franziska Trautmann started Plant the Peace, a nonprofit organization that “aims to fight climate change at the intersection of education technology and carbon reduction.” This nonprofit’s website has free, educational games that anyone can play. And for every 10 correct answers that a gamer achieves, Plant the Peace plants one tree. This worldwide site is taking a step in the right direction and helping other business become more sustainable as well.

This past year, the students had the idea to replenish Louisiana beaches, and started another nonprofit. How did they begin this? They built a mobile, glass-pulverizing machine that turns glass into sand. It was designed to be mobile so that they could transport it from location to location start the process. Once they began to accumilate large amounts of glass bottles, they bought a warehouse and moved their project inside. They also set up about 20 sites around the city for used glass to be dropped off, and partnered with businesses in the area to house large recycling bins. Over the spring and summer, they touched up and facelifted the warehouse to make it an easier environment to work in. Now, they are working harder than ever to minimize the amount of glass bottles Tulane has, and to make sand for their beaches.

Fair Harbor

 

 

About Them

Jake and Caroline Danehy founded Fair Harbor. It started when they went on shark tank with their idea and won $20,000 for grant money. They go to Colgate University. Jake being 20 and Caroline being 17 they were able to start this company themselves. If you would read their about us on their website you would learn that they loved going to the beach as kids. They grew up in a community that barely had any cars and everyone was barefoot. They were able to walk to the beach without any shoes on; so you could say that they grew up on the beach. With the love of the beach sparked an idea to keep it beautiful.

The Idea

As they got older they noticed more and more plastic was being washed up on the beach. Will their love of the beach and the environment they had an idea to help with the problem but also make some money. Their idea was that they would make swim wear out of the plastic they find on the beach or in the ocean. This is how they decided to do something about the problem

Delivering Value

To make swim wear out of used plastic is a mystery for me, but these two have figured out how to not only make the clothing but also to deliver quality value. Their swim outfits also have some new qualities two them that most companies don’t have yet; like they got rid of the mesh in their swimming shorts for men. We all know how irritating those nets can be. If you would go to their website it looks very updated and easy to use.

https://www.fairharborclothing.com/pages/custom-about-us