Profitable Sustainable Products

Despite numerous examples to the contrary, most of us still have to argue (over and over) the business case for sustainability. Entrepreneur magazine has made that just a little easier, though, with its profile of several successful small businesses that sell environmentally-conscious products and services: Seahorse Power Co. of Massachusetts, Eco Lips of Cedar Rapids, IA, Digital Hive Ecological Design of San Franscisco, and Hartmann & Forbes of Oregon. In each case, the company finds success by appealing not only to environmental concerns, but also to economic ones:

Indeed, market demand is what dictates entrepreneurial success, whether you're offering a product with obvious environmental benefits or you're simply trying to integrate green practices into your business. "Market demand is a powerful driver of corporate behavior," says Jacob Singer, program director of the Green MBA program at New College of California in San Francisco. "We're seeing the power of markets and consumers [driving] these positive changes." ...

No doubt, entrepreneurs are the ones enacting change. "The small guys can run rings around the big guys," says [Byron] Kennard, who helped organize the original Earth Day in 1970. "We didn't have to encourage entrepreneurs to enter the fray; they were already there--entrepreneurs see an environmental problem as a profitable opportunity."

It's good to see so many, and so many types, of green businesses doing well by doing good. If you've got a green business success story of your own that I haven't featured here at sustainablog, let me know...

Categories: greenbusiness, success