Example Business Ideas
Starting an Environmental Firm
Written by Nidhi Ann Raj for Gaebler Ventures
If you feel the urge to do something to better the environment and would like to start your own business in that direction, here are some tips on what you can do.
Today 'Save Planet Earth', 'Global Warming' etc seem to be the buzzwords in most corporate firms, at least in their Social Responsibility departments.
However, as most of their line of business is not related to environmental protection, they end up paying millions to hire a firm to help them become or remain eco-friendly. As a budding entrepreneur, you could use this as a business opportunity, while you get the satisfaction of doing your bit to save the environment. The idea is to start an 'Eco-Saver' firm that specializes in areas related to environmental protection. This is a broad classification, hence you need to focus on a specific field, be it consulting, analysis or field work.
Eco consulting or education has been become quite popular these days, with huge corporations having the money and resources, but not knowing how to be more environmentally responsible. You could hire a few certified consultants and provide consulting to conglomerates who are interested in being sustainable and creating a cleaner work environment without compromising on profits. Consulting could also be specialized to categories like waste management, pollution control, manufacturing eco-friendly products or impact analysis. You could start with giving eco-friendly advices and build your firm with products and tools that will help your team provide better solutions to companies, which would change their practices to more organic ones.
You could also target government bodies to help them bring about laws that cater to the needs of the hour like resource conservation and management or reduction of global warming. This, however, may be more difficult for a start up, unless you know how to pull the right strings!
On the other hand, if you find consulting, less motivating and you want to go ahead and 'do' something yourself, there are various other business options available to you. You could start your own waste management firm that provides services to other firms or households, related to collecting and recycling their wastes. This is an interesting and profitable business, as people are willing to pay for the time and effort they don't have to manage their waste.
Since industrial waste treatment is a cumbersome process, you could start with household and community waste. In many countries, governments do not provide dustbins on the roads or houses and hence people litter wherever they feel like. If you are operating in such a country, your company could take that step and provide waste bins, collect waste on a regular basis, separate them and send them to various recycling centers. As promotional activities, you could conduct seminars and workshops or organize a beach or pathway clean up activity. Another issue your firm could take up is wildlife protection. Your firm could conduct researches, educate people or provide solutions to conserve the fast depleting population of wildlife around us.
There are many more innovative business ideas when it comes to starting a business with the 'go green' theme. However, the only downside is that such a firm may not reap a huge short term profit, as you may not get sponsors to back you, till people see a visible change due to your efforts. You may also face oppositions from companies who are not willing to change their methods even though they are harmful to nature. If you have the energy and commitment to face the heat, as much as you want your business to become a success, this idea is worth a thought.
Nidhi Ann Raj is a gifted writer who is currently pursuing post-graduate studies at George Brown College in Toronto Canada, where she is specializing in Marketing and Finance.
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