Things have changed radically in the actual market. On one hand, the large corporations start to note the ecological issues and the evidence of rising social inequalities are causing problems to the business environment and global society. And on the other hand, the consumers are becoming more concerned about these challenges to a sustainable world. The global economy undergoes towards maturity, and changes from a ’’growth at all cost’’ to a ‘’balanced growth’’.
To face these changes, a new way of business organization was born, and it is known as Sustainopreneurship, a combination of the words: sustainability and entrepreneurship. It is the new way to do business, it is about solving problems related to social and environmental sustainability.
Global problems become business opportunities by implementation of sustainability innovation, and is on this stage where the entrepreneurs have the chance to show a new way of how to do business.
How to Maintain the Balance
The task of maintaining a balance between economy, environment, and society has become in a challenge. And here is where the entrepreneurs assume the role of visionary and solution provider.
Entrepreneurs have the power to not only solve crises, but to create a new business model. A key for successful sustainopreneurship is to make sure that the new production of products and services provides value to their potential customers. And these consumers are looking for trustworthy products, and the most important thing, they are willing to pay for them.
The opportunity is there. The door to enter to a new era of getting market solutions through creative organizing is in front of all the entrepreneurs. In the presence of new challenges, innovation is what puts anyone in a winning place.
3 Examples Making a Difference in the World
Listed below are three cases that will serve as clear examples of how you can make a difference in this world, besides business, of course.
- OceanEthix based in Hong Kong is a seafood farm. A pioneer in the development of a supply chain vertically integrated for reef fish and live seafood, offers a product that generates consumer confidence because it knows the origin of what it consumes and it is certain that they are not contaminated with hormones or antibiotics.To this is added the added value of a commitment to preserve the reefs using green technology. The company has a toll system consisting of a container that functions as a fully autonomous biosphere. No need to exchange water, is intended to eliminate variable factors like seasons, biological contamination, pollution (especially important for large cities) and adverse weather conditions.The aquaculture was intended to save many species from extinction. As overfishing, has depleted the oceans, aquaculture has been increasingly promoted as the answer to the demand for seafood.OceanEthix also sells its technology to other companies to establish internal farms across Asia.
- Alejandro Malgor is cofounder of Xinca along with Nazareno El Hom and Ezequiel Gatti, an Argentinian company that manufactures sneakers and sandals with rubber tire recycling and reuse of fabrics of different origins. One of the workplaces of the brand is the prison of San Felipe in Mendoza, where 32 inmates train to make sport shoes, and so when they finish their sentence, they can continue to work for the company.This business venture is designed not only to protect the environment but to collaborate with the employment of those who have had problems with the law and are usually rejected in most jobs.The company also has joint actions with Boca Juniors, one of the most important soccer teams in that country, and for every pair sold, another pair is donated to a kid with social vulnerability.They have recycled 13 tons of tires already. They want to be a brand that spreads to other entrepreneurs and ‘’show them projects can be done otherwise. You can make money and build,” Alejandro said.
- Jason Graham-Nye is the Co-Founder of gDiapers along with his wife, Kim. The business dedication is based on making our habitat greener, keeping it healthy into an ecofriendly committed diaper company. They sell two options: one reusable cloth diaper and a biodegradable disposable diaper.gDiapers is about people and the place where they live, our planet. And the company cares about specially children. As a parent and entrepreneur, Jason Graham-Nye bets on a workplace centered on the family to develop the full potential of each of its employees while contributing to a better future for the planet.How? It is known, parents need time off to care for their children, as well as be present at important moments of their lives. Therefore, workers gDiapers enjoy excellent pay for overtime, they have flexible working hours and the company offers financial assistance to pay for daycare for their children that is within the same workplace of the parents.This idea was always part of the vision of the company and Jason was fortunate to establish a partnership with Growing Seeds, a prestigious leader in the development of early childhood institution. Growing Seeds shares the same core values that gDiapers has: nurture a happy future to promote respect for others and the environment.
In this way, the business is based on family welfare to achieve a future full with children raised in a warm atmosphere and emphasizes caring for the planet, contributing to the ecology, working in the present for a better future.
Entrepreneurs are now seen as market authority. They have created products and services with loyal consumers. They have known how to create an offer and a demand conscientious and responsible with the environment and society. All these are based on innovation, dynamics that are leading to a shift in mindsets across the board: what is good for a company is also good for the planet.
