A new breed of eco-friendly startups are finding solutions that make money and help the planet. The rise of Ecopreneurs or the green pioneers who save the planet will be the future of entrepreneurship! – Nona Walia
In a world where everyone is an entrepreneur, if anything, be an ecopreneur. We’ve heard of fancy entrepreneur titles like — ‘mumpreneur’ to ‘lipstick entrepreneur’ to ‘manpreneur” or “dadpreneur”, but the biggest trend in 2023 will be the Ecopreneurs. The world needs more of ‘Ecopreneurship’ or ‘Sustainopreneurship’ — that are finding nature-based solutions through business practices.
Every entrepreneur needs to make a promise to turn their enterprise into environment-friendly production. We need an ‘ecopreneur revolution’ to fight global climate change. The UN has pledged to train one million individuals and mentor them to be ecopreneurs with training programs. As a result, with constant innovations from ‘ecopreneurs’ — entrepreneurs whose businesses models are not just driven by profit, but by a desire to have a positive impact on the environment a change will be seen. And many of these eco-friendly innovators are only now beginning their journey of building start-ups. Says Aditi Balbir, ecopreneur and sustainability expert, “Rise of climate tech and the subsequent onset of the conscious consumer has driven a lot of us into thinking of solutions that can help mitigate climate change. Venture funds have kept pace too, and funds focused on climate tech have grown. Given the pool of capital available, and the conscious consumer that demands greener products, there is a major shift in talent that is moving towards this sector. Hence the rise of the ecopreneur.”
These ecopreneurs put nature and climate at the core of their business models, ensuring a more resilient and sustainable path. One example is Suhani Dewra, who launched her organic line of bath soaps. She has modernised traditional soaps to produce large quantities of inexpensive environmentally-friendly organic products. “For me being an ecopreneur was a conscious decision. Ecopreneurs thrive on innovative ecosystems. It comes out of passion to do something good for the planet”. World Economic Forum in partnership with Deloitte, has started to bring together such an innovation ecosystem. Through its innovation challenges it has already received over 2,800 solutions and has selected over 180 Top Innovators who are solving some of the world’s most pressing issues. The intersection between entrepreneurship and sustainability is becoming a focal point for many businesses. A significant part of this trend is the advent of ecopreneurial businesses in almost all nations of the world. Next year in 2023, we will witness more ecopreneurial innovations that change the old mechanised way of doing business.
Ecopreneurship – The growing need of the hour
Ecopreneurs are revolutionizing the future by contributing significantly toward a green economy, changing marketing patterns and demand for greener products. By 2023, a host of new startups and ecopreneurs across the globe will be jostling to be the first to commercialise their environment-friendly solutions and yet be profitable.
In the next year, we will also witness more powerful start up ideas debates that transform the global ecosystem. 2023 will be the year of ecopreneur innovations. It is not enough to be an entrepreneur anymore, but you need a powerful ecopreneur idea with visibility, connections and funding. The potential and momentum for such innovation drive the ecopreneur revolution. There’s huge excitement and nervousness for the big shift in start-ups.
We need to nourish and nurture new ecopreneurs and create fertile ground for them to grow. With Cutting-edge innovations within the ecosystem and public-private collaboration we can truly catalyse the ecopreneurship revolution. This is also the time when ecopreneurs need to throw a lot of energy into social media marketing, as it’s currently the biggest overall platform small businesses. John Ivanko, author of Ecopreneuring has rightly said: ‘Be an ecopreneur. Launch your dream green business. We are the CEO’s – the Chief Environmental Officers – of our business, responsible for the success of our operations, and it’s environmental and social impact. We define our business qualitatively and not quantitatively. Ecopreneuring buries the staid notion that doing good and doing business cannot blend.”
Ecopreneurs need to:
- Focus on new innovations and ways of doing things in areas of climate change, pollution and waste.
- There are many well-known green businesses that have stayed true to their focus on sustainability. We need to celebrate businesses and success stories that have made greener choices.
- Running an earth-friendly business means that you consider the environment in every aspect of your operations. We need every entrepreneur to turn into an ecopreneur.
