Our Project started out as a way to see how eco-entrepreneurs from different countries were able to create successful companies and what were the key success factors and obstacles encountered.

1. High Impact Eco-
Entrepreneurs From
Around the World
By Misi Cummings and Daniella Porreca

2. What is an Eco-Entrepreneur
An Eco-entrepreneur creates
environmental & social value through a
profitable company.

3. Goals
- Our Project started out as a way to see how
eco-entrepreneurs from different countries were
able to create successful companies and what
were the key success factors and obstacles
encountered.

4. Map of Eco- Entrepreneurs

5. How we conducted our study
-We started off by contacting eco-
entrepreneurs we found through the Impact
Hub network
- We then asked a series of questions to get a
better idea of why they started their company.

6. Questions Included in the Survey
● What motivated you to start your company?
● How many years have you been operating?
● How has the company changed over the years?
● What are the biggest challenges you've faced?
● Where do you see your company in the next five years?
● How does your company maintain an eco-friendly work
environment?

7. Questions continued
● What communication strategies do you use to reach the public
● Who do you think has the biggest influence on environmental progress
● What environmental issue do you feel needs to be addressed most
urgently?
● Do you think companies can intervene?
● What are the key factors for success or failure for your company?
● What sets you apart from other environmental companies? What are your
strengths and weaknesses as company?

8. Main questions
● What motivated you to start your company?
● What are the key factors for success or failure for your
company?
● How does your company maintain an eco friendly work
environment?
● What are the biggest challenges you've faced?

9. Why did we ask these questions?
The survey was put in place to see how their
company ran financially, economically, and to
gain a perspective on how they viewed the
environment and their impact on it.

10. Analysis
We found that most people started their
company because they saw something in the
environment that they cared about and saw that
it needed to be fixed.

11. The majority of new start up companies found
that it was often hard to compete with the big
companies that people have grown to know
and trust and they needed to start networking
with customers and other companies .

12. During the interview we found that there were
three main problems: finance, having people
care about their product, and networking.

13. A collection of the newer companies seemed to
be having trouble obtaining financial backing or
starting to get clients.

14. Getting people to care
Numerous amounts of these companies were
struggling with the fact that people weren’t
educated about the subject.
Because people were uneducated in these
subjects it made it hard for companies to
succeed.

15. Finance
Having people that are uneducated about the
subject makes it hard for them to get financial
backing on their projects (eco-conscious
investors).

16. Networking
Many of the companies have been able to
overcome these struggles and have been able
to grow their branch into a bigger company.
By networking they are able to get help through
external sources.

17. Social Media
Social media and networking go hand in hand,
through our research we found that a lot of
companies are relying on social media to get
their company's name out there.
They use things such as Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, and Linkedin

18. Work Environment
We additionally found that many of these
companies have been able to maintain an eco-
friendly work environment.

19. They have been able to maintain this work
environment by using less paper, recycling,
biking to work, and by working in a coworking
space.

20. This survey allowed us to get a better insight on
all the different companies analysed. Although
they had different goals, they were all trying to
achieve a great product and have a positive
impact on the environment both through it and
their internal operations.

21. Conclusion
Overall we were able to learn new information
about different eco-entrepreneurial companies
from all over the world and their key success
factors and obstacles. If we had more time we
would have been able to consult more
companies. However we feel that it is important
that this project is able to continue and gain
greater depth.

22. Companies who participated:
ADAPT youth innovation, Hany El Miniawy
BOULD, Shane Gring, http://www.bebould.com/
Erdbeerwoche GesbR, Annemarie Harant, http://www.erdbeerwoche.com/
GUTTS, Edward Goossens, http://gutts.nl/
Impact Space, Ravi Kurani, http://www.impactspace.org/
myNewEnergy, http://www.mynewenergy.ch/de/
This Side Up, Lennart Clerkx, http://www.tsutrade.com/
Ubiquity University, http://www.ubiquityuniversity.org/
Zero Waste Jam, Evelina Lundquist, http://zerowastejam.com/en/