The Sustainable Enterprise Conference is the North Bay’s Green Business Forum
May 11, 2012, 8am to 5pm Sonoma Mountain Village Rohnert Park, CA
The Sustainable Enterprise Conference is a day-long learning and networking conference dedicated to helping North Bay businesses, academic, government and non-profit organizations transition to economic, environmental, and social sustainability. The 2012 Conference program provides organizations and individuals with the latest information on how innovation and sustainability will drive the economy while preserving the resources needed for a prosperous future.
Congratulations to Stig Westling, Green MBA Alumnus, for his bio-lubricants business plan making it into the finalist round in the Sustainable Brands 2011 Innovation Open.
Now in its third year, the SB11 Innovation Open showcases highly innovative, socially conscious entrepreneurs with a product or B2B solution that is focused on helping companies achieve their goals towards creating more sustainable brands. More than 80 highly innovative entrepreneurial teams, proposing a wide range of consumer brand and B2B solutions, submitted to this year's Innovation Open.
The final competition will take place on Thursday, June 9th in Monterey, California during the Sustainable Brands 2011 program. A must-see event for investors, executives and supporters of the entrepreneurial spirit. You can watch
Skip-to-Renew has a patent pending for bio-based hydraulic fluid and bicycle lubricant. Skip-to-Renew strives to be the leading global provider of high quality, sustainable, eco-friendly and cost effective bio-based lubricants. The lubricant industry in the United States is a $20 billion dollar industry, responding to a demand for more than 3.6 billion gallons. Only 10 percent of this lubricant is refined and reused. More than 50 percent of bio-based and synthetic lubricants are disposed into the environment, releasing carcinogens and endocrine disruptors such as cadmium, lead, and chromium. Skip to RenewTM was founded with the purpose of providing renewable, non-toxic and biodegradable lubricants.
Hurry! One Page Business Plan Summaries Due April 25th.
Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (SB Innovation Open) is a business plan competition unlike any other. It is a showcase of creativity, innovative thinking and solution based approaches that seek to make a significant environmental and social impact within the business world. In addition, it fosters collaboration between early stage eco-entrepreneurs and executives from some of the most influential brands in the industry, as well as socially responsible investors who can help take their ideas to the next level.
This new venture showcase is focused on identifying and promoting innovative new consumer brands, AND ventures that support existing corporations in achieving their sustainable brand innovation goals. Thus submissions will be accepted under two categories:
The Idea Phase: the applicant has a complete business plan but no more than $100,000 of capital invested into the venture so far.
Post-Launch Phase: The venture is operational and has some early operating metrics to share but has no more than $1,000,000 of external capital invested.
Applicants are asked to submit a one page overview of their business plan outlining the social/environmental impacts, economic viability, success measurement and scalability. Our expert judging panel will narrow the field to our top ten finalists who will present their ideas at the Sustainable Brands conference in Monterey, California this June! Think you have what it takes to really influence change? Don’t miss your chance to be a part of this one of a kind event, follow the link to the submission page below for more details. Submissions are open until April 25th, 2011
Three GreenMBA students presented at the March 3-4 conference of the Organization of Resource Councilors (ORC) Western Occupational Health and Safety Group in Sonoma. The 100 attendees were predominantly Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) professionals from large organizations including Chevron, AT&T, Amgen, Intel, Levi Strauss, HP, Safeway, PG&E, and more. Students Soo Haylett, Becca Guthrie, and Jared Alaqua gave a presentation focused on the connections between EHS and sustainability. They presented examples from their own experiences in their MBA coursework, including projects on: • streamlining operations and identifying additional opportunities for a poultry farm in Petaluma; • how a waste audit saved thousands of dollars for a medium-sized business in Novato; and • a lean and green operations analysis for a recreational business in southern California. Potential GreenMBA projects and internships were discussed following the presentation. The students noted a recurring theme of problems stemming from sub-grouping, or silos, within an organization, which prevents EHS managers from performing their roles more successfully. Experiential learning is a key value in the GreenMBA; students conduct projects in businesses across the Bay Area and beyond on such topics as marketing, waste, operations, and finance, all grounded in triple bottom line sustainability and systemic approaches. If your organization has a project that might be appropriate for a team of Green MBAs, please let us know. Email: • Your name, business/organization and contact info • Brief description of the project • Desired scope and date of project completion to GreenMBA staffperson
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Congratulations to Stig Westling, Green MBA Alumnus, for his bio-lubricants business plan making it into the finalist round in the Sustainable Brands 2011 Innovation Open.
