Did you ever hear about the term “Ecopreneur”? Or even better – do you want to become an Ecopreneur? We will tell you what this is about.
Being an Ecopreneur
Basically people who are so-called “ecopreneurs” are in our opinion just doing what should be common sense. They are building businesses while being ecological. The term is the mix of “eco” from ecological = green and entrepreneur = someone building a business.
They do not just look on profit, but also on planet and people. This means putting people and planet first instead of having money in mind.
The link to corporate social responsibility
What is called corporate social responsibility or CSR is basically what we are talking here about as well. CSR is a term which came into fashion during the last years. Suddenly every company has CSR rules and regulations, every business shows social engagement and needs to show how ethical and green they are.
But CSR is only what should be normal for every company. It means to work in equality between social, environmental and economic aspects. Every company needs to have the goal to make money, otherwise there is no survival. But companies need as well to care about the humans, their employees as well as the members of the society. Companies have as goal to grow and to hire people. Further do companies have a role in the society by paying taxes and participating in the growth of a country. Last but not least they also have a role in the environment using existing resources to manufacture for example but as well to take care of resources to assure long-term existence of them. The CSR is the balance of the 3 elements.
If the corporate social responsibility became such a big topic the last years, the reason is as well that unfortunately companies did only focus on the profit (economical aspect), on growing shareholder and stakeholder value and not on humans and resources. Bad working conditions or overusing resources are the negative examples. But luckily there are positive examples as well.
Examples of great Ecopreneurs
To give you a better idea of what being an ecopreneurs means in reality, we would like to give you some examples.
Lucie Basch- Too Good to Go – How leftovers can make people happy, reduce waste and be a business model.
Too Good to go is an application connecting small stores as bakeries or supermarkets but as well restaurants with end consumers. Not to sell their normal food, but to sell their left overs instead of putting them in the bin. Indeed since 2015 throwing food away is not allowed in France anymore thanks to the “Loi anti-gaspillage” but in reality this is still happening. As what to do at the end of the day in a sushi restaurant when the last 5 dishes prepared have not been ordered? Impossible to always be true between orders and stock.
And this is where “Too Good to go” comes in: Consumers can buy this food last minute for a small price. Like this the restaurant can at least lower or avoid loss, the food is not wasted and the app gets a little percentage, growing their food saving business like this.
Guillaume Gibault – Le Slip Francais – Putting humans and local production before profits.
You might know this company already as this is one of the examples of the French textile industry. The business consists in manufacturing only in France, helping the best they can to get the textile industry back into France. Humans making the textiles are more important than sales. The sales come second with the goal to grow the business sustainably. Further sustainable materials are important, that for they even launch a collection made of linen in 2021.
Why we all should be a Ecopreneur
When it comes to creating your own business you should look at the total. It is not enough anymore only to focus on one aspect of the business if you want to keep it for long. Our planet is at a point where climate change is alerting, where we are aware about bad work conditions in Asia and where we cannot move on like this.
Further you will see that being an Ecopreneur is very satisfying as you know you are doing “good”. It is more than profits you will generate. You will show your commitment and your personal values through your business and you can address issues of our planet also in this way.
Your brand will grow in a different way, but show that you are mindful in what you are doing. Impact is not just a word for you but linked to actions!
Handling resources in a sustainable way will not only help your business to have access to them long-term but as well to lower costs. Easy example: energy saving bulbs in the full production building are better for the environment but as well saving costs.
The people first: If you want to have an awesome team (even not just great J )you need to show them that you are really doing this for their profit. This again does not mean money first but work conditions, fair hours, sometimes some understanding, etc. Like this you can get the best qualified people on the market to work for you.
And Bag Affair?
We are ecopreneurs since company building – Actually not because of a blog article like this one, neither because this could be great for the brand image and even less to get investments. That for we are ecopreneurs as working in respect of resources and our planet, animals and humans sounds like the only possible and right way to do things.
We are proud of what we are doing and happy every day to know that our company is much more than numbers!
