Earlier this week (6/23/09) I attended a meeting hosted by New York’s Sustainability Practice Network (SPN). The panel comprised Cameron O’Mara — EarthWater Global; Viraj Puri — Gotham Greens LLC (winner of Green Business Competition); Pierre Ferrari — Guayaki; Otho Kerr — EKO Asset Management Partners. The event was facilitated by Trucost’s Cary Krosinsky.
As with most meetings of this format, each panelist presented a brief overview of their business and some insights into their business operating models.
Brief summaries:
EarthWater Global is a company of ~20 employees who have adapted technology used in the oil and gas industry to identify ‘megawatersheds’ in fault lines that may be suitable for extraction.
Gotham Greens LLC is a small company of 4 employees who are developing hydroponic roof-top greenhouse solutions for urban cultivation of vegetable produce.
EKO Asset Management identifies and manages private equity investment opportunities in the wetland and, more recently, carbon offset arena.
Guayaki manufactures premium beverage products using locally grown Yerba Mate in deforested regions of South America as part of a larger mission to restore and protect 200,000 acres of rainforest.
One of the main discussion points during the meeting concerned the barriers to entry for competitors. With regard to EarthWater Global, technology and know-how appeared to be the two main barriers – technology related to the actual method of hydrological source identification, and know-how in dealing with various government and permitting bodies.
Gotham Greens LLC also cited dealing with local government and building code entities as a core competency that they have developed. Once again, technological know-how in designing fully integrated greenhouse systems with renewable energy and recycling capabilities provided additional competitive advantage.
Guayaki cited their relationships with local community farmers and regional NGO’s as key to the success of their business. Guayaki have a very strong environmental restorative mission and, one hypothesizes, would welcome competition if it tallied with their desire to protect and restore rain forests.
EKO Asset Management, coming from the investment arena, see competition differently. Clearly the success of their organization is dependent upon them being able to identify and select the correct projects for their investors. In some regards they can be viewed as a project developer, of which, in the carbon offset community, there are many. Their track record on investment projects and the ability to implement suitable offset strategies dictates their future success as far as access to investor funding is concerned.
A question around the use of carbon offsets as a sustainable practice was raised and answered with the now common response – although they aren’t ideal and don’t necessary prevent the poor environmental projects that they are offsetting, they are better than no action and highlight to the offset purchasers means by which they may be more sustainable in the future.
All in all a good meeting with some interesting insights into some entrepreneurial businesses that are forming and creating some of those ‘green jobs’.
