Whether entrepreneurial training takes days, weeks or even years to complete, "green business" practices should be incorporated and explained as the "make it or break it", factors that they are. From day one, greening a business, should be as important as good bookkeeping, and the importance of that in today's world cannot be understated.
With dwindling resources and growing populations the major factor for the destruction of the earth's resources has been, rampant, out- of-control consumerism. While new businesses are needed to meet the needs of growing populations, business owners must realize that if their business is to be sustainable they need to look carefully at what is going to happen over the next 10 or 20 years to the raw materials they are using for products and services.
Gas powered cars will not disappear in the next 20 years, but far more people will be using hybrids, electrics, and even cars running on hydrogen or compressed air. So if the entrepreneur plans to go into the auto industry (engine repair or sales of automotive products), they need to be prepared for a rapidly changing market. This is true of all industries, from nail salons that use petroleum based products to plastic toy manufacturers, the cost of petroleum based products will rise sharply over the next few years and may be a major factor that causes a business to fail.
Four critical areas for consideration in green planning:
1.) The cost of doing business (I.E. brick and mortar VS. Internet based business)
2.) Sustainability of raw materials (I.E. plastic toys VS recycled plastic toys)
3.) Environmental impact (I.E. plastic or paper bags VS bring your own, waste water, & recycling)
4.) Transportation costs, as gas prices continue to rise (I.E. using local vendors VS imported products)
"Green" planning can be a huge economic advantage, from using computer programs for financial record keeping, to the cost savings of having a virtual store instead of a brick and mortar. It is to the benefit of Micro-loans organizations to infuse environmentally sound practices in all training of their budding entrepreneurs. (Not to mention the benefit to the micro loan organization itself, by "going green". Certainly, in this case, leading by example will have its financial rewards.
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