Sustainable Entrepreneurs Share Their Secrets in New e-Book by OneLeap

OneLeap is an innovative concept that makes the most of internet networking (and I use networking in the traditional way, meaning 'making contacts and connections') to link fledgling entrepreneurs to experts who are willing to share their wisdom in exchange for a donation to their favorite charity.

It's a great concept that since its launch earlier this year has already attracted 2,000 members from more than 30 countries.

Now OneLeap has launched an e-book called Green Gold - 11 Sustainable Entrepeneurs and Their Secrets, featuring some of its collaborators who share their knowledge gained through their experience in the sustainability sector. The e-book features entrepreneurs from several parts of the world, including Jeremy Legget (SolarCentury), Mark Herrema (New Light), Lucy Simons (Villa Infrastructure), Peggy Liu (Juccce), Andrea Pirisi (Underground Power), Billy Parish & Dan Rosen (Mosaic), Ry Morgan (PleaseCycle), Paseka Lesolang (WHC), Shane Gring (Bould), Shalabh Ahuja (Conserve) and Juan Fermin Rodriguez (QUETSOL).

Quite a few of the luminaries who collaborated to the e-book come from the clean tech sector. SolarCentury's Jeremy Leggett, who is at the helm of one of UK's fastest growing renewable energy companies, also founded SolarAid, an African solar lighting charity that donates five per cent of its annual profits to help Africa go solar.

As an experienced businessman trying to fight climate change and poverty in one fell swoop, he shares some pearls of wisdom. He says that new entrepreneurs should set a culture based on a clear vision, and stick to it. They should also hire people who are smarter than they are. Finally, they should find investors who can "get it" and are not only obsessed with EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

He's also a firm believer that green tech is the future. "Green energy enterprises will have to be the drivers of the revolution. It is they who can provide the decentralized power for recovering economies, many of the jobs that will be needed in the global green new deal that can build a route out of depression, and many of the technologies and strategies for finally addressing the global environmental crisis in a meaningful way," he says, and adds a warning that things need to be done differently from the current system. "If they aim to do so replicating the system that is so failing us - modern capitalism - we will be destined to repeat the ruinous past."

Legget is echoed by Shalabh Ahuja, who helps poor people in urban areas in India by converting waste into fashion products. "Producers who can prove that their manufacturing process does not harm the planet or humanity will win the hearts and minds of the market," he says.

Hailing from South Africa, Paseka Lesolang reinforces the view that "green is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity - and there within lies the opportunity. Going green is now becoming fashionable; soon it will be a lifestyle for most, these people need to be catered for," says the entrepreneur whose company adds novel water saving technologies into conventional systems.

In order to download the Green Gold e-book, it is necessary to sign up to OneLeap, and  it may be the one leap that will make all the difference to the aspiring entrepreneur.

Image credit: OneLeap