HELPLESS woman, who was hardly able to make both ends meet, is today successfully supporting her sons’ education and has even taken her husband as a partner in her business venture.

In a unique example of rural entrepreneurship, 38-year old Malti Bai after spending a nomadic life for about 10 years turned her misfortunes into a handsome state of life for her entire family.

An esteemed resident of Bijanwada village of Hoshangabad today Malti’s life took a U-turn as she joined a local self help group (SHG) some four years ago. Equipped with a small loan of Rs 1,600, she utilised the amount for purchasing raw material for broom making which she sold in village haats (market) every week.

As her efforts became successful, she repaid the loan in time. Still her concerns did not end here, as it was a seasonal business. She then decided to work as a cook in marriages and ceremonies. When she started this work she felt the need for a mixer grinder. She again took a loan of Rs. 5000 for purchasing a grinder, said Nirmala Buch, Madhya Pradesh’s former chief secretary and founder of Mahila Chetna Manch, a non-governmental organisation.

As she further planned to improve and diversify her sources of earning for her children’s education, she took another loan of Rs 10,000, for setting up a Kirana store in the village. This diversified portfolio of income sources has not only given her a steady life today but also made her capable of purchasing land for construction of her own house, Buch added.

Gordon Brown is to launch the biggest revolution in the way Britons drive since the development of the internal combustion engine. He will meet manufacturers this week to try to persuade them to mass-produce electric cars, and is considering a remarkable plan to sell the cars cheap, together with their fuel, that is modelled on mobile-phone contracts.

The scheme, which has already been taken up by Israel and Denmark, would sell heavily subsidised vehicles – or even give them away – in return for contracts to buy the electricity to charge them. Its inventor, a Silicon Valley software entrepreneur, believes it will at least halve the cost of motoring while dramatically reducing one of the main sources of the pollution that causes global warming.

The Prime Minister – who will reveal some of his thinking at the Motor Show this week – wants all new cars sold in Britain to be electric or hybrid vehicles by 2020, and is trying to enlist leaders of the motor industry because he wants “to see those cars manufactured in Britain”.

He also wants to “incentivise” the rapid changeover to electric vehicles in Britain, and so is studying the mould-breaking scheme being promoted by the 38-year-old entrepreneur, Shai Agassi, backed by $200m (£100m) of venture capital. Under the scheme – the most advanced of several proposals the Government is considering – motorists would be provided with cars just as mobile-phone customers now get their handsets. In return, they would take out a contract for a maximum number of miles.

The contract would entitle them to receive the electricity, either by plugging into any one of hundreds of thousands of recharge points across the country, or by exchanging flat batteries for fully charged ones. At present, the cars’ range is likely to be only about 100 miles between recharges, which would take about two hours, so, on longer journeys, motorists would pop into filling stations for a three-minute battery exchange.

However, the plan will only help to fight climate change if the electricity comes not from fossil fuels, but from nuclear or renewable energy.

Second on this maiden list is John F. Baugh, founder of SYSCO, located in Houston, Texas. The company began in 1970, doing $115 million its first year, and growing to the point that by the end of the last fiscal year, sales topped out at $26.1 billion. SYSCO, which is an acronym for Systems and Service Company—remains as one of the leaders in the food service industry. Mr. Baugh, now 88 years of age, is still hard at work within his company, continually merging his entrepreneurial gifts with his faith, just as he’s done all along—with results that certainly speak volumes about his vision.

A BIRMINGHAM man whose invention turns fallen leaves into fuel has been backed by millionaire Ben Way.

Peter Morrison, based in Hockley, has created Leaf Log which converts dead leaves into coal substitute.

The 43-year-old inventor has caught the eye of Channel 4 Secret Millionaire entrepreneur Way, who offered an undisclosed amount to the scheme.

Now Peter, a former pupil at Naseby School, in Alum Rock, hopes to clinch a deal with the city council to turn its 16,000 tonnes of dead leaves into fuel.

Peter, from Biofuels International Ltd, said: “We saw Ben as an ideal person to help us as he is an entrepreneur.

“Leaf Log was an idea I had some time ago, but it is only in the last 18 months I decided to test the process and improve it.

“It is essentially taking a nuisance product like leaves and making something useful out of them, and because of that it can also help keep streets and rail lines clear.”

He will present his ideas to the city council at the Sustainable UK Cities Tour at the ICC tomorrow.

Chairman of Shell UK, James Smith, said: “Already home to half of the world’s population, cities are key to tackling climate change.

“We hope the event in Birmingham will help to spark positive local partnerships that deliver environmental and economic benefits.”

Inventors and business leaders can attend the 3pm event at the ICC. See www.bcse.org.uk/ukbcse/sus[2014] cities/ to book, or call Nicola Fisher on 020 7924 4244.

See www.leaflog.com for details of Leaf Log.

After seeing the overflow of abandoned printouts while working at Ford, Hamilton decided a solution was needed.

GreenPrint produces software that eliminates unnecessary text or pictures — such as Internet ads or big photos — from printouts, saving both ink and paper. Besides making less waste, it also saves money. “Ink is now one of the most costly liquids on the planet, about $10,000 per gallon,” says Hamilton, whose product launched in December 2006.

People have used dark-lined writing paper since medieval times and over the years, a lot of bleach has been used to provide a contrasting white background. Swedish Whitelines, on the other hand, makes carbon-neutral writing paper that uses white lines against a light grey background.

Traditional dark-lined paper not only depends on the use of bleach for a contrasting background, it also can conflict with lines and letters drawn or written on its surface. Dark lines show up on photocopies too, often making for muddy, difficult-to-view copies. Stockholm designer Olof Hansson came up with the idea of Whitelines as a way to eliminate those problems. With a focus on the environmental consequences of its operations, the company tracks and labels its own carbon footprint in collaboration with NEWA, the North Environment & Weather Agency. Through a partnership with paper producer Stora Enso forged just last month, meanwhile, it uses a carbon dioxide-neutral paper as a base for its products. Whitelines now offers pads of its patented paper with a variety of bindings, including spiral, glue and saddle stitch, through select retailers in Canada, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

Whitelines was named Innovator of the Year by ALMI Stockholm last year, and in January it was nominated in the New Product Innovation and Emerging Vendor categories at the European Office Products Awards in Frankfurt. With its paradigm-busting appearance, Whitelines’ eco-iconic qualities are sure to appeal to the rapidly growing eco-minded masses. Remember: it’s not enough to be green; you have to help consumers show the world that they are, too. Think green, think different, think iconic!

http://www.whitelines.se

Bilha Maina could not have ignored the chance to invest Sh500,000 of her savings on a Jatropha plantation in Matuu where her family owns 40 acres of land.

Ms Maina is the CEO of Adopt a Village an enterprise that grows Jatropha trees and trades them to farmers, and industries that are seeking alternative energy sources.

Lately, Jatropha has become a popular subject in the Kenyan market.

“My focus is to develop extensive Jatropha nursery beds and to trade the seedlings to interested farmers such as the incoming Japanese who have shown interest in the markets, but primarily to create a base for generation of seeds that currently is a major challenge in the market”, she said in an interview at her farm in Matuu.

The tree produces oil seeds that when crushed produce oil that can be converted into Bio-diesel.

“Our business is to commercialise the production of Jatropha based bio-fuels, through the development of a small-scale farmer outgrower’s scheme”, Ms Maina says, explaining that the enterprise will help the neighbouring community to be self sufficient with bio-oils for domestic cooking and lighting.

“We aim to create a model village for “Adoption” by industries that may be interested in substituting fossil fuel with bio-fuels that are cleaner for their production processes, but whose primary business not being in agriculture, would create a challenge in developing and growing the oil crop”, says the Adopt a Village CEO.

Ms Maina works as a business development specialist and has over 10 years experience gained both in private and public sector organisations.

“This project will help alleviate poverty by creating employment especially for women and increasing food security”, she said.

In spite of the rural electrification schemes, lighting in rural Kenya is still a challenge and more so, families are still dependent on biomass for cooking. Jatropha oil could in the future provide a safer and cheaper substitute once the technologies have been identified and made available.

Jatropha contains glycerine which makes it difficult to burn in a normal hurricane lamp or stove but research is currently underway to convert these implements to be able to burn crude oil without trans-etherification.

Many countries around the world have started venturing into production of bio-fuels in order to combat environment degradation as well as have alternative fuel sources thereby becoming independent of fossil fuels.

The 35 year-old CEO believes that offering entrenched business development services to groups of farmers and creating tangible linkages with other private sector players will empower the rural dwellers.

Ms Maina is growing the plant in large scale to sell out to the farmers at a subsidized price. The business developer argues that there is a need for the development of seeds for use in the Kenyan market as what is available locally and from the region tends to be of very poor quality. She urges the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) and Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) to come in to ensure that farmers get the best seedlings.

Inspired by the fact that rural populace are abandoning agricultural activities in search of white collar jobs, she reckons that if cottage industries using bio-diesel could be introduced upcountry, then rural to urban migration will reduce significantly.

Ms Maina holds an MBA in marketing and strategic management from USIU. The sale of seedlings could help an average farmer earn some good revenue. A kilo of seeds for planting costs not more than Sh1,000. A truck load of saw dust costs Sh1,000, while soil goes for Sh3,000 and compost can be made from foliage and cow dung collected on the farm.

These purchased materials could plant up to 10 kilogrammes of seeds. A kilo of seeds requires 4 workers to prepare and plant at an average daily wage rate of Sh100 each. A seedling will be sold at Sh20. Harvested seeds retail between Sh6 to Sh15 per kilo. With just four employees, she projects an annual turnover of not less than Sh700,000.

“Am ready to make Jatropha, a cash crop for the dry lands”, she said

The manufacturer of the iconic London black cab has signed a deal to design and build a battery-powered taxi with no carbon emissions.

Manganese Bronze says the car will have a top speed of 50 miles per hour and a range of 100km on each battery charge, costing about 4p per mile to run.

It will work with electric vehicles specialist Tanfield Group, with the car built in the UK and launched in 2009.

The joint venture follows interest from several cities keen to cut emissions.

But the higher cost of buying the taxi means it is only likely to take a small part of the market, Manganese says.

‘Significant savings’

Manganese’s most recent model, the TX4, costs between £28,000 and £33,000.

The cost of the batteries means the zero-emission version will cost more than this, though no price tag has yet been put on it.

Savings over the lifetime of the vehicle would be “significant” said Mark Fryer, Manganese’s group finance and business development director.

But he conceded that the higher sale price made putting the commercial case for the new vehicles “more difficult”.

“I do not think we will see a significant substitute impact unless there is change in regulations,” he said.

“This will be something for a small group of drivers.”

Downturn impact

Mr Fryer added that Manganese had been approached by several cities – including some in Scandinavia – that were interested in using the existing diesel-powered black cabs, but felt that the emission levels were too high.

Later this year Manganese Bronze will begin manufacturing the black cab in Shanghai in a deal with Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely.

Hong Kong already has London taxis which were made elsewhere and shipped to the territory.

Last week, Manganese Bronze warned that sales so far this year had been affected by the uncertainty which has swept through London’s financial market.

UW-Madison students participated in a 100-hour competition over the weekend designed to spur students’ entrepreneur skills.

The Wiscontrepreneur Challenge, which started April 17, requires participants to create something socially valuable from recycled surplus material for $10 in 100 hours.

“100-hour challenge is an opportunity for students at UW-Madison to test their entrepreneur skills to be creative, to have fun and to see if they can flex their entrepreneur muscles,” said Doug Bradley, assistant director of marketing and communications at UW-Madison’s Office of Corporate Relations.

Bradley said one’s entrepreneurial skills do not reside in just one kind of person or discipline.

“I think what the challenge really did for me was to demonstrate that it’s possible to make a living doing something that you love,” said art student Brittany Seabloom, one of last year’s winners, who turned old wooden drawers into a wall sconce. “It has really shown me that anyone can be an entrepreneur.”

The goal of the 100-hour challenge is to help students from all academic fields explore their entrepreneur skills through promoting creativeness, organization and presentation ability.

According to Bradley, the recycling theme has been applied to this year’s challenge due to Earth Day on April 22, which overlaps with the challenge period. He said the challenge aims to seek out students who show the potential to help society at large by reusing materials.

“We really want to take what we are doing on the Madison campus to the other campuses in the university and eventually state-wide,” Bradley said, adding he hopes Wisconsin will be recognized as an entrepreneurial state.

An entrepreneur from Columbia City has established a new company to fulfill the desire of U.S. consumers to save time, money and energy while going green. Kevin P. McGloughlin, who is a client of the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center (NEISBDC), recently opened GreenLighting4U, LLC to provide a unique service to area homeowners.

Professional installers from GreenLighting4U will come into an individual’s home and replace all of the incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). “Compact fluorescent lamps can significantly reduce the cost of your energy bills,” according to McGloughlin. “That’s because CFLs give off the same amount of light, but use fewer watts.” He estimates that an average household will save $167.33 in the first year after all the incandescent lights are replaced with CFLs.

McGloughlin points to a statement on the Energy Star Web site (www.energystar.gov) to drive home the benefits of using compact fluorescent light bulbs. “If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars,” according to Energy Star.

In addition to saving money and conserving energy, customers of GreenLighting4U will also save time. Not only will GL4U install all the energy-saving light bulbs within the home, but the homeowners will not have to replace their light bulbs as often, since the CFLs last up to 10 times longer than the incandescent bulbs. GL4U backs up its product by guaranteeing to replace any CFL that fails within two years of installation. “We will send you a replacement and recycle the failed unit,” McGloughlin says.

The standard charge per home for GreenLighting4U to replace a maximum of 40 incandescent bulbs with standard compact fluorescent lamps is $150. If additional standard CFLs are needed, they will be added for a charge of $2.50 each; and if a total of only 30 bulbs are replaced within the home, the charge is reduced to $125. There is an additional charge for nonstandard bulbs such as dimmable, three-way, or other types of CFLs.

I would definately use this service if there was one in my area.