Green Impact will make the world more sustainable and inclusive through the development of the world’s cleanest energy. Our values are simple. We are authentic, bold, and creative. We chose these values because we are paving a path that consistently revolves on doing the right thing and reminding ourselves that all stakeholders can win when we make decisions that drive our purpose forward.
Tell us about yourself?
I have been an entrepreneur for over 20 years. I have built many businesses ranging from a few employees to nearly 1,000., Along the way, I’ve had many financial successes and failures. Each of these businesses felt very focused on profit and, although successful in many ways, they left me wanting to impact the world more. I started to recognize that although the businesses had a mission statement, ultimately, we always came back to the bottom-line. I struggled to think how we could infinitely expand these businesses by asking the people to make the shareholders money. It just was not inspiring enough to consistently attract the best talent and keep them intrinsically motivated.
The desire to impact the world more left me searching for a business and line of work that would be inspiring to all our people and the world. What is better than making the world more sustainable and inclusive by developing clean energy? Many people and businesses right now are very focused on doing and saying things that are politically or socially correct without questioning if they are doing something effective. Even worse, many businesses get focused on the current month or quarter profitability because it is easy to measure. There is no doubt business has to be profitable to succeed but achieving this doesn’t have to be at the expense of rewarding your people well, being a great partner or improving the environment.
I have an entrenched belief that we can be extremely profitable not by focusing on the bottom-line but by focusing on all the little things we need to do to achieve our purpose and, along the way, to take care of our people, our suppliers, our partners, the planet, and communities we work in. Of course, we have to be great stewards of capital to make sure our shareholders are taken care of, and we have access to the capital we need to grow but it just shouldn’t be the primary focus
Ultimately, we are constantly trying to have an impact on our purpose and be effective in doing it. All our energy is carbon neutral or better, which is much better than any traditional renewable source. We are constantly challenging what has been done to improve on it and being realistic about what can be done now. We can’t make the world more sustainable and inclusive overnight, and we cannot ask the world to change everything they are doing immediately. We have to use the people, technology, sources, and resources that are currently available to us and push the boundaries of what we can do with each of them to be sustainably better now.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
I’d ask myself some questions: Are you doing the right thing? Have you challenged what is accepted or what consensus is?
What problem does your business solve?
We have a belief the world needs more food and energy, and it also needs to be much more sustainable as we get it. We need to be realistic about what form that energy will be in and how we will use that energy, store it, and transport it. We believe we are doing some of the right things but continue to see a world where a big problem needs not one or two big solutions but a lot of ingenuity and smaller broader solutions. It will take companies like ours, with a vision much bigger than simply net zero, being bold and creative to make a real difference. We are providing energy at scale, using farm-based waste that is, in many cases, 10 times better than solar or wind and, at the same time, makes our food supply more sustainable and efficient.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
We are inspired by the challenge of making the world more sustainable and inclusive. We are committed to doing so boldly and creatively and doing it the right way. We are measuring the impact we have on every stakeholder, ensuring no stakeholder is sacrificed while we fulfill our purpose. Through this continual reminder of what we are trying to achieve, we are able to create projects that benefit the environment and our communities. Along the way, they also provide great meaningful work and energy for our employees, suppliers, customers, and partners. They are also very profitable.
What is your magic sauce?
Our magic sauce is truly caring about what we are doing and reminding ourselves who we are doing it for. In our business, this allows us to attract and retain the best talent, get the best collaborative results from our vendors and partners, make a huge positive impact on the environment, and be profitable doing it. We believe anyone can create a great product, but can you be mindful and intentional about how that product impacts the planet and the lives of everyone who is touched by the business making it? Truly caring about our impact and people is the secret to our massive growth and having the most talented and dedicated employees and partners.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
Over the next five years, we will positively impact the lives of many people and communities through our continued investment in better than net zero energy and waste management. We intend to invest $1 billion per year for the next five years and hopefully grow from there. At the end of five years, we will be producing enough carbon-negative energy to take the equivalent of nearly 400,000 cars off the road annually.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
When we are constantly breaking new ground, and we are constantly having to change course. What we are doing is technically, financially, and logistically challenging at every step. I’ll give you a great example using our approximately billion-dollar energy facility – Future Energy Park. This project started out a little larger than one-quarter the size it is now and uses waste grain to make biofuel.
Waste grain is a product which doesn’t meet consumption specifications through the growing process and, as a specialist team would say, “it is so terrible that pigs won’t even eat it”. To get the project to a buildable stage and meet our requirements to be net zero or better, we had to challenge what had been done with the technologies used. We ended up having to stack together five major proven technologies on the same site so that we could achieve our environmental target. Then, we had to increase the scale of the project so it would also meet our investment hurdles. When you are a young company, and you say you are going to build a billion-dollar project, you are presented with a whole new set of challenges. Ultimately, our team sticks to our values, reminds ourselves of our purpose, and continues to challenge themselves to get to creative all-win solutions.
How can people get involved?
If you are interested in us helping you manage a farm waste stream, looking for a great job with an employer that is committed to your continuous personal development, or anyone interested in how we create the world’s cleanest energy, please visit our website at www.greenipi.com