Proteak’s founders, Hector Bonilla and Javier Diaz Calvo have created a profitable, sustainable teak company in a sector otherwise marred by illegal logging and corruption. Hector’s talent for spotting market potential led him to create three startups before a drive past a plantation in Mexico inspired him to research the sizable $12 billion global teak market. Both Hector and Javier were impressed by teak’s price, which is increasing at a rate of six percent annually and commonly sells at $12 per board foot, as compared to $2-$7 per board foot for most other woods.

Proteak’s vision is to operate as a business that addresses social, environmental and economic concerns. Because of its commitment to sustainable business practice, Proteak serves as a model in an industry in which illegal logging runs rampant and the major regions of production in Southeast Asia experience deforestation rates of about one percent per year. Hector candidly asserts that he does not see a separation between profits and sustainable practices. His group is committed to promoting responsible forestry practices and soil management. The 820 hectares of land that Proteak has planted are treated with the minimum possible amount of chemicals, and the trees populating these plantations take in the equivalent of 5,000 cars worth of CO2 emissions every year. The company is also committed to providing benefits for the local community; it is working to reinvigorate agriculture in a region where manufacturing has come to dominate, and Proteak employees receive better pay and benefits than the average worker in their sector.

When discussing these social concerns, Hector is quick to add that he and his board are fundamentally “all about numbers,” and argues that his 50 investors have been drawn in primarily by the 24% projected return on investment. Hector credits his management team with being one of the best and most knowledgeable in the industry. The company has bolstered its marketing strategy with extensive support from New Ventures, a program of the World Resources Institute dedicated to spurring investment in sustainable enterprise. With these strong management and marketing abilities, Proteak has raised $4 million of capital in five successful rounds of investment. In a sector notoriously controlled by inefficient, state-run companies, the Proteak team’s impressive private sector background makes them stand out as a highly productive and profitable enterprise.

Proteak’s superior business model and experienced team combine sustainable practices and solid leadership to create a reliable strategy for growth. This approach earned the company recognition as a winner in the 2005 New Ventures Mexico Investor Forum and ensures that as it sells its first trees on the open market next year, Proteak will continue to thrive.

With years of guiding experience, Eduardo Nycander and Kurt Holle created Rainforest Expeditions (RFE) in 1992. Located in the southeast of Peru in Madre de Dios, RFE educates tourists about conservation and sustainable development while providing job opportunities to the local community. The company runs four complementary ecolodges: the 18 room Tambopata Research Center (1992), the 30 room Posada Amazonas (1998), the 24 room Refugio Amazonas (2005) and the recently opened 18 room Konchukos Tambo, near Huascaran National Park north of Lima.

Among these lodges, Posada Amazonas is renowned for its unique partnership with the community of Infierno. RFE offers financing and experience, while the community provides labor and local knowledge of the natural environment. And while profits are split between the company and the community, ownership belongs to the latter.

The community-owned lodge is delivering great outcomes. Not only is it generating profit for RFE, but it is also placing the company in the limelight for potential clients and investors, creating a buzz around the fact that it fully engages a local community. For the Infierno community, it provides full ownership and a participatory process that allows it to pursue long term visions for sustainable development both within the community itself and the wider Amazonian region. In addition to its annual income of over US $250,000 and more than 30 permanent full time positions, Posada Amazonas has also led to the creation of four other small businesses in the community.

With over 50 employees, the recent addition of Refugio Amazonas, and the development of new products ranging from shorter 2-3 day general tours to an array of specialized tours (e.g. birding tours, academic tours), the company continues to attract new investments with plans to expand to other communities in the Andean region. RFE demonstrates how well-managed ecotourism can achieve environmental protection, social benefits, and economic growth.

Capetonian Roy Dibley runs his 1980s diesel Mercedes on used vegetable oil, collecting it from restaurants in and around Cape Town. Sometimes he pays for it (R1.50 a litre, which is its price as an additive to animal feed). Sometimes he gets it for nothing.

Dibley reckons it costs him about 50c a litre to filter it before he can put it in his tank - which explains the sticker on the rear of his Merc which announcess that he is running his car on fuel that costs R2 a litre, and that anyone interested in doing the same should ring his cellphone number.

Dibley is a qualified mechanical engineer who designs, builds and sells conversion kits for diesel engines to run on vegetable oil (after filtering) - used, or neat, straight out of the bottle.

The kits, which have been extensively tested in South Africa, are now available from Dibley, and he hopes they will prove a boon to farmers large and small, to operators of hotel courtesy buses and, as he puts it, small operators like plumbers and electricians.

One of his first kits, which he fitted to an electrician's 280KB diesel bakkie, is performing well. The success of these prototypes led to the formation of a business partnership between Dibley, Stuart Freedman (based in Britain) and Valentine Lefrère, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Dibley's vision of the product's potential is broader than the luxury market of campers, converted buses or diesel Winnebagos, if there are such things.

Ventures in Development is a social enterprise that seeks to elevate the lives of the poor through growing the spirit of entrepreneurship. Venture in Development is currently trying to incubate two ventures, Mei Xiang Cheese Factory and The Shokay Company. The concept is to capitalize on Western China's abundant resource - 13 million yaks.

Based in Madras, India, the Foundation of Occupational Development, or FOOD, is a non-profit organization that works to implement sustainable development projects that often involve ITC.

In a recent project, FOOD provided cellular technology and marketing information so that urban women could receive higher payments for their domestically produced goods. FOOD in partnership with infoDev established a closed group communication network for community based women organizations to promote inter-city direct sales of products made by artisans and skilled workers. This is accomplished by providing the community based organizations (CBOs) with communications links by way of cellular phones to enable them to network for marketing their products. Existing CBOs are organized in such a way that products made by CBOs in one city will be sent to a CBO in another city for marketing in their area.

The Playpump's storage tank is erected on a 7m high stand and is fitted with billboards on all sides; these are rented out as advertising space for private companies and government public health messages. Revenue from this source pays for the ongoing maintenance and the sustainability of each installation.

Over 200 carts were manufactured and distributed for the use of poor families during 2001/ 2002.