Welcome to the course where you learn to launch a new business in the energy, finance, real estate, design, engineering, or environmental sectors, while also helping you create positive environmental and human health impacts around the world. We will integrate tools, trends, and tips from the field of entrepreneurship as a career path for making a difference and generating wealth in the renewable energy and green building sectors. This is not a course about theory. Instead, we focus on real world application, step-by-step advice, and case studies. After completing this course, students will be able to: - Define key business opportunities, challenges, and potential solutions in the renewable energy and green building sectors. - Analyze a successful business in renewable energy or green building. - Identify 2 to 3 problems you might solve with either renewable energy or green building products or services. - Plan for engaging with investors who might finance a new business. - Take real world first steps towards launching a new business or corporate initiative, by applying the 1-page business idea summary template and the Business Model Canvas to generating and refining your own new business ideas.
Inside Entrepreneurship: Benefits and Examples of Entrepreneurship
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Do curso por Duke University
Renewable Energy and Green Building Entrepreneurship
187 classificações
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Dive into Business — Real Opportunity. Real Challenges.
In this module, the instructor explains reasons for the significant growth in the renewable energy and green building sectors. We describe challenges and criticisms of both sectors, along with counterpoints and solutions. Finally, we discuss some of the struggles of entrepreneurship that must be overcome on this path of innovation and making positive impact at scale.
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Chris WeddingFaculty
Nicholas School of the Environment. Founder and Managing Partner, IronOak Energy
Hello and welcome back to class.
Today our focus is on the benefits and a few examples of entrepreneurship.
We'll start with Richard Branson,
the founder behind the Virgin Group of companies.
You may know one or two of the Virgin Group's brands, but
did you know that underneath that umbrella there are 400 plus companies?
In fact I heard an interview with Richard Branson recently, and
he actually did not know the current number of businesses.
So how fun right that could be that you're so prolific in creating businesses and
the potential for positive impact that you just lose track.
In all there are 71,000 employees, and the total
revenue in 2016 was 24 billion US dollars.
So if you're looking to have the ability to make positive impacts at a larger
scale, this is an example of how entrepreneurship can offer that to you.
Speaking of which, one of the benefits of entrepreneurship can be
flexibility in work schedule, and in work location.
As this picture suggests, if you have a laptop, a phone, some expertise,
for sure, and a network, you can run many businesses.
I'm not sure I would choose to work on a ledge of a building like this,
I do have some safety standards.
I've been able to work say from our family home in Africa,
some summers I'll send it from a flexibility of schedule perspective.
It's nice to look show up for kids events at school or after school.
Other kind of family or friend engagements as well and look many
other jobs don't afford that flexibility in where and when you work.
Some of the benefits here of course the opportunity to build real wealth for
you, your family, and your team.
That doesn't necessarily mean that you need to go set in a hammock in what looks
like the Northwest of the US, although that looks pretty fantastic to me.
That wealth, it can come in the form of freedom.
And I also want to stress too that sometimes entrepreneurs and
individuals who pursue a career
to make a positive impact feel that, it's on odd with that path
if they're also seeking to make a lot of money, a good amount of money.
Pick your term, and I want to disabuse you of that misperception.
The two do not have to be so separated,
it is more than fine, right, to make a lot of money.
Doing the right thing but you look, in part, when you generate that wealth,
it often means you are solving someone's problem.
But more importantly, if you have those goals of making a positive impact
as you have discretionary income.
You could also redirect that, whether it's through donations, microfinance
a personal pleasure or passion, goal of mine,
of ours, or investing in other startups or
other businesses that have the potential to make an impact.
Elon Musk, this is probably a name all of you watching this video know of very well.
So Founder, Co-Founder, CTO, Chairman and CEO of 3 or 4 billion dollar companies.
Here, a quote from some of his writings, his goal was,
is to change to the world and humanity by reducing global warming,
through clean energy production and consumption.
And making life multiplanetary by setting up a human colony on Mars.
Now look, I'll say the multiplanetary part may be a bit of a reach for me,
but you've got to appreciate the big picture thinking of Mr. Musk here.
I'll also say that his bold vision and
it continues to surprise me or others in the industry.
Recently he was quoted as saying he could fix Australia's energy problems.
There's a current kind of constraint on power supply leading to
surges in pricing, as well blackouts, brownouts, etc.
He said that he could fix the problem, for the country, mind you, in 100 days.
And on Twitter someone said, well, essentially, are you serious about that?
And he said, yeah, I'm serious.
He said, basically, if we cannot do that, then we'll give you the system for free.
In this case, the system would be grid scale energy storage,
lithium ion based energy storage.
And one of the recent installations in California It costs $100 million right.
So I would say pretty, pretty serious for sure.
Sometimes the benefits of entrepreneurship are shocking, surprising.
In this case some entrepreneurs from the finance industry, have created a for
profit business, currently based in Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda,
where they are providing off grid, very small scale solar solutions
for cell phone charging, lights, and some appliances.
So as of now, almost half a million homes upgraded to solar power.
500 new homes ever day and
$300 million expected to be saved over four years.
The amazing thing here is that this is not really an environmental story.
And I've had the pleasure to do work on the ground, off-grid,
in Ethiopia and in India, with two of the world's leading providers of
off-grid solar, both venture capital backed companies.
In aggregate, they've sold 80 million of these Micro- or
pico-scale solar systems.
And while in the US, or the EU, or Japan let's say,
you think this is an environmental story.
But here it's about safety, it's about not using kerosene,
which can break, tip over, etc, and burn homes down.
It's about health, if you're studying, reading, working next to
kerosene lighting, it's the equivalent of smoking many packs of cigarettes.
So the lighting helps kids to study better therefore they're going to do
better in school, create more opportunities for them as they get older.
For parents to produce more goods at night after the sun goes down to sell.
Just general standard of living, right, to have radio or
TV, again, after the sun goes down or just generally for
entertainment purposes, and this is an economic argument, right?
Not a subsidized argument.
Often the cash payback is 6 months, 12 months, and then from there you have
at least the warranty of the system often five years of let's say free cashflow.
What are some key conclusions here.
Well entrepreneurship offers in a way no life
balance in the beginning and then fantastic life balance after success.
So it's temporary sacrifice, temporary intensity for
more options, let's say, later on flexibility number two.
Entrepreneurship may hold more potential than charitable work
to address environmental, health, and poverty problems.
Again this is counterintuitive to me, I've seen it on the ground,
I've talked to others, many things happen like Incoppa is in Africa.
It isn't either or by the way, it's just that more for profit solutions
to address environmental health and poverty problems, probably is needed.
And finally, entrepreneurship is partly about redefining work.
So today company size, culture, work schedule, work location, and
business purpose this is a multipurpose are much more flexible.
This is the opportunity before you to redefine all those for
you and your future or current team.
Finally questions for you.
So get out your notebook, pause the video and think about these for a few minutes.
Number one, which benefits of entrepreneurship most excites you?
Create a definition of your typical day in your one and your ten, and
I promise you they will be different.
Which entrepreneurs most inspire you?
So name five, six of them, study their path, successes,
failures, and daily habits.
Again, no need to reinvent the wheel, right?
Finally, how will you define success in entrepreneurship- control of your
schedule, financial success environmental or social impacts or other.
Name the top three with numerical goals for each of them,
know what you're after, know how you define success.
And the last I want to say is a case study of sorts.
Entrepreneurship runs in my family as well.
My grandfather is a model of success, a model of the impact that can be created.
And part of how I answer some of these questions, right?
He started to run a grocery store business in a ver very small town for
about sixty years.
And then doing so, created considerable wealth which benefited of course all of
his family, the kids and of course even grandkids, and great grandkids.
So that kind of multigenerational impact to something that
certainly I hope to repeat in maybe you do as well.
See you on the next video.
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