Start-Up Company Ready to Leave Nest

It worked as planned: After an incubation period, it hatched.

Just one year after joining the Thousand Oaks Environmental Business Cluster, a nonprofit launching pad for environmental businesses, Adapt Consulting Inc. is ready to move on, company officials said Tuesday.

Adapt, an environmental consulting firm that is relocating to Ventura, was the third tenant to occupy the business incubator. This week, it will be the first to leave.

At the cluster, Adapt Consulting benefited from exposure, visibility and an invaluable ability to network with other environmental business, said company President Yvette Berke.

Adapt helps companies and cities set up recycling programs and assists them in purchasing recycled products. The company worked with the cities of Thousand Oaks, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Agoura Hills, Berke said.

Adapt also helps to distribute, advertise and market recycled and other environmentally friendly products, Berke said. The company consists of eight independent environmental consultants.

Berke, a former employee of the Walt Disney Co. in Burbank, started Adapt after she helped set up a recycling program at the entertainment giant.

The Thousand Oaks Environmental Business Cluster was established in July 1995 to help start-up environmental businesses minimize their costs. The cluster provides inexpensive office space, management and telecommunications support.

Berke said she plans to remain in contact with other companies at the cluster and help them place their products in the marketplace.

“I hope to be a mentor . . . and help other businesses grow in the county the way we have,” Berke said.

This is an auspicious beginning for the cluster, officials said.

“I’m very pleased,” said Yu-Yue Widrig, executive director of the Thousand Oaks Environmental Business Cluster. “This is one of the goals of TOEBC. To move businesses from the cluster and into the business environment.”

Adapt will be sharing space with a Ventura law firm on Chestnut Street.