Entrepreneurs Aim to Export Green Ideas

It was designed as an incubator to help environmentally minded businesses get started.

Now several of the entrepreneurs who have set up shop in the Thousand Oaks Environmental Business Cluster are trying to take their green message--and products--overseas.

At an open house attended by about 30 business and government leaders Tuesday, several companies talked about their efforts to pave the way for establishing technology transfers and joint ventures in countries from China to Taiwan, South Korea and Morocco.

“[Other countries] have the same problems we do but have been less environmentally conscious,” said Tom Nielsen, chief executive officer of Energy 2000 Inc., a company that markets clean-burning fuel cells. “We are looking to help them become more environmentally correct.”

Energy 2000 is trying to expand business ties with South Korea. With Seoul ranking among the world’s most polluted cities, the Korean government is beginning to increase its environmental regulations, Nielsen said. “You cannot expand your business base unless you minimize the negative impacts on the environment,” he added.

While most cluster participants are ardent supporters of a clean environment, spreading the word overseas about green business practices is more than an altruistic pursuit, Nielsen admitted. If other countries become more concerned about protecting the environment, “their demand for environmentally correct products will expand,” he said.

Eugene Tseng, executive director of EcoTelesis International Inc., an environmental education and outreach firm in the environmental business center, was more emphatic.

“One of the biggest markets for environmental products and services is overseas,” Tseng said.

With the help of the Korean Trade Center in Los Angeles, Energy 2000 was able to set up a joint venture with a Korean company that will build parts for the company’s clean-burning fuel cells. These fuel cells are natural gas-powered generators of electricity that are used in hospitals and large buildings as an emergency power source.

*

The relationship between the cluster and the Korean Trade Center is also about networking and information exchange, Nielsen said. That is much of the reason for the environmental business center itself.

The cluster, which provides low-cost office space, as well as administrative and technical support for fledgling environmental businesses, is a place to network. With its open offices and shared conference rooms, the environmental business cluster provides a venue for companies to meet, exchange information, help each other find new customers and trade ideas about how to market environmental products.

Currently the cluster, which was set up a year ago with the help of area businesses and the city of Thousand Oaks, has 11 tenants with about 40 employees. The incubator has already “hatched” one business. In August, Adapt Consulting Inc., a company that promotes recycling programs and products, left to set up an office in Ventura.

American Hualong Investment & Development Co. Ltd., a company that builds and manages plants that use recycled paper and plastic, is also looking to expand its business internationally. The company hosted a trade delegation of Chinese government officials who visited Southern California in September.

“They toured TOEBC to see what an incubator is and to bring the concept back to China,” said Yu-Yue Widrig, the cluster’s executive director. Widrig said the international links were a milestone for the business cluster.

*

Naturam Inc., a company that makes a fungus-based soil conditioner used to promote plant growth, has turned to northwestern Africa and beyond in its search for new markets. Naturam’s two principals, founder Michael Brock and President Robert Harris, just returned from a trip to Morocco in which they set up a joint venture to manufacture and market their product.

“We want to help them cut back in the excessive use of chemicals in agriculture and still have the same productivity,” Harris said. “The reason we chose Morocco is that right now that country is a gateway to the Middle East. If we can help the farmers in Morocco that would be a good jumping-off point for us.”

Naturam has plans to expand its operations to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, according to Brock.