Real Leaders 1 | Page 49

green online “It’s about the journey, not the destination,” says Rajeev Kapur (YPO California Southwest), Founder and CEO of one of the fastest growing eco-focused communities on the web. F ounded in 2009, Greenwala.com is a super-highway to a greener lifestyle combining community, commerce and literally thousands of pages of content from the latest industry news to the world’s first pedal-powered Porsche. It currently serves more than 50,000 online readers a month. “Every person has the power to make a difference,” says Kapur “and business goals can be achieved through everexpanding social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, developing and leveraging online communities.” Kapur worked for Dell for 12 years and spent half that time launching and managing their operations in China, Taiwan and Singapore. He was involved with e-commerce strategies from the very inception of the World Wide Web and after returning to Southern California and working at an e-commerce company, the idea of combining community and content fuelled his passion to make a difference. “The front-end of the business is a hybrid of a social network with things like profiles, groups and some terrific content. We have thousands of videos on the site and a fairly popular events section. The back-end of the business is a different story, where we provide marketing services to brands that want to get their green or socially responsible message out. We’ve run successful campaigns for PETCO, HP, GE and Sylvania to name a few. We make the best use of social media sites, such as Facebook, to drive viral growth. This helps us minimize our overall carbon footprint. Everyone works from home and we have tree planting and cause programs that reward members and non-profits.” Who does Greenwala target as it’s primary audience? “We view our community in four groups,” says Kapur. “Firstly, socially responsible entrepreneurs, those members just starting out who want to connect into a socially focused community. Secondly, change agents who are part of the larger corporate infrastructure who are looking to improve accountability to stakeholders. Thirdly, students and educators, who need to source information and lastly, families.” Is Greenwala bringing home the bacon? How can its success be measured? “Measuring social impact is difficult. For us it is all about the members and their willingness to participate in our website and then share this with their friends via email, Twitter, Facebook and other social media. We know when an article gets read and shared online, however we can’t follow the reader to their business to see if they implement this advice. It’s not easy to measure. If you sell a solar charger, for example, it’s easier to measure impact, although you still don’t know if the customer used it once or 100 times.” Kapur’s website gives practical advice that applies to most businesses: push your supply chain to use recycled materials, eliminate paper by pushing instruction manuals online, green your business through recycling programs, minimize travel by using services like Go To Meeting. All of these actions have a positive impact to both the planet and bottomline. What are the biggest global challenges we face? “I may have a slightly different view than most. In my opinion the earth is going to be fine. Look, the earth is 4.5 billion years old. It has survived this long and will continue to survive no matter what we do. One thing that I’ve seen since Greenwala was launched is that despite the furor for ‘Going Green’, there is an equal amount, if not more indifference to it, thanks to the economy. We are increasingly seeing the ‘why should I bother’ syndrome. Some of it is political. Some of it is economy related. However, I believe a big chunk of this is simply a lack of education. “Every company on the planet owes it to their stakeholders to build a profitable business. I believe however that every company also owes it to their stakeholders to build a profitable business that focuses on educating the workforce about choices they make and how that, in turn, impacts everyone.” What are his views on the widely used buzz-phrase, “People, Planet, Profits”? “It’s memorable, easy to refer to and most importantly it allows businesses to look at three succinct areas and link across each. At the end of the day however the idea of PPP is not one that is easily embrac