August 13, 2007 - Company Incorporation in Pennsylvania

Global Ectropy was originally created with the goal of creating linkages between small firms in both the US and Kenya. The idea being to act as a relationship broker for those interested in collaborating in the environmental resource/social business arena. We discovered there is great interest from firms on both sides; however, small firms lack the resources (e.g. funding for trips/initial visits, legal expertise, import/export licensing, personnel that can be dedicated to overseas launch) that are needed to initiate overseas endeavors. Most government sponsored programs are designed to support large corporations because they already have most of the capacity and government support is more focused on establishing relationships and navigating red-tape. Alternatively, large corporate partner would be needed whereby small firms on both sides act as suppliers/partners to the larger corporation.

We were also asked to consider establishing ourselves as a non-profit entity and to serve as the membership organization for a Kenya Business Council for Sustainable Development (this would be the country affiliate to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development http://www.wbcsd.org). Companies we approached at the time felt that they were already well represented by existing membership organizations such as KEPSA (Kenya Private Sector Alliance http://www.kepsa.or.ke/). Although KEPSA does not have an appointed Sustainability/Environment Chair, potential members felt that existing business organizations could address sustainability issues within their membership without the need for a separate organization to which they would have to pay additional membership fees.

Our approach to the workshop was to propose the development of an eco-village. The logic behind this approach: an eco-village would provide an excellent showcase for various eco-industry technologies and, by extension, for companies providing such technologies.