Opening with a captivating historical foray into Canada’s childhood during the times of its first start-ups, the fur-trading companies, Andrew Heintzman’s The New Entrepreneurs takes a look at how entrepreneurs have both maintained and adapted their strategies in the face of the growing environmental problems facing Canada and the world.
Heintzman focuses, in turn, on what he identifies as the six most pressing environmental and economic issues – forest destruction, water resources, electricity, the automotive industry, Alberta’s oil sands, and agriculture – and the efforts being made by Canadians to develop new technology and methods to reduce Canada’s environmental footprint and set the stage for a more sustainable future. The book stresses the importance of start-up funding and investment in these home-grown companies, as the venture capital market takes an ever increasing interest in cleantech and new technologies.
Author Andrew Heintzman has a considerable background in the areas of venture capital and sustainable development, and his expertise and passion shines through in The New Entrepreneurs. President and co-founder of Investeco Capital, Canada’s first exclusively environmentally-focused investment company, Andrew is also involved in advising many home-grown Canadian start-ups. His first solo publication, The New Entrepreneurs is an effort to educate the average Canadian about our current environmental situation at home and as it compares to the rest of the world.
As a student with an interest in venture capital and sustainable development, I found this book to be very readable and informative. Each section provides an overview of the current state of that particular resource or technology in Canada, and goes on to highlight several ways in which local entrepreneurs are working to fix our problems. My interest in this book jumped ten-fold as soon as I discovered that local Canadian communities and start-ups were spotlighted. As an example, Saltworks, the company that masterminded a revolutionary new desalination technology, is based in my hometown of Vancouver. The knowledge that significant change is being grown and nurtured in my own community was inspiring to say the least.
Heintzman’s belief is that Canada’s lack of a ‘coherent national strategy on the most important economic questions of our time” will negatively affect our future competitiveness, productivity and prosperity unless we take action now. The first step to action is having an understanding of the situation, and The New Entrepreneurs provides readers with just that. With a better idea of the real damage that we are causing our planet through CO2 gas emissions and over-use of power, we’ll be better able to understand and support the entrepreneurs working to conserve what we as Canadians have been taking for granted.
The New Entrepreneurs: Building a Green Economy for the Future (Anansi Press) written by Andrew Heintzman is available now at all major book retailers.
Larissa Rogowsky is a student at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. She is also communications director of the UBC Venture Capital & Private Equity Club (UBCVCPE).
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This is why I do my part in creating sustainable environment by letting it mellow if yellow and flushing if brown.
Nicely written.