INSIGHTS

Brian Mays started Smile Natural Products, a toxin-free and vegan essential-care company, out of necessity. 

Mays, 32, went vegan in 2016 after his father was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. As he searched for ways to eliminate animal byproducts and harmful ingredients from his diet, he struggled to find plant-based oral care products at his local convenience store. 

The California native started researching functional ingredients such as fluoride alternatives and began making his own natural toothpaste using ingredients like coconut oil, peppermint oil, cacao, and activated charcoal in his Brooklyn apartment. After receiving positive feedback from trusted friends, he launched Smile Natural Products in July 2017 with the brand slogan “We’re not just good for the environment, we’re good for you.”  

In addition to using natural, plant-based ingredients in their oral products, Smile also reduces its waste by selling bamboo toothbrushes over plastic ones, which are tossed into landfills yearly. Smile is also in the process of transitioning to using plastic tubes derived from sugarcane, which are biodegradable. And their antibacterial mouthwash comes in a glass bottle, which Mays says is more expensive, but is another way to decrease their waste. They encourage customers to repurpose the glass bottles. 

“We tend to put our purpose before profits in terms of how we navigate our business,” Mays says.“ [The decisions that we make are] largely geared towards how we can be impactful...not necessarily how we can sell as much toothpaste as possible.”

For the past two decades, Derin Oyekan has helped bring several diverse businesses to market ranging from a cat litter company to a Latin cooking brand. But it wasn’t until his now business partner, Livio Bisterzo, presented him with the idea to start an eco-friendly paper company that Oyekan found an opportunity to create a business that not only was good for the environment, but also provided a positive impact on the global sanitation crisis.

Reel launched in March 2019 selling tree-free, 100% bamboo-made toilet paper and paper towels. It started out with a direct-to-consumer strategy, but can now be purchased on Amazon or at select Target stores. 

The company was built on the sustainable practice of using bamboo for its paper products instead of trees. Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant in the world and because it grows so quickly, it can be replenished instantly after being harvested. Using bamboo for paper products is prevalent in Asia, but it’s a relatively new concept for Westerners.

“We weren’t the first to build a bamboo toilet paper brand, but we feel like out of all the competition out there, we are probably the most elevated in terms of our brand messaging [and] our positioning,” he says. 

All of Reel’s shipping materials are biodegradable and their packaging is plastic-free. Reel also includes a give-back element in their business strategy. For every package of Reel products someone purchases, fifty cents is donated to SOIL, an organization based in Haiti, to help provide clean toilets and remove waste from communities. 

When asked about the future of sustainability within businesses, Oyekan says that as consumers start to demand eco-friendly products, smaller companies will likely be the game changers.

“Even though a lot of the big CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands are investing heavily in sustainability across the entire supply chain, it's a little harder for them because it’s just a bigger wheel to turn,” he says. “So I think smaller, scrappier brands can innovate and kind of force that conversation and force those changes.”

He adds, “I think the future of sustainability is going to be a base requirement. It’s not a fad or trend, it’s just how business is going to conduct [itself].” 

For aspiring entrepreneurs, Oyekan recommends that they find a product that they’re passionate about and research ways that they can make it more eco-friendly. 

“Whatever business you’re in, there’s always a better way. A more sustainable way to do it,” he says. 

“It’s not product-category specific. It’s just looking at, ‘OK, within this category that I’m passionate about…how can I make the experience be better for the earth, better for people, and eliminate or just make it have as little negative impact on the earth as possible?’”

It’s no secret that electric vehicles are in a boom period. In August 2021, the Biden administration announced a new national target for electric vehicles to make up half of all new vehicle sales by 2030 in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Kameale C. Terry and Evette Ellis were ahead of the game when they launched ChargerHelp!, an on-demand repair mobile app for electric vehicle charging stations, in January 2020. 

Terry, co-founder and CEO, started ChargerHelp! after recognizing a need in the industry. While working in customer experience at EV Connect, an electric-vehicle-charging management platform, Terry received calls from drivers who complained about charging stations being broken. And when technicians were called, they often didn’t know how to fix the problem.

Terry decided to leave her job and file the business license for ChargerHelp! shortly thereafter. A month later, she teamed up with her co-founder and Chief Workforce Officer, Evette Ellis, to launch the company. They now have 20 technicians who service stations in 11 states, with plans of hiring more technicians and expanding to additional states in 2022.

Ellis says that the boom happening within the electric vehicle space represents a major shift in the world’s economic infrastructure—similar to the shift that occurred when other major innovations such as the train, car, and internet were created. The current shift toward electric vehicles is something she says aspiring entrepreneurs should pay attention to.

“This is one of those shifts where it’s like, ‘I wish I had invested some time, energy, [and] effort into clean energy, into the EV infrastructure,” Ellis says. “So I’m really excited to see what this really, really transpires into.”