You may be asking what is EcoTech Visions – in a nutshell ETV is an incubator that offers innovative programs and services that simultaneously tackle climate change and systemic poverty which ultimately furthers economic development in the regions that it serves. Leveraging the growing market and funding for green products, services and manufacturing processes, as well as the growing number of resources designed to address income inequality; ETV programs develop and support local green businesses and green jobs.
President of the ETV Board, Pandwe A. Gibson, shared how she was an educator who realized students can’t eat ideas. In 2013 she traded in a career in schooling for a career in economic development. “I believe that we can teach environmental conservation through market based solutions. By teaching people green collar skills we can create jobs that protect the planet – the best way to teach people about the sustainability is to tie their income and livelihood to the viability of the planet.” They equip resource-limited entrepreneurs with tools to successfully plan, launch, market, and grow green manufacturing businesses that create jobs, sustain communities, and protect the planet. Their programs aim to harness and build the skills and assets of individuals in low-income communities to break the cycle of poverty and create sustainable development.
ETV currently focuses on three (3) main initiatives in Miami-Dade County, Florida as it works toward a carbon-neutral Miami and reducing unemployment for its low-income residents:
1. EcoTech Business Incubator
2. EcoTech Business Fellowship
3. EcoTech Green Scouts Externship.
The EcoTech Business Incubator will house and support green businesses, with a focus on those that have a light manufacturing component. Planned resident businesses include companies that repurpose or recycle waste for firms with zero-waste initiatives, develop electric motorcycles and install solar panels. Many of the resident businesses, having natural synergies, will work collaboratively towards driving profits and capturing different sources of revenue. We currently and will continue to offer business-to-business consulting services to firms looking to “green” their portfolio and operations.
EcoTech Business Fellowship – housed in the incubator, is a training program that focuses on converting blue-collar workers and businesses into “green-collar” ones. The first Fellowship class will primarily serve residents from the Opa Locka, West Little Rivers and Model City areas, and will be comprised of twenty-five (25) African American men that have been identified as having strong blue-collar skills and related licenses and certifications. These fellows will be trained to translate their skills to meet the needs of the growing green economy and will be supported in creating ten (10) new green businesses. By partnering with various organizations (including a university that specializes in sustainability and green business models), and obtaining seed funding to support the Fellow’s businesses, the Fellowship allows those facing chronic unemployment and poverty to rise above their hardships by producing goods and services that improve people’s lives and the environment.
EcoTech Green Scouts Externship will leverage University and high school marketing and sales major’s skill sets to promote scalability, create career track training and support rapid product promotional avenues for incubator and fellowship companies.
Some ETV ecopeneur brands are Aeolus Motors, Earthware, Raw Beauty & Health, Urban GreenWorks, Inner City Youth Performing Arts, and Jacq’s Organico
The “green-collar” manufacturing & services supported through EcoTech Visions can bring industry back to Miami while creating jobs, combating poverty & protecting the planet. This model will be replicated in other communities to help transform other impoverished neighborhoods.
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