Green entrepreneurship in India: A study of select green businesses

Abstract

With focus being shifted to sustainable development, climate change and related environmental issues, there is a paradigm shift in the Indian market. People, though less in numbers, prefer green products over conventional product. This has led to emergence of green entrepreneurs. They are the drivers of the change creating awareness among public about green solutions and sustainable development. Purpose: Present paper attempts to study concept of green entrepreneurship and its components. It analyses interlinkages between socio-economic-environmental factors and green entrepreneurship leading to sustainable green economies. It attempts to examine enablers of green innovations and its opportunities and challenges. Methodology: The research, being exploratory in nature, utilizes secondary data for the purpose including five in-depth case studies of green entrepreneurs to examine their motivational factors and key barriers. Findings: The study reveals that green entrepreneurs are guided by environmental, social and economic goals. The barriers to green entrepreneurship are limited knowledge of green technology, high investment costs, lack of funds, difficulty in tapping the market due to high costs involved. Research Limitations: The research is limited in its scope because of lack of information about the profitability aspect of these green ventures due to non-availability of their financial information in public domain. Originality: The study proposes that foundation for green entrepreneurship must be laid in the early stages of education by creating awareness about harmful effects of current production and consumption practices along with policy changes to encourage green entrepreneurship.