ASHEVILLE’S GREEN BUSINESS SCENE PROFILED BY FORBES

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From contributing to the state’s solar boom to an expanding green events industry, Asheville, North Carolina has a strong and growing reputation for environmentally conscious business. Now the town is being profiled by Forbes in its ongoing series on innovation around the United States, and unsurprisingly, the focus is on sustainability. Among the initiatives that the article focuses on is Venture Asheville:

The brainchild of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County, the Venture Asheville initiative works to energize a local high-growth entrepreneurial ecosystem. Fittingly, investing and growing “green” businesses – those which create value from renewable, sustainable activities that are mindful of reducing energy use and waste – are the basis of this ecosystem. Success is based on businesses that sustain the earth, and on a system that sustains itself and the local economy in large part by bringing like-minded people and ideas together.  The interdependent elements of this ecosystem are entrepreneurs, talent, and the capital to make it all work. Actively connecting all three becomes the catalyst for business innovation.

Head on over to Forbes for the full story.