Around the world, an estimated 700,000 people die every year thanks to counterfeit medicines, and up to 1 in 3 medicines sold worldwide may be counterfeit or otherwise defective. The counterfeit medicine industry is a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide, with anti-malarial and anti-HIV/AIDS drugs the most common to be counterfeited.
Fake medicines can kill either passively, by not treating the condition they are intended to treat, or actively, if they have been deliberately or accidentally contaminated by a poisonous or harmful substance. For example, last year at least 34 children in Nigeria were killed by a batch of counterfeit teething medicine that contained antifreeze. Counterfeit drugs containing small but insufficient doses of the drug they are intended to copy also threaten future public health by encouraging disease organisms to develop resistance to the drug. Drug resistance is already a problem with certain diseases such as tuberculosis, MRSA, and malaria, and counterfeit medicines can speed the development of resistance.
Fighting Counterfeit Medicines With Cell PhonesA new social enterprise named Sproxil is aiming to end the scourge of counterfeit medicines in the developing world with cell phone technology.
How Sproxil Works
Founded by Ashifi Gogo, a native of Ghana, Sproxil hopes to incorporate a scratch-off authentication label into the packaging of all drugs sold in the developing world. When a drug is sold, the consumer can send a free text message to a number posted on the label, and within seconds, he or she will receive a message authenticating the drug or warning that it is fake.
Sproxil recently underwent a successful trial in Nigeria, which has 70,000,000 cell phone users, the highest number in Africa, and is also known as a center of the counterfeit drug trade. In 2008, a survey found that an estimated 80% of all drugs sold in Lagos, the biggest city in Nigeria, were counterfeit. Attempts to bring the situation under control, though they ultimately succeeded in reducing the percentage to an estimated 16%, were met with vandalism, death threats, fire bombs, and even an assassination attempt.
Sproxil hope to defuse this dangerous situation, and others like it around the world, by, in effect, crowd-sourcing pharmaceutical inspections.
This benefits the drug companies, who do not need to worry about their brand being diluted by ineffective or poisonous fake medicines, the consumers, who do not need to worry about purchasing ineffective or fake medicines, and law enforcement, who are able to track “fake drug” text messages in an area and can make targeted pharmacy inspections instead of relying on inefficient random sampling. (The tracking is done anonymously in order ot protect the privacy of the consumer and reduce danger to him or her from counterfeiters. Sproxil also believes that the technology will benefit telecom companies, by encouraging more consumers to purchase cell phones.
Sproxil is a for-profit social enterprise and the service is supported with fees from drug companies and consulting. In the future Sproxil may also offer analytics services and delivery of targeted ads with each authentication text message. In the future, Sproxil also hopes to target counterfeit cell phones and counterfeit CDs and DVDs.
Statistics show that 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide are released into the air each year in the US. This is as a result of driving cars and light trucks around the country. Cars and light trucks, usually for private uses, are driven over about 2.6 million miles each year. With each car consuming at least 600 gallons of gas, the impact to the environment is huge.
Driving cars not only affects the environment, but it is also very expensive for the car owners, especially if you consider the traffic problems experienced in different cities. Many individuals are discarding their cars and going for more affordable and safer alternatives. With this move, the electric scooter is gaining favor among many automobile users. These scooters provide an opportunity that those interested in business can venture into.
Electric scooters are easy to operate. In most regions, insurance is not needed for a scooter, and neither is a driving license required. Modern scooters are engineered with stronger batteries to last between 30 and 50 miles when charged. Again, charging them takes about an hour.
Contrary to cars, electric scooters release no carbon to the atmosphere. In the case of a scooter charged with electricity from wind or solar, pollution on the environment is reduced completely. This helps users save on gas bills, reduce congestion on roads and enjoy reduced maintenance costs.
There are different businesses you can start, that relate to electric scooters. First off, you can start selling electric scooters. At least a third of all Americans have considered using an electric scooter at one point in their life. This saw the sale of these scooters triple from 1998 to 2004. The number of buyers has continued growing.
Scooter rentals are another popular business idea. You can start your rental business near college campuses, downtown areas, and tourist destinations. Any locality with a high population comes in handy for an electric scooter business.
Another viable option is to venture into repairs, maintenance, and parts. As the number of scooters in the market continues to increase, so does the demand for electric scooter repair and maintenance.
Provision of power stations is another business opportunity to consider. Electric scooter owners will require a safe place to keep their scooters and recharge them. This is where a power station and scooter safekeeping comes in.
To diversify the business, you can sell, rent or service other scooters, electric bikes, electric motorcycles, and electric mopeds. The number of automobiles that your service will depend on the location of your business, local laws, and the local market. Your personal preferences will also determine the types of automobiles your service.
This is a business serving San Francisco Bay area. It has been in operation since 1996 selling bikes and scooters. In their shop, they offer a wide collection of automobiles including bicycles, scooters, tricycles and golf carts among others. Besides sales, the business runs Electric-Bikes.com, a website on which they offer extensive information on electric automobiles.
Eco-Scooter is a rental service operating in Parksville, Vancouver, Canada. It targets tourists who flock the area. The business has electric and biodiesel scooters and rents them for up to eight hours. Besides rentals, Eco-Scooter retails 500w electric scooters. Buyers have their scooters assembled and inspected on a purchase.
This is an e-commerce website retailing bicycles, motorcycles and electric scooters among other automobiles for children and adults.
Looking for blogging inspiration? Need a little boost for getting the content rolling for your green content strategy? Finding interesting, valuable information to convey to your readers can be a challenge, especially when you’re trying to balance all of the other green marketing strategies for your eco business. But with these 12 sources for green blogging inspiration, you should be writing – and moving up Google rankings – in no time at all.
Make people laugh
One of the easiest ways to get your readers to engage in your blog content is to make the smile or even laugh out loud. Perhaps you don’t consider yourself the funniest person around, but even the most mundane things can be humorous when presented in the right light. After all, the world of eco-friendly living can be pretty serious at times.
Try out these strategies:
Keep an eye out for current events that are pertinent to your green business. For instance, if you work in the field of eco-friendly cosmetics, find out what recent chemicals have been banned or legislations established that impact your industry. If you produce solar panels, blog about the most recent green tech innovations. Or if market interested has recently shot up in your electric bike industry, talk about that. You get the idea. Keep it current, relevant, and interesting. Treehugger.com, Planet Green, and Grist.org are all great sources.
Draw connections between your green business and other eco fields
There are always interesting ways to connect the dots and these connections often make for interesting conversations. For example, if you produce toys that get kids outdoors, talk about the psychology of being in touch with nature. Does your home energy efficiency monitor rely on software development? Then talk about the latest advances in that field.
Look deep into the eyes of your email
Newsletters from similar organizations or personal messages from friends can often be a source of interesting ideas for your next blog post. Perhaps you can share a personal experience about your client’s recent product marketing through a cross-promotion. Or talk about a nonprofit organization trying to solve a similar problem as your green business.
Green media for blogging inspiration
Have you recently run across an interesting photograph or video that pertains to your green business? Media such as these can be a great source of inspiration and may spark some dynamic conversations with your audience if they’re thought-provoking enough. Again, sites like YouTube and Flickr.com can be great sources for inspiration. Do a quick search on your topic to see what you find!
Offer free content give-aways
Freebies like ebooks and white papers that provide practical, up-to-date information on your green business or the field in which you work are a great way to get people really engaged in your content. If you’re not a writer yourself, hire a freelance writer through a site like Elance.com or Guru.com where you’ll be put in touch with dozens of green writers and communications experts. You can then do several spin-off blog posts on the content within your ebook or white paper to increase the likelihood of being found by potential readers.
Come back next week to read more blog inspiration ideas to get you writing for your green business with ease.
Green living is not only fashionable, it’s also smart, and for nobody is this more true than for families with young infants.
Nobody is more sensitive to the harmful chemicals and toxins surrounding us in the modern world than young babies, and as awareness grows of the harm we are doing to our children with products we use around the house every day, green baby boutiques are growing in popularity around the country.
Green baby boutiques carry safe, eco-friendly clothing, bedding, furniture, toys, and other gear for young babies and toddlers. They may also carry clothing and products for pregnant and nursing mothers. In addition to shopping, many green baby boutiques provide education for families to help them make the safest and healthiest choices for their children as they grow.
Examples of the types of products carried by many green baby boutiques include:
In addition to choosing eco-friendly and socially-conscious products, green baby boutiques can go green in many other ways as well.
Printing advertising materials and educational pamphlets for parents on recycled paper with non-toxic inks is a great way to spread the word about your green baby boutique and its products.
Building or remodelling your store with eco-friendly building materials, low VOC paints, and other beautiful, safe green construction materials is another way to extend your commitment to green living beyond the products you carry. Some green baby boutiques even use wind or solar powered electricity, or purchase carbon offsets to reduce their carbon emissions.
Another way to go green is to skip the storefront altogether and open an online boutique using green website hosting. This allows most employees to telecommute, reducing carbon emissions. You can reduce environmental impact even further with green shipping and packaging choices, such as recycled boxes and wrapping paper.
Happy Green Baby is an online green baby boutique with an extensive collection of eco-friendly and non-toxic clothing, begging, toys, gifts, and gear. The site also offers a green baby gift registry, a learning center with information about green baby products and green living for families, and a blog.
A Mother’s Haven, located in Encino, California, is a green maternity and baby boutique that carries an extensive line of organic and eco-friendly gear for expectant mothers and babies. The store also offers a variety of classes for new and expecting parents, including prenatal yoga, infant massage, and infant sign language.
Jilly Bean Green is a hip eco baby boutique located in Studio City, CA and focusing on stylish and eco-friendly organic, “upcycled,” and handmade products for babies and young children. The store offers an online gift registry, green living tips, and a page dedicated to celeb favorite green products.