Program offers help to green startups with limited means.

• Author: Abels, Randi
• Position: SMALL BUSINESS

For Richard Eidlin, business isn't just about the bottom line--it's also about the greater good.

Eidlin's Greater Good Project, part of his for-profit Progress Group, helps low- to moderate-income businesses become more focused on community and sustainability.

"The Greater Good Project guides you step-by-step and allows you to acquire the knowledge you need so that you don't have to stop, you don't fumble, you don't make giant leaps and bounds," says Karen Megel, whose business, Alpha Goods, got a boost from the Greater Good as part of its business showcase. "They don't set you in places you shouldn't be, and they do not set you up to fail."

Mentors chosen from larger, more established companies in Colorado provide insight and support to the emerging businesses in the program. Eidlin believes "sustainability is the driver of innovation," leading the Greater Good Project to focus on triple-bottom-line businesses--those concerned with environmental sustainability and social responsibility, as well as profitability.

Debra Brown and John Hand opened a company that provides text messaging services to large groups that would normally be left out of the technological advancements. Their 5-year-old business was part of the Greater Good showcase, and they are looking forward to the project's first-ever training, the Greater Good Academy, this spring.

"The greatest help we have gotten...