Tree planting in Tanzania

Rarely do you find a business that attacks two big problems–global poverty and climate change–at the same time.

This week, I came across two such ventures. As it happens, they have a lot in common: Both operate in East Africa, both work with the very poor, both were started by executives who came out of the fossil-fuel industry and both are made possible by 21st century cutting-edge technology.

One is called TIST, which stands for The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program. (You can tell it wasn’t started by a marketing guy.) TIST organize small groups of farmers to plant trees, generate income from global carbon markets and reverse the devastating effects of deforestation in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and India. It’s been operating for less than a decade but has signed up a remarkable 65,000 farmers.

“It’s growing on its own by 50 to 100% a year,” says Ben Henneke, a veteran energy executive who started TIST after visiting Tanzania on a church mission back in 1998.

The other is Dissigno. A San Francisco-based startup, Dissigno operates a power and lighting project in Tanzania that provides villagers with battery-powered LED lights that are recharged with solar power. The company, which also has solar businesses in the U.S. and the Czech Republic, has big plans, hoping to expand its power and lighting business to Ethiopia, Botswana and South Africa.

“There are 1.6 million people around the world who don’t have power,” says Gary Zieff, a founder of Dissigno. “That’s a business opportunity for us.”

I met Henneke and Zieff at an energy and climate conference organized by Center for Sustainable Enterprise at the Kenan-Flagler business school at the University of North Carolina. Next week I’ll tell you about another entrepreneur who spoke at UNC about his plans to bring high-altitude wind power to the global south. Since I spend most of my time writing about big companies and the government, it’s great to connect with entrepreneurial energy.

TIST traces its origins to a service at an Episcopal church in northern Virginia where parishioners including Ben Henneke and his wife, Vannesa, were encourage by the rector join in a service mission. As Henneke recalls, Vannesa whispered to him: “Maybe we’re supposed to go to Africa this summer.” He replied: “I hope you have a nice time, dear.” Six months later, they found themselves in Tanzania, and they were astounded by what they saw. People were poor even by the standards of Tanzania, where annual per capita income [PDF] is about $440 a year. [click to continue...]