Green Businesses Get Help From Beverage Mogul, Montgomery County

In Maryland, a beverage mogul is teaming up with Montgomery County, to help make more businesses environmentally-friendly. Seth Goldman, the CEO of organic iced-tea maker Honest Tea, employs more than a hundred people at his headquarters in Bethesda. Coca-Cola recently purchased a share of his company.

But Goldman recalls when Honest Tea was just a small, eco-friendly start-up operating from his home. "My office was a bedroom," he says, "So it was really challenging to interview potential job candidates because you come into a bedroom, you're not sure you're dealing with a real company."

Goldman wants green entrepreneurs to avoid the pitfalls he faced. So, helped by a $150,000 grant from Montgomery County government, he's opened a Green Business Incubator in Bethesda. It will bring together entrepreneurs by offering them free space, supplies, advice and more. "The chance for them to be collaborating and talking to each other, and sometimes commiserating, is really important," Goldman says.

He launched the Green Business Incubator yesterday by cutting a biodegradable vine, instead of a disposable ribbon.

David Schultz reports...