Fallen Leaves a Key Ingredient To Young Entrepreneur's Success

Surveying the trash left behind after a party one night, an environmentally conscious student saw a unique business opportunity: offering a biodegradable alternative to the disposable dishes on the market.

Michael Dwork, now 29, used his vacations from Columbia Business School to visit Thailand, Laos, and Peru as part of a search for the right material to be used in the plates, bowls, and trays of Verterra, the company he founded.

"I wanted to see what people do when they are in concert with nature," Mr. Dwork, who graduated in May, said.

While at Columbia, Mr. Dwork teamed up with some students at the university's engineering school, who helped test 800 species of leaves. He finally settled on a large palm leaf found in India; today, fallen palm leaves are used in Verterra's fashionable products.

The leaves are collected and brought to a nearby factory, where they are layered and pressed into dishes using a steam heat press. The facility, which can recapture and reuse 80% of the runoff water, is near a port, so shipping the plates to New York burns minimal gas.

Mr. Dwork started Verterra with seed money he received after winning several prestigious awards while at Columbia. He was given a prize by the A. Lorne Weil Outrageous Business Plan Competition and $100,000 in seed funding from the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurial Initiative Fund.

For his Eugene Lang presentation, Mr. Dwork baked brownies to demonstrate that his dishes are ovenproof. He was also awarded second place and received a $100,000 prize at the DJF East Coast Venture Challenge, which traditionally gives out a cash prize only to the first place winner.

Mr. Dwork's early success exceeded his expectations, he said. When the company's Web site first went up, it was one simple page with photographs and details of the dishes: that they were not made using chemicals or additives, were biodegradable and compostable, and were made by people paid fair wages. Mr. Dwork anticipated that the product would last three months, he said, but instead it was sold out after the first month. Verterra now has more than 100 customers, with a 25% recurring order rate.

Consumers are now making decisions based on the impact their purchases have on the environment, and businesses are responding to that, the entrepreneur in residence at Columbia's business school, Clifford Schorer, said.

"We are going into a green frenzy right now, and it's spreading to all facets of capitalist society," he added. Verterra has the opportunity "to do well and also do good." Mr. Dwork, "a natural entrepreneur," according to Mr. Schorer, has an infectious enthusiasm about his tableware. In addition to the engineering students, he recruited design students at Parsons School of Design and a marketing student at Columbia to help with the business.

"The way he talks about it gets people excited," a former classmate, Rory Braithwaite, said. Mr. Braithwaite was one of Verterra's first customers, buying the products for a party his family held before his brother's wedding. Five guests from Mr. Braithwaite's event went on to become Verterra clients.

For now the products are available by contacting the company directly.