Good for Business. Good for the Planet. Meet 17 Entrepreneurs to Celebrate this Earth Month
Every April, Earth Month invites us to pause and consider the relationship between the choices we make and the planet we share.
But for many entrepreneurs across AltCap's service area, that consideration isn't seasonal. It's foundational to the organizations they lead.
They're reducing waste, growing and providing sustainably produced food, rethinking energy, reimagining what buildings can be made of, and proving that community impact and sustainability go hand in hand.
AltCap is proud to work with these businesses and entrepreneurs, and we hope you consider them the next time you're shopping!
Pantry Goods | Shawnee, Kansas
Founded by Marcelle Clements, Pantry Goods is a zero-waste refill grocery service that delivers pantry staples — from locally milled flour to artisan coffee — in returnable glass jars, compostable paper bags, or recyclable containers. Customers return the jars, get their deposit back, and the cycle continues. With over 125 products sourced from small farms and local producers, Pantry Goods makes sustainable grocery shopping convenient and accessible for Kansas Citians.
El Sereno GreenGrocer | Los Angeles, California
Founded by Erika Crenshaw and Patricia Torres, El Sereno GreenGrocer was opened as a love letter to the tienditas with which they grew up. A curated neighborhood market in Los Angeles's El Sereno community, El Sereno GreenGrocer set up shop in a neighborhood identified as a food desert where many residents have no grocery store within a 15-minute walk. The store features culturally relevant, locally grown produce sourced from nearby community farms and urban growers, celebrating BIPOC farmers, food artisans, and traditional foodways. Crenshaw and Torres continue their food and community work as stewards of the El Sereno Community Garden.
Gnarly Hustle | Raytown, Missouri
Pat Clifton and Alex Quinn turned a pandemic-era side hustle into Raytown's first vintage clothing shop and one of the area’s most unique shopping experiences. Operating out of a storefront in Raytown, Gnarly Hussle stocks quality secondhand clothing at prices that make sustainable fashion genuinely accessible, while also platforming local vendors, artists, and pickers under one roof. The space doubles as an event venue and podcast studio, and a dive bar in the back keeps the hangout energy going long after the shopping is done. Gnarly Hussle is less a retail store than a neighborhood institution — built on the belief that community, creativity, and circular fashion belong together.
Taste the Mundo | Los Angeles, California
Founded by Jon Kinnard and based in South Los Angeles, Taste the Mundo is an Afro-Latino specialty coffee brand that honors the origins of coffee and the people who grow it. The company curates ethically-sourced, small-batch whole bean coffees from Ethiopia, Colombia, Guatemala, and more — celebrating non-European coffee traditions and the farmers behind every cup. Kinnard opened the original Coffee Del Mundo in 2018 as one of the few independent coffee shops operating in South LA, and Taste the Mundo carries that mission forward.
Cristina's Produce | Kansas City, Missouri
Ben Wisdom started selling produce at Kansas City's historic City Market on weekends in 1993 and turned that passion into Cristina's Produce — named for his daughter. Open 365 days a year at Kansas City’s City Market, the stand offers more than 100 varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables, sourcing seasonally from local farms when available. Ben's commitment to high-quality, fresh food has made Cristina's a KC institution for over two decades.
City Bitty Farm | Kansas City, Missouri
Co-founded by Greg and Jen Garbos, City Bitty Farm is a 2-acre urban farm that has been growing microgreens year-round since 2010. The farm uses season-extending technologies and custom-built greenhouse infrastructure to grow its products. The farm supplies Kansas City restaurants and residents with hyper-local, nutrient-dense produce — a working model of small-scale food production built for a more resilient urban food system.
Kanbe's Markets | Kansas City, Missouri
Founded by Maxfield Kaniger, Kanbe's Markets is on a mission to build a more inclusive food system by transforming food loss into food access. Kanbe’s tackles food insecurity by offering fresh, affordable produce to underserved Kansas City communities by working with corner stores and bodegas that communities rely on and trust. Kanbe’s recently reached a milestone of 100 Fresh Food Access Partner locations across Kansas City’s east side, and has redirected more than 1 million pounds of produce from landfills each year, turning a waste problem into a community resource.
Tree Hugger: Plant-Based Kitchen | Kansas City, Missouri
Phil and Mandy — a husband-and-wife team Kansas Citians know as "Phandy" — brought their food-truck roots home to open Tree Hugger: Plant-Based Kitchen. The restaurant serves a fully plant-based menu, offering Kansas City a delicious, lower-carbon-footprint alternative to conventional dining.
AY Musik | Kansas City, Missouri
AY Young is a Kansas City-born pop artist, producer, and founder of Battery Tour — the world's longest-running clean energy concert series. Since launching Battery Tour in 2012, AY has powered nearly 1,000 concerts using clean energy.
Smith's Upholstery | Kansas City, Missouri
In a culture defined by disposability, founder Michael Smith built his Kansas City shop around a different logic: restore what you already have. Smith's Upholstery handles commercial reupholstery for restaurant booths, barbershop chairs, salon seats, and more — extending the life of furniture that would otherwise end up in a landfill. Drawing on his own experience with incarceration, Smith also created a paid six-week job-training program in partnership with Kansas City's Full Employment Council, offering formerly incarcerated individuals the chance to learn a skilled trade.
Dirt-Free Power | Southern California
Led by CEO Guillermo Lopez-Galvez, Dirt-Free Power is a Southern California-based developer and equipment provider specializing in energy storage and EV charging infrastructure for commercial and industrial clients. Working throughout California with a focus on the Southern California market, the company helps businesses reduce their dependence on the grid and accelerate the transition to clean, renewable energy.
Phronesis | Kansas City
Founded by Tim Duggan, Phronesis is a Kansas City urban design and landscape architecture firm built around what they call "urban acupuncture" — targeted, sustainable interventions that improve the quality of the built environment. The firm offers landscape architecture, urban planning, and sustainable design services, working to create green spaces and resilient communities that are both ecologically sound and community-centered.
Heartland Pet Aquamation | Kansas City, Missouri
Founded by Jarrod Hammond, Heartland Pet Aquamation offers a water-based process that uses water, temperature, and alkalinity to gently process pet remains — with zero emissions, low energy consumption, and one-tenth the carbon footprint of flame cremation. As the only provider of water-based pet aquamation in the Kansas City region, Hammond is changing how families think about end-of-life care for their pets — and the environmental impact of how we say goodbye.
MyCo Planet | North Kansas City, Missouri
Founded by biologist Robin Moore, MyCo Planet is an urban farm in North Kansas City growing certified organic, gourmet mushrooms year-round using vertical farming methods. Mushrooms are among the most sustainable crops on earth — growing on agricultural waste, requiring no soil, and using a fraction of the water conventional crops demand. MyCo Planet supplies restaurants, farmers markets, and grocery stores across the city, and offers home-grow kits and free compost to the community.
Arizona Trading Company | Kansas City, Missouri & Lawrence, Kansas
Jennifer McKnight was 22 years old when she launched Arizona Trading Company with little more than a rack of secondhand clothes and a good eye. More than three decades later, that bet has paid off. With locations in Kansas City's Crossroads district and Lawrence, Kansas, ATC runs on a buy-sell-trade model that keeps quality clothing in circulation and out of landfills. Carefully curated and fairly priced, it's become a go-to destination for shoppers in both cities who'd rather find something with character than buy something new.
Civic Saint | Kansas City, Missouri — 2023 AltCap Your Biz Winner
Founded by artist and activist Godfrey Riddle, Civic Saint builds affordable, eco-friendly homes using compressed earth blocks made from Missouri's clay-rich soil — addressing climate change, housing inequality, and racial justice simultaneously. Riddle's Stonehomes are fireproof, non-toxic, and twice as strong as comparable concrete blocks. Civic Saint’s homes are priced between $80,000 and $280,000 to make homeownership accessible in once-redlined Kansas City neighborhoods. Civic Saint won the 2023 AltCap Your Biz Competition Change Maker award.
E-Z Pedicabs | Kansas City, Missouri — 2025 AltCap Your Biz Grand Prize Winner
Founded by Atticus Sloan and Mark Manning, E-Z Pedicabs is Kansas City's first and only electric pedicab service, offering rides, tours, event shuttles, and advertising throughout downtown KC — all without burning a drop of fuel. The team took home the $35,000 Grand Prize at the 2025 AltCap Your Biz competition. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup coming to Kansas City, E-Z Pedicabs is perfectly positioned to be one of the most visible — and greenest — ways to experience the city.
