About the Sustainable Village

The Sustainable Village is a "social enterprise", many of us volunteering. We donate/invest all profits for microfinance and microenterprise projects in developing countries. As a way of further helping the villagers and undermining the roots of poverty, we help import the products back. These are mainly fair-trade items, organic, and made with renewable energy - no or little pollution resulting in their creation.

We provide solutions to global problems using renewable energy and appropriate technology. We help projects in developing countries concerning energy generation, safe water, public health, long-distance communications, sustainable agriculture, and micro-enterprise employment. We provide the "hard technology" for these projects: design and engineering, equipment and parts supply, international delivery, training and installation.

We save organizations money and effort because we have:

	1) the world's largest selection of renewable energy equipment +10,000 products from over 1000 manufacturers;
	2) 35 years experience and thousands of installations worldwide;
	3) deep knowledge of traditional and high-tech solutions;
	4) a thriving global network of partners who share ideas and resources.

Steve Troy created The Sustainable Village specifically to help developing countries. He has founded or co-founded over 20 businesses including Jade Mountain, Real Goods, and Planetary Solutions.

Collaborating Cooperation: How we do Business
Our world has many serious problems: poverty, illiteracy, war and intolerance, poor drinking water, desertification, infant mortality, inequality.....too much for any individual or group or government. To effectively solve these problems, we need to collaborate and work together. We see this networking function as one of our most important roles. To that end, we strive to maintain openness and a focus on positive benefits. We're:

Non-denominational
Many different religious groups are doing wonderful projects in developing countries. We help based on the good they're doing rather than any allegiance to any particular belief system. Our customers/partners/clients include most Christian denominations, Islam, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist groups.

Non-political
Democrat, republican, independent, the political parties of the countries we work with, and many of the smaller groups - we look at the work being done, not the philosophy.

Multi-country
We work with all or at least one NGO, group, individual, government or commercial venture in almost every country.

Multi-ethnic
Human goodness, integrity, and inspiration are much deeper than skin and culture.

Gender-blind
We look at the work being done, not the people. We work closely with many women's causes and organizations.