Obama administration announces new steps to attract the best and brightest Today marks an important step in attracting the world’s best and brightest entrepreneurs to start the next generation of great companies and create jobs here in the United States. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is publishing a proposed International Entrepreneur Rule, which describes new ways in which DHS will facilitate the ability of certain promising startup founders to begin growing their companies within the United States, contingent on factors such as significant financing from U.S. investors. Immigrant entrepreneurs have always made exceptional contributions to America’s economy, in communities all across the country. Immigrants have helped start as many as one of every four small businesses and high-tech startups across America, and the majority of high-tech startups in Silicon Valley. Studies suggest that more than 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants.

The Obama Administration just took steps to ease the process of starting a business in the U.S. if you're not American. Call it Christmas in August--at least for some founders. The White House today, just unveiled a new proposal aimed at encouraging high-potential immigrant entrepreneurs to start up in the U.S. The proposal, dubbed the International Entrepreneur Rule, would be administered by the Department of Homeland Security and would affect only entrepreneurs who, among other criteria, have received funding from qualified U.S. investors or institutions. Still, the program could lead to an uptick in new business creation, which in the U.S., has been falling for years. According to a statement released today: "America must remain a beacon for entrepreneurs like Tom Szaky, who left his home in Hungary following the Chernobyl disaster, and ultimately moved to the United States to study at Princeton University. In his sophomore year, he started TerraCycle in his dorm room with the mission of recycling materials previously viewed as unrecyclable. Today, the 150-person New Jersey-based company collects trash in 24 countries and two thirds of public schools in America, and recycles over one million pounds of garbage per week that would otherwise be in a landfill." To gain approval under the International Entrepreneur Rule, which could go into effect by the end of the year if approved, entrepreneurs would need to show that their startup was founded in the last three years, as well as maintain at least a 15 percent ownership stake in the company. They also need to show high-growth potential--evidenced by successfully raising at least $345,000 in funding from a qualified U.S. investor or attracting grants of at least $100,000 from federal, state, or local governments.

Across three days of lectures and workshops, attendees heard inspiring stories from TerraCycle, MUD Jeans, OzHarvest, Emma & Tom’s,Serendipity Ice Cream, Kathmandu and ecostore, amongst strategists, academics, CEOs and heads of communications and marketing.

Like many business ideas, TerraCycle had humble beginnings. Tom Szaky’s friend discovered that worm refuse was great for plants, which led Szaky, then 19, to create a sustainable fertiliser business with used plastic bottles in 2001. He even managed to get Coca-cola’s permission to use its patented bottle.

More than 250 projects from 40 states were submitted and a panel of judges that include musician and actor Kevin Jonas; enterprise editor and senior reporter at The Huffington Post, Kate Sheppard; CEO of TerraCycle, Tom Szaky; 2016 National Teacher of the Year, Jahana Hayes; and founder of the I am the Maven blog, Kerri Jablonski, chose the ten most creative ideas as finalists. Now, communities across the country get to choose their favorite classroom lesson.

More than 250 projects from 40 states were submitted and a panel of judges that include musician and actor Kevin Jonas; enterprise editor and senior reporter at The Huffington Post, Kate Sheppard; CEO of TerraCycle, Tom Szaky; 2016 National Teacher of the Year, Jahana Hayes; and founder of the I am the Maven® blog, Kerri Jablonski, chose the ten most creative ideas as finalists. Now, communities across the country get to choose their favorite classroom lesson.

Tom Szaky’s company TerraCycle may be turning over millions of dollars a year, but cash is not the only thing the business is turning over. It also turns over waste – from coffee capsules to dirty diapers.

Experts at the Sustainable Brands Event 2016 in Sydney discussed how businesses need to rethink their marketing message to consumers and why the language some businesses adopt might not be working. CEO of eco-capitalist and upcycling company TerraCycle, Tom Szaky, said there is a big difference in what businesses think consumers value and what consumers actually understand.

CEO of eco-capitalist and upcycling company TerraCycle, Tom Szaky, said there is a big difference in what businesses think consumers value and what consumers actually understand. “Things like how a product is made usually gets undervalued by consumers," he explained. "You need to find out what your consumers value – and it may not be the first thing you initially have on your list."

Tom Szaky, founder and chief executive of TerraCycle, shared insights into how his brand has grown by engaging consumers in recycling post-consumer products and packaging. “Recycling something that isn’t recyclable, like many other key sustainability functions, requires an investment of money, so what we really have to unlock is that we can learn to create value from sustainability investments."