Tony Bouk, MBA ’05, enjoys solving problems—and with his company GreenBug Energy, he’s doing just that through ancient technology. “People like me around when there’s a real problem to solve, but after that they just view me as a pain in the neck. I don’t leave things alone—I’m like a pit bull with a problem,” said Bouk.
Few modern problems are as daunting as the threat of global warming, but that’s exactly what drove Bouk towards his latest business, GreenBug Energy, a micro hydro-electricity venture powered by technology developed in the 3rd century BC.
GreenBug Energy designs, manufactures, installs, operates and maintains Archimedes screw generators for small dams, creating micro hydro-electric sites that can produce 1-to-500 kilowatts of energy. Apart from being profitable, the projects are designed to reduce greenhouse gases and lessen disruption on underwater inhabitants.
Untapped Potential
An avid kayaker, Bouk would often complain about water pollution on the lake and even served a short stint on the Board of Directors at the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation. Yet to mobilize equity and do anything on scale, Bouk knew profit was an essential component.
After a local resource assessment, Bouk, and business partner Brian Weber, discovered a splattering of small dams in towns and villages across the region. Too small to attract big power companies, Bouk and Weber started researching how to tap into these unused energy sources.
Thousands of years after its invention, the Archimedes screw was making a comeback in Europe, but the economics of buying and installing them in Canada didn’t make financial sense. Having successfully run a manufacturing company for years, Bouk was confident he could recreate the screw in Canada.
Simplifying the math on an Excel sheet, Bouk and Weber started testing their findings on a small stream on Weber’s property. “We built it, hooked it up and it produced within 5 watts of what our model said it would.”
From their start in 2011, Bouk’s venture into small hydro has been a long process. Developing and testing the technology was a challenge in itself. Add in environmental assessments and rapidly changing government regulations, and it’s no mystery why GreenBug is not yet profitable.
In 2013, the company installed the first grid connected Archimedes screw generator in all of North America, and snagged the 2014 Ontario Waterpower Association Innovation Award, the 2015 Royal Canadian Geographical Society 3M Environmental Innovation Award, and the 2015 Minister’s Award for Environmental Excellence from the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. Currently, GreenBug has two completed installations and is involved in 10 more projects in the next feed-in tariff (FIT) round. Ontario’s FIT Program was established to encourage the development of renewable energy generating facilities of varying technologies.
“If you wait till all the ducks are lined up to do something, you are too late. We’re on the right side of the curve—renewable energy is here to stay,” said Bouk, confident that things are just starting to flow in the right direction.
Rediscovering Entrepreneurship
One might say Bouk was born to be an entrepreneur. By his early teens, he had already run businesses selling maid services and renting water sports equipment, financed by the cash he had made doing the back breaking work of picking tobacco for 4 years as a kid. At university, Bouk had to balance his course load with running a property development corporation, another business he had started in high school. That balancing act proved difficult and Bouk sold his share in the business—a decision he regrets to this day.
It was after he joined a major audit firm that Bouk felt like a square peg in a round hole. “It takes a long time to realize who you are sometimes. I thought I was the one who was going to be working for the big company, but I found that was just not me,” said Bouk.
However, the next chapter in Bouk’s journey was not an entrepreneurial venture. He spent a decade in a major multinational floriculture producer and learned the business inside out. He came across a new venture opportunity in the greenhouse sector and spent 18 months trying to get it off the ground. With his penchant for working hard, Bouk’s philosophy on entrepreneurship was simple; if I’m going to work that hard anyways, I might as well work for myself.
Unable to secure the financing, Bouk felt weary and needed time to reflect.
Growing Pains
Having been admitted to the Ivey MBA Program multiple times, Bouk finally decided to take up the offer in 2003. He thought it would be an opportunity to rest.
Bouk made close friends in the program, some of whom he still stays in contact with today. It was an opportunity to reflect on his career and what he had learned both in the real world and the classroom. “You always wonder where you are in your own growth… one way of gauging it is to get into a room full of other people,” said Bouk.
He took part in the Ivey New Venture Project (NVP) and completed the Entrepreneurship Certificate. Not knowing what he would do after graduation, Bouk started a manufacturing venture, Bluestreak, which he recalls only scored a four or five on the NVP template.
While the popular stereotype is the flashy company you grow for five years and sell off for $3 billion, the bulk of what happens in entrepreneurship are the mundane companies like BlueStreak according to Bouk. “Entrepreneurship is a bit like a muscle you flex. If you do decide to go into it, it’ll be really hard to flex it at first but that muscle will eventually get stronger and easier to deal with,” said Bouk. “It’s a lot of work and I don’t think it’s for everybody. If you view it as a choice, entrepreneurship is probably not for you.”
With the growth and recognition of GreenBug, one might argue Bouk’s no longer in the realm of the mundane. With contracts across Ontario and more opportunities south of the border, GreenBug’s best days lie in the future.