Former lawyers set up Greentomato Cars

What prompted you to leave the legal profession and how easy was the transition from City lawyer to entrepreneur?

Tom: I had always intended to set up my own business to create something new. The actual decision to leave was prompted by the urgency of my business idea – i.e. I had to get on with it (a) before anyone else did and (b) because the environmental problems we face are so pressing.

The transition was relatively easy because the work is so dynamic that I didn’t really have time to stop and think about whether it was hard. Plus, legal training equipped me well for lots of the elements of being an entrepreneur – organisation, presentation, communication, drafting, negotiation etc.

How did you come up with idea and how hard was it for you to give up your jobs and take the plunge?

Tom: It struck me that we needed to start making significant headway into improving our treatment of the environment. It also seemed that green products were generally too expensive, of poor quality and politically associated.

These issues came together to inspire the business idea of bringing green products into the mainstream by making them affordable and practical. Then it was a question of which product to start with and taxis seemed like a good one because (a) the new technology is an educational experience for the customer and (b) they are highly visible and therefore a good way to promote a brand.

Taking the plunge of giving up the job was very liberating but actually deciding to launch the business (which involved selling my flat to fund it) was terrifying.

You plant trees and contribute to other eco-projects- could you tell us a bit more about that?

Our primary contribution to eco-projects is through offsetting, which we do through Climate Care (www.climatecare.org). greentomatocars actually buys carbon credits that make up for twice the amount of carbon dioxide that the company produces.
Climate Care carries out a range of projects including the following:

• Restoring the Kabali rainforest in Uganda. Protecting and re-planting the forest not only soaks up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but is also crucial for the survival of many species of threatened primates.

• Replacing fossil fuel burning stoves in Indian village schools with stoves that use renewable fuel.
• Replacing conventional light bulbs with energy saving light bulbs in townships in South Africa and Kazakhstan.

• Being the founding sponsor of the website Colour it Green –
www.colouritgreen.com. Through Rainforest Concern, this website allows people to sponsor rainforest in Ecuador and thereby preserve it from destructive and short-termist logging and farming interests.

We also engage in a range of community projects including showcasing the vehicle at local schools and festivals and sponsoring local events.

Finally, we are committed to providing a platform and investment for environmental technologies that might otherwise not be introduced to the general public so quickly. One example of this is our plug-in “Super Prius”. The first plug-in hybrid taxi in the world, this car achieves up to 30 miles in pure electric mode and 100 miles per gallon in normal hybrid mode. It is very much the technology of the future and probably won’t be commercially available for about 5 years. We are testing it and will soon be introducing it on the fleet so that everyone can have a go – only problem is that the Public Carriage Office is being a little tricky about giving it a licence but we are confident we can overcome this.,

Would you ever consider going back to being a lawyer? Is there anything you miss?

Tom: Slaughter and May is a great firm and the people there are extremely talented and kind, but I think the law is right for some people and not for others. I was going to write that I miss subsidised canteen dining, but realise that it would be a lie...

What are your future plans for Greentomato- do you think an electric-only fleet of cabs could be on the way?

Tom: The original idea was to use electric vehicles only and I spent a fair amount of time trying to make this happen, including a trip to California to dig out the “suppressed” technology, but it just isn’t viable at the current time. We have some electric vehicle plans up our sleeves, and I am sure that it is the way that things will be in the future, hopefully sooner rather than later.

As for greentomato generally, we expect to launch a new product before the end of 2007, not transport-related, but definitely accessible to all.

There must have been a change in lifestyle for the both of you? Can you tell us bit more about your typical day?

Tom: The lifestyle change was particularly noticeable at the beginning when Jonny and I did EVERYTHING in the company, but now that we have more staff, we tend to spend our time mostly planning and managing. Typically we work about 12 hours a day in the office plus a fair amount of time outside the office including weekends. Our tasks are very diverse and might range from smoothing things out with our car-washing contractor to negotiating terms with Toyota with a couple of press enquiries and customer service issues as punctuation...It’s never boring as anyone who has taken a taxi in London would be able to guess.

www.greentomatocars.com