Inc. Ticker: Entrepreneurs in the News

The latest news on Seventh Generation, E Ink, and Grameen Bank

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Padma Lakshmi

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Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder of Burlington, Vermont—based Seventh Generation, has stepped down as CEO to make room for a successor with experience running large companies. The green consumer-products maker had 2008 sales of $150 million. "I asked myself a thousand times whether this was the right thing to do," Hollender says. "Every time the answer was yes."'¦Taiwan-based Prime View International is acquiring E Ink, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, maker of the electronic-paper displays used in the Kindle, for $215 million. E Ink CEO Russ Wilcox says the deal will "speed up product development and improve customer service."'¦When Lance Armstrong appears in the Tour de France this summer, he will be riding a bike with components from SRAM, a Chicago-based company in which he has invested several million dollars. SRAM CEO Stan Day says Armstrong will be a "tremendous force" in marketing....Muhammad Yunus, founder of microfinance lender Grameen Bank, told graduates at the Wharton School's commencement that "in a certain way, the crisis is good; it gives us a good opportunity to redesign." He urged them to launch "social businesses" that aim to "address and solve social problems, not make money for'¦investors."'¦Padma Lakshmi, host of Top Chef, has founded a namesake jewelry business. The line sold out twice in 10 days at Bergdorf Goodman. "It's been creatively gratifying and very scary," she says.

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Jason Del Rey

Senior reporter Jason Del Rey covers technology, branding, and company culture for Inc. magazine and contributes to the From the Reporters daily blog. Before joining Inc., his work appeared in Newsday, The (Newark) Star-Ledger, and the Staten Island Advance, and on ESPN.com. He lives in New York City.

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