Justin Timberlake isn’t only a world-renowned singer and entertainer, he’s also an equity partner in a North Carolina-based company that manufactures environmentally friendly landscaping products.
Chief Executive Officer Russ Britton formed Mirimichi Green Express with COO Web Cowden and Timberlake and his family in 2013.
Timberlake was inspired to be a partner of the company after having bought the Mirimichi Golf Course in Millington, Tennessee, in 2008.
Britton was a founder of EcoExpress, a North Carolina-based environmental contracting company, and said he partnered with Timberlake because of their mutual sustainability goals.
Mirimichi Green golf course
Timberlake and his family reportedly poured $16 million into the golf course to make it an award-winning eco-golf course with 7,400 yards of championship golf, according to Memphis Business Journal.
The Mirimichi golf course, after one year, became the first in America to receive the Audubon Classic Sanctuary Certification because of its environmental sustainability. The name Mirimichi was chosen for its Native American meaning “place of happy retreat,” since a golf course should be a type of sanctuary, according to the company’s website.
Although the Timberlake group sold the 300-acre golf course in 2014 for $500,000 to Memphis-based Aircon Corp. CEO Fred Edmaiston, Timberlake’s sustainability efforts didn’t stop with the golf course.
Britton and Timberlake formed a partnership to found Mirimichi Green Express, a company that continues to produce the sustainable technologies that were developed while owning the golf course.
“We decided to form Mirimichi Green Express to keep what (Timberlake and his family) had achieved at the golf course,” Britton said.
Services and products
The Castle Hayne, North Carolina-based company not only makes environmentally friendly products, but they’re educational in concept as well, Britton explained. Mirimichi Green Express offers programs for landscapers, developers, corporate sustainability initiatives and others.
Britton said Timberlake wanted Mirimichi Green Express to show people how to be sustainable with the environment instead of telling them.
Mirimichi Green offers landscaping sustainability and risk management services that targets a 50 percent cost reduction for water, fertilizer, labor and repairs for companies’ landscapes.
Mirimichi Green Express also offers sustainable products, and it specializes in growing turf in poor soils. One of its most popular products is Carbonizpn Soil Enhancer, which is a soil amendment blent of carbon-rich biochar and premium organics. It improves soil structure and biology and be used on golf courses and trees.
The company’s soil products are made from 100 percent renewable biomass, including landfill derived and non-toxic organic materials. The soil products include U.S. Department of Agriculture certified biobased carbon and U.S. Composting Council certified compost.
The company also has a pest control that was tested by standards set by the World Health Organization. It has over an 80 percent kill rate for pests within a 24-hour period Mirimichi Green Express produces liquid fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides as well.
“One of the biggest challenges is presenting a new agronomic approach with our initiative and figuring out how to market it,” Britton said.
Britton said the company decided to show their products around the world as much as possible, to show that they truly work anywhere.
The company’s marketing plan proved to be effective, with its customers, including Duke Energy, Miami Dolphins, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan Stadium, Duke University, Broken Sound Golf Club, and the Sentosa Club in Singapore and others.
Funding
Mirimichi Green has grown to be a multi-million-dollar company, due to its efficacy in its products and also the support it has from its investors, which includes the Timberlake family.
This year Mirimichi Green Express has an estimated revenue of $4 million. Next year the company expects to have a revenue of $8 to $11 million.
The company is funded by various big-name investors, including Britton, Timberlake and the Mitchell Family of Texas, who developed the 28,000-acre award-winning master planned community in The Woodlands, Texas.
Britton said he is the majority shareholder, and that he and Timberlake work closely with a group of investors to help the company to continue to grow.
Goals in the future
Mirimichi Green Express’s goal is to change the way that professional landscapers manage their properties to help build a more sustainable ecosystem. Britton said that he wants to help change the way that agronomy is perceived and for it to be even more environmentally friendly while also being efficient.
The company is currently focusing on effective pest control methods, and to make its products more user-friendly.
For instance, the company wants to make their soil amendment products more spreadable. The company is continuing its research and development efforts to build on its unique carbon technology and organic nutrients.
Overall, Britton said he just wants to see more of a focus on protecting the environment.
“My personal goal is to see sustainable products outperform synthetics,” he said.
