Mountain biker Simon Nash's green bicycle oil is winning plaudits and market share

He has only been in business for two years, but, at 24, Simon Nash is aiming high for his range of green bicycle maintenance products. Nash, a keen mountain biker, was still at university when he came up with the idea for Green Oil. "I was riding through a river and I felt a bit guilty about the chain oil going into the water. So I looked for an alternative to the traditional chain lubricant, which is petro-chemical based and not biodegradable, and there was nothing out there," he says. Despite its reputation as one of the greenest modes of transport, "the whole industry was not very clean."

Nash studied philosophy and politics at university followed by an MSc in entrepreneurship, but he had retained enough chemistry knowledge from school to devise a successful formula for the first Green Oil. He spent the first year concentrating on the oil before developing a bike cleaner, a degreaser and an ecogrease for bearings and seat post.

Although rival companies have since launched greener products, Green Oil, says Nash, is the only exclusively green producer. The range has been well received, he adds. "We were awarded a gold award by What Mountain Bike magazine and until then it had been really difficult just trying to sell the products because bike shops didn't know the product," he says. That first award success has been followed by others, including the Bromley Environment Award.

Green Oil started its production life in a shed with a water butt and beer tap. Nash added a bottling machine, and now has a bottling factory. "Using the bottling factory means there won't be any limit on how much we can make and who we can supply," he says.

From next year the company will be using 100 per cent recycled plastic bottles, which will further reduce the carbon footprint of the product.
Currently Green Oil products are stocked in 100 bike shops across the UK. Nash is looking to take a giant leap in 2010. "We'd like to get the products into 75 per cent of all UK bike shops. We'll try to get into the big chains like Evans and Halfords," he says.

Although year one was challenging and at times demoralising, Nash always believed the product had potential. "There has been a good response to Green Oil, people have liked it and when shops have stocked it they have sold well. But he is not just in it for commercial success. "I want to grow the business for the environment as well," he says. "It is easy to just work in a job that doesn't harm the world but doesn't really help it either. It sounds cheesy, but I want to grow Green Oil to make the world a better place."