While driving down a dirt road in rural India during a summer internship, Michael Dwork saw a woman pressing leaves soaked in water in something that looked like a crude waffle iron. She pulled out what appeared to be a plate and served the food she was selling on it.

Plates made from only leaves and steam that are also completely compostable? It was love at first site for Michael, an environmentalist with a hereditary dislike for waste. (His mother’s family has always known how to make something out of nothing.) He spent the remainder of his summer and time in business school improving the design and composition of the plates. VerTerra was born.

VerTerra was not Michael’s first business. With an economics degree from Columbia College and 4-years working in investment banking and other financial positions in New York City, the native New Yorker set off to study Chinese as a full time student at Nanjing University in China. While there, he started a company offering translation and negotiation services for foreign companies. He sold it before starting his M.B.A. at Columbia Business School.

Michael’s entrepreneurial talents gained recognition at business school. He won Columbia’s Lang Fund competition for budding entrepreneurs and the school’s outrageous business plan competition. In addition, he won the Draper Fisher Jurvetson East Coast Venture Challenge. Since graduating, Michael has been featured in major publications including Economist.com, CNN.com, Businessweek TV, Treehugger and The New York Sun. He is also on the young patrons’ board of The Asia Society and The Museum of Art and Design.