Social Enterprise Competition Announces Response to Urgent
Need for Global Action, Splitting $1m
Prize Between All 26 Finalists
LONDON, April 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading blended
Scotch whisky, Chivas, has announced today that due to the current
global COVID-19 outbreak, this year's Chivas Venture $1 million fund will be distributed evenly
amongst the 26 global finalists, including Thailand's YoungHappy, with immediate
effect.
Now in its sixth year, the Chivas Venture gives away
$1m in no-strings funding to startups
who blend profit with purpose to have a positive impact on the
world. This year's competition has seen 26 social enterprises
selected from 26 countries, across five continents, with YoungHappy
winning the local final in Thailand. YoungHappy – who was due to pitch
for a share of the fund at a Global Final in June - will now
receive $40,000 in funding, which can
be put towards creating positive change at a testing time for
people across the globe.
Pernod Ricard Chairman and CEO Alexandre
Ricard comments:
"It is with great sadness that we have decided to cut short
this year's Chivas Venture competition due to the impact COVID-19
is having across the world. Now more than ever, our world needs the
passion and dedication of those who want to bring about positive
change. That's why we have decided that each of our finalists
should be provided with secure funding now, so they can continue
their important work and continue to positively impact their
communities in spite of these volatile conditions, which will be
particularly challenging for fledgling businesses and the
communities they serve."
This year's finalists have found unique and creative ways to
tackle a wide range of social, environmental and economic
challenges, many of which have been exacerbated by the global
pandemic, especially in at risk, or isolated communities.
YoungHappy provides senior-friendly services, events and products
throughout the community. They help senior citizens maintain active
lifestyles, raising their self-esteem and keeping them engaged with
their peers whilst supporting their wellbeing.
"As much as we were looking forward to meeting all the other
businesses and competing in this year's Chivas Venture global
final, there are bigger and more pressing issues we are all now
facing. That's why we fully support the decision to curtail the
competition for this year and are extremely appreciative for the
support of Chivas Venture which will have a huge impact on the
YoungHappy community." Thanakorn Phromyos, Co-founder of
YoungHappy
To date, the Chivas Venture has given away $5 million in no-strings funding to social
startups who have positively impacted over 2 million lives across
50 countries – driving major change, including providing 34 million
litres of safe drinking water to communities, recycling 1,300
tonnes of waste, helping over 2,500 farmers' families out of
poverty and funding over 75,000 days of education for women and
girls.
Just as Chivas champions the perfect blend of malt and grain
whiskies in its Scotch, the Chivas Venture champions entrepreneurs
who blend profit and purpose to have a positive impact on the
world. To find out more about the Chivas Venture and to learn more
about this year's finalists, visit
https://www.chivas.com/en-EN/the-venture or follow on Twitter
@ChivasVenture.
#ChivasVenture
Chivas Venture Finalists by Country
|
COUNTRY
|
BUSINESS
NAME
|
FINALIST
NAME
|
BUSINESS
OVERVIEW
|
|
Argentina
|
Mamotest
|
Guillermo
Pepe
|
Mamotest's central
objective is to reduce the death rate of breast cancer
by supporting women who do not have the economic resources to
access
quality breast cancer diagnosis.
|
|
Australia
|
Okra Solar
|
Damian
Veling
|
Okra Solar designs
and develops technology to give access to energy
and electricity to those who live off-grid.
|
|
Belgium
|
Oak Tree
Projects
|
Danae Van Dan
Bossche
|
Oak Tree Projects
provides affordable, co-housing accommodation for
people with disabilities.
|
|
Brazil
|
Raizs
|
Tomas
Abrahao
|
Raizs is an online
platform that connects organic farmers directly with
consumers to put an end to food wastage and poverty.
|
|
Bulgaria
|
Enova H2O
|
Huseyin
Yemendzhiev
|
Enova H2O develops
innovative instruments and services for better and
faster water quality management.
|
|
Canada
|
Tandem
Technical
|
Heather
Ward
|
Tandem helps
greenhouse gas emitters across a range of industries
capture and convert pollution from a liability into an
asset.
|
|
Chile
|
Wheel the
World
|
Alvaro
Silberstein
|
Wheel the World is a
web platform where users can easily find and book
holidays for people with disabilities.
|
|
China
|
P.E.T.
|
Jane Zhao
|
P.E.T. creates
textiles made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. Through
the creation of products like scarves and aprons, they are helping
to
reduce environmental pollution and plan to recycle 1 million
plastic bottles
by 2021.
|
|
Colombia
|
Recupera Tu
Silla
|
Maria
Sanchez
|
Recupera tu Silla is
a furniture restoration business with both
environmental and social impact. It extends the life of furniture,
saving
businesses and clients up to 75% in expenses and providing
employment
opportunities to people in vulnerable conditions.
|
|
England &
Wales
|
WASE
|
Thomas
Fudge
|
WASE develops
decentralised wastewater treatment systems that
embrace a circular economy to recover energy, nutrients and water
in
wastewater - providing sanitation and energy in under-served
communities.
|
|
Greece
|
100mentors
|
Georgios
Nikoletakis
|
100mentors connect
students from underprivileged schools with mentors,
creating a learning experience where students become more
engaged,
confident and conscious learners.
|
|
France
|
Pandobac
|
Anais
Ryterband
|
Pandobac is an
ecological and sustainable, zero-waste solution that offers
a service of reusable crates to food wholesalers for fresh
produce
delivery.
|
|
Israel
|
HomeBiogas
|
Oshik
Efrati
|
HomeBiogas produces a
unique appliance that transforms organic waste
into biogas and fertiliser; providing a solution that addresses
multiple
issues including cooking on unclean fuels, waste and
sanitation.
|
|
Italy
|
Pedius
|
Lorenzo Di
Ciaccio
|
Pedius is an app that
allows the hard of hearing to 'hear' phone calls by
converting speech to text in real time.
|
|
Japan
|
MyMizu
|
Robin
Lewis
|
MyMizu is Japan's
first free water refill platform that guides people to
public water fountains, eco-friendly cafes, coworking spaces,
hotels and
other businesses that offer free refills around the country.
Through the
app, users can access free drinking water instead of buying bottled
water
to reduce consumption of single-use plastic
bottles.
|
|
Kenya
|
Green-Nettle
Textile
|
Jonah
Mwangi
|
Green-Nettle Textile
creates fabric from stinging nettles. By converting the
nettle stalks into a linen-like fabric, Green-Nettle is able to
produce an
eco-fabric out of natural - rather than synthetic - materials, and
employ
thousands of artisans across the globe.
|
|
Mexico
|
Graviti
|
Yusef
Jacobs
|
Graviti offers
bolt-on financing for basic services such as hot water and
electricity - allowing the 30% of Mexico's unbanked population
access to
pre-pay products, protecting users from unexpected extra costs
and
giving access to key infrastructure.
|
|
Netherlands
|
Urchinomics
|
Brian Tsuyoshi
Takeda
|
Urchinomics is
solving the sea urchin problem by turning them into a useful
resource for the economy. Divers collect urchins from the sea
and
re-home them in proprietary land-based urchin ranching systems,
from
where they are sold onto high-end seafood distributors around the
world.
|
|
Nigeria
|
Soupah
Farm-en-Market
|
Ifeoluwa
Olatayo
|
Soupah's mission is
to tackle inefficiencies in the food supply chain in
Nigeria by connecting small scale rural farmers with urban
retailers. The
corporation engages in rooftop farms, fortified food processing and
farm
linkages for rural smallholders into urban markets.
|
|
Poland
|
MakeGrowLab
|
Josh Brito
|
MakeGrowLab is
working towards a future of plastic-free packaging
material, replacing non-recyclable petroleum-based products
with
compostable bio-materials that enrich the environment, rather
than
damaging it. The product is durable, non-toxic and can be grown
locally
anywhere in the world.
|
|
Scotland
|
Crover
|
Lorenzo
Conti
|
Crover has created a
small robotic device capable of moving within grain
stores to monitor the condition of grains, with the aim of reducing
waste
and saving countless grain stocks each year.
|
|
Spain
|
EthicHub
|
Gabriela Chang
Valdovinos
|
EthicHub is a global
solution to generate affordable funds for smallholder
farming. The blockchain-based platform allows investors from all
over the
world to help those with no access to fair finance; connecting
developing
countries and farmers with profitable projects in developed
countries.
|
|
South
Africa
|
Hustlenomics
|
Nhlanhla
Ndlovu
|
Hustlenomics creates
opportunities for women and youths by training them
to replace informal backyard shacks with durable structures,
using
innovative building technology. Hustlenomics offers low income
households an opportunity to build durable structures at no
additional cost.
|
|
Thailand
|
YoungHappy
|
Thanakorn
Phromyos
|
YoungHappy is a happy
community for senior citizens, providing events
and support groups that help seniors maintain an active lifestyle,
while
building their self-esteem and keeping them engaged with their
peers.
|
|
USA
|
Strella
Biotechnology
|
Katherine
Sizov
|
Strella creates
biosensing platforms that can predict the ripeness of
produce within the supply chain, reducing food wastage prior to
consumption by 40%.
|
|
Vietnam
|
Cricket
One
|
Bicky
Nguyen
|
Cricket One reduces
agricultural waste and creates a valuable protein
source by using the populous, safe and highly nutritious,
cricket.
|