Tech Awards: From Needle-Free Injections to Rice Generated Power

On Tuesday last week, the Silicon Valley based Tech Museum announced the winners of its annual Tech Awards, which recognize new technology or innovative uses of existing technology to improve the lives of people around the world.
While the awards attracted over 1000 nominations, only 15, across five categories: environment, economic development, education, equality, and health, were selected. Of these 5 organizations--one per category--received $50,000.


This year’s laureates include PharmaJet—for its needle-free injection technology, the BBC World Service Trust—for offering audio and SMS English lessons through mobile phones to mobile users in Bangladesh for less than 1.5 cents per minute, to ToughStuff for its affordable, portable solar products, and to Husk Power Systems for a technology that filters the released gas from rice husks to power generators that make electricity.

NYT Small Business Summit: Serial Entrepreneurs On How They Did It

Yesterday, at the Hilton on Sixth Avenue in New York, a large group of budding and current entrepreneurs and small business owners converged together to rub shoulders, exchange experiences, make some contacts and listen to advice from those they aspire to emulate. 

The New York Times Small Business Summit—the reason behind this gathering—included panels on entrepreneurship, social media and marketing, building a brand, innovation in tough economic times, and need-to-knows to grow one’s business. Speakers at the event included Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, Shiv Singh, who heads up digital strategy for Pepsi, and Robin Chase, co-founder of Zipcar.

I attended a panel called Serial Entrepreneurs, moderated by Penny Pickett, associate administrator of entrepreneurial development at the US Small Business Association; and featuring Alex Mashinsky, who has founded 7 companies including car and limousine rental agency Limores; Colleen Payne-Nabors, who has founded six companies, including Mobile Cardiac Imaging; and Mitchell York, who founded Executive to Entrepreneur (E2E) Coaching and runs a catering business Maui Wowi.

Kiva Extends Micro-Loans to Students

Image credit: Kiva.org

Kiva, the world’s best known micro-lending online platform, has launched a pilot of student micro-loans across Paraguay, Bolivia and Lebanon.

The San-Francisco-based company’s has so far focused on connecting lenders with small business owners in the developing world. 

The test program, which presupposes that students in developing countries will repay these loans, seems buoyed by the idea that trust engenders responsibility.

"Without being given the opportunity, students don't have the chance to demonstrate fiscal responsibility,” said Premal Shah in a press release. “We believe the internet community is in a unique position to share the risk of student lending in the developing world and if these students repay their loans -- as we believe they will -- it could be the very impetus needed to make education accessible for everyone around the world.”

Students on the site are currently asking for loans to cover costs ranging from $150 to $1200.  The base loan price a lender can offer is $25. 

Star power: eBay founder's investment fund to bankroll Facebook co-founder's social network

Image: www.Jumo.com

Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, announced on Tuesday that it is giving a grant of 750,000 to cause based social networking site Jumo.

Started by Facebook co-founder, Chris Hughes, Jumo is a (yet to be launched) online platform that aims to connect individuals and organizations looking to change the world. The site's benefits are intended to flow both ways: individuals find an organized means to further the causes they are passionate about, while organizations can harness the expertise and funds of individuals who have a vested interest in their particular subject area. Announced in March of this year, Jumo means "together in concert" in a Yoruba, a West African language.

PopTech Fellows: Converting Sewage to Plastic, Solar for Health, Easy Drug Delivery

Next month from October 20-23^rd, PopTech’s annual conference will take place in Maine.  If you haven’t encountered PopTech before, it’s is a non-profit organization that aims to help scale and accelerate entrepreneurial projects that hold strong potential to positively impact the world. 

In the run up to the conference, PopTech has announced its list of Social Innovation Fellows, who they describe as “high potential change agents… working on highly disruptive innovations.” The fellowship consists of full-funding for a 5 day program that offers training in areas like branding, media relations, social media, design for impact and organizational development, as well as the opportunity to make an elevator pitch on stage at the PopTech conference. 

Participants following the social enterprise model include Rush Bartlett from LyoGo, a company that has created a safer, relatively easy to use drug delivery system that obviates the need for refrigeration, which the storing of drugs that are unstable in solution form would otherwise need.

A Straw that Makes Contaminated Water Safe to Drink

Image credit:Vestergaard
Frandsen

Diarrhoea kills more young children than AIDS, measles and mumps combined. The statistics are staggering: according to the World Health Organization, 1.6 million people die every year, mostly in the developing world, from diarrhoeal diseases that originate from a lack of access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities -- 90% of these are children under 5.

One social enterprise that is innovatively combating this problem is Vestergaard Frandsen, through a product called LifeStraw.

In essence, LifeStraw is a portable water filter requiring no electricity or batteries that claims to remove 99.99 percent of waterborne bacteria and protozoan parasites. It can filter upto 1000 litres of contaminated water. Vestergaard Frandsen also makes a version for use in the home, which practically does the same thing, except that it can filter upto 18,000 litres of water.

The basic idea is to enhance access to safe drinking water for people in the developing world, at home and away from home.

“We are for-profit company and we do make a profit,” says Elisabeth Wilhelm, Vestergaard Frandsen’s new media specialist. “Obviously our products are specifically designed to meet the needs of people in the developing world. That’s where our heart is and that’s where our focus lies.”

Dissecting Social Enterprise

Credit: Tanveer Islam/Wikimedia Commons

Contrary to popular belief, saving the world doesn’t have to be at odds with making a buck. Particularly after Muhammad Yunus started the Grameen Bank in 1983, there are more and more examples, in the US and beyond, offering support for the idea that achieving social aims can be good for business.

The what

The concepts of social enterprise, social capitalism and social entrepreneurship all function by adopting market-driven strategies or business models in order achieve a social aim. While profit is often an important concern, the predominant aim remains pursuing a social goal. Non-profits and for-profits can both function as social enterprises. 

The why

Particularly after the economic downturn, non-profits have seen donations and grants decline. Social enterprise is important because it fosters self-sufficiency and the ability to scale operations to an extent that functioning as a charity would never allow.