| Please welcome the 40 mission-driven social enterprises we’ve invited to participate in our Sustainable Business Plan Collaboration! We’re thrilled to welcome these fantastic social enterprises to the Fall Cohort of the MCN Sustainable Business Plan Collaboration! These entrepreneurs have until October 17th to confirm participation in the program and submit their business plans. We will announce our final cohort at that time. 2016 FALL COHORT 10Power provides renewable energy storage and generation internationally to the 1.3B humans living in communities that lack access to electricity, utilizing the solar finance model that created exponential growth in the US. Adhmora-ENERGO has developed ENERGO, an online energy data analytics platform that helps building owners or managers to manage their energy usage efficiently by providing easy data integration from any kind of energy meters in the market. African Chicken fights hunger, Poverty and Unemployment to women in rural Tanzania. Alfrea is an online marketplace that empowers people who want to grow their own food but lack land, time or experience. Aphelion Energy modernizes rural households in West Africa – starting with solar energy – by focusing on distribution, mobile-enabled consumer finance, and the best products adapted for their customers’ needs. ATP-MD, LLC is a US-based company that cost-effectively combines the remediation of contaminated soils and water with the production of environmentally beneficial bio-products and bio-energy. Chakr Innovation converts the smoke from diesel engines into ink and paint out of India.dabadigo is an app-based, self-driven, affordable, zero emission electric scooter rental company in India. Deaftronics (Pty) Ltd is an organisation which manufactures affordable solar powered hearing aids,made by deaf people for people with a hearing loss in Botswana. EcoMadera Forest Conservation partners with forest communities in Ecuador to conserve threatened forests, implements sustainable forest management, designs and manufactures hardwood flooring and furniture in the community factory, and markets them to green construction projects in the US, starting in the New York metro region, providing clients with trend setting designs and lowering their carbon footprint. Elevated Honey Co. seeks to stop the counterfeit honey industry in China by creating an efficient, transparent, and connected supply chain between traditional rural beekeepers and urban Chinese consumers. FireflyPower is a continuous innovation company, that seeks to improve wind energy performance. Our patented blade technology is scalable and offers a lower cost, profitable upgrade option for utility scale onshore and offshore applications, as well as for distributed generation. Freespanz Design Build Pvt Ltd. sells electricity to villagers in India to solve power problems on per hour basis. Garbage Clinical Insurance builds innovative health products based on solution, practical, and strategic approach to achieve justice and welfare of health in Indonesia. Genzom aims to combat environmental degradation by introducing algae (in the form of familiar snack foods) as a sustainable alternative to animal protein. Golden Coast Mead sells mead to conscious millennial foodies in order to solve honeybee die-off and transition alcohol production from monoculture with demand for regenerative honey. India Bamboo Pellet Project makes pellet fuels from bamboo processing waste and sell to low-income household and commercial customers in rural India in order to solve the problems of access to clean energy, indoor air pollution, deforestation and climate change with clean, efficient and affordable fuels. Joelex Uganda Ltd. designs, makes, installs and operates bio-gas waste to energy extracting technologies in schools, homes, market institutions, trading centers, urban slums and rural communities in Uganda. Our technologies, work as a toilet, waste disposal unit, where human, animal, food waste is deposited and then used as fuel to generate clean energyy used for cooking, lighting, electricity generation and thereafter organic fertilizer. Kitchen Table Inc. sells plant-based frozen dinner meal kits in the US to food retailers to improve health outcomes for consumers who lack the time and knowledge to eat well while also reducing the environmental impact of food waste. The Liberia Biomass Energy Company will produce smokeless, energy-efficient biomass charcoal made of coconut and palm kernel shells and market to Liberian households as an alternative to wood charcoal, thus reducing deforestation rates and reducing health risks associated with indoor air pollution caused by smoke from wood charcoal. Light of Hope makes schooling interesting, engaging and fun for children and schools to reduce drop-out from schools with our educational contents, science toys and resources. Liter of Light redesigns solar lighting for the developing world. Their simple, two-step technology creates local jobs, teaches green skills, and empowers energy-poor communities. Musana provides solar powered vending carts to micro-entrepreneurs equipped with multi functional features adaptable to different vending businesses in Uganda. NeeroNet is an integrated and intelligent real-time water assessment model with smart analytics. Using machine learning and IoT to efficiently monitor water usage, NeeroNet can survey different activities of industry, household and agriculture in urban and rural regions of developing countries. In addition, our system will monitor rainwater harvested for groundwater replenishment when installed in channelized tanks on rooftops and alert for leakages in the distribution network when installed in the pipelines. Neighborhood Sun develops community solar projects to bring solar to the vast majority of the market that cannot currently get it. Oretronics Technology, a Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency organization, located in Isheri, Ogun State, Nigeria, increases energy security by developing, deploying and distributing renewable energy and energy efficient technologies and solutions to solve energy poverty, electricity access and high electricity cost challenges and as a means of reducing carbon emissions on our planet. People and Energy uses its SolarPipo platform that utilizes SMS, web and mobile application technologies in Uganda to help customers essentially determine their energy needs using a Needs Calculator and purchase the right products they need to solve the problem of mismatches in solar system units that costs consumers lots of money and costs energy companies customers. Prakti seeks to empower women, alleviate poverty, and preserve the environment by developing and scaling the use of clean and efficient cookstoves in India. Purasol Vida Natural S.R.L. makes solar energy affordable in Costa Rica, a country that is experiencing unprecedented demand for renewable energy and energy independence. Purasol offers unique financed solar systems with which residential and commercial customers can immediately lower their energy costs and gain flexibility in their energy supply. SaveEnergy is a Romanian company building a smartsocket that will save the vampire energy, reducing the monthly energy bill with over 10%.Sola Pty Ltd. is a Joint Venture between two inventors with a radical concept for a cleantech solar cooker for household to communal use that can be used in any latitude or climate, including in emergency camps, and plan to sell kits via (micro)franchises first to NGO customers, then any off-grid user.SOLACE is a company based in Poland that sells income generating houses delivered in one container to solve the growing inequality gap generated by the housing burden and to give all people SOLACE. Solstice radically expands access to clean energy by providing roofless solar to the 80 percent of American households that cannot install an array on their roof. Sonsight Wind has been developing a small (5kW) horizontal axis wind turbine that is versatile and more cost effective, particularly within moderate winds for sale to residential and business customers. Sunswarm Community Solar facilitates cost effective community solar projects for energy consumers and solar developers in the US by lowering the cost of customer acquisition and management. Suntech provide affordable solar power to customers in off grid communities in Gambia. TowerPower is combining solar photovoltaics, smart energy storage, and software intelligence to shift telecommunications towers away from expensive and polluting diesel generators. Verdéate develops tailored web green competitions to improve consumption habits in order to reduce CO2 emissions, water, paper & waste production in Columbia. WATSAN is providing a solution to make water and sanitation accessible to low income families in India. |
Tickets are still on sale for our 13th Annual Gathering! Dates: September 29 – October 1, 2016 Location: FHI Conference Center and Impact Hub DC, in Washington, DC Cost: General Entry tickets are currently $320 Don’t forget to register for Tom Chi’s Rapid Prototyping Workshop. MCN’s Annual Gathering is designed as an opportunity to engage in the conversation around social entrepreneurship on a global scale. We know how important it is for entrepreneurs to meet with their mentors face-to-face, and we structure our Annual Gathering to welcome all new members of the Mentor Capital Network family into the fold.Please join us for two full days of intimate, challenging sessions that address big topics including public health, off-grid technologies and refugee camps, food security, and clean energy. As part of our focus on building relationships, we’re also pleased to host two evening receptions, including a dinner garden party, as part of this event.We build our agenda around our companies. We know that so many of our entrepreneurs go through the same sort of challenges no matter where they are in the world. Our goal is to build connections so all of our entrepreneurs can learn from one another and build lasting relationships. Join is Washington, and let’s learn from each other! |
| Connect with MCN on the Road August 18th, Santa Clara, CA: GSBI Investors Showcase September 13-16 in San Francisco, CA: SOCAP November 3-6 in Philadelphia, PA: SVN and Net Impact (If you’re attending any of the above events, reach out to Ian at ian.fisk@mentorcapitalnet.org to connect.) |
| We do what we do because of you. You are Entrepreneurs. You are Mentors. You are Investors. We are a network of all of those. What makes you awesome is your passion and your desire to actively support entrepreneurs as they strive to find environmentally friendly and socially impactful ways to address the world’s biggest problems. You are why we’re a “network.” All we can offer you is each other. To that end, we strive to develop meaningful ways to build connections with, to learn from, and to inspire each other. The Mentor Capital Network is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and depends entirely on the support of donors like you. If you like the work that we do to support start-up and growing social enterprises around the globe, please contribute today. PLEASE DONATE TODAY! The Mentor Capital Network is a trade name of the William James Foundation, a registered 501(c)3 organization. All donations are tax-deductible. |