Supporting Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs
The free Greenease app aims to make it easy to find a cafe or grocery serving foods from local, ethical, and sustainable suppliers.
https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/restaurants-food-local-sustainable-sources-app.html
MCN’s Ricardo Velazquez caught up with Mauricio Martinez Miramontes, CEO of La Mano del Mono in April 2015. In the last 50 years, 50% of Mexico and Latin America’s forest …
BoPEEI has created 16 solar villages Kathiwada area of Madhya Pradesh.
https://www.facebook.com/208102795896294/photos/a.553160991390471/940168376023062/?type=3&theater
Greetings and Salutations. We’re excited to be underway with the 2015 Sustainable Business Plan Competition — check out the amazing companies we are working with. I am pleased to announce that The …
Governor Terry McAuliffe announced on Monday afternoon that 510nano Inc., a developer of renewable energy projects and technologies, will invest $11 million to relocate its headquarters from North Carolina and establish a manufacturing operation in Greensville County.
https://www.tidewaternews.com/2015/03/18/solar-power-company-to-relocate-to-greensville-county/
A franchisee of the Mobile Solar Kiosk making use of the tablet provided to allow for the sales of services electronically. The kiosk is equipped with multiple ports to charge small electronics.
https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/entrepreneur-on-building-his-mobile-phone-charging-kiosk-franchise-in-rwanda/47664/
UpSpring (http://upspringassociates.com/) is a socially responsible consulting firm, enabling entrepreneurs to achieve their vision and implement their goals. Consultants specialize in growing values-based ventures in the U.S. and around the world. Since …
The name “Kouzin Dlo” literally translates to “water-selling cousin.” In local parlance, the word cousin signifies someone from your community, someone you trust. “Wherever I go, people shout ‘Kouzin Dlo! There goes the lady who sells the clean-water product,’” says Manouchka Badio, a Kouzin Dlo employee whom Laporte recruited. “The experience has been really good, not just for me, but for my community.”
http://now.tufts.edu/articles/creating-clean-water-economy
Nearly two-thirds of Tanzania’s population of 49 million reside in rural areas, with less than 5% of these households having access to electricity. For the rest, alternative forms of energy such as paraffin, charcoal and firewood are used.
https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/how-this-company-built-a-business-by-charging-phones-in-rural-tanzania/
Sproxil’s founder and chief executive officer, Dr. Ashifi Gogo, joined other world leaders to make a presentation at the 45th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland earlier this year
http://itedgenews.ng/2015/02/13/sproxils-boss-joins-other-world-leaders-at-45th-world-economic-forum/
Interview: IndiVillage Tech Solutions
Interview with Morgan Berman and Jason Cox of MilkCrate. Sustainability is a big movement and trend that is sweeping America. However, finding sustainable businesses, markets and opportunities are hard to …
The Mentor Capital Network (formerly known as the William James Foundation) is getting ready to launch our 12th annual Sustainable Business Plan Competition. This is a excellent opportunity for for-profit social entrepreneurs — …
Five years ago she gave up her job deciding, instead, to pursue her dream of ridding Nairobi of plastic waste through recycling.
http://www.lionessesofafrica.com/blog/2015/1/2/bbc-african-dream-lorna-rutto-recycles-plastic-for-profits
Sterio.me sends homework lessons and quizzes to basic phones that have limited access to data. Phones of this type have more than 86% penetration in Lesotho. The programme is undergoing trials in local schools, supported by the Vodacom Foundation, the ministry of education and the local teachers’ union, before being rolled out across the country.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/02/homework-goes-mobile-for-secondary-school-pupils-in-lesotho
Lorna Rutto of EcoPost named one of Africa’s 100 Lionesses for her recycling Kenya’s Waste
http://www.lionessesofafrica.com/blog/2015/1/1/lorna-rutto-creating-posts-from-plastic-waste-has-earned-herself-numerous-awards-for-conservation
Award-winning entrepreneur Andrew Mupuya was just 16 years old when he decided to take on the world.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/23/business/paper-bag-empire-andrew-mupuya/
Felipe Perini interviewed Eden Full in December of 2014 to discuss how SunSaluter is doing. Where are you operating? We primarily have our HQ functioning out of Bangalore, India. Our …
The Mentor Capital Network (formerly known as the William James Foundation) is getting ready to launch our 12th annual Sustainable Business Plan Competition. We use that competition to engage our pool of more …
Tell me about how your firm has grown in the last few months.In the last few months we have not focused on topline revenue and instead really focused on solidifying our …
Our team from the French NGO Planète d’Entrepreneurs recently spent six weeks with EGG-energy to assess its social impact on its beneficiaries. This study was commissioned by GDF SUEZ Rassembleurs d’Energies, one of EGG-energy’s investors, who we warmly thank for making this mission possible. Since 2009, Plane?te d’Entrepreneurs has been helping social entrepreneurs assessing their social impact and promoting their innovative model in France and developing countries by training and involving French students in the field.
http://egg-energy.com/2014/12/planete-dentrepreneurs-team-assesses-egg-energys-social-impact/
Felipe Perini interviewed Lauren Thomas in the fall of 2014. Lauren Thomas is the director of Mozambikes (http://www.mozambikes.com/) Which problem are you trying to solve with Mozambikes? How did you become …
Mentor Capital Network Call for ApplicantsApply by January 5th at www.mentorcapitalnet.orgThe Mentor Capital Network (formerly known as the William James Foundation) is now accepting applications for our 2015 Sustainable Business Plan Competition. We …
Congrats to the team of Karibu Solar Power! Last week we profiled one of the investors who found the company through VC4Africa and invested a “five digit sum”. This week we catch up with the company’s Executive Director Adam Camenzuli.
https://vc4a.com/blog/2014/11/25/tanzanias-green-innovator-karibu-solar-power-secures-investments-via-vc4africa/
The MCN’s Smarth Kharbanda caught up with Vanessa Ferragut, founder of Greenease, in 2014. The Greenease website and app is a resource that connects sustainably savvy consumers with restaruants that buy …
The MCN’s Smarth Kharbanda caught up with Mitra Ardron Co-Founder of Lumeter Networks in the fall of 2014. Mitra Ardron is a co-founder of Lumeter Network. They provide technology to solar companies …
Greetings and Salutations! I’ve just come back from convenings of StartingBloc and the Social Venture Network, two organizations that have played a major role with the WJF/Mentor Capital Network. StartingBloc has been an excellent …
The world is getting a little smaller with CEO and mover shaker Taryn Sullivan of Efficiency Exchange (EEx) building applications on site, in China, to help companies analyze and create better supply chains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NovYFQhSOEE
Mentor Capital Network spoke with Philip Calabrese, Co-founder of Boom Algae (formerly SuperiorEcotech) to catch up on how the business has been since participating in the Mentor Capital Network’s 2014 Sustainable …
Similarly a low-cost engineering and construction enterprise, Ghonsla, was set up in the aftermath of Pakistan’s devastating earthquake in 2005. With 73,000 people killed and large parts of its cities and villages destroyed in the north by the disaster, the plight of 2.5 million people left homeless hung in the balance.
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/oct/10/social-enterprise-is-an-emerging-force-in-pakistan
We’ve seen our fair share of organic baby blankets in our day, but these swaddles from Ellie Fun Day are the latest to steal our hearts. Made with layers of organic muslin cotton, Ellie Fun Day blankets are hand-embroidered by marginalized women in India. The care and love that goes into these simple and elegant blankets is evident: the blankets feature tasteful designs such as dots and dashes, a fox among funky tree designs, or little stars.
https://inhabitat.com/inhabitots/ellie-fun-days-organic-baby-blankets-change-the-lives-of-marginalized-women-in-india/
If you’re on the outside the financial system, you don’t have a credit history that a loan officer can refer to; you may not have much documentation at all. In effect, you face a Catch 22. You’re excluded from the financial system because you’re excluded from the financial system.
It’s this problem that Nicole Stubbs has been trying to address with First Access, a New York startup that mines alternative financial data, including mobile phone payment histories.
https://www.fastcompany.com/3035336/using-mobile-phone-payments-to-get-people-with-no-credit-history-some-credit
By providing a limited amount of public capital through initiatives like the Development Innovation Ventures fund, the LAUNCH open innovation platform and the “Priming the Pump” Global Development Alliance (GDA) with Echoing Green, we can develop a pipeline of investment-ready social enterprises that can then attract private capital and scale.
https://blog.usaid.gov/2014/08/the-1-trillion-market-opportunity-taking-innovations-to-the-next-level/
“Going to the bathroom isn’t a popular topic that comes up at the dinner table in the West,” said Auerbach to Forbes. “It’s flush and forget for us. That’s not the case in much of the developing world.” Finding a place to relieve oneself is an open issue in many countries, whether it be in rivers, roadsides or holes in the ground. But while water and sanitation development projects have been implemented in poor countries, few solutions have proven to be effective as the sanitation crisis continues to worsen.
https://www.borgenmagazine.com/sanergy-converting-waste-profit/
A Family AffairThank YOU! Our 11th Annual Gathering which took place July 24 – 26 was a great success because of YOU – our strong network of supporters, mentors, entrepreneurs, …
Eqalix, Inc., a Northern Virginia regenerative medicine company, has achieved an important step in its development of technology for wound healing. A plant protein-based nanofiber scaffold technology invented at Drexel University and licensed to Eqalix recently received U.S. patent protection. The patent is U.S. Patent No. 8,790,921, entitled “Alimentary Protein-Based Scaffolds (APS) for Wound Healing, Regenerative Medicine and Drug Discovery.”
http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/2098595
On Friday, July 25th, these three companies will present at our 2014 Green Grab:2ArmadillosKuli KuliWash Cycle Laundry Come to the Annual Gathering and watch them pitch! What is a Green Grab? Green Grab connects high-growth …
Annual Gathering Opening Reception & Local entrepreneurs WIN Coworking Space Join us on for the Opening Reception of the Annual Gathering to network with the entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and guests. Are you with a company …
Come to the Annual Gathering and see the top 3 finalists of our Biz Plan Competition compete! Gham PowerSMEFUNDS -GE BIOFUELSSOL VISTAPlease join us July 24 – July 26 as we come together …
Mera Gao Power is a solar energy start-up that seeks to bring electricity to India’s rural villages. Co-founders Nikhil Jaisinghani and Brian Shaad saw the potential in the market for solar energy microgrids. In 2010, they left their jobs and started Mera Gao Power, which now operates microgrids in 600 villages in the Sitapur district in India.
https://www.borgenmagazine.com/solar-energy-start-ups-bring-light-grid/