Supporting Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs
“Play is the universal language,” Tarver says. “You go somewhere and you may not be able to talk to the people, but if you pull out this ball, you’ll be connected, because it’s intuitive. The ball is the connector between the visitors and the community.”
https://www.rotary.org/en/news-media/goodwill-games
Clean Energy Prizes Worth $25k in 2016 Big News! The MCN is partnering with the 11th Hour Foundation to provide $25,000 worth of prizes to the top clean energy companies in this year’s …
Our products provide second chances in two ways. One would be employing and training women who need a second chance because they are homeless, formerly incarcerated, or otherwise disadvantaged. The second would be the fruit we pick was originally not the right size/shape to be sold commercially. The model address is the paradox that in this country we waste 40% of food while 1/6 americans are currently living in hunger.
http://eco18.com/fruit-and-second-chances-never-tasted-so-good/
Maxwell Chinnah, CEO & Cofounder of Terraoak, receiving a grant from the Iowa Renewable Energy Association, in November 2015, for his work in Clean Energy with Terraoak, Inc. He is the pioneer recipient of the Eric Foresman and Christine Nelson-Foresman Scholarship Award for Iowans spearheading renewable energy endeavors.
http://smallbusinesstrendsetters.com/maxwell-chinnah-ceo-cofounder-of-terraoak-receives-grant-from-the-iowa-renewable-energy-association/
Our first product, Aesop Solis, is our solar powered mobile device case, which is still under development. Aesop Tholos is our latest product that we will soon be introducing to the City of Norfolk. It is our solar powered bench.
https://www.1millioncups.com/virginiabeach/presentations/aesop-technologies-llc-7937
I felt like I had to work twice as hard to be seen as credible as my male counterparts competing against me. After talking to fellow women competitors and entrepreneurs, I was surprised to learn that they all had similar experiences.
https://dobsonchronicles.com/2016/01/31/the-hidden-truth-about-women-in-entrepreneurship/
Zenful Bites partners with local nonprofits to run food education programs for children in underserved areas of DC.
https://startdc.co/2016/01/24/josephine-chu-zenful-bites/
News & Updates We’re diving right into 2016 and we’re so excited about what this year will bring. This is the first year in which we’re going to offer not …
“We were shocked to learn that feminine hygiene products are not covered by government assistance programs like food stamps, and furthermore, that 40 states tax these products, making them even more cost-prohibitive to women living in homelessness,” the company’s founders, Annie Lasco and Margo Lang, told HuffPost in an email.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/conscious-period-donations_us_5693e091e4b0a2b6fb70e176
Addressing the vital need for clean water in disaster relief situations, DayOne Response has developed one solution called the DayOne Waterbag. This is a 10-litre personal water purification unit that can be transported like a backpack. A closed system, which prevents contamination, it is designed specifically to be distributed after a disaster. It purifies 10 litres of water in 30 minutes, and is reusable so a family of four can have clean drinking water for up to 2 months.
https://www.currencyfair.com/blog/20-startups-changing-the-world/
LuminAID clinched a deal with Mark on Season 6 of Shark Tank for their solar-powered inflatable lights. Heavy spoke with founders Anna Stork and Andrea Sreshta, who gave us a glimpse into the company’s tremendous growth since the show.
http://heavy.com/news/2016/01/luminaid-shark-tank-solar-power-lights-products-episodes-deals-mark/
But Annie Lascoe and Margo Lang are thinking a lot about those products, and they want to change almost everything about them. They created their newly launched company, Conscious Period, to manufacture organic sanitary products so that women know exactly what ingredients are being used, given that in the U.S. companies aren’t required to disclose all the components in their raw materials. “We were both really concerned about the ingredients that aren’t being disclosed in conventional tampons,” Lascoe said.
https://thinkprogress.org/these-entrepreneurs-want-to-completely-shake-up-the-economics-of-tampons-and-pads-d987ddf38e00/
Graham Benton is founder and managing director of LishaBora Hydroponics, a Kenya-based start-up that produces a barley nutrient supplement targeted at smallholder dairy farmers. LishaBora operates a greenhouse system where it grows barley seeds using nutrient-rich water. The end product, a fodder mat that looks like grass, is fed to cows as a replacement to nutrient concentrates. The product is said to improve milk yields by up to 30%.
https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/boosting-milk-yields-of-small-scale-dairy-farmers/
When Andrew Youn started One Acre Fund to help farmers in East Africa improve their productivity, he set rapid expansion as a top priority. The result: After just a decade, the nonprofit serves 300,000 farmers directly and another 500,000 through its government partnerships.
https://www.philanthropy.com/article/40-under-40-andrew-youn-farm/234749
It’s not unusual for small businesses and houses of worship located in old New York buildings to spend 30 percent of their budgets on energy. But banks aren’t willing to lend them the money to make their sites energy efficient.
https://www.philanthropy.com/article/40-under-40-donnel-baird-/234728
Evaptainers creates “zero energy” refrigeration systems using modular and mobile units to systemically reduce food spoilage in the developing world. “We are very proud to be on the ground in Morocco working with our country partners to bring this technology to market,” says CEO and co-founder Spencer Taylor. “Unlike other alternative refrigeration companies our product requires no electricity and is so lightweight and inexpensive that it allows us to bring a refrigeration solution to populations living on the other side of the electricity divide that have never before had access.”
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-technology/evaptainers-electricity-free-refrigeration.html
RUR Greenlife was awarded 1st place for the 2016 Richard Heinberg Sustainability Prizes sponsored by the Foundation for a Sustainable Future. RUR Greenlife designs, builds, and implements sustainable,decentralized waste management …
While blessed with one of the highest biodiversity indices, Ecuador also has one of the world’s highest rates of deforestation estimated at over 300,000 hectares (3%) per year. Today only about 1-2% of Ecuador’s original forest lands remain. It is estimated that there are up to 300 different species of trees in the Canande watershed with only approximately 200+ species currently identified. Current economic models present a higher land yields through clear cutting forests and planting oil palm
https://www.chrispalm.com/choco
The Kenya Copyright Board (KECOBO) in collaboration with Eco Post Ltd destroyed unauthorized copies of DVDs and CDs. The Kenya Copyright Board Executive Director, Dr. Marisella Ouma said that, the destruction has been in an eco-friendly way through a joint initiative with eco post to safely dispose over one tone of illegal CDs and DVDs worth over 5,000,000 million….
http://www.copyright.go.ke/dsdsd/summary/6-copyright-registration/5-application-for-verification-of-assignment-of-copyright-works.html
After a long struggle, our partner community Arimae finally received its land title from the government of Panama. We’ve been working with Arimae since 2007 and currently have 15 hectares of timber plantations on their land.
http://www.plantingempowerment.com/blog/arimae-panama-land-title
NBC’s Melissa Lee speaks to Devon Grimme, Prometheon Pharma director of business, about a new patch that could end needle injections for people with diabetes.
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2015/05/05/needle-free-insulin-patch.html
Tinia Pina didn’t set out to create a supercharged organic fertilizer for hydroponic agriculture. It just worked out that way.
http://www.innovateli.com/re-nuble-not-your-average-high-growth-company/
DayOne Response offers a lightweight, backpack-sized emergency water purifier system that has provided 7 million liters of clean water to global disaster victims. It was recognized in San Jose, Calif., on Nov. 12, 2015, at The Tech Awards with the Intel Environment Award.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhJQB8NwCmE
The startup does this by leasing solar phone charging kiosks on a month-by-month basis, which the entrepreneurs can then use to launch their own businesses by having community members pay to charge their phone at the kiosk.
http://disrupt-africa.com/2015/12/meet-the-seedstars-world-tanzania-winner-juabar/
Upslope Brewing Company and two local startups, Boom Algae and Living Ink Technologies, begin a collaborative project to turn brewery waste into a 100% biodegradable, non-petroleum-based, algae-ink. The system is a unique bioreactor designed to function as a zero-waste system.
https://www.brewbound.com/news/upslope-brewing-announces-sustainability-project-boom-algae-living-ink-technologies
Designs like Toilets for People’s “the crapper” (Compact, Rotating, Aerobic, Pollution-Prevention Excreta, Reducer) create an eco-friendly toilet for developing countries.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/4-innovative-toilet-designs-to-talk-about-on-world-toilet-day/
For its pilot farm, Up Top Acres is working with ThinkFoodGroup to grow microgreens, herbs, and edible flowers on the rooftop of the building that houses Oyamel. Everything they grow will be used on the menus of José Andrés’ downtown restaurants, including Jaleo, Zaytinya, Minibar, and China Chilcano. Grina got connected with Andrés after helping the restaurateur with a garden at his house.
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/food/blog/20678381/d-c-s-first-commercial-rooftop-farming-company-launches-with-a-garden-above-oyamel
312 applied from around the world. 38 were invited. MCN is proud to announce our 2016 Spring Cohort consisting of 38 companies. We are excited to work with entrepreneurs from …
tonlé designs and makes comfortable, wearable clothes that are as original and beautiful as the people who make them. We adhere to principles of transparency, fairness, and waste reduction in everything we do, from the big stuff like wages, down to the little things like the materials in our buttons.”
https://www.mynewneighbour.ca/blog/brand-love-tonl
Where Mission Drives Margin Hello. I hope all is well with you. I’m writing you as a member of the Mentor Capital Network with three questions:Are you looking for investment, …
tonlé is an eco and socially conscious brand that started out in Cambodia 6 years ago. It’s zero waste production and we also help the communities in Cambodia.
http://www.phatrice.com/news/rags-to-riches-lydia-shares-how-tonle-is-changing-the-way-fashion-is-done-in-cambodia/
One of our major donors has just given me a $10,000 challenge to our community. Yesterday, we raised $1,010 towards that match. So $8,990 to go.So it may seem a …
After raising $2.10 million in equity financing, Kenyan payments platform Kopo Kopo is pivoting its business away from the Lipa Na M-Pesa service it offers in partnership with Safaricom to focus on micro-loans to businesses.
http://techcabal.com/2015/12/01/kopo-kopo-micro-lending-switch/
Toilets for People, started by Park Slope resident Jason Kass, builds low-cost wooden compost toilets called Crappers that are used in places like regions of Peru.
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20151119/stapleton/toilet-company-makes-flushless-commodes-for-flood-prone-countries
Dear Net Impact Chapter Leader: Greetings and Salutations. My name is Ian Fisk, and I am a longtime member (lifetime member #3!), supporter, and former chapter leader (Yale SOM & …
Eden Full Goh discovered the potential of solar power when she was just 10 years old. She had come across a book in the library that taught her how to build a small solar-powered car. Once she took the book home and built it, she was hooked. She wanted to see what else she could do with this incredible source of energy.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lyndseygilpin/2015/10/28/the-woman-who-turned-her-high-school-science-project-into-a-global-solar-nonprofit/#240d87fa4cb8
The Mentor Capital Network (formerly known as the William James Foundation) has launched our 2016 program. We are always learning, and we have made a few tweaks. The main tweak …
Dana Frasz deals in the currency of imperfect produce: crooked carrots, oranges with peels dotted with black spots, and potatoes shaped like snowmen.
https://www.eastbayexpress.com/WhatTheFork/archives/2015/10/20/an-anti-waste-kitchen-takes-root-in-alameda
The high cost of pharmaceutical drugs affects patients, health care providers, hospitals and governments throughout the world. The pharmaceutical industry is reported to be worth $300 billion a year and in the United States, close to half of the population is using prescription drugs at any given time.
https://www.borgenmagazine.com/mobile-phones-recognizing-counterfeit-medicine/
Tricia Compas-Markman was in Haiti after a devastating earthquake killed more than 160,000 people when she finally realised her idea to change the world was a winner. “Even after a year, people were still living in tents, still affected by cholera, still very much affected by the earthquake,” the engineer and entrepreneur recalled.
https://www.afr.com/business/retail/ground-zero-feedback-helps-dayone-response-respond-to-disaster-20151006-gk269w