MCN Update 19 June 2014
We are having a busy month! Getting ready for the Annual Gathering, transitioning to Mentor Capital Network, and boosting MCN momentum with Mentor Calls have all been at the top of …
The Wello Water Wheel
Wello Water is social venture that wanted a way for people (particularly women) to transport water effectively, hygienically and affordably. By doing so the goal was to allow time for school and more efficient family care. Wello believes that “[w]omen with even a few years of education have smaller, healthier families, and are more likely to send their children to school. Female education is a key means of breaking the cycle of poverty.
https://www.borgenmagazine.com/wello-water-wheel/
Invention Awards 2014: Charge Gadgets With Your Footsteps
Stanton worked closely with Hahna Alexander, a fellow Carnegie Mellon University engineering student, over three years to create the SolePower system. Instead of using piezoelectric and other inefficient, bulky methods of generating electricity, the pair shrunk down components similar to those found in hand-cranked flashlights. The result is a near standard–size removable insole that weighs less than five ounces, including a battery pack, and charges electronics via USB.
https://www.popsci.com/article/science/invention-awards-2014-charge-gadgets-your-footsteps
Get to Know the Luciérnaga Value Chain
A few weeks ago, while sitting in a conference room at the Hotel Aloha, in Managua Nicaragua, I suddenly realized just how unique of a meeting I was a part of – I was sitting in the presence of the entire value chain of a solar light business!!
https://luciernagasolar.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/get-to-know-the-luciernaga-value-chain/
Improving Energy Efficiency on the Factory Floor
Taryn Sullivan has worked every job in a Chinese factory. After years of traveling to China to source and develop products for American companies, the founder and CEO of Efficiency Exchange wanted a deeper understanding of how Chinese factories work.
http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/improving-energy-efficiency-on-the-factory-floor/
WJF Update: 24 January 2014
William James Foundation and Bethesda Green Partner To Launch a Mentor Capital Network Program for Green Businesses in the Greater DC-Area! WJF is excited to announce our new partnership with …
Interview: Runa (2014)
The MCN’s Rachel Andersen caught up with Tyler on October 21, 2014 to hear about Runa’s growth since being a part of the 2011 cohort. “We built a supply chain …
Sunsaluter
Sunsaluter received an Honorable Mention notice in 2014 Richard Heinberg Sustainable Prizes, sponsored by the Foundation for a Sustainable Future. They also received 3rd place in the Next Generation award category, …
WJF Update: 22 December 2013
You are a very important part of the WJF family. It’s hard to imagine what our world would be like without the quality mentoring that WJF provides to social entrepreneurs …
Announcing a New Investment: LabourNet
LabourNet today announced an undisclosed equity investment from Acumen, a pioneering nonprofit global venture firm addressing poverty across South Asia and Africa, and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, an organization focused on improving the lives of impoverished children through education and health in the United States, South Africa and India. LabourNet is a leader in the private vocational training & education sector in India, enabling livelihoods via work-integrated job training for informal sector workers in trades such as construction, manufacturing, leather, and beauty among others.
https://acumen.org/blog/labournet/
WJF Update: 18 December 2013
Thank you for being a part of our community in 2013. It has been an exceptional year for us. We supported 71 companies from 20 countries.Our annual gathering (held at the …
Hydroponic rooftop gardens turn Cairo green | Blog
‘We make use of vertical hydroponic gardening, which consumes seventy percent less water and takes up less space’, Tarek explains. While these are important benefits in a country with huge shortages of water and fertile soil, they also make it possible for the families to produce cheap and healthy vegetables on a roof of limited size.
https://www.bluebiz.com/en/BizClubs/Club-Africa-News/Hydroponic-rooftop-gardens-turn-Cairo-green
Buen Power Peru Announces USAID Grant to bring Solar Lights to 10,000 rural Peruvians
Buen Power Peru (BPP), a solar energy enterprise co-founded by an American engineer and a Peruvian entrepreneur, has just announced its intention to bring solar lights to approximately 10,230 low-income Peruvians with Stage 1 support from USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures (DIV).
https://www.altenergymag.com/news/2013/11/25/buen-power-peru-announces-usaid-grant-to-bring-solar-lights-to-10000-rural-peruvians/31489
Recycling waste can create 500,000 jobs in Nigeria – Wecyclers CEO, Bilikis
Many of our customers are living in abject poverty and they love the incentives. Sometimes they say, “can I use my points to get a house, or a car,” but I tell them this might take you a lot of years of recycling! For some of these people their immediate problem is not waste, it’s survival. They aren’t thinking about “the environment”, and so the best way to train them is to incentivize them.What kind of impact could Wecyclers potentially have?
http://www.theafricareport.com/West-Africa/recycling-waste-can-create-500000-jobs-in-nigeria-wecyclers-ceo-bilikis.html
Efficiency startup penetrates deep inside Chinese factories
Most students of Chinese and Asian studies at The George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs do not parlay their degrees into stints as factory workers in Chinese manufacturing facilities. But then, most students of Chinese and Asian studies are not Taryn Sullivan.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/efficiency-startup-penetrates-deep-inside-chinese-factories/
Zenful Bites: Building a New Food System
In May 2012, Josephine co-founded Zenful Bites with Yolanda Hawthorne, a social enterprise in Washington DC, which uses food as a medium to transform people’s lives, by creating a sustainable, healthy and just food system through education and eco-catering.
http://www.takingonthegiant.com/2013/10/11/zenful-bites-building-a-new-food-system-through-food-education-and-eco-catering/
N.C. A&T farm to house high-tech hog waste/asphalt plant
Bio-Adhesive Alliance is currently reviewing bids for what will be a mobile facility that could operate both at N.C. A&T itself and be moved to other locations, said Elham Fini, the professor of civil engineering whose research spawned the startup. Bids on the project have ranged from $400,000 to $500,000, and Fini said she hopes to select a contractor by the end of this month and have the facility finished by next August.
https://www.bizjournals.com/triad/blog/2013/10/nc-at-farm-to-house-high-tech-hog.html
The Andean Collection
It offers a way for their artisan partners to earn a living from the revival of their ancestral jewelry making technique. Even the string and beads used in the jewelry are grown in local gardens, and then handmade by the same gardeners who sow the seeds.
http://thekindlife.com/blog/2013/10/the-andean-collection/
WJF Update: 16 September 2013
Dear Ian, Two quick things: 2014 Sustainable Business Plan Competition Program is underwayThe William James Foundation is in the feedback business. So when we get some, we listen. Because of …
China’s Factory Owners Hunt for Energy Savings
Taryn Sullivan, a consultant who founded Efficiency Exchange in Dongguan in 2010, has developed software to identify inefficiencies. At every factory in China she has visited, Sullivan has spotted energy waste, and she estimates an average potential savings of 13 percent.
http://www.christina-larson.com/chinas-factory-owners-hunt-for-energy-savings/
DIARY OF AN UNDER 30 CEO: THE PAPER BAG EMPEROR
With no initial capital, I cleaned the environment by collecting used plastic bottles and sold them to a plastic recycling plant. After I had raised my initial seed capital of 36,000 Ugandan shillings ($14), I soon started making paper bags at a small scale while still in high school.
http://venturesafrica.com/diary-30-ceo-andrew-mupuya-real-paper-bag-emperor/
Women and children first: Fellows Friday with Zubaida Bai, who creates lifesaving kits for maternal health
Through her company AYZH, she develops health products — such as the $2 Clean Birth Kit — designed to reduce maternal and infant mortality in underprivileged communities around the world. AYZH is about to launch an Indiegogo funding campaign to produce an impact analysis report on Clean Birth Kits, as well as a mobile health education platform. Here, she tells us about how she got started and her vision for women’s health.
https://blog.ted.com/women-and-children-first-fellows-friday-with-zubaida-bai-who-creates-lifesaving-kits-for-maternal-health/
Interview: Ellie Fun Day
On August 12th, 2013, we interviewed Sarah Lin, Co-Founder and Chief Blankie Crafter, of Ellie Fun Day.
Interview: Juabar (2013)
Interview with Olivia Nava of Juabar on August 9th, 2013
Interview: Trade Without Borders (2013)
A talk with Joe Fernandez, founder of TWBHK Limited In an interview conducted a few days ago, Joe Fernandez reflects on the role of supply chains to access existing clean …
Interview: TWBHK (2013)
Joe Fernandez of TWBHK interviewed by MCN on August 8, 2013
Let There Be Light: Bringing Solar Power to Rural Retailers in Kenya
We believe this project with One Degree Solar will go a long way in helping retailers and kiosk owners extend their operating hours, reduce their operating costs and experience the numerous benefits of renewable energy,” said Patrick Pech, managing director of Nairobi Bottlers Ltd., a local Coca-Cola bottler.
https://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/let-there-be-light-bringing-solar-power-to-rural-retailers-in-kenya
Interview: Next Step New Co. (2013)
Stacey Epperson of Next Step Newco interviewed by MCN on August 5, 2013.
Salif Romano Niang: Determined to Build a Solution
“Malô was born because of that crisis.”The convention of academia would be to work on the problem by researching and debating it, conferring with think tanks or the United Nations, lobbying with governments. But the urgency that Salif felt for the problem was too great to wait for a better understanding, especially when in 2008 he saw the price of rice skyrocketing, resulting in shipping embargos and riots.
https://www.echoinggreen.org/ideas/salif-romano-niang-determined-build-solution
A Brooklyn Duo May Have Finally Figured Out How To Get Americans To Start Eating Insects
Exo, a Brooklyn-based company, is building a new kind of protein bar with a cricket-y twist.
https://www.businessinsider.com/cricket-protein-bars-made-by-exo-2013-7
Interview: Lumeter Networks (2013)
Mitra Ardon of Lumeter Network interviewed by MCN on July 29, 2013.
WJF Annual Gathering Recap
WJF Gathering Recap This past weekend we had our 10th annual Gathering. Over the course of three days we were able to see top notch entrepreneurs present their businesses, hear …
2013 Annual Gathering Overview
This past weekend we had our 10th annual Gathering. Over the course of three days we were able to see top notch entrepreneurs present their businesses, hear two wonderful keynote …
Interview: Clovest (2013)
Karan Jain of Clovest interviewed by MCN on July 16, 2013.
WJF Update: 15 July, 2013
WJF Things that are Going On Washington, DC | July 18-20, 2013Each year The William James Foundation brings together entrepreneurs, mentors, and funders who are working to make the world …
Interview: Mowoza (2013)
Suzana Moreira of Mowoza interviewed by MCN on July 12, 2013.
Mali: Transforming a Country Through Rice
Aspen Institute 2013 New Voices Fellow Salif Romano Niang is the co-founder and chief impact officer of Malo, a company working to revolutionize the rice industry in Niang’s home country of Mali.
https://allafrica.com/stories/201307121639.html
Interview: Rachel Faller of Keo’Kjay, Morale Fashion Group, and Tonle (2013)
Madeline Parrish interviewed Rachel Faller on July 5, 2013.
WJF Update: 1 July, 2013
For the past several years, we have worked with the Stiefel Family Foundation to identify and support the best new companies that will move the world away from dependence on fossil fuels. …
Interview: Triea Systems (2013)
Interview by Madeline Parrish Affinity Lab Washington, DC Finalists, Triea Systems’ Art Lazerow shared about the exciting things that have been happening for Triea Systems. Their innovative technologies are going to …