Alumni in the News

Om Boys create peanut butter for the 21st century with Yumbutter

“One revolutionary thing that’s been our core since the beginning is our responsibility to make the most nutritious food for the customer,” Reif says. “It’s not a right to be a food manufacturer; it’s a privilege. We have to look out for other people, and we don’t want to give them unhealthy foods.” He’d like to help people “take back control of what they’re eating.”
http://isthmus.com/food-drink/om-boys-create-peanut-butter-for-the-21st-century-with-yumbutter/

Alumni in the News

Farming Goes High-Tech in the Amazon

Eco Ola has nine hectares of land, on which they are using sustainable farming techniques like polycultures (using more than one plant species in the same area), alley cropping (growing an agricultural crop simultaneously with a long-term tree crop to provide annual income while the tree crop matures), and rotating crops.
http://www.eco-ola.com/media/press/

Alumni in the News

Permaculture: a path toward a more sustainable Amazon?

Eco Ola, a Peru-based organization founded by William Park and Carla Noain, has developed a community training center in the Peruvian Amazon to train people to learn how to improve soil in a polyculture/agroforestry system. Permaculture essentially mimics the form and structure of a natural forest, with a diverse array of species including a canopy of timber and fruit trees; an understory of cacao, bananas and species; and a shrub layer of herbs, legumes, and peppers.
https://news.mongabay.com/2012/05/permaculture-a-path-toward-a-more-sustainable-amazon/

Alumni in the News

Home of the Social Innovation Rockstar.

“By combining grassroots knowledge—or knowledge gained from our life experiences growing up in Africa—with knowledge of technological trends and market dynamics, we came up with a solution that we believe will make the world a better place,” says Salif Niang, who founded Malô Traders with his brother Mohamed.

http://sir.tv/profile/salif-romano-niang

Alumni in the News

Winds of Change in Kosovo

But a rebuilding nation—Kosovo declared independence as sovereign nation in 2008 — is “the ideal opportunity,” say members of the RIT student-led team behind Kosovo Wind Gardens. Kosovo Wind Gardens is a venture that plans to construct and sell wind turbines to individual homes, businesses and farms in the vast rural areas of Kosovo. The small, 5-kilowatt turbines would provide energy independence, an option far better than the daily blackouts due to a poor and aging energy infrastructure, says Adam Walker, Kosovo Wind Gardens executive director.
https://www.rit.edu/showcase/index.php?id=164

Alumni in the News

FIGHTING POVERTY USING EFFICIENT AND AFFORDABLE TRANSPORTATION IN RURAL MOZAMBIQUE

Mozambikes has developed a model to overcome these obstacles. The Mozambikes model makes bicycles and accessories available at affordable prices for people living in impoverished areas by leveraging sales of advertising to corporate and institutional customers. Mozambikes is the first provider seeking to improve the quality of bicycles in the market, make them affordable, provide training and after-market service and build a complete bicycle industry in Mozambique.
https://www.usaid.gov/div/portfolio/mozambikes

Alumni in the News

Community Solar in Olympia, Washington Moves Forward

The systems will be deployed through a power purchase agreement with Thurston Solar Management (TSM), a joint venture of Olympia-based PureSolar and Seattle-based Tangerine Power. After previously securing a contract to install a PV system at the Children’s Museum, the group was selected for the additional four projects through a competitive bidding process by the Olympia City Council.

https://cleantechnica.com/2011/12/15/community-solar-in-olympia-washington-moves-forward/

Alumni in the News

the-waterwheel-makes-clean-water-cheaper-easier-to-carry

“The magic is in the business model,” says Cynthia Koenig, founder of Wello. “It’s not necessarily so much cheaper than other products on the market, but our business model is aiming for profitability through scale.” Wello has thin margins, but the venture expects to break even after three years of operation through both sales of the WaterWheel and sales of advertising space on the device.
https://www.fastcompany.com/1678162/the-waterwheel-makes-clean-water-cheaper-easier-to-carry

Alumni in the News

Social business projects win funding, get tested by pros

This year’s Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition at the University of Washington had so many promising business plans that picking just two winners proved difficult. So judges did something unusual: they ponied up their own money on the spot to award another $3,000 prize.
http://old.seattletimes.com/html/thebusinessofgiving/2011328915_post_8.html

Alumni in the News

Onergy, VSSU join hands for solar station in South 24-Parganas

A solar power station — Vivekananda Shakti Kendra — has been set up at Ullon near Lakshmikantapur in South 24-Parganas. The project is a joint venture of Onergy, a brainchild of environmental entrepreneur Vinay Jaju, and the Vivekananda Sevakendra-O-Sishu Uddyan.

http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/onergy-vssu-join-hands-for-solar-station-in-south-24parganas/586143/