Alumni in the News

My Special Aflac Duck™ Takes Home Best of CES 2018 Award

Aflac, the leader in voluntary insurance sales at the worksite in the United States, capped off a busy week at the Consumer Electronics Show® (CES) by accepting the Best of CES 2018 Award for Best Unexpected Product for My Special Aflac Duck, the company’s new social robot designed to help children coping with cancer. The smart companion was created by Sproutel, a research and development workshop focused on making health care playful.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/my-special-aflac-duck-takes-home-best-of-ces-2018-award-300581870.html

Alumni in the News

Businesses in boxes: how solar is creating African entrepreneurs

Access to power is a major issue in Africa, and in solar, many people feel they have the solution.
Yet solar is doing more than switching on off-grid populations, and providing a potentially lucrative and investor friendly business opportunities to companies like M-KOPA Solar and BBOXX.

It is also helping to create a middleman later of “solarpreneurs”, offering people the chance to make revenues by offering people in disconnected areas solar services.

http://disrupt-africa.com/2018/01/businesses-in-boxes-how-solar-is-creating-african-entrepreneurs/

Alumni in the News

This Boston startup wants to help your employees meditate

WeSpire is a 20-employee Boston firm that helps large companies run employee engagement programs. Customers pay an annual, per-employee subscription fee to access WeSpire’s library of app-like campaigns, including programs that encourage workers to reduce their carbon footprint or volunteer in the community.
https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2018/01/11/this-boston-startup-wants-to-help-your-employees.html

Alumni in the News

Kuli Kuli: A superstar of superfoods

Nestled in downtown Oakland, California, sustainable food and agriculture startup Kuli Kuli has roots more than 7,000 miles away. Founder Lisa Curtis was introduced to the moringa tree while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small town in Niger. A vegetarian whose local diet consisted mainly of millet and rice, Curtis was able to curb her malnourishment, a lack of protein and key vitamins by adding moringa to her daily regime. Her health turnaround sparked an interest in introducing the benefit of the moringa plant to North American eaters.
https://www.greenbiz.com/article/kuli-kuli-superstar-superfoods

Alumni in the News

How buyers can guard themselves from greenwashing

Kari Klaus, chief executive and founder of Viva Green Homes in Arlington, Va., a national listing portal exclusively for “eco-friendly” homes, says “greenwashing is a growing problem — clearly there’s a desire to jump on the train and use buzzwords” like “green,” “sustainable” and “high efficiency,” too often with little to back up the claims.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/how-buyers-can-guard-themselves-from-greenwashing/2018/01/09/2f1dd9f8-f54d-11e7-a9e3-ab18ce41436a_story.html?utm_term=.a74eb417df54

Alumni in the News

Next Gen Beekeeper: Katrina Klett

Currently Katrina and her husband of 3 years, currently work with 26 families to produce honey. These beekeepers work with Apis cerana, a docile honey bee, native to Asia, that has a “stable host-parasite relationship” with the Varroa mite parasite (a scenario that American beekeepers’ dreams are made of).
https://www.beegirl.org/blog/next-gen-beekeeper-katrina-klett

Alumni in the News

How the rise of gourmet chocolate can lift the fortunes of small farmers

Uncommon Cacao (UC) began in 2010, with a goal of growing high-quality, sustainably produced cocoa bound to export to quality-focused brands overseas. After successfully launching in Belize, UC has expanded to Guatemala. In both countries, UC is revolutionizing local economies by linking small indigenous producers with the specialized cocoa industry.
http://www.eco-business.com/news/how-the-rise-of-gourmet-chocolate-can-lift-the-fortunes-of-small-farmers/

Alumni in the News

Koya Leadership Partners Acquires ReWork

Koya and ReWork are aligned in their vision to match mission-driven talent to the world’s most socially innovative organizations. Both companies are driven by the belief that the right person in the right place can change the world. The firms’ leadership team feels strongly that no one should have to choose between making money and making a difference. They also recognize that mission-driven organizations deserve the most talented, committed, and passionate professionals to support their efforts.
https://medium.com/on-meaningful-work/koya-leadership-partners-acquires-rework-293842078eb6

Alumni in the News

Tippy Tippens

Located in Mid-City, the Goods That Matter shop invites customers in with the gentle aroma of its soaps, candles and fragrances. But passersby might not suspect this cozy shop on the streetcar line is also a groundbreaking business venture.
http://www.myneworleans.com/St-Charles-Avenue/January-2018/Tippy-Tippens/

Alumni in the News

Banana fiber sanitary pads can solve big problems in India

With its sanitary pads for the Indian market, startup company Saathi solves two problems at once. Just 16 percent of women in India use them due to poverty and other reasons, which causes health and social issues. At the same time, manufacturing them wastes millions of gallons of water, and two million tons of pads end up in landfills every year. To help with all that, Saathi’s pads are affordable, made from discarded banana tree fibers, manufactured in a sustainable way and 100 percent biodegradable.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/10/29/saathi-banana-sanitary-pads-hello-tomorrow/

Alumni in the News

Urban Health In Slums Between Addis Ababa And Nairobi

In light of the gap left by formal healthcare systems and in an effort to cater to the largely underserved population of Nairobi’s informal areas, Access Afya is a chain of three clinics located in the capital’s largest slums.
https://progrss.com/sustainability/20171221/urban-health-addis-nairobi/

Alumni in the News

How young people are rethinking the future of work

Have you ever thought of an Uber-like platform for recruiting domestic workers? In Malaysia, where the population is aging, countless families rely heavily on the services of domestic workers — a majority of whom are female migrants from other Southeast Asian countries. This resonated with Zenna Law, from Kuala Lumpur, and she created Pink Collar.
http://blogs.worldbank.org/jobs/how-young-people-are-rethinking-future-work

Alumni in the News

The journey so far: Henri Nyakarundi, CEO, ARED

African Renewable Energy Distributor (ARED) is a hard-tech company based in Rwanda and Uganda. It developed a business-in-a-box solar kiosk that offers customers phone charging and airtime top-up services, wifi, an intranet with free digital content and a Bluetooth printer. ARED leases the kiosks out through a franchise model.
https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/journey-far-henri-nyakarundi-founder-ceo-ared-rwanda/

Alumni in the News

From a Mile to A Million

Two 21-year-old fashion students, Inés Mille and Marc Collines, left the hallowed hallways of fashion in Barcelona and with just $9,000 in their pockets, traveled all the way to East Africa to set up shop in little-known Kigali in Rwanda, which at the time was building itself – a fully-fledged fashion industry was not yet on its radar.
https://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2017/12/04/from-mille-to-a-million/

Alumni in the News

LabourNet CEO: Key to upskilling informal workers is building on existing knowledge

LabourNet works among the youth in urban and rural India, has been in the field for the past 10 years, focussing on RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning), and bridging skill gaps in education and entrepreneurship, especially in medium, small and micro enterprises.
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/labournet-ceo-key-to-upskilling-informal-workers-is-building-on-existing-knowledge/article9980591.ece

Alumni in the News

Adult Literacy Startup GogyUp Aims to Help Those Lost in Translation

In the United States, around 36 million adults are reading below a third grade level, and less than a quarter have the resources to boost their literacy skills. A team of educators and techies hope to tackle that issue through GogyUp, an adult literacy platform that helps users learn English while reading everyday documents.

https://www.americaninno.com/minne/twin-cities-startup/adult-literacy-startup-gogyup-aims-to-help-those-lost-in-translation/

Alumni in the News

Yes, Even Millennial Households Can Afford Solar Energy

Solstice announced last week a partnership with Delaware River Solar to provide capacity from three 2.8 MW (megawatt) community solar farms in Baldwin, NY to households across central New York. Customers of this project will receive 10 percent savings on electricity produced from their portion of the solar farm over a contract length of six-years – one third of the industry standard 20 years – with no cancellation fee for early termination.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilyeoh/2017/11/18/yes-even-millennial-households-can-afford-solar-energy/#165a1cba7cd2

Alumni in the News

Juice Different

Established in 2014, Misfit is a product range of cold-pressed juice made from scraps of vegetables and fruits that otherwise go to waste because they are not the right size, shape, or color that, as Misfit says, don’t fit the “high aesthetic standards for produce that is retailed in the US.”
https://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/archives/new_logo_identity_and_packaging_for_misfit_by_gander.php

Alumni in the News

BALANCE Edutainment Launches The First Children’s Book That Springs to Life Through Augmented Reality

BALANCE Edutainment, a leading Extended Reality EdTech firm, launched Pacha’s Pajamas, the first-of-its-kind augmented reality (AR) children’s book that gets kids to fall in love reading again. Children learn about living in harmony with nature through an engaging and interactive experience.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/balance-edutainment-launches-pachas-pajamas—the-first-childrens-book-that-springs-to-life-through-augmented-reality-300552663.html

Alumni in the News

Yumbutter is nuts for change

Imagine it’s 10 years into the future. Food corporations are still concerned with making a profit, but it is no longer the only concern. Companies are blazing trails for better environmental standards, practicing ethical sourcing and engaging with the community in a positive way. Employees are valued and love showing up to work. Consumers enjoy trips to the supermarket because they know what they’re throwing into the cart isn’t causing harm. And best of all, food is more than just a product: It’s healthy, fun and meaningful.
https://www.channel3000.com/madison-magazine/dining-and-drink/yumbutter-is-nuts-for-change/646813603

Alumni in the News

Toilets for People – normalising toilets where families have never used them

Toilets for People (TfP) grew out of a need for a toilet solution where other solutions don’t work. The company works with NGOs in international development and disaster relief that are in need of a toilet solution for locations where the pit latrines, flush toilets and chemical port-a-potties fail.
https://www.aid-expo.com/blog/128-toilets-for-people-normalising-toilets-where-families-have-never-used-them

Alumni in the News

‘Sanergy’ Creates Sustainable Solutions for Sanitation in Kenya

NAIROBI — Despite constitutional acknowledgment of safe water, sanitation and hygiene as a human right, the problem of basic sanitation in Kenya is still severe. In urban slums, which house 8 million Kenyans in densely packed and unstable conditions, the issue is especially concerning — an estimated 80 percent of people lack access to basic sanitation.
https://www.borgenmagazine.com/sanitation-in-kenya/

Alumni in the News

The solar-powered cart that can charge 80 cell phones at once

Born to refugee parents from Rwanda, he grew up in Burundi until civil war again forced the family to move on. Relocating to the US, Nyakarundi studied computer science at Georgia State University and by 19 had founded his first start up.
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/09/africa/ared-solar-charging-kiosk-henri-nyakarundi/index.html

Alumni in the News

What Does Entrepreneurship Mean in Other Cultures? I Found Out

In the hot plains of Chinandega, Nicaragua, Julio MonteAlegre and his workers are planting moringa. A superfood that is well known in Nicaragua but still growing in popularity in the United States. The crop is driving Julio’s company, Esentium, to create more impact for his local community of El Viejo.
https://real-leaders.com/entrepreneurship-mean-cultures-found/

Alumni in the News

Meet Moringa, The Most Nutrient-dense Plant on The Planet

Kuli Kuli’s founder, Lisa Curtis, got her first taste of moringa as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small village in Niger. As a vegetarian, she was eating mostly rice and millet — a diet that left her feeling sluggish. When she mentioned her fatigue to women at the community health center, they suggested she try moringa. After buying the leaves from a neighbor’s tree, she mixed them with a popular peanut snack, called kuli-kuli, and noticed her health improve.
https://real-leaders.com/meet-moringa-the-most-nutrient-dense-plant-on-the-planet/

Alumni in the News

Chef lands in Puerto Rico, ready to help

Luminaid makes blow-up solar-powered lanterns that could help residents until Puerto Rico’s power grid is rebuilt.
http://www.jhnewsandguide.com/jackson_hole_daily/local/chef-lands-in-puerto-rico-ready-to-help/article_6da1c754-e67a-59b5-b754-1f35330e94bb.html

Alumni in the News

Wonder Women: Don’t Ask for Permission to Make Big Moves

Motivated to find a scalable way to make a social and environmental impact on the world through business, Patricia Chin-Sweeney, COO at I-DEV International, left a lucrative career in investment banking to get an MBA at NYU. While still in graduate school, she co-founded I-DEV to drive innovation in the international-development and impact-investing industry while building an alternative pipeline for investors.
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/302355#

Alumni in the News

A Startup Backed By Kellogg’s VC Arm, Kuli Kuli, Introduces Americans To A New Superfood, Moringa

When Lisa Curtis was a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger, she discovered moringa, a green with high nutritional content that’s popular in Africa and elsewhere. When she returned to the United States, she decided to start a company that would introduce it to U.S. consumers – and provide better incomes to farmers in Africa.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestreptalks/2017/10/05/a-startup-backed-by-kelloggs-vc-arm-kuli-kuli-introduces-americans-to-a-new-superfood-moringa/#37110f64e06d

Alumni in the News

Philly Faces: Morgan Berman

“It’s like a Fitbit for doing good,” she said. They work with some Fortune 500 companies within their wide range of clients.

http://jewishexponent.com/2017/10/04/philly-faces-morgan-berman/

Alumni in the News

BEMOSS®-Plus Demo at the Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC)

The Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC) program is a collaborative platform for the development of smart cities and communities, led by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). BEM Controls is partnered with Arlington County Government and the City of Alexandria to demonstrate its groundbreaking Open-Architecture Platform for Internet of Things (IoT) Devices Monitoring and Control within the city and community environment.
https://www.bemcontrols.com/single-post/2016/08/01/Designers-Embrace

Alumni in the News

Fall Fest Celebration at Genesee Community College

Last weekend our team visited Genesee Community College, celebrated Homecoming and enjoyed participating in their 50th Anniversary Fall Fest celebrations. We talked about carbon fiber technology, renewable energy, and of course the newly installed Firefly wind turbine on the roof of the Conable Technology Building!
http://www.fireflypower.com/fall-fest-celebration-genesee-community-college