Alumni News

Back To the Roots
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Back to the Roots has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2019

The company first became known for its simple and popular grow-your-own-mushroom kits. Now it also has a line of organic cereal, but it’s who eats that cereal that’s most interesting. In 2018, the company finished its first full year as the cereal supplier for New York’s public schools, becoming the first organic cereal ever offered in a U.S. public school system. Now it’s working with Nature’s Path & the Urban School Food Alliance to bring organic cereals to 1 in 5 kids by 2020.
https://www.fastcompany.com/company/back-to-the-roots

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8 Mission-Driven Companies Reinventing The Packaged Food Industry

Annie Ryu was inspired to create The Jackfruit Company in the summer of 2011. She was 21 years old and working in India to implement a maternal and child healthcare program that she and her brother had developed. Upon discovering jackfruit, Ryu saw an incredible opportunity to convert an underutilized crop into nutritious, delicious food, while also providing an income opportunity to local farming families.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/meimeifox/2019/02/19/8-mission-driven-companies-reinventing-the-packaged-food-industry/#2ab737751d57

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Goregaon residents convert waste-to-wealth, develop fruit-vegetable garden

Monisha Narke, founder and chief executive officer, RUR Greenlife said, “This form of circular economy is highly sustainable and is a holistic solution to waste management. It not just results in waste management but also aids in remediation by replenishing nutrients back to soil, mitigates greenhouse gases generated due to transportation of waste from source to landfills.”
https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/goregaon-residents-convert-waste-to-wealth-develop-fruit-vegetable-garden/story-ypvmMswj4rdk6zvwaQ9DQI.html

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MCN Updates

MCN Update: 15 February 2019

Three Quick Things:1. We’re looking for for-profit social entrepreneurs to support. Our program offers detailed feedback on business plans and connections to mentors, investors, and peer-to-peer networks. We are focused on providing support …

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Sproutel May Be RI’s Most Innovative Company

Providence-based Sproutel has now developed two remarkable — and successful — interactive, smart stuffed toys to assist children with complex health challenges.
https://www.golocalprov.com/business/Sproutel-May-Be-RIs-Most-Innovative-Company-See-What-CEO-Horowitz-Says-t

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MCN Updates

MCN Update: 7 February 2019

The Mentor Capital Network supports companies that are changing the way business is done.  Companies like Folia Water, who are developing an water filter that costs less than a penny a …

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CleanChoice Energy Launches Clean Furnace Program

CleanChoice Energy, a renewable energy company that empowers people and businesses to cut emissions and live cleaner lives, has launched CleanChoice Energy Clean Furnace. The new service allows people to offset the harmful carbon pollution created from their home heating and take an important step towards a carbon neutral home.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cleanchoice-energy-launches-clean-furnace-program-300790835.html

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Folia Water

Folia Filters: the world’s first water filter for pennies, not dollars, a mass market staple for emerging markets Folia Water’s flagship product is the Folia Filter, a simple, antimicrobial paper …

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Turning diesel to ink in India

Diesel generators are extensively used in India for power back-up, emitting unburned diesel or soot. In areas where there is no connection to electrical grids, diesel generators are the primary source of energy, and are used on average for eight hours a day.
https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/story/turning-diesel-ink-india

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Soupergirl raising funds to fuel post-‘Shark Tank’ growth

After appearing on the program In October, Sara Polon, founder of Washington, D.C.-based soup company Soupergirl, is riding a wave and prepping to raise somewhere between $500,000 and $1.5 million in seed funding to sustain the momentum, the Washington Business Journal reports.
https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2019/01/soupergirl-raising-funds-to-fuel-post-shark-tank.html?page=all

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Tonlé brings zero-waste women’s fashion to SF

This is a process known as zero waste, a radical notion that forward-thinking fashion-industry types are finally waking up to. Faller cuts large scraps down to make clothing like tea-length wrap dresses, coats and tops, while smaller scraps are spun into yarn-like material to be woven into other new clothing. Whatever’s left, even the smallest scraps, is made into gift cards, notebooks and hang tags.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/style/article/Tonle-brings-zero-waste-women-s-fashion-to-13550039.php

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Three big ideas in food

Mohammad Modarres, founder and chief executive officer of New York-based Abe’s Meats, produced the first-of-its-kind “interfaith meat” in response to a wave of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim incidents following the 2016 presidential election in the United States. He hosted a dinner uniting the Jewish and Muslim communities to tackle the rise in bigotry and learned quickly that serving halal and kosher foods in the same space was a “logistical nightmare and really expensive,” Mr. Modarres said.
https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/13170-three-big-ideas-in-food

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Heralding a Sustainable Future: 5 Startups Blazing a Trail in Cleantech & Agritech!

Krimanshi Technologies: International agri-business awardee by the UN and the latest debutant in the Forbes ‘30 under 30’ list, the company upcycles surplus farm and food waste into nutritious cattle feed. Operating in the Jodhpur district of Rajasthan, it supplies cattle feed to 200 farmers every day across Jodhpur, Pali, Nagaur and Bikaner.
https://www.thebetterindia.com/169324/yes-bank-cleantech-agritech-sustainable-future/

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Soupergirl aims to change lives

Sara Polon is a University of Pennsylvania graduate who started a food business, changed her life, enlisted help from her family, and swears she is on a mission to deliver happiness to the world and dollars to her bank account.She calls herself Soupergirl.

https://www.dailyrepublic.com/all-dr-news/wires/business/with-a-fire-in-her-belly-and-a-hunger-for-profit-soupergirl-aims-to-change-lives/

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Should We Be Eating Bugs?

The watershed moment in the renewed interest in insect protein came in 2013 when the United Nations issued a 200-page report entitled Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security. Greg Sewitz, a co-founder of Exo, a company that produces protein bars that are made with Cricket Flour, was directly inspired by the UN report. A senior at Brown University at the time, Sewitz “was stunned by the realization that the U.S. is one of the only countries with ‘no culture of eating insects.’
https://interestingengineering.com/should-we-be-eating-bugs

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LuminAID’s founders built an innovative startup for a brighter future

The Chicago-based company offers portable, long-lasting, solar-powered lighting solutions. After meeting in graduate school while studying architecture and design, they created their company in 2010 on a shared belief that innovative design can be used to tackle real-world problems. Their hypothesis for LuminAID proved true when they were able to deploy the product to help victims of the Haiti earthquake that same year.
https://www.chase.com/news/122118-luminaid-plan-brighter-future

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2 Kenyan e-health startups secure grants from Villgro

“The mission of Maisha Meds is to develop systems to improve access to high quality and affordable medicines. We are incredibly excited to work with Villgro in this mission, and have heard wonderful things about the support that Villgro provides companies working to scale health technologies in East Africa,” she said.
http://disrupt-africa.com/2018/12/2-kenyan-e-health-startups-secure-grants-from-villgro/

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MCN Updates

MCN Update: 31 December 2018

I’d like to share a decade’s worth of lessons learned with you.Since 2007, the Mentor Capital Network has been obsessively tracking how to best support social entrepreneurs to make a …

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SOL VISTA Partners with CSD Energy Advisors for Energy Procurement Customer Support

“We have a longstanding relationship with the CSD team and are excited for the value their partnership will add for our Skywalk subscribers. Our customers will have a wider variety of energy supply choices available at lower costs, whether they have one building or a portfolio of properties,” said Shannon Sentman, SOL VISTA CEO & Co-Founder.
https://www.prweb.com/releases/sol_vista_partners_with_csd_energy_advisors_for_energy_procurement_customer_support/prweb15990679.htm

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How Investing In Regenerative Agriculture Can Help Stem Climate Change Profitably

Craig Wichner, 49, founder and managing partner for Farmland LP, a fund manager that invests in converting conventional farmland to regenerative, organic farming. “It has so many benefits to the environment, to human society,” he says. “But we’re also demonstrating that you can grow a great, healthy, wonderful food and be more profitable than conventional agriculture systems.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/devinthorpe/2018/12/12/how-investing-in-regenerative-agriculture-can-help-stem-climate-change-profitably/#2d3800843e5c

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Inclusive business models for safe water

Folia Water’s value proposition involves the distribution of silver-infused filter papers that cost as low as Tk 30 and thus provide the opportunity to the low-income community to have filtered water within an affordable range.
https://www.thedailystar.net/business/global-business/news/inclusive-business-models-safe-water-1672789

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Unilever gives N18m grant for waste management

The grant-cum-partnership will allow Unilever trade carbon footprints from its operations by helping to prevent the emission of C02 caused by improper disposal of its post-consumer waste products.
https://www.dailytrust.com.ng/unilever-gives-n18m-grant-for-waste-management.html

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DGridEnergy Heads to East Africa to Build Awareness of the Cold Chain and the Solar Cool Cube Solution

Eugene Faison, CEO of DGridEnergy spent 4 days in Rwanda meeting with agricultural cooperatives, the Ministry of Agriculture of Rwanda, Solar Kiosk, and MTN mobile company in preparation for pilot with a large agriculture cooperative in Kayonza, Rwanda.
https://mentorcapitalnet.org/2018/12/09/dgridenergy-heads-to-east-africa-to-build-awareness-of-the-cold-chain-and-the-solar-cool-cube-solution/

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New fecal treatment plant to ease sewer crisis in Naivasha

The ultra-modern plant, christened Sanivation Fecal Sludge Plant, was put up by Sanivation in collaboration with Naivasha Water, Sewerage and Sanitation Company (Naivawas).
Sanivation is a social enterprise organisation whose main preoccupation is to improve the overall dignity, health, and environment of urbanising communities in East Africa through delivering clean, safe and efficient sanitation services.

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001304411/new-fecal-treatment-plant-to-ease-sewer-crisis-in-naivasha

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CleanChoice Energy, New Columbia Solar launch largest community solar portfolio in Washington, D.C.

CleanChoice Energy, a renewable energy company that provides wind and solar energy products to customers across the country, and New Columbia Solar, one of the District’s largest solar energy companies, have launched a partnership to bring community solar to residents of the District of Columbia.
https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2018/11/cleanchoice-energy-new-columbia-solar-community-solar-portfolio/

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ArchPoint Group acquires Watusee Foods

US business Watusee Foods, which makes products based on chick peas, has been acquired by local products and professional services company ArchPoint Group for an undisclosed sum.
https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/12939-archpoint-group-acquires-watusee-foods

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Notes From the Field: The Power of Hope in Sierra Leone

“They literally were dancing with joy when we showed them what the LuminAID solar light was and how to use it. There is no power there, so these lights make a huge impact on a family allowing them to see,” recalls Geri Jeffrey, the Executive Director of The Bridge of Hope.
https://luminaid.com/blogs/news/this-little-light-of-mine

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South Mumbai society recycles 90% of its waste, thanks to this teen environment crusader

Dr. Aparna Pandey, senior research and development associate, RUR Greenlife, a waste management service in Mumbai, said, “Majumder’s interest and effort in the project has been commendable in terms of scientific monitoring and sensitisation of residents and staff about waste management. She is a living example of an eco-conscious Mumbaiite.”
https://www.hindustantimes.com/mumbai-news/south-mumbai-society-recycles-90-of-its-waste-thanks-to-this-teen-environment-crusader/story-yIVagbjIBK3o3eMjOwdMHJ.html

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Meet the Entrepreneur: Andrew Foote and Emily Woods, Sanivation

Impact investors and international development experts are keen to talk about approachable topics like solar energy and clean drinking water. But bring up the subject of safely processing and recycling human waste and people get uncomfortable. In this interview, we sat down with Andrew Foote and Emily Woods, co-founders of Sanivation, to understand how they’re overcoming this taboo. Sanivation is a social enterprise in Kenya that provides waste-to-energy sanitation services to local governments and refugee camps, turning fecal sludge into environmentally-friendly fuel alternatives to charcoal and firewood.
https://medium.com/finca-ventures/meet-the-entrepreneur-andrew-foote-and-emily-woods-sanivation-f9959d6d6022

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Social Impact Investing Shows Up in International Social Franchise Programs

Sanergy sought to have a significant social impact by improving sanitation conditions by providing portable toilets that are pre-manufactured, shipped, and installed in residential communities and other venues on a cost-efficient basis. Sanergy’s Fresh Life Toilet (FLT) is made of high-quality materials and easy to keep clean and maintain. More than 1,000 FLTs have been sold.

https://www.franchising.com/articles/social_impact_investing_shows_up_in_international_social_franchise_programs.html

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It’s buzzing here!

It’s literally buzzing here at our Fargreen farms! We’ve just included a bee component in our farm ecosystem. So now, besides our delicious mushrooms, natural veggies and local rice produced in our signature closed-loop model, we’re also serving natural honey and it fits in the loop, too.
http://www.far-green.com/en/blog-en/2018/4/15/buzzing-far-by-buzzing-green

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With a pitch for crowd manufacturing, FranciePants wins Open Works’ EnterpRISE Venture competition

Founded by Francie Wasser, the company is creating 100 percent cotton underwear for females that is actually stylish and cute. But the true innovation comes from the unique manufacturing style, called “crowd manufacturing,” that provides women with access to training and certification so they can make the products in their home for a livable wage.
https://technical.ly/baltimore/2018/11/21/with-a-pitch-for-crowd-manufacturing-franciepants-wins-open-works-enterprise-venture-competition/

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What an open mobile money platform means for innovation

“We launched Kopo Kopo which became the industry’s first merchant aggregator where we would go and acquire merchants directly and then bring thousands of merchants to the operator and then maintain that relationship,” Mr Lyon says.
https://www.monitor.co.ug/Business/Prosper/What-open-mobile-money-platform-means-innovation/688616-4858912-9ugwhf/index.html

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How Myanmar Can Embrace the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Michael is the son of two doctors who moved to the United States from Myanmar in the 1970s. When U.S. sanctions for Myanmar were suspended in 2012, he came to Myanmar to form Koe Koe Tech with his cousin, Dr. Yar Zar Minn Htoo, a Myanmar citizen, doctor, and software developer. Today Koe Koe Tech has 80 employees, 77 of whom are Myanmar nationals, about two-thirds of whom are women, and nearly 40 software developers, all of them Myanmar nationals.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fl4BcB6Ul4o&app=desktop

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First Access, Chams partner on cheap digital credit

New York-based financial technology (Fintech) company – First Access, is partnering its Nigerian counterpart, ChamsAccess Limited, to deliver digitised and automated credit solutions to micro lenders.
https://guardian.ng/business-services/first-access-chams-partner-on-cheap-digital-credit/