Young social entrepreneurs vie for a chance to ‘change the world’
MANILA, Philippines - The Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard announce the finalists for this year’s Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World campaign. Celebrating its fifth year, the competition attracted over 430 submissions from 70 countries around the world.
Applicants aged 18 to 35 years old were asked to submit a sustainable idea to improve the lives of women and girls in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa for the chance to win a US$25,000 grant to help implement their project in the field.
With this year’s competition theme challenging applicants to demonstrate how their ideas utilize elements of design or technology to create social impact, the 10 finalists bring with them a diverse set of skills and expertise to their innovative solutions.
Among the finalists is the Philippines’ SPPI, which serves communities in Samar through its Local Economy Development Program (LEDP). The group aims to develop and strengthen the capacities of women seaweed farmers and local consolidators at the barangay level so that they may be able to form a Community of Practice on seaweeds farming, post-harvest processes, and marketing.
Other finalists include the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation, which intends to develop and implement cervical screening and treatment program for 2,000 women in Solomon Islands; Dazin, a Bhutanese cooperative aims to solve the global problem of open cooking fires; Emerge Lanka Foundation, which empowers Sri Lankan girls with financial literacy and business development curriculum through jewellery design and creation; SunSaluter, whose goal is to make clean energy affordable and accessible to all; and The Fabric Social from Australia, an ethical fashion social enterprise, working to end the economic isolation of conflict-affected women
Also part of the finalists are Wobe, which aims to build Southeast Asia’s largest distribution and sales network of agents, comprised largely of low-income women to improve access to consumer and financial goods and services for all; Women in Technology Uganda, whose mission is to support women’s local capacity-building and skills development for technology and entrepreneurship; Yayasan Planet Indonesia, which aims to preserve the rich material culture of the indigenous women of West Borneo; and Dare Women’s Foundation, which endeavors to improve quality of life of Tanzanian women through entrepreneurship and design of reusable sanitary pads.
With this year’s pool of applicants being the highest quality received since the competition launch, Project Inspire welcomed new partners Independent Project Analysis and Mazars to assist in the judging and due diligence processes, respectively, through the expertise of skills-based volunteers. Crowdfunding partner, Chuffed.org assisted during the semifinals stage of the competition, where the top 20 teams participated in a crowdfunding campaign, collectively raising close to SGD$40,000 that will go directly to their projects.
On the other hand, finalists will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Singapore, where they will participate in a week-long social business boot camp. The camp includes workshops run by global consulting firm Bain & Company and academic partner INSEAD.
Project Inspire: 5 Minutes to Change the World is a joint initiative of the Singapore Committee for UN Women and MasterCard, supported by global consulting firm Bain & Company, academic partner INSEAD, and supporting partner Hilton Worldwide. Organizers are also pleased to add to the wide range of supporters for women’s rights and social entrepreneurship its new partner, Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, as the official venue sponsor for the grand final event.