2010 Winners
2005 Winners
1st Place:
World of Good
University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business
World of Good’s new line of globally sourced, fair trade gifts and accessories brings ethically sourced handcrafts into the mainstream retail market and aims to generate sustainable livelihoods for thousands of artisans around the world. During 2004, its first year of operations, World of Good established sourcing partnerships with 70 fair trade artisan cooperatives in 20 different countries around the globe and increased sales for all of them. Products are sourced under fair trade guidelines that generate employment for women and disadvantaged communities, promise a living wage and promote social and economic development. World of Good also contributes a percentage of its revenues to World of Good: Development Organization a 501(c)3 non-profit working on economic development projects in artisan communities and on the development of fair trade standards. Just months after World of Good installed its first in-store kiosk, our products are flying off the shelves in over 55 retail locations, including bookstores, yoga studios and 14 Whole Foods Bay Area stores. World of Good’s 2004 run rate was over $400,000 in sales and its products have turned significantly faster than retail industry averages while generating markups of 100% for both retailers and World of Good. World of Good projects its 2007 revenues to be over $20 million.
2nd Place:
Connect US
Columbia Business School
Connect US' goal is to minimize the $100 to $300 billion social and financial burden of patient non-compliance in the U.S. healthcare system ¹ . The company's stategy is to provide the pharmaceutical industry with value-added wireless messaging solutions to remind patients to take mediation as originally prescribed by their physicians. Reminders will be created at the prescription's point of sale at no cost to the patient. Messages will be broadcast in real time during the patient's treatment in order ot prevent forgetfulness (main cause of non-compliance) as well as to educate patients of the drug's benefits and side effects. Over time, Connect US aspires to create a whole new market: Interactive Business-to-Patient (B2P) communications. The Company's vision is to become the leading international provider of low cost, personalized and highly interactive B2P solutions for the healthcare value chain.
¹ . Source: Fortune 500, April 14, 2004: A tough pill to swallow
3rd Place:
Fuelture
University of Pennsylvania, Wharton and London Business School
Fuelture is a start-up business proposing to achieve high economic returns and high social returns by promoting the use of automotive propane or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by high mileage urban drivers, namely taxis, Private Hire Vehicles and small delivery vans. Through switching to LPG, commercial high mileage drivers can significantly reduce their running cost, improving their profitability. Fuelture proposes to simplify the conversion process for them, supply LPG fuel through a chain of filling stations and offer additional services of managing their vehicle or their fleet. LPG as a transport fuel specifically in densely populated urban areas has very high benefits for urban air quality and the health of the urban population, as it emits up to 90% less NOx, SO2 and particulates than conventional fuels. Hence this is a very strong case for a blended value business proposal.
Honorable Mentions
Fuerza Research
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
Fuerza Research is a market research firm with an unusually intimate knowledge the urban, Hispanic teen population. Fuerza closes a significant gap in the market for consumer research in Hispanic teens while employing and investing in talented teens. Fuerza has a unique research and training methodology which trains Hispanic teenagers to serve as research field agents and focus group moderators, through a hands-on, experiential learning process. To our customers, which include consumer companies, policy agencies, and market and branding agencies, Fuerza can provide in-depth insights into urban, Hispanic teen values and culture. To our teen employees, Fuerza is a source of hope and strength: an empowering start to a productive, well-paying, secure future. Fuerza Research recognizes that it is the teens’ insight, more so than adult supervisors, who create value for our clients. As a result, the teens and their communities deserve fair compensation and transferable skills in return for their superior insights. Fuerza Research captures and enhances the inherent value Hispanic teens provide to global companies, who wish to understand them, and redirects it back into the hands of the UHT segment. It is the combination of commercial need, strategically linked to the potential for meaningful social contribution that makes Fuerza such an exciting investment opportunity.
MicroCredit Enterprises
UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business/ UC Davis, Graduate School of Management
MicroCredit Enterprises, LLC (MCE) seeks to establish an innovative socially-responsible investment fund targeting the microfinance sector. The goal of this fund is two-fold:
- To provide low-cost capital to microfinance institutions (MFIs) that provides business loans to poor microentrepreneurs in developing countries.
- To offer high net-worth individual and institutional investors an opportunity to leverage their investment activities for social purposes while maintaining full control over their accounts and earning a market return on their investment.
To accomplish these goals, MCE is forming a strategic relationship with a major financial services company to establish MicroCredit Enterprises Investment Accounts (MEIA). Domestic investors will commit a minimum of $1 million to open a MEIA. At the same time, investors will give MCE the authority to use their assets as collateral to obtain a low-interest line of credit from the financial services company. In turn, MCE will utilize this line of credit to extend low-interest loans to MFIs in developing countries. These loans will allow MFIs to increase their ability to offer microcredit which allow poor individuals to engage in income-generating activities.
Social Impact Assessment (SIA) Winner
Human Service Fellowship
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
Our venture is directed at the AIDS crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly ten-thousand people are dying every day. This is not solely for lack of financial resources, as funding for AIDS work has increased at a 45% annual growth rate for the last ten years. The key problem is lack of skilled health labor.
HIV/AIDS organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa currently spend $20,000 in total employment and recruiting cost to bring an AIDS-experienced, American health worker to help deal with this problem. Experienced Americans are ideal for their ability to train others, and lack of professional commitments in Africa. By training others, they create a lasting legacy of life.
Unfortunately, this mark operates with gross inefficiency. Our goal is to provide a total employment solution for this niche market. A health organization will be able to "order" an American AIDS worker, screen a short-list of resumes within one month, and have a resource on the ground within three month's total time. By removing market frictions, we hope to dramatically expand the supply of AIDS-experienced health labor in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Social Impact Assessment Honorable Mention
World of Good
University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business