Description
In this detailed file relating to new social enterprises and distribute proven poverty solutions.
PLEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4/23/2014
D-Prize Competition Awards $117,000 to 12 New Social Entrepreneurs
Winners will launch new social enterprises and distribute proven poverty solutions in the developing world.
SAN FRANCISCO, California (April 23, 2014) - D-Prize is an organization dedicated to increasing distribution of proven
development solutions (rather than creating new solutions to poverty). Today, D-Prize announced 12 winners of its social
entrepreneurship competition, and awarded each up to $20,000 to launch a new venture in the developing world.
This will be the first startup experience for many winners. “Being the first funder to help an aspiring entrepreneur
become an actual one provides an unprecedented level of impact,” notes Nicholas Fusso, program director of D-Prize. “If
we can encourage one high-potential person to forego a regular career and instead launch a scalable social enterprise -
that is an unbeatable return.”
D-Prize deemphasizes new technology, in favor of distributing existing interventions. “We invented solutions to eradicate
extreme poverty decades ago, but in practice most of these have yet to be distributed to more than a billion people,”
said Andrew Youn, D-Prize board member. A focus on distributing already proven solutions means that entrepreneurs
will reduce risk, scale quicker, and impact more people.
Introducing the 12 winners:
The Complete List of D-Prize Winners
? CAMEROON GIRL CHILD VENTURE: Peace Corps Volunteer Shaun Willis is disseminating sexual risk information to
primary age girls throughout Cameroon. The organization will leverage Peace Corps Volunteers to teach a proven
“sugar daddy awareness” curriculum to 5,000 girls living in 20 different villages this summer.
? CLAIR DE LUNE: Fletcher School students Andrew Lala and Tommy Galloway are distributing solar lighting to
untapped markets in Burkina Faso. They reach rural families by leveraging established bus routes and positioning
solar lamps as an alternative form of remittance. They will provide solar lighting to 400 families this summer, and
will scale to 30,000 customers within two years. Clair de Lune won the “Poverty Solutions Venture” competition
held specifically for Fletcher students.
? LITE AFRICA (liteafrica.com): Alyse Daunis and Hashim Mutanje are distributing energy efficient technologies to
improve the health, income, and education of Africa’s low-income households. LiTeAfrica distributes to mobile
money and retail shops, train retailers on marketing practices, and work with suppliers and retailers to ensure
warranty and after sales service. LiTeAfrica hopes to sell 29,000 solar lamps and 37,000 cook stoves in two years,
benefiting 66,000 households.
? MITI HEALTH (mitihealth.org): Stanford and UC Berkeley students Jessica Vernon, Benjamin Jenson, and Tammy Guo
are starting Miti Health. They will provide an Android-based platform to streamline sales, inventory, and supply
chains for essential medicines in East Africa. In two years, they hope to support 1,200 providers serving over a
million clients
? MONEY2ETHIOPIA (money2ethiopia.com): Zacharias Teshome is launching Money2Ethiopia.com, an online payment
business that allows users to send money transfers from the US to Ethiopia. Money2Ethiopia.com will enable users
to send more money to recipients and serve as a tool for economic growth. By 2015, Money2Ethiopia.com plans to
send $300,000 in transfers and save customers $10,000 in fees.
? NEVER NEGLECTED: Brigham Young University students Dane Anderson, Bronwen Dromey, Ryan Thomas, and
Spencer Anderson q will distribute praziquantel, a deworming medicine, to island villages in Uganda this summer.
They will train teachers to provide medication to hard-to-reach communities. Never Neglected will treat over 5
million people within two years. Never Neglected won the “Y-Prize” challenge held specifically for BYU students.
? PAYGO (paygolife.com): PayGo is a for-profit direct sales company that is distributing innovative and life changing
products in Ghana. PayGo identifies and trains teams of sales representatives who sell solar lanterns directly to
consumers. Sales reps are also the lending mechanism for PayGo’s “Hire-to-Own” model. PayGo is selling thousands
of solar lanterns during its direct sales and Hire-to-Own pilot in Ghana and is now scaling its success.
? PULSE (pulsesavings.com): Launched by Hult International Business School graduates, Pulse is the world’s first
mobile commitment saving service. It will give millions of unbanked people a safe and convenient way to save a
better future. Pulse ran its first pilot in Ahmedabad, India, and is now scaling up with a goal to reach 1000 people in
Pune, India by the end of 2014.
? SOCIAL COPS (socialcops.org) Social Cops is turning citizens into human sensors to aid decisions in civic, public
health, and education issues. The organization is using citizen crowd-sourced data to bring improve services such as
garbage collection, community toilets and mid-day meal schemes. The first pilot campaign increased garbage
collection from 26 percent to 98 percent in one ward of Delhi.
? SOLAR ROUTE: Tufts University student Morgan Babbs is creating SolarRoute, which uses transnational bus routes to
tackle the last mile distribution challenge. She is using existing transportation infrastructure to deliver sustainable
energy solutions to off-grid areas of Latin America. She will pilot the project this summer in Nicaragua.
? YOUNG 1OVE (young1ove.com): Fulbright Scholars Noam Angrist and Brenda Duverce are teaching a "sugar daddy
awareness" class to young girls in Botswana. The class warns teens about the increased HIV and pregnancy risks that
come with having older sexual partners. Young 1ove has already taught this class to 300 youth, and increased
knowledge of HIV risk from 6 percent to 90 percent, and boosted the percent of girls who say they are confident to
say "no" to sexual predators by 32.3 percent. Within a year, Young 1ove aims to reach each and every school in
Botswana, over 20,000 girls, and to avert thousands of unwanted teenage pregnancies.
? YOUTH GLOBE (youthglobe.org): Founded by a team of Harvard students, YouthGlobe sponsors full secondary
school scholarships to talented, low-income Burundian students by connecting them to donors in developed
countries. It provides a cost-effective platform for donors to make a significant difference for less than $30 a year.
YouthGlobe currently supports 100 students and aims to change the lives of 10,000 students in two years.
Two winners come from university-specific competitions. Claire De Lune was the winner of the Fletcher D-Prize Poverty
Solutions Venture competition (fletcher.tufts.edu/D-Prize), a challenge offered specifically to Fletcher School graduate
students by D-Prize and Fletcher’s Institute for Business in the Global Context. Never Neglected was the winner of the Y-
Prize (marriottschool.byu.edu/selfreliance/yprize), run in partnership with the Ballard Center for Self Reliance, and BYU’s
Social Venture Academy.
In addition to funding, winners also receive mentorship. D-Prize mentors include Kiva President Premal Shah, Sanergy co-
founders Ani Vallabhaneni and Nathan Cooke, and Pinterest lead John Yi.
Nearly 600 teams from around the world submitted proposals. The next D-Prize competition will launch this summer,
and aspiring social entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply. D-Prize is on track to judge 1500 proposals and award
$220,000 in 2014.
About D-Prize:
D-Prize is a nonprofit organization founded by brothers Paul Youn and Andrew Youn. Andrew is also co-founder of One
Acre Fund, a social enterprise which serves 130,000 farmers in Africa. Andrew is an Echoing Green Fellow, a Skoll
Foundation Awardee, and 2013 Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year.
Media Contact:
Nicholas Fusso, Program Director
[email protected]
(206) 226-9170
www.d-prize.org
###
doc_814645770.pdf
In this detailed file relating to new social enterprises and distribute proven poverty solutions.
PLEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4/23/2014
D-Prize Competition Awards $117,000 to 12 New Social Entrepreneurs
Winners will launch new social enterprises and distribute proven poverty solutions in the developing world.
SAN FRANCISCO, California (April 23, 2014) - D-Prize is an organization dedicated to increasing distribution of proven
development solutions (rather than creating new solutions to poverty). Today, D-Prize announced 12 winners of its social
entrepreneurship competition, and awarded each up to $20,000 to launch a new venture in the developing world.
This will be the first startup experience for many winners. “Being the first funder to help an aspiring entrepreneur
become an actual one provides an unprecedented level of impact,” notes Nicholas Fusso, program director of D-Prize. “If
we can encourage one high-potential person to forego a regular career and instead launch a scalable social enterprise -
that is an unbeatable return.”
D-Prize deemphasizes new technology, in favor of distributing existing interventions. “We invented solutions to eradicate
extreme poverty decades ago, but in practice most of these have yet to be distributed to more than a billion people,”
said Andrew Youn, D-Prize board member. A focus on distributing already proven solutions means that entrepreneurs
will reduce risk, scale quicker, and impact more people.
Introducing the 12 winners:
The Complete List of D-Prize Winners
? CAMEROON GIRL CHILD VENTURE: Peace Corps Volunteer Shaun Willis is disseminating sexual risk information to
primary age girls throughout Cameroon. The organization will leverage Peace Corps Volunteers to teach a proven
“sugar daddy awareness” curriculum to 5,000 girls living in 20 different villages this summer.
? CLAIR DE LUNE: Fletcher School students Andrew Lala and Tommy Galloway are distributing solar lighting to
untapped markets in Burkina Faso. They reach rural families by leveraging established bus routes and positioning
solar lamps as an alternative form of remittance. They will provide solar lighting to 400 families this summer, and
will scale to 30,000 customers within two years. Clair de Lune won the “Poverty Solutions Venture” competition
held specifically for Fletcher students.
? LITE AFRICA (liteafrica.com): Alyse Daunis and Hashim Mutanje are distributing energy efficient technologies to
improve the health, income, and education of Africa’s low-income households. LiTeAfrica distributes to mobile
money and retail shops, train retailers on marketing practices, and work with suppliers and retailers to ensure
warranty and after sales service. LiTeAfrica hopes to sell 29,000 solar lamps and 37,000 cook stoves in two years,
benefiting 66,000 households.
? MITI HEALTH (mitihealth.org): Stanford and UC Berkeley students Jessica Vernon, Benjamin Jenson, and Tammy Guo
are starting Miti Health. They will provide an Android-based platform to streamline sales, inventory, and supply
chains for essential medicines in East Africa. In two years, they hope to support 1,200 providers serving over a
million clients
? MONEY2ETHIOPIA (money2ethiopia.com): Zacharias Teshome is launching Money2Ethiopia.com, an online payment
business that allows users to send money transfers from the US to Ethiopia. Money2Ethiopia.com will enable users
to send more money to recipients and serve as a tool for economic growth. By 2015, Money2Ethiopia.com plans to
send $300,000 in transfers and save customers $10,000 in fees.
? NEVER NEGLECTED: Brigham Young University students Dane Anderson, Bronwen Dromey, Ryan Thomas, and
Spencer Anderson q will distribute praziquantel, a deworming medicine, to island villages in Uganda this summer.
They will train teachers to provide medication to hard-to-reach communities. Never Neglected will treat over 5
million people within two years. Never Neglected won the “Y-Prize” challenge held specifically for BYU students.
? PAYGO (paygolife.com): PayGo is a for-profit direct sales company that is distributing innovative and life changing
products in Ghana. PayGo identifies and trains teams of sales representatives who sell solar lanterns directly to
consumers. Sales reps are also the lending mechanism for PayGo’s “Hire-to-Own” model. PayGo is selling thousands
of solar lanterns during its direct sales and Hire-to-Own pilot in Ghana and is now scaling its success.
? PULSE (pulsesavings.com): Launched by Hult International Business School graduates, Pulse is the world’s first
mobile commitment saving service. It will give millions of unbanked people a safe and convenient way to save a
better future. Pulse ran its first pilot in Ahmedabad, India, and is now scaling up with a goal to reach 1000 people in
Pune, India by the end of 2014.
? SOCIAL COPS (socialcops.org) Social Cops is turning citizens into human sensors to aid decisions in civic, public
health, and education issues. The organization is using citizen crowd-sourced data to bring improve services such as
garbage collection, community toilets and mid-day meal schemes. The first pilot campaign increased garbage
collection from 26 percent to 98 percent in one ward of Delhi.
? SOLAR ROUTE: Tufts University student Morgan Babbs is creating SolarRoute, which uses transnational bus routes to
tackle the last mile distribution challenge. She is using existing transportation infrastructure to deliver sustainable
energy solutions to off-grid areas of Latin America. She will pilot the project this summer in Nicaragua.
? YOUNG 1OVE (young1ove.com): Fulbright Scholars Noam Angrist and Brenda Duverce are teaching a "sugar daddy
awareness" class to young girls in Botswana. The class warns teens about the increased HIV and pregnancy risks that
come with having older sexual partners. Young 1ove has already taught this class to 300 youth, and increased
knowledge of HIV risk from 6 percent to 90 percent, and boosted the percent of girls who say they are confident to
say "no" to sexual predators by 32.3 percent. Within a year, Young 1ove aims to reach each and every school in
Botswana, over 20,000 girls, and to avert thousands of unwanted teenage pregnancies.
? YOUTH GLOBE (youthglobe.org): Founded by a team of Harvard students, YouthGlobe sponsors full secondary
school scholarships to talented, low-income Burundian students by connecting them to donors in developed
countries. It provides a cost-effective platform for donors to make a significant difference for less than $30 a year.
YouthGlobe currently supports 100 students and aims to change the lives of 10,000 students in two years.
Two winners come from university-specific competitions. Claire De Lune was the winner of the Fletcher D-Prize Poverty
Solutions Venture competition (fletcher.tufts.edu/D-Prize), a challenge offered specifically to Fletcher School graduate
students by D-Prize and Fletcher’s Institute for Business in the Global Context. Never Neglected was the winner of the Y-
Prize (marriottschool.byu.edu/selfreliance/yprize), run in partnership with the Ballard Center for Self Reliance, and BYU’s
Social Venture Academy.
In addition to funding, winners also receive mentorship. D-Prize mentors include Kiva President Premal Shah, Sanergy co-
founders Ani Vallabhaneni and Nathan Cooke, and Pinterest lead John Yi.
Nearly 600 teams from around the world submitted proposals. The next D-Prize competition will launch this summer,
and aspiring social entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply. D-Prize is on track to judge 1500 proposals and award
$220,000 in 2014.
About D-Prize:
D-Prize is a nonprofit organization founded by brothers Paul Youn and Andrew Youn. Andrew is also co-founder of One
Acre Fund, a social enterprise which serves 130,000 farmers in Africa. Andrew is an Echoing Green Fellow, a Skoll
Foundation Awardee, and 2013 Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year.
Media Contact:
Nicholas Fusso, Program Director
[email protected]
(206) 226-9170
www.d-prize.org
###
doc_814645770.pdf