World Forum social ventures prepare to battle for $20,000

Post Reporters
Members of the trike team at Shift Delivery Coop

Ten social ventures are putting the final touches to their investment proposals as they prepare to do battle in the first round of the Social Enterprise World Forum $20,000 pitching contest.

The ten quarter-finalists will attend a ‘pitch mini-bootcamp’ on Tuesday – led by Pioneers Post editor Tim West – from which four semi-finalists will be selected to compete at the final pitch battle on Friday.

Following the lead of last year’s Good Deals social investment conference in the UK, a portion of every delegate fee and financial partnership from the world forum has been put into the pitching fund – making every delegate a ‘social investor’.

The delegates will get to have their say alongside the judges at the final event on Friday.

In addition to the $20,000 (Canadian dollars), the ultimate winner gets input and advice from three experts from the Global Entrepreneur Programme team, and all four semi-finalists get a video interview with Pioneers Post, and an interview and profile on socialfinance.ca. 

The 10 quarter-finalists include: a co-operative of city farms; a community-based carbon exchange initiative; an ‘innovative reuse company’ aiming to break the cycle of poverty through job creation; a shelf labelling programme that scores food products highly for being locally produced; a new incubator, co-working and event space; a sustainability consultancy aiming to scale technology that converts organic waste into a ‘soil enhancement’ product; an ‘innovative regenerative packaging solution’; a delivery business using tricycles instead of trucks; a collaborative, community-based financing model, and a beverage container pick-up service.

The Quarter Finalists (listed alphabetically):

Further details on all the ventures, the judges and the prizes can be found on the SEWF site and on socialfinance.ca.

 

 

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