WeFarm has won the second prize in the Chivas Regal “The Venture” competition for social enterprise. WeFarm was awarded the second largest contribution from the fund, receiving $200,000.
The Venture, luxury whisky Chivas Regal’s search to find and support the most innovative startups from across the world, rewarded five social enterprises the remaining share of their $1million annual fund at their Final Event in New York City.
The winners were announced after five grand finalists pitched in front of a live audience and judging panel that included actress and philanthropist Eva Longoria. The event was the culmination of the second year of Chivas’ The Venture, which received over 2,500 applications from scalable and sustainable social entrepreneurs. The judging panel which included Eva Longoria, Sonal Shah, Joe Huff and Alexandre Ricard, assessed each business based on their ability to create sustainable change through a viable business model and potential to scale.
WeFarm, a pioneering peer-to-peer network for small-scale farmers around the world has proven to lead to better farming practices and in turn, better food security and higher income. Their service is currently available in Kenya, Uganda and Peru.
Kenny Ewan, CEO of WeFarm, said: “Everyone at WeFarm is absolutely thrilled to have finished second in The Venture global final. We were up against so many inspiring social entrepreneurs so being the runner-up was a real achievement. In the next twelve months, our goal is to connect one million farmers to WeFarm and our $200K prize money will certainly help us reach that goal.”
Social startup Conceptos Plásticos from Colombia was awarded the largest contribution from The Venture fund, receiving $300,000. Focusing on transforming plastic waste into construction material for permanent housing, Conceptos Plásticos creates much needed building materials for communities to establish a physical infrastructure. Other finalists included EyeControl ($100k) – a mobile communication device for “locked-in” patients, Wakami ($100k) – producer of handmade fashion accessories that support community businesses across Guatemala, and Coolar ($50k) – an innovative healthcare cooling system enabling doctors to preserve lifesaving medicine in off-grid regions.
Pernod Ricard’s Chairman and CEO, and The Venture judge, Alexandre Ricard, said: “It was truly a privilege to be part of the judging panel and watch the five finalists pitch for the remaining $750,000 of funding. Businesses like Conceptos Plásticos and WeFarm are great examples of how innovative, passionate and forward-thinking the social entrepreneurship movement is. Chivas is proud to support the global community of businesses that are on a mission to make a positive change in the world – I look forward to seeing the impact of these projects in the future.”
Chivas’ The Venture launched in September 2014 and has already seen the 16 finalists from the first year of the competition thrive and have an increased impact on a range of social and environmental issues. The 16 Alumni social enterprises are now supporting more than 200,000 beneficiaries in over 50 countries around the world.
Continuing Chivas’ commitment to inspire and support future generations of entrepreneurs, social enterprises from across the world are invited to apply for $1 million in funding as The Venture Year 3 kicks off from 5th September 2016, visit www.theventure.com for further details.
