One Young World has announced the five winners of its Entrepreneur of the Year award for 2020. Three weeks ago, the UK-based not-for-profit organization announced a shortlist of 15 young entrepreneurs nominated for the award.
Created to identify and promote the world’s most revolutionary entrepreneurs, the award honours five leaders – aged 35 and under – who have been judged by an expert panel on the positive social impact of their business ventures and how they are inspiring others with their leadership.
The winners will be presented with the award at the One Young World 2021 Summit taking place in Munich, 23-26 April.
The Winners:
Brianne West, 33, New Zealand
Brianne West is a New Zealand entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Ethique, the world’s most sustainable lifestyle, and beauty brand. Ethique has, to date, prevented the manufacture and disposal of over 8 million plastic bottles worldwide. Recognised as one of New Zealand’s most successful social enterprises, Ethique has scaled rapidly without compromising on her core mission of purpose over profit. Every bar is still made using only sustainable, certified vegan, cruelty-free, and palm oil-free ingredients and wrapped in certified compostable packaging.
Ethique is New Zealand’s highest-ranking BCorp, living wage certified, carbon positive plants one tree for every order, and donates 20% of annual profits to charity. Ethique’s Super Soap Project has donated 30,000 bars of soap since the 21st of April 2020 to vulnerable communities across New Zealand and the South Pacific in response to COVID-19. Brianne’s success with Ethique has seen her awarded as the EY Young Entrepreneur of the Year, become an Obama Foundation Leader and Manaaki member, working alongside New Zealand’s leading business experts to provide SME’s advice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daniela V. Fernandez, 26, Ecuador
Founder and CEO of Sustainable Ocean Alliance, award-winning social entrepreneur, thought leader, and international speaker on the entrepreneurial mindset, ocean innovation, and technology, youth empowerment, and sustainability. SOA has created the world’s largest network of young ocean leaders – by establishing a presence in over 185 countries and has successfully launched the world’s first Ocean Solutions Accelerator to develop technological solutions that can address the greatest threats facing our planet. Daniela is addressing these threats and answering critical questions that will influence the new wave of entrepreneurs and redefine the relationship between emerging technologies, mitigating climate change, restoring ocean health, as well as social good.
Daniela is an award-winner entrepreneur, her work has been recognised by President Bill Clinton & former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and by EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella. She has become a World Economic Forum Global Shaper and a sought-out keynote speaker at high-level events including The Economist World – Ocean Summit, the Global Climate Summit, The Global Convening of Mayors, The United Nations, amongst many other.
Iman Usman, 28, Indonesia
Iman Usman is the Co-Founder and COO of Ruangguru, the largest tech-enabled education provider in Southeast Asia – serving over 20 million students, 300,000 teachers, with 4,000 employees across Southeast Asia. In addition to its business activity, Iman also oversees Ruangguru Foundation – managing multi-million-dollar grants and funding to improve the quality of teachers, employability, and access to learning, impacting >500,000 beneficiaries since 2018.
Iman is also a key opinion leader in youth development in Indonesia. His contribution and commitment to youth empowerment have been recognized globally for its work in founding and leading Indonesian Future Leaders and Indonesian Youth Parliament. He won the 2008 Indonesian Young Leader Award by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, the 2010 Global Changemaker Award, the 2011 Global Teen Leader Award, the 2011 UN Youth Assembly Recognition on Humanitarian Development, among others. In 2016, he was appointed by the Indonesian Government to sit at the Youth Panel of the Education Commission, together with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai. Iman was also included in the list of Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 for Consumer Technology in 2017 and was awarded UNICEF Young Innovator to Watch in 2015 and the Emerging Entrepreneur Award 2019 from Ernst & Young.
Jamie Crummie, 29, Ireland
Jamie Crummie co-founded Too Good To Go (UK), a social impact company focused on fighting food waste, in 2016. The core mission of Too Good To Go is to inspire and empower everyone to fight food waste. Through the Movement against food waste, Jamie is pushing for wider impact at five levels: Households, Businesses, Schools, Public Affairs, and the app, which is the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food. Too Good To Go is now active in 14 countries, with over 22 million Waste Warriors who have rescued over 35 million meals collectively from over 40,000 partnering businesses. It has had a hugely positive environmental impact, so far saving over 87,000 tonnes of CO2e which is the equivalent of the CO2e emitted from 17,000 flights around the world.
Jamie was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 in Europe in February 2019 and was shortlisted for the Entrepreneur For Good Award at the Natwest Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2019.
Jessica O. Matthews, 32, Nigeria/U.S
Founder & CEO of Uncharted Power, an award-winning, power access company, that transforms the ground beneath us into smart, secure, and cost-effective infrastructure for renewable energy access. Founded by Jessica at the age of 22, the company’s proprietary suite of technology creates the “internet for decentralized energy” that can easily interconnect decentralized power applications (residential solar, electric vehicle charging stations, IoT sensors, etc.) into one sustainable network, bridging the power access gap between current grid and o-grid solutions. This technology holds the potential to transform the power grid as we know it and spur smart city and smart neighbourhood development. Jessica’s research and career centre around the intersection of disruptive technology, renewable energy, human behaviour, and the psychology of self-actualization, which has laid the groundwork for Uncharted Power’s STEM program, Uplift.
Jessica’s success in energy and entrepreneurship led to a White House invitation from President Barack Obama to represent small companies for the signing of the America Invents Act in 2012. Her list of accolades includes Fortune’s Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs, Forbes 30 Under 30, Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30, and Harvard University Scientist of the Year amongst many other awards and recognitions.
