We just completed our fourth Social Venture Challenge of the year at Harvard World Model United Nations (WorldMUN) in Montréal. WorldMUN is our oldest conference partner, and this was our ninth time working with WorldMUN to help bring to life their participants’ community-changing ideas for social ventures! We were thrilled to see students from around the world discussing critical issues, and even more excited to meet those who were presenting solutions at the SVC! Eleven teams pitched ideas for social ventures. In the end, we selected four new Social Venture Challenge winners, representing three new social ventures:
- Koshika Krishna is founding SeHER in Mumbai, India to address the stigmatization and health risks associated with poor information about women’s menstrual hygiene. Her program combines education with an enterprise by women that manufactures and sells single-use pads at 40% of the price of competitors to increase access and information.
- Natalie Stasiewicz is starting IMPaCT in Heidelberg, Germany. IMPaCT is an inclusive music program for teenagers 14-17 from different social and educational backgrounds to learn about music and themselves by writing and creating rap together. This free program will include music therapists and local artists to help students learn to express themselves and discover all that they have in common while also celebrating their differences.
- Jiahua Chen and Ying Zhang are launching Pomme de Terre in Guangzhou, China to transport the idea of a food bank from Montréal (where they attend university) to the slums of their home city. Pomme de Terre will recover excess food from the university dining hall and from local supermarkets and stores to provide to the poor. They will also offer workshops on cooking, food security and accessibility to the community, to students, and to volunteers to help build awareness around food and food waste.