EPIC 2019 finalists
Thelma Musanhu
Period Pride: Safepads
Safepads engages governments, philanthropists, corporate systems and individuals to support girls with our unique reusable pads. Safepad's aim is to provide sustainable solutions to communities in dire need of improved living conditions.
Wilma Rodriguez
Saahas Zero Waste
Saahas Zero Waste facilitates economic progress, women empowerment, and action against climate change. They ensure maximum recovery of resources from all streams of waste by diverting it away from landfills and sending it to the right destinations that are in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Morgan Ginn
Cycle Connect
Cycle Connect's ultimate goal is to equip clients with the necessary tools to break the cycle of poverty and propel forward. Their current portfolio includes bicycles, motorcycles, oxen & plow, and grinding machines. All products are vetted and tested for their ability to increase income for smallholder farmers.
Alex Omijeh
Blue Gold Works
Blue Gold Works uses revenues from their Organic Moringa oil and mono-floral honey business to fund the expansion of their BGW Drinking Water Filter business capably run by African women waterpreneurs.
Chandhrasekaran S.S.
Deliforce
Deliforce is a SaaS-based last mile delivery tracking and workforce management platform. They offer customers seamless delivery, operation management, workforce management features, and efficient delivery tracking.
Usman Javaid
Ricult
Ricult uses precision analytics and credit scoring algorithms to enhance the farmers' ability to improve their yield and make more money. Ricult is at the forefront of trying to make sure that these farmers can provide for each one of us, three times, every day of the year, year after year.
Zach Hoins
Village Enterprise
Village Enterprise provides entrepreneurs with training, cash transfers as seed capital, and ongoing mentoring by a local business mentors. They organize to allow access to growth capital, providing a safe place for savings, and build social capital. Areas of involvement are livestock, farming, small retail stores, restaurants, tailoring, and beekeeping.
Anna Matich
Techdren
Techdren is a nonprofit dedicated to providing children access to technology. Techdren plans on expansion to Jordan and the Amazon Basin. Techdren not only empowers the young girls of these schools, but also makes a point to empower the women as well.
David Simms
Talanton
Talanton invests in growth-stage enterprises with $500K to $5M in revenue in sectors that provide jobs for those living in poverty. They focus on developing world countries, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, and places where we have both staff and on-the-ground partners able to monitor the work.
Kirti Prasanna Mishra
Ecociate
Ecociate offers customized solutions to long term sustenance of enterprises keeping in mind social, economic and environmental sustainability. They develop innovative business based on the needs of the users at the base of the pyramid while ensuring the business models designed are sensitive towards sustainable utilization of natural resources.
Zufi Deo
Bizgees
Bizgees has not only enabled refugees by providing access to mainstream financial services, but has also sought ways to help these entrepreneurs through alternative finance (e.g. crowdfunding, micro-finance, to generate interest-free support for their businesses). This allows them to develop or rediscover essential skills and to participate in their local economy.
Myrtha Vilbon
Glory Industries
Glory Industries' mission is to improve the welfare of the Haitian community. They build awareness of the necessity of personal hygiene, to improve health, and subsequently create a bigger market. Glory Industries is contributing to the development of the Haitian economy and the reduction of unemployment rate along with the improvement of GDP.
key note speakers
Emily Young is a Co-founder of the Okoa Project, and an MIT senior studying mechanical engineering with a concentration in Global Product Design. She leads the design of the attachment and manufacturing process as well as helps with general design decisions.
Khadija Hafiz has been working on developing a social enterprise called the BOHO Marketplace since September 2017. It is her belief that business and development go hand in hand - businesses that focus on contributing to human prosperity can have long term profits and positive impacts for humanity. Post-graduation, she hopes to use her business experience and acumen to develop business models that help the most vulnerable populations.
EPIC 2018 finalists
Fernando Casado Cañeque is the founder and director of the Centre of Partnerships for Development. He has worked as strategic advisor to a variety of international organizations and has been the General Coordinator of UNDP’s Millennium Development Goals initiative.
Sarah Frazee guides an organizational portfolio that focuses on the role of healthy ecosystems in greening economic development, food security and land reform, and building resilience to climate change.
Carl Jensen is CEO of Good Nature Agro. Gaining his Masters in International Agricultural Development from UC Davis, he focused on soil management and entrepreneurship. An International Development Design Summit brought him and his harmonica to Zambia and we’ve been enjoying his dulcet tones ever since.
Victoria Arch is COO at Angaza. Their Pay-As-You-Go platform makes it possible for a billion people to access clean renewable energy for the first time.
Artin Dersimonian is a student studying management and innovation at Champlain College. He is currently managing university partnerships for SVF, where he is also working to develop social innovations to lift the livelihoods of the poor.
Jillian Flavin's most recent project, Think Beyond Plastic Innovation Accelerator, brought her to Honduras to assess the amount of plastics being used by businesses and to identify market-based solutions for reducing plastic contamination in the region.
Rosemary Pierce-Messick leads the Business Development team at Three Wheels United, a "Global Fintech Company disrupting lending to low-income clients."
Vikash Kumar Jha is Assistant Project Manager at CTARA, a program that focuses on creating development and cold storage technologies for marginal farmers in India.
Krishna Mishra is changing Indian farmer’s quality of life by turning farming into a modern profitable livelihood opportunity. Mishra has built a personalized portfolio management system that holistically assesses risks and caters to the needs of farmers.
Emmanuel Juste is the manager of V'ice Haiti, a Social Ventures Foundation company. He believes that proper housing is an undeniable right, not an outrageous expense that is solely dependent on economic abilities.
Jay Mahoney's Tugolo has created over 75 jobs at the base of the pyramid, and diverted over $300,000 directly into emerging communities in Latin America and East Africa. Jay and his team are now launching their next version of the Tugolo platform.
Dr. Martin Burt is founder and CEO of Fundación Paraguaya, a social enterprise devoted to the promotion of entrepreneurship and economic empowerment to eliminate poverty around the world.
"financing startups"
roundtable speakers
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Jim Chu founded DloHaiti in 2013 in partnership with the IFC (World Bank Group) and other funders. Jim has been an active entrepreneur and investor since 1994 and has been involved in humanitarian aid and development since 2004.
Rilwan Meeran is the Managing Director of Flat World Partner’s Alternative Investment Platform. Rilwan has 17 years of private equity, investment banking, and operations experience, principally in emerging and frontier markets.
Dr. Audrey Selian serves as Director of the Artha Initiative associated with Rianta Capital Zurich, an investment advisory to the Singh Family Trust. Artha is focused on impact investment in early growth stage enterprises in India.
Daniel Reyes is a Project Manager for New Ventures Mexico. Through the acceleration program I3 LATAM, every year he supports 10 social entrepreneurs generating quality employment and providing goods and services to underserved populations.
"meeting unmet challenges"
roundtable speakers
Dr. Fiona Wilson is a UNHSI Faculty Fellow. Specifically, she is a Sustainability Research Collaboratory (SRC) faculty fellow and faculty director of the Certificate in Corporate Sustainability.
Elena Kennedy is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Elon University. She researches
organizational design in social enterprises with particular emphasis on the role of the beneficiary.
Dr. Paul Polak is the founder and CEO of Windhorse Internat'l and Polal Enterprises. He made Scientific American's list of 50 greatest contributors to science, and was named Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year in Western States.
Inshan Meahjohn has nearly two decades of success in entrepreneurship, executive management, and finance. He has consulted and invested in institutions in the areas of technology, finance, innovation, entrepreneurship, banking, and leadership.
Neha Goel is currently a PhD student in Health Informatics at Johns Hopkins University. She is also a Co-founder at Intelehealth, a technology non-profit, that develops mobile solutions for improving access to primary health care for underserved communities.
Stuart Yasgur leads Ashoka’s Social Financial Services (SFS) globally. Earlier in his career, Stuart was Managing Partner of a New York-based consultancy and has taught at New York University and the London School of Economics.
Jim Chu founded DloHaiti in 2013 in partnership with the IFC (World Bank Group) and other funders. Jim has been an active entrepreneur and investor since 1994 and has been involved in humanitarian aid and development since 2004.
Lorna Solis is the Founder and CEO of Blue
Rose Compass. Previously, she was Director of Latin America and Africa at Institutional Investor. She is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School's Global Leadership & Public Policy Executive Program.
Dr. Mark Lung is the CEO of ECO2LIBRIUM. Mark has worked in Kenya for 20 years, using business solutions for social and environmental changes. He is a former professor of natural and environmental sciences.
Al Hollingsworth is the founder and CEO of the Aldelano Corporation and Aldelano Solar Cold Chain Solutions. He founded Aldelano in 1968. Today, Aldelano is an industry leader in solar technologies including Solar Power and Water Generation, and Solar Refrigeration.
Erin Glabets is head of marketing at Pepperlane. Erin started her career as a journalist, and spent four years in marketing at the mobile app company Runkeeper as its user community grew from 12 million to 50 million users.
Emily Young is a Cofounder of the Okoa Project, and an MIT senior studying mechanical engineering with a concentration in Global Product Design. She leads the design of the attachment and manufacturing process as well as helps with general design decisions.
Elizabeth Stodolski plans, implements, and oversees all marketing efforts at St. Mary's. She is active in several organizational-wide initiatives and serves as a member of the Assets and Liabilities Committee.
Dr. Ferdando Fernandes has founded four startup ventures focused on crucial areas of health management policy in Brazil. In 2011, he cofounded Sautil.
Dorris Walker is the Director of Events for Thistle Farms. Their mission is to support women victims of prostitution, addiction, and trafficking via employment, counseling, and housing services.
Satyan Mishra is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Drishtee. Satyan holds an MBA in International Business from the University of Delhi – Delhi School of Economics.
Manal Kahi is a Co-Founder and the CEO of Eat Offbeat in NYC. Eat Offbeat delivers authentic ethnic meals prepared by refugees. She holds a degree from Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.
Jason Kass is founder and president of Toilets for People (TfP). Created in 2012, they design and manufacture
composting toilets. Jason, an environmental engineer by trade, has 15 years experience in water, sanitation and environmental cleanup.
Chad Berry is the Academic Vice President and Dean of the Faculty at Berea College. He has authored, edited, or co-edited four books. The East Tennessee Historical Society awarded him its Teaching Excellence Award.
Yanki Tshering is the Founder and Executive Director of the Business Center for New Americans, developing economic development programs in New York City with refugee and immigrant populations. She is a board member at Credit Builders Alliance.