The 2010 Sparkseed Ventures
Submitted by andrew on Thu, 04/01/2010 - 17:23
We are proud to announce the winners of the 2010 Sparkseed Social Innovation Competition. With such an impressive group of finalists, it was a very difficult decision to choose the 2010 Sparkseed Ventures. Thank you to all of our finalists for their hard work throughout this process.
Congratulations to the 2010 Sparkseed Ventures:
Creative Opportunity Gear: Paper-feet - University of Michigan
Founded by Jimmy Tomczak, Paper Feet makes the world's thinnest and most flexible flip-flop out of recycled billboard vinyl. Every year, 10,000 tons of billboard vinyl ends up in landfills. Paper Feet is addressing this problem by rolling out a line of hip products all made from up-cycle waste.
Founded by Daniel Blake, Eco Scraps recycles food waste and turns it into a 100% organic soil amendment. By converting commercial food waste into raw materials, the company is able to provide the cheapest garden soil product on the market, while also diverting food from landfills thus reducing methane gas pollution.
Elecar Inc. - Brown University
Founded by Andrew Antar, Elecar is working to provide the missing piece to the electric car puzzle. By developing a residential charging station and an online payment system, Elecar is laying a cost-effective framework to facilitate the mass adoption of electric cars.
MaloTraders - Temple University
Founded by Mohamed Ali Niang, MaloTraders specializes in the processing, storing, and marketing of rice for small-scale farmers in Mali. By making local production more competitive on the international market, MaloTraders is working to alleviate poverty.
Founded by Yin Yin Wu, Suril Shah, and Shazad Mohamed, Penda is intelligent software that sits on top of crowdsourcing services, allowing users to outsource complex business taks without sacrificing quality. This "Mechanical Turk 2.0" is designed to increase employment opportunities for individuals in developing countries.
PoverUP - Wellesley College, MIT
Founded by Hillary Clevenger and Cassie McGurk, PoverUP is a large-scale grassroots movement that empowers high school and college student to use microfinance to help lift over one million people out of poverty.
Scholar Initiative - Babson College
Founded by Diane Melville, Scholar Initiative is the first online search engine dedicated to increase the number of scholarships available. Through innovative web technology, Scholar Initiative allows any individual to donate, create and award his or her scholarship.
We would also like to thank all the judges and volunteers who helped make this competition possible. We are excited to be working with the 2010 Sparkseed Ventures!
