Nine teams of entrepreneurs from the Basque Country, Kenya and Senegal will defend their projects on the right to health to develop them in Africa and the Basque Country
Nine teams of entrepreneurs from the Basque Country, Kenya and Senegal will defend their projects on the right to health to develop them in Africa and the Basque Country
Nine teams of entrepreneurs from the Basque Country, Kenya and Senegal will defend their projects on the right to health to develop them in Africa and the Basque Country
The program promoted by Mondragon Unibertsitatea and Mondragon Team Academy seeks the creation of new companies that promote social development, in this case, the Right to Health, and generate positive impact in both Africa and the Basque Country
To explore the possibilities of social entrepreneurship in Africa and Euskadi through multicultural teams of young Basques and young people from the African continent, thanks to multiculturalism and co-creation. Four years ago, this was the embryo of a pioneering program in Europe: Africa Basque Challenge, promoted by Mondragon Unibertsitatea through its entrepreneurship network MONDRAGON TEAM ACADEMY, Mundukide and LKS among others, to encourage young entrepreneurs to co-create projects to generate positive impact both in Africa and the Basque Country. The initiative, which has served to create about a dozen companies so far, most of them in Africa, celebrates its third edition this year, focused on projects that impact on the Right to Health, and which this year have joined as organizers Anesvad Foundation, Diversity 4 Equality and Zuhura Africa.
Specifically, tomorrow, Friday, nine multicultural teams formed by 38 young Basques, Kenyans and Senegalese will meet in Bilbao (at BBK Kuna - The House of the SDGs), from 17:30 hours to defend the projects they have worked on during the last four months. Framed in the Right to Health, they seek to develop projects on access to clean water, mental health, nutrition, gender equality, childhood or functional diversity.
One of the commitments made by the teams upon receiving the award is to start up their business. Thus, the winner of the first edition, Hoco, creates construction materials from coconut fibers. The winning project of the second edition, Impact Mama, is a coworking caravan-van for women, which visits rural villages to facilitate training and entrepreneurship in Senegal.
The 9 teams
After meeting in person in Nairobi, they have been working digitally between November and February and this week the meeting of the 9 teams was held in Bilbao. In this phase, the entrepreneurs have been trained in financing and business plans, as well as design and impact management. All this with the aim of presenting their project tomorrow Friday at the final event, where a jury will choose the winning projects after the presentation of the same, with the aim of creating real businesses that generate a positive impact in Kenya, Senegal and / or the Basque Country.
Specifically, tomorrow at 5:30 pm at BBK Kuna the 9 teams composed of 38 Basque-African entrepreneurs will defend their proposal in front of a jury composed of leading investors and impact investment funds, as well as businesswomen and social entrepreneurs, who will choose the winning startups. The event (in English) can be followed in person and online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-MwS8MvrJw.
The jury will decide after the defense through the pitching technique or elevator pitch, the three winning projects, endowed with 2,500 euros the first, and 1,500 both the second and the third, which also will be accompanied for four months by the digital accelerator Bridge for Billions to help design the business model and launch their startups.
Projects
The projects will start where the participants believe they make the most sense and impact. Initially in a single location, and most often it is in Africa.
TEAM 1: (CHILDREN) develop methodologies for the integration of children with functional diversity in Kenyan schools.
TEAM 2: (MENTAL HEALTH) Work on emotional intelligence within companies to generate spaces of well-being in the Basque Country.
TEAM 3: (MENTAL HEALTH) Prevent depression in young people in Kenya through support and community building.
TEAM 4: (ACCESS TO CLEAN WATER) Using a water cleaning system in Kitengela (Kenya) to provide clean water in one of the driest areas of the country.
TEAM 5: (NUTRITION) Support people with diabetes through follow-up and monitoring for preventive diagnosis in Kenya.
TEAM 6 (GENDER EQUALITY) To support and accompany women with postpartum depression in Kenya.
TEAM 7: (CHILDREN) Develop school materials to make education accessible in rural areas of Senegal.
TEAM 8: (FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY) Manufacture of limbs from recycled plastic so that people with functional diversity can move in a better way and it is an accessible good in Kenya.
TEAM 9: (NUTRITION) Improving nutrition in rural areas by creating an insurance scheme to provide a healthy and diverse diet in Kenya.
Origin
The program arose first from a need: to reduce inequality gaps and provide solutions to social challenges such as the urban-rural gap or the Right to Health and second, from an opportunity: a new vision towards cooperation and from entrepreneurship, generating real impact through young people from different countries and providing solutions to challenges that, in different ways and in different contexts, are being experienced in all countries. In this way, the program works on shared social challenges through the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs led by the United Nations, thus co-creating local solutions with a global vision.
The launch of this Basque-African collaboration program is the first steps of the international entrepreneurship network of Mondragon Unibertsitatea, through the Mondragon Team Academy network, on the African continent and leaves the door open to future avenues of collaboration in Africa (the only continent, along with Oceania, in which this entrepreneurship network is not present).
In this third edition, the following entities have collaborated: Anesvad Foundation, Moviltik, E-Lankidetza (Basque Agency for Development Cooperation), Hahatay, Initiative Developpement, CAMINOS, Aminata, Euroregion, UPNA, ESTIA and Impact Hub Dakar.