Press release | Social Entrepreneurship | 12. July 2019

epAward 2019 Proudly Presents Its Winning Solutions — Three Social Enterprises Have Taken The Top Spots

Nathalie von Siemens and Rolf Huber with the winners of the epA 2019: SOLshare (1st place), Nonspec (2nd place) and Mind Rockets Inc. (3rd place).
© Siemens Stiftung

CAIRO, July 12, 2019 – Siemens Stiftung’s empowering people. Award (epAward) 2019 is thrilled to present the winners of this year’s international competition which sought out sustainable, low-tech, and critical solutions for daily needs in developing regions.

Our top 3 solutions:

1st place – SOLbox (SOLshare), winner of €50,000

2nd place – Adjustable Prosthetic Pylon (Nonspec), winner of €30,000

3rd place – Avatar (Mind Rockets Inc.), winner of €20,000

New this year, all 11 finalists pitched their innovative, sustainable business and its social impact to the multi-disciplinary, international jury panel and relevant audience from international thoughtleaders. All shortlisted solutions struck a good balance between their practical business models and technical functionality ensuring community benefit.

Like in years past, all finalists will gain exclusive membership to empowering people. Network, a vibrant ecosystem of innovators and development professionals. Also, the 8 runners-up will not go home empty-handed – each enterprise will receive €10,000 to help them continue their crucial work locally and globally.

In addition, SuMeWa | System (AUTARCON) has received the Special WASH Award of €20,000, supported by Siemens Stiftung’s collaborator, Knorr-Bremse Global Care. Also, GrainMate – Grain Moisture Meter (Sesi Technologies Ltd.) received the most votes in the online community voting and has won the Community Prize of €10,000.

“The award ceremony witnessed a thrilling atmosphere as our finalists put their best foot forward to showcase their social enterprises,” said Rolf Huber, Managing Director at Siemens Stiftung. “The winners represent the most impressive local solutions which have great potential to impact people in developing regions around the world.”

Each shortlisted solution will also become a part of a public Solutions Database, enhancing its visibility and opening up avenues for collaboration and funding. The public platform provides detailed information about each solution allowing those interested to learn more and engage with its developers.

All winners were honored at the award ceremony in Cairo on July 11. Prior to the ceremony, Siemens Stiftung and long-standing partner, enpact, organized an international expert round table on Innovative Finance Strategies for Social Entrepreneurs and an empowering people. Network workshop. Both engagements will help broaden the exposure of the finalists and provide a platform to interact with the passionate network members and leading experts from the field of development collaboration.

This year – the third edition of the Award Ceremony – saw a record number of entries with about 800 award submissions from 86 countries. The majority of entries came from Africa and Asia, with a strong showing from the Americas.

 

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