Submitted by H. Hutton on Wed, 09/05/2018 - 12:43
10 May 2018 – Entries are now open for the Unilever Young Entrepreneurs Awards, supporting and celebrating inspirational young people from all over the world who have initiatives, products or services that tackle the planet’s biggest sustainability challenges
Celebrating young sustainability innovators
Delivered by The Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and Unilever, the Awards have already reached over 3,500 inspiring young sustainability entrepreneurs and their organisations over five years, providing tailored support and funding to 29 winners to help them achieve scale for impact. Previous entries have ranged from a digital platform reintegrating women doctors into the Pakistani workforce, to a waste management solution converting human waste into fuel.
The world’s problems will only be solved with the ideas and talents of a new generation of leaders who are challenging business as usual. The Awards are an opportunity to support, inspire, reward and collaborate with these leaders; innovators who are the future of sustainability.
The process and prizes
This year’s Award categories align to eight of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
- Zero Hunger
- Good Health and Well-being
- Quality Education
- Gender Equality
- Clean Water and Sanitation
- Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Responsible Consumption and Production
- Climate Action
Read more about the Award categories.
Through an intensive selection process overseen by CISL, eight winners are selected from thousands of entries. These eight winners are flown to Cambridge for an all-inclusive accelerator programme with CISL, delivered by experts in sustainability, entrepreneurship and scaling for impact. The winners share in €100,000, along with tailored one-to-one mentoring for 12 months.
They also gain the opportunity to pitch to a final judging panel to win the overall prize, ‘HRH The Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize,’ which includes €50,000 cash.
Previous winners have gone on to:
- Win Forbes’ 30 Under 30 recognition and Acumen fellowships
- Receive visits from Unilever CEO Paul Polman and be mentioned in speeches by Barack Obama
- Feature on Sky News, CNN, Fast Company, and more
- Establish partnerships with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, Unilever, USAID, and more
- Rapidly scale their business and impact
