DATE: December 28, 2007

Submissions to the 2008 UW Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition (GSEC) have more than doubled this year. The Global Business Center at the Foster School of Business, organizer of the annual international event, received 80 business plans from enterprising student teams around the world.

And "around the world" is no overstatement. Submissions arrived from universities in Bangladesh, Canada, China, Estonia, Japan, Morocco, Philippines, Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, Uganda and the US. Among the 30 domestic entries, 15 have come from the University of Washington, created by teams of interdisciplinary students.

Their plans include creative and commercially sustainable ways to improve the quality of life in developing countries in the areas of agriculture, education, energy, green building, health care, market development, microfinance, waste management, technology and water provision.

From the 80 initial submissions for this fourth edition of the GSEC, 16 have been selected to travel to the University of Washington February 25-29, 2008 to sharpen their plans with the help of local mentors, then present to a panel of judges from the social entrepreneurship arena. The finalists are:

Banque pour Tous – University of Georgia (USA)

Build Your Own Village – Gordon Institute of Business Science (South Africa)

Embrace Global – Harvard University (USA)

Energy Independence, Inc. – Cornell University (USA)

Genesis Managed Healthcare – S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research (India)

Help for Malaria, Songre pour le Paludisme – University of Washington (USA)

International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia – University of Washington (USA)

KAITE-Social Investment in Zimbabwe – Christian-Albrechts-Universität (Germany)

PRIME-Powering Rural India by Micro – Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad (India)

Rabuor Sunflower Oil – University of Washington (USA)

Smart Start Birth Kits – Emory University (USA)

Solar Light Delivery Solutions (SOLIDS) – India Institute of Management – Calcutta (India)

Two Wheeled Foundation, Inc. – University of Washington (USA)

Utilization of the industrial waste product steel slag in civil engineering and construction – University of Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago)

WaterPLUS – University of North Carolina (USA)

WTR Compost – Nanjing University (China)

Five teams from developing countries will be awarded travel scholarships to facilitate their participation.

Last year’s GSEC winner was Curb Carbon, a venture created by two students of ICFAI Business School in India. The founders are working to improve both the environment and the lives of farmers in India by encouraging the cultivation of Jatropha, a hardy plant whose seeds can be extracted to produce biodiesel, a cleaner-burning, renewable fuel.

Several other past finalists have made significant progress on their missions. Progreen, the 2005 GSEC champion, has established a pilot unit in India for its biodegradable, recycled plates and cups business. The 2006 winner, Self-Powered Radios, has contracted with a Mongolian company to begin manufacturing of the low-cost receivers that will provide a link to education and information for itinerant herdsmen in the Mongolia hinterlands. And Planting Empowerment, a 2007 finalist, has completed its initial planting of hardwood trees in Panama.

The Global Business Center is organizing the GSEC in partnership with the UW Department of Global Health and the support of the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs and the Foster Business School’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE).