Community Corner

Young Entrepreneurs Honored by Staples, Ashoka

Staples, headquartered in Framingham, and Ashoka announced the 5th Annual Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition winners.

Ashoka, a community of leading social entrepreneurs, and Staples, Inc, headquartered in Framingham, announced the winners of the 5th Annual Staples/Ashoka Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition. The global competition highlights youth-led organizations using innovation and technology to address social issues affecting their communities, and is part of Ashoka’s Youth Venture®, an initiative that identifies and fosters young entrepreneurs all over the world who are creating positive change.  
 
There were hundreds of entries from 50 countries addressing a diverse range of issues, from the environment to healthcare and education. The competition applauds exceptional young people and their unique use of technology to make a positive impact in their community and the world.
 
The 2011 winners include: 
 
* Vineet Singal, 21, United States, is the founder of Anjna Patient Education, which provides health education programs to free health clinics to help disadvantaged and low-income patients learn about nutrition, diet and a healthy lifestyle. Vineet previously volunteered at several free clinics and witnessed firsthand the high volume of patients with preventable conditions like stress-related illnesses and obesity and the lack of health education and patient counseling available. With Anjna Patient Education, Singal is determined to break the cycle of chronic, preventable diseases by developing interactive health education applications for underserved populations.

* Eden Full, 19, Canada, is the founder of Roseicollis Technologies, a social enterprise designed to implement unique technologies in developing and emerging markets.  The organization’s primary technology is the SunSaluter, a cost-effective solar panel rotator that increases the efficiency of solar panels to bring alternative energy and electricity to developing countries.  In Aug. 2010, Roseiocollis Technologies provided electricity, for the first time, to two villages in Kenya to help improve the lives of more than 1,000 residents. The villages can now safely collect firewood, charge cell phones and power radios to remain updated on current events. Full and Roseicollis Technologies aim to install the SunSaluter in additional countries, including Tanzania, Uganda and Western China.

* Karthik Naralasetty, 22, India, created www.socialblood.org, a social media platform to help address the blood shortage crisis by connecting blood donors and recipients of the same blood type through facebook.  After witnessing a family’s struggle to find O+ blood donors every 25 days to treat its four year-old child’s rare medical condition, Karthik knew he needed to take action. Naralasetty brought Socialblood.org to life and today, this central platform that matches blood donors with recipients has more than 500 users with future plans to expand globally.

Find out what's happening in Framinghamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

* Vivek Nair, 23, Singapore, founded Damascus Fortune, an organization based in India that has developed a technology to produce carbon nanotube and carbon nanofibers from industrial flue gas.  The technology converts carbon emissions from automotives and industrial plants such as rice mills, power plants and petrochemicals to produce carbon nanotubes and carbon nanofibers, which are used for composites, nano-electronics, optics, energy storage and many other science applications.  Damascus Fortune aims to install this technology in almost all flue gas emitting industrial plants and automobiles in India, Singapore, China, EU, UK and USA to reduce global warming in a large scale.

“This year’s Staples/Ashoka YSE Competition demonstrates how youth today are uniquely leveraging technology to create lasting and impactful solutions for a better world,” said Gretchen Zucker, executive director of Ashoka’s Youth Venture in a press statement.  “We are pleased to recognize these students and hope their achievements inspire more youth to become changemakers.”
 
“The winners of this year’s Staples/Ashoka YSE Competition are an innovative and tech-savvy group that will continue to drive social change and make a positive impact on communities for years to come,” said Amy Shanler, director of community relations for Staples, Inc. in a press statement  “We look forward to celebrating their entrepreneurial spirit at the Techonomy conference and helping each venture grow and address critical social problems around the world.”
 
The four winners will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Techonomy 2011, a prestigious conference for technology leaders featuring the founders and executive leaders for global technology innovators such as LinkedIn, Mozilla and Salesforce.com. The conference is Nov. 13-15 in Tucson, Arizona.  Winners will receive $500 to support their Venture’s development. 
 
During the Techonomy conference, the grand prize winner will be selected by vote after a pitch off, and awarded an “Around the World Learning Tour” that will provide an opportunity to travel the globe and meet other youth social entrepreneurs.

Find out what's happening in Framinghamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Since 2006, Staples Foundation and Ashoka have supported young entrepreneurs throughout the world as they work to create positive change. Through more than $3 million in funding, Staples has enabled Ashoka’s Youth Venture to expand to eight countries in North America, South America and Europe and has helped 50,000 youth volunteers launch and operate 2,000 ventures that have had impact on nearly 200,000 people.
 
 
 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here