Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2011 > May > 17 > Entry
Winner (and new funding) announced for UT/Dell Social Innovation Competition
A few months ago, I got to have lunch with several past winners of the Dell Social Innovation Competition. The contest, which allows university students to compete for seed money to fund a company that will create positive social change, is housed at the University of Texas’ RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service in the LBJ School of Public Affairs.
The students I spoke to were bright and committed to their global ideas; far from seeking charity, they wanted to create sustainable businesses that help communities in far-flung parts of the world. True to that, this year’s winner, announced last night at the annual competition, was TakaTaka Solutions (“TakaTaka” means “waste” in Swahili), a start-up out of the London School of Economics. It was one of almost 1,500 applicants from 85 countries. It was awarded $50,000.
In the video above, you can see that the venture seeks to make better use of waste in Nairobi by providing more efficient recycling and composting.
Libraries Across Africa won a $10,000 technology award from Dell.
Separately, Dell announced yesterday it is giving $5 million to the program to expand the competition.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Austin, Internet
Comments
When commenting, we ask that you keep things civil and abide by our Visitor Agreement. To report comment abuse, click here.