Recently I highlighted the Top 5 Finalists of Staples/Ashoka Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition. Now, here is the winner!
Team Pachamama of Tepeolulco, Mexico took home the $5,000 grand prize for their innovative social change ideas.
Juan Carlos Luna Hernandez and Mary Cruz Romero Gudiño are the faces behind Pachamama, an organization that develops and teaches environmentally friendly alternatives in agriculture. Under their leadership, Pachamama educates low-income families throughout Tepeolulco, Mexico about optimizing resources to produce organic crops in an environmentally friendly manner. Pachamama developed two interrelating agricultural techniques; Banconejo to produce natural fertilizer from rabbits to enrich the soil, and Tierra Adentro to simplify rainwater recollection for irrigation.
Finalists were selected by an elite panel of judges, including Mario Cada-Frech, Vice President Public Affairs & Corporate Social Responsibility of MTV Networks Latin America; Oded Grajew, Founder and President of the Ethos Institute; Jeffrey A. Joerres, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer & President of Manpower, Inc.; Emily Morell, Youth Venturer and winner of the 2008 Staples/Ashoka Youth Social Entrepreneur Award, Co-founder and Board of Directors of Gardens for Health International; and Siamak Taghaddos, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Grasshopper.
All finalists were flown to Boston, to be recognized during a special ceremony at Youth Venture’s National Summit led by Dave Sobb, vice president of Staples, Inc. and Gretchen Zucker, executive director of Youth Venture. In addition, all five finalists spent the day meeting with top Staples executives to get business advice on their ventures.
Great job guys, keep the ideas flowing!
Contributor Profile: Tristan
Tristan is a social change advocate and social media do-gooder. He has worked with Ashoka and Best Buy promoting social entrepreneurship and responsibility.
Twitter: @writerpollock
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