It's with much surprise and delight to post that G-lish Foundation, the organisation founded by my inspiring partner, Godwin Yidana, is one of the winners of this year's SEED Initiative Awards.
"The SEED Awards recognise inspiring social and environmental entrepreneurs whose businesses can help meet sustainable development challenges. By helping entrepreneurs to scale-up their activities, the SEED Initiative, which is hosted by UNEP, aims to boost local economies and tackle poverty, while promoting the sustainable use of resources and ecosystems."
The UNEP's full press release can be read here.
As the press release explains, the award seeks to recognise and support young organisations that focus on sustainable development.
The winners receive support in the form of tailored workshop training in-country and via distance (remotely) to help them develop their business plans and find solutions to barriers to growth so that the orgs can break through whatever problems they're facing and continue their good work.
"The prize they will receive from SEED is a package of individually-tailored support for their business. This includes access to relevant expertise and technical assistance, meeting new partners and building networks, developing business plans and identifying sources of finance. SEED will furthermore contribute towards meeting each winner's most immediate needs by contributing to a jointly developed support plan."You can visit the G-lish facebook page and read more about their activities by clicking the link on the right of this page.
The winners from Ghana are truly inspiring. The other winners are:
- Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative
- High Value Syrup from Prekese Fruits
- Biofuel Production in Promoting Sustainable Land Management
- DeCo! Decentralised Composting for Sustainable Farming
- The Shea Economic Empowerment Program (SEEP)
Some of the winners from African and further afield that caught my eye are:
Kenya: EcoPost - Fencing Posts from Recycled Post-Consumer Waste Plastic
Burkina Faso: Manufacture and Popularization of Biomass Briquettes (when you see how many trees are cut down for charcoal for cooking fires you understand why an alternative source of fuel is so important).
Senegal: Micro Power Economy for Rural Electrification
"The goal of this enterprise involving local partners from the private and microfinance sector is to set up a profitable rural power provider based on off-grid power system operation and the utilisation of renewable energy sources, such as wind-solar-diesel hybrid power systems."
