The DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge an Asia-wide competition for social enterprises, open to any member of the public, held its finale at the Shaw Alumni House in NUS, Singapore on the 6th of June 2014. President Tony Tan Keng Yam. graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour and presented the awards to the winners. Inspiring Keynote Speakers included Prasoon Kumar of Billion Bricks, Sandeep Mehto of Bharat Calling and Sebastien Marot of Friends International.
There were 418 entries from both existing as well as new Social Enterprises of which 6 were chosen by a panel of more than 150 judges and mentors to be in the final while the 7th entry was a wildcard entry which got the most number of votes in an online poll. The finalists were Interclo Designs, Science of Life Studies 24/7, Zaya Learning Labs, Bodhi Health Education, Maya Universe Academy, Local Alike and Kitabisa – the wildcard entry winner. They ranged from areas such as Healthcare and Sanitation, Energy, Agriculture, Mobile Technology, Education, Arts and Fashion and many others.
Zaya Learning Labs, India was the ultimate winner with its Class Cloud a portable device that acts as a Wi-Fi router, server, storage and battery pack. Teachers and students can access it using any Wi-Fi___33 enabled device thus providing quality educational resources to those that do not have access to it.
The winners took home a trophy plus cash prizes. While Zaya received S$30,000, Maya Universe Academy, Nepal came second and took home S$15,000. Bodhi Health Education, India and Local Alike, Thailand tied for the third place prize of S$10,000.
For more information please visit http://socialventurechallenge.asia
