The Global Business Challenge honors women who are advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals and inspiring entire communities to act to create the world we want by 2030. It is a global business challenge led in partnership by Vital Voices Global Partnership and Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at ASU.
Each entrepreneur is selected on the basis that they lead an enterprise committed to advancing one or more of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, and leverage their businesses to push for progress in their communities.
“THE WE EMPOWER UN SDG CHALLENGE AWARDEES ARE LEADING EXEMPLARS OF SUSTAINABILITY, CONNECTIVITY AND INCLUSION IN BUSINESS, SOLVING THE WORLD’S BIG PROBLEMS THROUGH PLANET AND PEOPLE FRIENDLY BUSINESS MODELS.”*
Olufunto Boroffice | Founder and CEO, Chanja Datti Ltd | Nigeria
Olufunto Boroffice is the Founder/CEO of Chanja Datti, a waste collection and recycling social enterprise based in Northern Nigeria. The company addresses gender inequality unemployment by providing a platform that transforms waste into wealth while also empowering the unemployed women, at-risk youths, and waste pickers of the region.
Chanja Datti is directly responsible for diverting over 4,500,000 kg of recyclable waste from landfills in the Abuja metropolis while creating 250 green jobs and additional sources of livelihood for 500+ women in 7 underserved communities in the Abuja metropolis.
Nidhi Pant | Co-Founder and Head of Finance and Partnerships, S4S Technologies | India
Nidhi Pant is the Co-Founder of Science For Society, or S4S Technologies, a company that helps farmers earn extra income by converting farm losses to value added products with its patented, award-winning solar dehydration technology.
S4S technologies provides these micro-entrepreneurs with the right combination of technology, finance, and market linkage to set them up for success, working with over 6500 farmers, 505 Micro-Entrepreneurs and serves 850 Food and Beverage Customers including marquee brands like Marico, Nestle, Sodexo, and Indian Railways.
Sara Saeed | Co-Founder and CEO, Sehat Kahani | Pakistan
Sara Saedd is the Co-Founder and CEO of Sehat Kahani, an e-healthcare company in Pakistan that aims to democratize access to quality and affordable healthcare through ICT-enabled solutions and a network of qualified home-based women doctors. Sehat Kahani has reached out to 360,000 direct beneficiaries through 35 E-Clinics and 3.1 million beneficiaries through its preventive health portfolio.
In addition, through their E-Health Application they have reached out to 160,000 beneficiaries via their retail and corporate verticals and were actively involved in COVID screening, treatment and referral process on a local and national level in collaboration with the government during the COVID-19 crisis in Pakistan.
Panmela Castro | Founder and CEO, Panmela Castro Arte e Cultura and Rede Nami | Brazil
Panmela Castro is the Founder and CEO of Panmela Castro Arte e Cultura and Rede Nami, a social enterprise that utilizes art education, different arts media and especially public graffiti murals, to raise awareness on women’s rights and the prevalence of domestic violence in Brazil.
Panmela sells world-renowned artwork and graffiti murals through the for-profit company, while the NGO Rede Nami holds workshops and educational programs in the arts to a network of more than 10,000 women in Brazil. Panmela’s work aims to promote structural change in society, bringing knowledge through art and communication so that girls and women know how to fight for their rights.
Aline Sara | Co-Founder and CEO, NaTakallam | United States of America
Aline Sara is the Co-Founder and CEO of NaTakallam, a social enterprise that offers high-quality curated language services delivered by refugees and their host communities through digital platforms, including online language teaching and tutoring, translation and virtual interpretation services, and cultural exchange sessions.
To date, NaTakallam has connected with 10,000+ language learners around the world and provided over a million dollars to over 200 workers from refugee or host community backgrounds worldwide and aims to shift the perception of refugees from burden to asset.
Image includes this year's Awardees and also honours Shimrit Perkol-Finkel, a 2018 Awardee, who we sadly lost last year in a scooter accident. *Quote by Amanda Ellis, ASU Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Lab and former UN Ambassador.