2022

2021

Windeaters New Venture Award
Ozoagu Chigozie Stephen, Nigeria, Team 95, Mag-Meal Farm
This award provides seed venture capital of NZ$4000 for a team member, or members, to develop a social enterprise based on their GEE project proposal. We look for an exceptional person with the passion and drive to make a venture happen. We also look for a viable venture that will make a real difference. We check that the entrepreneur can financially make the venture happen with the support of the $4,000. It may be the whole project or it may be a pilot that will be used to raise the funding to turn it into a going concern. And lastly, we study the team proposal to check the quality of strategic thinking, marketing acumen, financial analysis, and the steps to make it happen.

This year’s winner demonstrated all these qualities. Stephen’s passion and personal research into maggot feeds for chickens shine through his personal YouTube video https://youtu.be/3Z0eHgE9Wtk. Stephen throws himself into life. Examples include his role as the Nigerian National General Secretary of the Agriculture Students Union, and the founder and chairman of the foodsoldiers cooperative SP Farmers. He was an outstanding member of his GEE team. So what is his great idea?

Stephen is committed to developing a black soldier maggots industry as a feed for poultry. The feed is both high quality and affordable to produce. Stephen has been experimenting with different types of flies, feeds, growing and harvesting techniques.

His team members have committed to help him make the venture succeed and be directors in his company. His co-directors are:
Caitlin Ebert - New Zealand
Ismay Verhagen – Netherlands
Karma Sonam Gurung – Thailand
Lee, Lai Lai – Hong Kong
Stefania Raigosa Cadavid – Colombia
Tatiana Imarasha – Indonesia
Wong Tsz Yan - Hong Kong

Victoria University of Wellington Team Awards
Teams produced a six-page business concept proposal for a profitable venture that fosters a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal using limited capital.

Victoria University of Wellington Champion Team

Team 123 - Biolight
Portable biogas digester for Nigeria

Treigh Christy - New Zealand
Ilse Hilhorst – Netherlands
Kehinde Abolaji Mutiu – Nigeria
Duong Nhat Mai – Thailand
Pratistha Aryal – Nepal
Thobeka Tshitshi – South Africa
Abdul Hadi bin Harun - Malaysia

Victoria University of Wellington Highly Commended Teams

Team 9 – Warna Flora Dye
Waste flowers from temples used to make dye in Nepal

Soniya Shahi – Nepal
Subhechha Khatri – Nepal
Akamihe Chinemerem Adaugo – Nigeria
Roos Marie van Bemmel – Netherlands
Rafly Revikansyah – Indonesia
Shaibya Gautam – Nepal
Yujue Qin – China
Yuqing Wu - China

Team 95 – Mag-Meal Farm
Black soldier fly maggots for poultry in Nigeria

Caitlin Ebert - New Zealand
Ozoagu Chigozie Stephen – Nigeria
Ismay Verhagen – Netherlands
Karma Sonam Gurung – Thailand
Lee, Lai Lai – Hong Kong
Stefania Raigosa Cadavid – Colombia
Tatiana Imarasha – Indonesia
Wong Tsz Yan - Hong Kong

Team 130 - MoringaCare
Moringa tree nutritional powder business for refugees in Kenyan camps

Liam Macleod - New Zealand
Gitte Hoggaars – Netherlands
Briana Herbert – New Zealand
Jannatul Fardows Ria – Bangladesh
Sima Das – Bangladesh
Byryk Hysba binti Idris - Malaysia

Team 141 - PregEasy
Safe birthing kit for Rwanda

Samantha Ainslie - New Zealand
Benithe Isingizwe - Rwanda
Georgina Clements – United Kingdom
Moli Forsythe – United Kingdom
Muhammad Saefulloh – Indonesia
Namrata Shrestha – Nepal
Oliver Greig – New Zealand
Wilfred Kabanga - Kenya

Team 152 – Milk Soap
Repurposing New Zealand milk waste into soap

Mirabel Gu – New Zealand
Katerina De Thierry – New Zealand
David Davidson Chukwudalu – Nigeria
Sulekha Pal – Germany
Xirui Li – China
Zihao Tao - China

University of Otago Business School Global Peer-Leader Award
Participants were evaluated on the quality of their peer leadership in fostering team creativity, productivity, problem solving, unity and helping others to succeed. They were also assessed for personal qualities such as initiative, empathy and resilience. The reflection had to be a great read with rich insights, and the team report had to be good. Team leaders and colleagues needed to recognise their contribution to the team effort in a 360° feedback.

University of Otago Business School Champion Peer-Leader Award

Clarissa Gerndt, Netherlands
Team 122, Molemo Pap Sauces – Nutritonal flavouring for staple food in South Africa

University of Otago Business School Highly Commended Peer-Leader Awards

Anusha Banerjee, Living in Dubai, studying in UK
Team 45, EaseFlow – Cloth sanitary pads for India

Ferdinand Benthe, Netherlands
Team 82, Green Stars – Hostel competition and socialising for voluntary clean up in Thai tourist areas

Katerina De Thierry, New Zealand
Team 152, MilkSoap – Repurposing New Zealand milk waste into soap

Matteo Longoni, Italy
Team 166, Scrap – App on CO₂ footprint in the USA

Shashank Rai, India
Team 88, Fuel for All – Repurposing excess food from hotels in Delhi, India


Global Leader Award
Evidence for leadership came from their reflection, 360° feedback, comments in colleagues reflections, leadership challenges faced and overcome, and the quality of the team report.

Champion Global Leader

Gray Ryburn - New Zealand
Team 108, Aqua Tanks – Self chlorinating water tanks for Uganda

Highly Commended Global Leaders

Brenda Magente - USA
Team 77, E-bike Rental – Bike with electric clip-on for rent in Cambodia

Sarah French - New Zealand
Team 138, From Home – IT design skills training for single mothers in Nigeria

Sophie Iles - New Zealand
Team 117, Little Academy – Children’s e-books app for English and 71 local languages in Thailand

Subhechha Khatri - Nepal
Team 9, Warma Flower Dye – Waste flowers from temples used to make dyes in Nepal

Treigh Christy - New Zealand
Team 123, Bio-Light – Portable biogas digester for Nigeria


Champion Leadership Coach Award

Fenella Brown, Australia
Fenella participated in the GEE Leader Coach programme and then applied her wisdom and skills to coach the team leaders. Our thanks go to all 44 coaches who helped 240 leaders on the GEE programme this year.  As a coach Fenella was a sounding board - listening, guiding, supporting and questioning the leaders to build their own insights. Her coachees reflected on how they were transformed as leaders - growing their ability to lead, while addressing the underlying issues that have held them back in life. Click on the link to hear Fenella's insightful speech for the GEE Award Ceremony.      

2020

Victoria University of Wellington Team Awards

Teams produced a six-page business concept proposal for a profitable venture that fosters a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal using limited capital.

Victoria University of Wellington Champion Team

Team 64 - EnviroBricks
Lightweight bricks from recycled plastic waste in Nigeria

Ben Murdoch - New Zealand
Aslan Aliyev - Azerbaijan
Lau Ching Yan – Hong Kong
Lawal Timothew – Nigeria
Sherita Sharma – Fiji
Tom Vromen - Netherlands

Victoria University of Wellington Highly Commended Teams

Team 7 – Upcycled Greenhouses Nepal
Greenhouses built from PET bottles and bamboo

Hannah Mason - New Zealand
Logan Burrell - New Zealand
Sadiksha Thapa – Nepal
Nael Al Douri – Netherlands
Tan Zhi Hong - Malaysia

Team 19 – Hunger Monger
Near expiry food app for California

Petra Schreuder - New Zealand
Bradley Fischer – USA
Divenesh Ram Narayan – Fiji
Jeffrey Ehitioya Itepu – Nigeria
Ke ZENG – China
Kok Kuan Ern – Malaysia
Kyla van Ek - Netherlands

Team 72 – Agro Charcoal Briquette
Charcoal from agricultural waste in Tanzania

Daniel Raats - New Zealand
George Mbaya Reuben – Tanzania
Ezelina Antony Misigaro – Tanzania
Taiga Ikeguchi – Japan
Thierry Nsabimana – Rwanda
Tayla Curry – New Zealand
Zakaria Allali - Netherlands
Mirko Comerlati - Italy

Team 74 – Nawanirman Tires
Wast tyre straps to strengthen adobe houses in Nepal

Eden Mair - New Zealand
Julian Cornet – Netherlands
Prasanna Shrestha – Nepal
Sichen Uprety – Nepal
Siphokazi Mpame – South Africa
Santeri Kuivalainen – New Zealand

Team 107 – Wasted Energy
Biodigester for energy in Nepal

Victoria Blair – New Zealand
Bipul Maharjan – Nepal
Sakshyam Dhungel – Nepal
Edna Atieno Naima – Kenya
Wouter van Weede - Netherlands

University of Otago Business School Global Peer-Leader Award
Participants were evaluated on the quality of their peer leadership in fostering team creativity, productivity, problem solving, unity and helping others to succeed.  They were also assessed for personal qualities such as initiative, empathy and resilience.  The reflection had to be a great read with rich insights, and the team report had to be good. Team leaders and colleagues needed to recognise their contribution to the team effort in a 360° feedback.

University of Otago Business School Champion Peer-Leader Award

Nóra Vilmányi, Netherlands

Team 60, Recrend – recycle clothing with designers in Malaysia

University of Otago Business School Highly Commended Peer-Leader Awards

Tess de Groot, Netherlands
Team 29, EdUcateMe – Timebanking teach-and-learn online

Dhiren Bikram Adhikari, Nepal
Team 79, e-biruwa – Bapp for farmer cooperatives in Nepal

Abdulaziz Ahmed Mayo, Netherlands
Team 36, Rejuicy – Ugly fruit juicing in the USA

Shenang Hang Rai, Nepal
Team 82, Flocard – Dry fresh flowers into cards to address Covid impact in Kenyan

Ashish Dahal, Nepal
Team 101, Handicrafts - Tote bags from corn leaves



Global Leader Award
Evidence for leadership came from their reflection, 360° feedback, comments in colleagues reflections, leadership challenges faced and overcome, and the quality of the team report.

Champion Global Leader

Ben Murdoch - New Zealand,
Leader of Team 64, EnviroBricks – Lightweight bricks made from recycle plastic in Nigeria

Highly Commended Global Leaders

Charlie Davison - New Zealand
Team 66, Save the Languages – Navajo language children’s books

Choo Ee Lin - New Zealand
Team 5, Aasha Ltd – Plastic bags from casava in Nepal

Connor Beere - New Zealand
Team 69, Kila – Fiji teach-and-learn tutoring platform

Joanna Johnston- New Zealand
Team 90, Aqua Eats – Hydroponic vegetables grown in containers with solar powered desalination of water in the Maldives

Michaela Saskia Hing, New Zealand
Team 117, Cocotrays – Food trays from coconut waste in Indonesia


NZ National Commission for UNESCO Commitment Award
Many of our participants impressively committed to the contest despite facing tough challenges.  It was a tough year with Covid-19 raging across the planet.  We read the stories in their reflections, noted admiring comments from team colleagues, and checked they produced quality work for the team report. So below are the stories of three extraordinary people who we salute.

SS (Name suppressed for safety), Iran, Team 59, GreenSeace
Baha’is are banned from tertiary study, and are currently being imprisoned at high rates with the government blaming the community for the Covid-19 crisis in Iran.  Yet in this boiler house of persecution, the community has quietly chosen constructive resistance.  They are educating themselves at BIHE, an underground university that has 700 voluntary academics.  Some are Baha’is in Iran, and others teach in universities around the world. But studying at the university is risky, and it is doubly risky to take part in the Global Enterprise Experience.  We have had a previous participant imprisoned for five years for the “crimes” of getting an education with BIHE and communicating with foreigners.  Congratulations to SS for her courage in participating in GEE.

Damilare Oshokoya – Leadership Coach
This is the sixth time that Dami has participated in the GEE.  But this year he noted that we were training leadership coaches to support the team leaders, and was determined to be part of the new programme.  Last year he inspired 200 Nigerians to enrol, supporting many with his advice.  This year Dami attended all the Leadership Coach training meetings, and coached all the team leaders that booked time with him.  He is an impressive African leader, and he helped the mainly Western leaders grow confidence in the ability of Africans to lead visionary social entrepreneurship projects in Africa.  Dami was working full time, coping with the Covid-19 lockdown, coaching leaders, and somehow managed to launch a new venture that will provide finance to 10,000 of Nigeria’s poorest farmers. 

Joanna Johnston, New Zealand, Team 90, AquaEats
Joanna was hospitalised for the last week of the GEE.  Yet from hospital she continued to lead her team to produce an excellent report.

Champion New Venture Award
Oluwatomilola Idris Mustapha and Dahunsi Elizabeth, Nigeria, Team 35, Blue Care
This award provides seed venture capital of NZ$4000 for a team member, or members, to develop a social enterprise based on a GEE project proposal.  We look for an exceptional person, with the drive to make a venture happen.  We also look for a viable venture that will make real difference.  We check that the entrepreneur can financially make the venture happen with the support of the $4,000 award.  It may be the whole project or it may be a pilot that will be used to raise the funding to turn it into a going concern.  And lastly, we study the team proposal to check the quality of strategic thinking, marketing acumen, financial analysis, and the steps to make it happen.

This year’s winners demonstrated all these qualities.  Oluwatomilola was described by his team mates as “providing research and endless enthusiasm”, “a very smart guy’, “always very prepared and professional”, developed “a brilliant idea” and “very dedicated”.  He demonstrated these qualities with climbing the fence to get cell phone coverage to communicate with his team, and learning 3D modelling software to present his innovative idea in the team report.  So what was his great idea?

Jaundice is a condition affecting newborn babies.  In developing countries around 30% of infant deaths are associated with jaundice compared with 2% in developed countries. Severe jaundice can also cause irreversible brain damage.  But the condition can be readily treated with blue light.   Oluwatomilola and his team designed a portable bag for babies with solar-powered blue light.  The main use is in hospitals, but it can also be used in homes where there is no electricity.  Since 65% of Nigeria’s births are in homes, and hospital care is both expensive and scarce, the Blue Care product has the potential to have a major impact saving baby lives in poor communities.

Champion Leadership Coach Award

Anelda Mail, New Zealand
In innovative organisations, managers do not simply manage staff and make decisions. They also run a more subtle process of uplifting staff to take on responsibilities, initiate action, and lead projects. This is a Leadership Coach role. Anelda used her wisdom to coach the team leaders.  She was a sounding board - listening, guiding, supporting and helping the leaders to build their own insights.  The feedback from coachees is that Anelda’s coaching grew their life skills and leadership potential.  And her dedication to ensure every leader who wanted coaching could receive it was legendary.     

2019

Victoria Business School Team Awards
Teams produced a six-page business concept proposal for a profitable venture that fosters a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal using limited capital.

Victoria Business School Champion Team

Team 159 – ChainX
Blockchain for secure elections in South Africa

Sebastian Brocklesby - New Zealand

Keshia Weilkens - Netherlands

Morne Mail - South Africa

Oluwanifemi Bamgbose - Nigeria

Willy Missack - Vanuatu

Victoria Business School Highly Commended Teams

Team 12 – Readio
Audio text books for New Zealand

Elliot Cina - New Zealand

Ameen Olumide Ayobami - Nigeria

Laura Frederiks - Netherlands

ShanLiu - China

Steven Alello - Israel

Team 77 – Bokashi GEE Water
Water purification through fermentation in Nepal

Lisa Martin - New Zealand

Rupsi Parajuli - Nepal

Smaran Rai - Nepal

Tim van Dalen - Netherlands

Uwase Christella - Rwanda

Yirandys Pelegrino - Netherlands

Team 86 – CASU Controlled Atmosphere Storage Unit
Village containers to prevent food spoilage in Rwanda

Enosh Pathmanathan New Zealand

Innocent Mugisha Rwanda

Max Oosting Netherlands

Mu Meifeng China

Thierry Nsabimana Rwanda

Team 89 – The Kit Set Farmer
Polymers for vegetable growing in tyres in Nigeria

Simon Putan New Zealand

Irafasha Donath Rwanda

Taiwo-Ojo Hephzibah Nigeria

Wessel Bults Netherlands

赵阿倩 Panda China

Team 90 – Trydan Biogas
Underground biogas plants for Nigeria

James Innes New Zealand

Abishek Gyawali United States

Angèle Jansen Netherlands

Ogechi Smart Ekejiuba Nigeria

Salem Irabor Nigeria

Yu Peiqi China

University of Otago Business School Global Peer-Leader Award
Participants were evaluated on the quality of their peer leadership in fostering team creativity, productivity, problem solving, unity and helping others to succeed.  They were also assessed for personal qualities such as initiative, empathy and resilience.  The reflection had to be a great read with rich insights, and the team report had to be good. Team leaders and colleagues needed to recognise their contribution to the team effort in a 360° feedback.

University of Otago Business School Champion Peer-Leader Award

Jiang Ying, China
Team 58, Sex education website for China

University of Otago Business School Highly Commended Peer-Leader Awards

Joy Okoh, Nigeria
Team 124, Slow moving water turbines for Rwanda

Kaya Watermann, Netherlands
Team 9, App for mental health for South Africa

Maisy Bentley, New Zealand
Team 156, Sustainable farming app for New Zealand

Muhammad Zekree Leong Bin Zainurin, Brunei
Team  149, App for near expiry food for Morocco

Semira Dyanthe van Hees, Netherlands
Team 119, Sustainable egg trays for China


BMW Group Global Leader Award
Only those who were assigned the leadership role at the outset are eligible.  This award is based on evidence of leadership came from their reflection, 360° feedback, comments in colleagues reflections, leadership challenges faced and overcome, and the quality of the team report.

BMW Group Champion Global Leader

Sebastian Brocklesby - Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand,
Team 159, ChainX – Blockchain security for elections in South Africa

BMW Group Highly Commended Global Leaders

Benjamin Landry – University of Otago, New Zealand
Team 64, Altera Vita – make jam from the 45% of food that is wasted in the post-harvest stage in Nigeria

Brandon Louw – University of Pretoria, South Africa
Team 13, Sleep Buoy – Floating sleeping bags for floods in Southern Africa

Ho Ngoc Hoan Ca – Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Team 7, Tripblo – Ethnic tourism in Viet Nam

Lucy Guild – Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Team 74, Bamboo Pedals – Belgian tourists to help an existing Ghanaian charity make bamboo bikes, use it for a bike tour through Ghana, then donate the bike

Noluvo Nela, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Team 151, HEART – Augmented reality education in South Africa


Commitment Awards
Many of our participants impressively committed to their team despite facing tough challenges.  We read the stories in their journals, read the admiring comments from team colleagues about them, and checked that the work produced a quality team report. So below are the stories of six extraordinary people who we salute.

Munyentwari Emmanuel, Rwanda, Team 120, SenseTag
Emmanuel was deeply admired by his colleagues for his passion, dedication and helpfulness.  He was contributing to his GEE team while studying for his exams.  Emmanuel did not have a computer, so he visited the internet café at midnight to get the cheapest connection.  When his Nigerian team mate’s computer crashed he offered to do his team work for him.  And Emmanuel did the field research the for the team’s project on an RFID supported blockchain to track agricultural produce in Rwanda.

FM, Iran, Team 79, Hydro-Culture
The name has been withheld for safety reasons.  FM studies at the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education in Iran.  This is an underground university set up with the support of academics around the world to educate members of the Baha’i Faith in Iran as they are banned from study in regular universities.  PF runs the risk of lengthy imprisonment for getting an education with BIHE and for communicating with foreigners.

Laura Gaudioso, Italian student studying in China, Team 54, Travel Green

Laura generated the idea and undertook the research for the team’s proposal for a website to book sustainable travel.  When her team leader got sick she stepped up into the leader role. She realised her colleague in China could not access the communication platform used by the team, and that some team members could not access the WeChat platform used in China.  So she ferried conversations between team members on different platforms. 

Olivia Lloyd, New Zealand, Team 121, Solar Powered Wheelchair
Olivia led her team to develop a proposal for a solar powered wheelchair for the disabled in Nigeria.  She was a full time student, with a new fulltime job, and hospitalised during the contest.  Somehow she managed all of her responsibilities to a high standard.


Champion New Venture Award
Agbanagba Racheal Aweruswo of Nigeria and Georgia Lowrey of New Zealand jointly won the Champion Social Entrepreneur Award

This provides NZ$4,000 of seed venture funding to make their Team 80 “Nigeria Tomato Project” happen.  They have committed to providing drying kits, bottling, labelling and brand marketing for village women growing tomatoes in Nigeria.  The project tackles the problem of over 40% losses of tomatoes in the post-harvest stage in Nigeria.  

2018

Victoria Business School Team Awards
Teams produced a six-page business concept proposal for a profitable product or service that fosters decent jobs and sustainable economic development as per the 89^th United Nations Sustainable Development Goal.

Victoria Business School Champion Team

Team 36 – Helios
Solar power charger for computers in Nigeria

Mel Davis - New Zealand
Abdulganiy Abdulqudus Oluwaseun – Nigeria
Tisha Bettina Sezibwa – Netherlands

Victoria Business School Highly Commended Teams

Team 17 – One Water
Water refill stations using RFID bottles in Beijing

Tyler Maddren - New Zealand
Ahmad Khoimi  - Netherlands
Alex Whitehead – Australia
Olatunde Agbeke Damilola – Nigeria
Hector Alexis Rojas Sierra – Colombia
Danna Carolina Altamiranda Hernandez – Colombia

Team 20 – The Garbage Project
Maggot farming for animal feed in Sri Lanka

Panchani Jayamanne - New Zealand
Georgia Greggs - New Zealand
David Wandel – Netherlands
Akindehin Razak Idowu – Nigeria
Michele Perez Gonzalez – Colombia
Nalalia Cruz Pino – Colombia

Team 43 – Viti Bag
Crafted tote bags from sugar sacks in Fiji

Tejal Lad - New Zealand
Emma Munro - New Zealand
Liu, Mengqi – China
Obua Patrick – Uganda
Serkan Yasar – Netherlands
Tianyun Qin – Ireland
Xiaofan Fan – Ireland

Team 68 – BelaFela
Favela cultural tours in Brazil

Amber Phelan – New Zealand
Amelia Hellicar-Foster – Australia
Dheerusha Tiwari – Nepal
Dhritika Tiwari – Nepal
Seiya Grant – Australia
Shumin Zhou – New Zealand
Tim Bredenhof – Netherlands

Team 92 – Bio-GEE-Fertilizer 
Recycled waste for fertilizer in Indonesia

Jadzia Michna-Konigstorfer – New Zealand
Bernadeta Cahya Kumala Putriastuti – Indonesia
Hayden Bell – New Zealand
John Bosco Bwerere – Rwanda
Lubna Al Hamed Ali – Egypt
Syste Brentjes – Netherlands
Waloda Sharjan – Netherlands



University of Otago Business School Global Peer Leader Award
Participants were evaluated on the quality of their peer leadership in fostering team creativity, productivity, problem solving, unity and helping others to succeed.  They were also assessed for personal qualities such as initiative, empathy and resilience.  The reflection had to be a great read with rich insights, and the team report had to be good. Team leaders and colleagues needed to recognise their contribution to the team effort in a 360° feedback.

University of Otago Business School Champion Peer-Leader Award

Agnesha Dahal Nepal
Team 1, Job portal for homeless in the Netherlands

University of Otago Business School Highly Commended Peer-Leader Awards

Aarati Kafle, Nepal
Team 89, Pasmina shawls in Nepal

Eloise Thomas, United Kingdom
Team 4, Biodegradable coffee cups from sargassum seaweed, Dominican Republic

Iyamuremye Jean Sauveur, Rwanda
Team 73, Cosmetics from coffee, Indonesia

Jesse Bowe, The Netherlands
Team  52, Cotton menstruation pads

Raphaela De Dominicis,Colombia
Team 34, Water conservation sensor, Germany



Global Leader Award
Evidence for leadership came from their reflection, 360° feedback, comments in colleagues reflections, leadership challenges faced and overcome, and the quality of the team report.

Champion Global Leader

Tejal Lad - New Zealand,
Leader of Team 43, Viti bags – crafted tote bags from used sugar sacks in Fiji

Highly Commended Global Leaders

Alice Moran - New Zealand
Team 10, Water filters in Nepal

Cameron Bishop - New Zealand
Team 2, Expedición Cafetera Quindío - Self-guided bicycle tour of coffee industry in Colombia

Kate Mann - New Zealand
Team18, Enlighten – Solar lighting franchiser in Nigeria

Lauren Hourigan – New Zealand
Team 23, Rwanda Hydro-Grow – Equipment and consultancy for hydroponic farming in Rwanda

Neil Rudman, New Zealand
Team 3, Sauerpower – Lacto-fermented cabbage in Burundi



Commitment Awards
Many of our participants impressively committed to their team despite facing tough challenges.  We read the stories in their journals, read the admiring comments from team colleagues about them, and checked that the work produced a quality team report. So below are the stories of six extraordinary people who we salute.

Dheerusha Tiwari, Nepal, Team 68, BelaFela
Dheerusha produced a website for her team’s project on cultural tours in the slums of Brazil.  It was a quality site, despite being the first time she has produced a website and having English as a second language.

Bastien Bouillac, France
The Global Enterprise Experience was one of 10 winners for the Intercultural Innovation Award – a partnership between the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and BMW Group.  For the award we committed to raising peer-leadership across all participants.  But how to do it?  We needed to develop complex software in 360° feedback and self-evaluation.  Bastien was touring New Zealand and came to stay with us through the wwoofing scheme.  Bastien is an expert in IT so in appreciation of staying in the home, he used his skills to develop the software.  Bastien had his own mini GEE experience teamwork across nations as he roped in colleagues on the other side of the world to help with the project.  As he continued touring around New Zealand, he found wifi in campsites and homes to continue his IT work for the Global Enterprise Experience. 

Batshal Sigdel, Nepal, Team 76, HomeTel
The leader for Batshal’s team failed to fire, so he stepped up to take responsibility for the team.  He knew Rara was a very remote and very poor part of Nepal, with exquisite natural beauty.  Batshal conducted research with locals in Rara, and led his team to develop a proposal that provided homestays.

Daniel Adeyemi, Nigeria, Team 87, SUNO
Daniel did extensive market research for the team project on a traffic application for helping public transport in Lago, Nigeria. 

Liam Good and George Mander, New Zealand
Liam volunteered to lead a team.  As the team got going, his flatmate, George, expressed interest in being part of the team effort.  So the two jointly led the team.  The team generated the idea for cricket farming for protein in Rwanda, but nobody knew much about how to make farm crickets.  So Liam and George started a mini cricket farm in their flat kitchen to learn more about it.


Champion Social Entrepreneur Award
Denis Ndayizeye, Initiatives Locales pour le Developpement de la Femme, Burundi
This award recognises past participants in the Global Enterprise Experience who have used their skills to foster social enterprise.  Denis leads an initiative to help poor women in Burundi make baskets to generate income for their family. 


Champion New Venture Award
Denis Ndayizeye, Initiatives Locales pour le Developpement de la Femme, Burundi
This is a new award for seed venture capital of NZ$1000 to develop a social enterprise based on a GEE project proposal.  It was provided by Olaniyi Awotula, a Nigerian social entrepreneur and educator, now based in the United States.

Burundi is a troubled country, with 2% of the population becoming refugees in neighbouring countries since conflict erupted in 2015.   The country has the highest rate of food insecurity in Africa.  Locals are skilled farmers who can grow food but, without storage or processing, surplus production simply rots.  So Denis worked with his global GEE team to generate ideas to create jobs for poor women and food security for his people.  Sauerkraut is a lacto-fermented cabbage that stores well and provides gut flora to enhance digestion and health.  Denis, with the support of his team, provided a detailed proposal of how he would mobilise his Trust, Initiatives Locales pour le Developpement de la Femme, to trial sauerkraut in Burundi.  

2017

Victoria Business School Team Awards
Teams produced a six-page business concept proposal for a profitable product or service that applies appropriate technology to foster wellbeing.

Victoria Business School Champion Team

Team 82: SoftWear
Wearable technology for hip fracture protection in China

Isaiah Ratahi - New Zealand
Shuyi Liu - China
Susanna Koskiaita - Finland
Shahab Rezaie - Netherlands
Tirza Hannah van Harten - Netherlands
Soheil Haghighatbin - Dominican Republic

Victoria Business School Highly Commended Teams

Team 32 – Underground Earthbag structures
Village projects for grain storage in Nigeria

Jasmin Mortensen - New Zealand
Andrea Ochoa Lopez - Colombia
Carmen Luke - Netherlands
Mutangana Vivian - Rwanda
Adedoyin Irerinsola Dayo - Nigeria
Mariana Sepulveda Duque - Colombia
Ruse-Mariesarina Taito - New Zealand

Team 36 – Ctrl Alt Dalit
IT training and online freelancers for Dalit in India

Arkadiusz Wojasz New Zealand
Anna Taiwo Nigeria
Clay Fisher New Zealand
Cyiza Alphonse Rwanda
Ha Minh Thuy Finland
Sarah Belkhir Netherlands
Valeria Yanez Perez Netherlands
 
Team 65 – Nepapple
Dehydrated apples in Nepal

Laura Hudson - New Zealand
Mahima Poddar - Nepal
Nguyen Linh Chi - Finland
Pratyush Mishra - Nepal
Rico Bary - Netherlands
Shema Oscar - Rwanda
Odumade Damilola Mary - Nigeria

Team 66 –Sunlight Pure
Water purifier with Tecnoglass in Colombia

Ben Johnston - New Zealand
Elliot Gordon - New Zealand
Munyaneza Jules - Rwanda
Serkan Yasar - Netherlands
Benedict Oghenede - Nigeria
Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet - Finland
Daniela Caicedo Portilla - Colombia
Gina Marcela Alvarez Montealegre - Colombia

Team 78 – Full Circle
Recycling plastics into brooms with Roma people in Romania

Jacob Throne II - New Zealand
Farouk Pande - Uganda
Ke Liu - New Zealand
Ojaswi Baidya - Nepal
Gatokarakura Marcel - Rwanda
Tobias Willem - Netherlands
Rozin Deaconescu - Romania
Preksha Aryal - Nepal


 
University of Otago Business School Global Peer Leader Award
Students were evaluated on the quality of their peer leadership in fostering team creativity, communication, decision making, culture, inclusion, values and performance.  They were also assessed for personal qualities such as initiative, empathy and resilience.  The journal had to be a great read with rich insights, and the team report had to be good. Team leaders and colleagues needed to recognise their contribution to the team effort.

University of Otago Business School Champion Journal Award

Brenda Mangente – USA
Team 8, Eco-Wise Exchange, a market exchange for unspent, underutilised or wasted goods in India

University of Otago Business School Highly Commended Global Peer Leader Awards

Udeji Samuel Uchenna, Nigeria
Team 69 Hip fractures in China

Leonardo Grasso, Italy
Team 52, Sprouts from Nigeria to Italy

Hannah-Frances Cosgrove, New Zealand
Team 43, Coop fish farming in Rwanda

Rissa Mhay Colayco, Philippines
Team  63, Smart recycle bins in the USA

Anne Helen Maria Lueb, Netherlands
Team 84, Bricks from PET waste in South Sudan



Global Leader Award
Evidence for leadership came from their journal, comments from team members in their journals, leadership challenges faced and overcome, and the quality of the team report

Champion Global Leader

Tré Ratahi- Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 69, Combat Air Pollution, hi tech face masks in Nepal

Highly Commended Global Leaders

Jasmin Mortensen - New Zealand
Team 32, Underground Earthbag Structures - a village grain storage system in Nigeria

Liam Dennis - New Zealand
Team 112, Wisdom Watch - elders sharing lost skills in the USA

Anna Hinderwell - New Zealand
Team 46, SwiftAlly – aid watch for safety in the Indian building industry

Tuteremoana Durie – New Zealand

Team 56, Rural Amazon – an outernet to facilitate trade between villages and cities in rural India

Isaiah Ratahi, New Zealand
Team 82, Soft Wear – wearable technology to prevent hip fractures in Chinese elderly



Commitment Awards
Many of our participants impressively committed to their team despite facing tough challenges.  We read the stories in their journals, read the admiring comments from team colleagues about them, and checked that the work produced a quality team report. So below are the stories of six extraordinary people who we salute.

Luke Testa, New Zealand, Team 1, Lobe
Luke suggested the team produce earrings that could sense screaming or a fall that sends out a distress signal with GPS coordinates to family and authorities.  The team members doubted such a technology could be made small enough to fit iton earrings.  So, Luke approached a technology expert to help him make the electronics and created a working prototype of the earrings.  The team was convinced and produced an excellent business proposal.

Ntibeshya Emmanuel, Rwanda, Team 50, Smart Cart
The Rwandans face many challenges to contribute to their team effort.  They often use their cellphones as their computers or pay high fees to use internet cafes.  English is the third language for most students behind French and a local language.   None of this daunted Emmanuel.  Every team member commented on his enthusiasm and commitment, noting the boost to team morale.  Emmanuel to the initiative to visit the Kigeme Refugee Camp to learn about the issues of plastic pollution and interview the refugees. .

Tushar Agarwal, India, Team 90, Work the Web
Tushar was such as force in his team that he was asked to be the co-leader.  The team adopted his idea to rent cellphones and wifi in remote Indian villages as enablers of trade with neighbouring cities. Tushar did not speak Bengali, the language of their target market, so he organised a friend who spoke the language to do the market research. 

Ngaroma Rika, New Zealand, Team 9, Medicinal Herbs in Peru
Reading Ngaroma’s journal you would never know that she commuted hundreds of kilometres each week to support her family following a tragedy, and yet still led her high performing global team without losing a beat.  Ngaroma is all heart – dedicated to the needs of family and colleagues.   

Shreejan Bhandari, Nepal, Team 75, Lovely Linen in Nepal
Shreejan was asked to co-lead the team to follow his initiative to recycle clothes for bed linen in Nepal.  He took the initiative to visit slums and businesses in Nepal to assess the viability of the business. Like other Nepali participants Shreejan copes with the epileptic power supply and the devastation to every facet of Nepali life following the 2015 earthquake.

Paniz Fazlali, Iran, Team 69, Pollution Face Masks in Nepal
Paniz is a Baha’i and, like other Baha’is in Iran, is banned from tertiary study, and runs the risk of imprisonment if caught participating in this contest.  Last month Global Enterprise Experience 2011 participant, Aziz Samandari was finally released after five years in prison for the “crimes” of “communicating with foreigners” and getting an education through “an association with the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education”.  This is an underground university run by volunteers to provide education for the banned students.  It is a powerful story of constructive resilience in the face of severe persecution – the curious may wish to read about it here.  Paniz was a valuable member of the successful team that looked at high tech face masks to combat the air pollution in Kathmandu. 


Champion Global Leader Academic Excellence Award
Paul Jaspers, HU Business School Utrecht, Netherlands
Paul is a visionary and world class academic applying action learning pedagogy to e-learning.  Through his work he has promoted peace, inspiration, understanding, and mutual respect across nations.  Paul used his education talents to intensively teach 153 Dutch students at his university in The Netherlands to perform to a high standard in this year’s Global Enterprise Experience.


Champion Social Entrepreneur Award
Aman Gupta, India, Vision India Foundation
To date 9000 students have participated in the Global Enterprise Experience.  We searched through these graduates to find an exemplar who has applied social entrepreneurship skills to create a better world.  Ama Gupta participated in 2014, then set up the Vision India Foundation – a modern nation-building movement that trains and mentors young talent to improve public policy, governance and institutional frameworks for India.  It has impacted 500 Indian youth.

2016

Victoria Business School Team Awards

Teams produced a six-page business concept proposal for a profitable product or service that fosters social cohesion.

Victoria Business School Champion Team Award

Team 53: Hives for Humanity 
Urban beekeeping scheme for homeless in South Africa

New Zealand leader – Kate Burn
Indonesia – Derrick Lionardy
Indonesia – Gunawan Widjaya
Nepal – Arvinda Karki
New Zealand – Chun Wai Mak
Rwanda – Irankunda Jean de Dieu
The Netherlands – Irina Mihaela Damian


Victoria Business School Highly Commended Team Awards

Team 13 – Chow and Tell
Auckland food delivery service run by refugees and migrants

New Zealand leader – Hebe Daly
Canada – Rajanbir Dhot
Canada – Stefan Gatarik
Rwanda – Shema Oscar

Team 17 – Fishing for a Better Life
Fish farming for Badi (Untouchables) in West Nepal

New Zealand leader – Emma Pullen
Indonesia – Yudha Prayugo Mukiat
Nepal – Pratistha Aryal
Nepal – Shruti Kayastha
Nigeria – Bisiriyu Sekinat Olayinka
Rwanda – Daniel Mtihemuka
 
Team 26 – Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative
Co-operative warehouse and food processing plant in Nigeria

New Zealand leader – Gulnara Toktoshnova
Italy – Fabio Diroma
Italy – Luca Trimigno
Nigeria – Ogunde Sunday Funmilola
Nigeria – Olukanni Elisha Kehinde
Rwanda – Ntiyamira Emmanuel

Team 66 – Growing Gorkha Business Club
Social club for Dalits and non-Dalits with a B2B trading company

New Zealand leader – Helen Steven
Ireland – Yuming Fu
Malaysia – Aaron Law Lee Wee
Malaysia – Ngui Kok Chong
Nepal – Puja Shrestha
New Zealand – Sichen Li
Rwanda – Hategekimna Daniel
Rwanda – Irabaruta Experence
  

Team 97 – Youth Enviropreneurs of Tomorrow
Training farm for growing seedlings that combat pollution in Rwanda

New Zealand leader – Amy Bealing
China – Zhang Yuxin
Indonesia – Ahmad Sauki Jajuli
New Zealand – Simon Petre
Nigeria – Itepu Jesse Ehidiameh
Rwanda – Gatokarakura Marcel
Rwanda – Uwizeye Eugenie
 

University of Otago Business School Journal Award
Students were evaluated on the quality of their journal as well as comments from colleagues and other evidence about the student’s contribution to the team effort.

University of Otago Business School Champion Journal Award
Rwanda – Samson Bisanukuri, member of Team 63 Urban organic waste fertilizer in Rwanda.

Samson managed the myriad challenges of fully participating from Rwanda, was a key contributor to his team, and wrote an excellent journal. 

University of Otago Business School Highly Commended Journal Awards

Armenia – Armenuhi Ananyan, member of Team 51, Beyond Borders
Bangladesh – Mohammad Sohel Rahman, member of Team 91, Fragrant Oils
Burundi – Denis Ndayizeye, member of Team 11, Akazima Bags
Colombia - Juanita Álvarez Jaramillo , member of Team 30, Nepali Disabled Artisan Community
Nepal – Agnesh Dahal, member of Team 4, Samajik Bazaar

Global Leader Award

Evidence for leadership came from their journal, comments from team members in their journals, leadership challenges faced and overcome, and the quality of the team report

Champion Global Leader
Helen Steven - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 66, Growing Gorkha Business Club

Highly Commended Global Leaders
Alexandra Weir - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 45, Eina Crochet Shoes
Amy Bealing - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 97, Youth Enviropreneurs of Tomorrow
Georgia van den Eykel - Victoria University, leader of Team 1, Global Kids
Racheal Fleming - Victoria University, leader of Team 110, Pooled Funding Initiative
Timothy Cheong - Victoria University, leader of Team 25, Litter Landscape

Peer Global Leader Award

Peer leaders are skilled at supporting the leader or stepping into a leadership vacuum, role modelling creativity, professionalism, strategic thinking, are hard-working, and pick up some of the leadership roles.  Evidence for peer leadership came from their journal, invitation to be a peer leader by the team leader, comments from team members in their journals, peer-leadership challenges faced and overcome, and the quality of the team report.

Champion Peer Global Leader
Breen Cowie - University of Otago, New Zealand, peer leader of Team 93, Dignity Shoes

Peer Global Leaders
Lay Monica Ratna Dewi - Indonesia, peer leader of Team 9, iCocoa
Awanto Nwufor Ernest  - Cameroon, peer leader of Team 81, Bilingual Library


Commitment Awards
There were many stories of extreme hardship and challenges faced by participants in the Global Enterprise Experience.  We admire your courage and determination to participate.  In selecting the Commitment Award recipients we checked on the stories to verify them through every means available, and we also selected only those recipients who had clearly contributed to a very high standard to their team.  So below are the stories of six extraordinary people who we salute.

Inkindie Silvie, Rwanda, Team 54, Warm Woolies
The Rwandans faced many challenges to contribute to their team effort.  They often use their cellphones as their computers or pay high fees to use internet cafes.  The contest is run during the Rwandan exam period and during the week where all businesses and the university closes during the morning for commemoration of the devastating genocide in 1993.  English is the third language for most students behind French and a local language.  In addition to these challenges Sylvie cared for her grandmother who died during the contest.  Sylvie was also an invaluable member of the team, undertaking local research, and contributing strongly to the team effort. Her team’s business was a craft venture for the widows and elderly women in Rwanda.

Lin Chen-Hao, New Zealand, Team 83, The Melting Pot
Reading Lin Chen-Hao’s journal you would never know that she spent two weeks of the contest in hospital seriously ill.  She performed to such a high standard that her team leader asked her to be a co-leader.  Despite her illness she continued to contribute to the team effort.

Olapade Funmilayo, Nigeria, Team 88, Clear Waste
Power outages over several days meant that Fumliz could only access the team via her cellphone.  She travelled back to her hostel without food to write her part of the report on her cellphone.  Her team members wrote appreciatively of her efforts for the team.

Paurakh Joshi, Nepal, Team 73, Social Integration for Refugees in Czech Republic
Paurakh was on the move!  He was sitting his exams in India, travelling to Nepal to find an internship, and travelled 400km for work.  Along the way he maintained high commitment to the team effort.

Pegah Bezrooli, Iran, Team 39, Sustainable Adobe Housing in Nepal
Pegah was expelled from Shiraz University because of her faith.  She is a Baha’i and, like other Baha’is in Iran, is banned from tertiary study.  So she enrolled in architecture in an underground university, the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education (BIHE), run by volunteers in Iran as well as academics from around the world.  It is risky – the vice chancellor, academics and students are imprisoned for up to 20 years merely for an association with BIHE and communicating with foreigners.  One of our GEE graduates was imprisoned in 2012 and is still serving his sentence.  After graduating Pegah went on to do her masters by distance learning from Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom.  She is passionate about architecture using her skills to set up NGOs and contribute to UN-Habitat.  For her Global Enterprise Experience team she showed how low cost adobe buildings could be created with local labour to help Nepal rebuild after the devastating 20105 earthquake.

Champion Global Leader Academic Excellence Award

Pierre Sindambiwe, University of Rwanda, Rwanda
Pierre is a passionate academic, determined to lift Rwandan standards to international levels.  This year there were 182 Rwandan participants, most of whom were in Pierre’s class.  These students all faced tough challenges - and some of them caused challenges.  We have other impressive academics in this contest inspiring top performance from their students, but none faced the barrage of issues that Pierre faced.  Yet through this he continued to work tirelessly, inspire students, rigorously uphold professional expectations, and leave a lasting impact on students and his university.

Champion Social Entrepreneur Award 

Moses Asiimwe, Rwanda and United Kingdom
To date 6900 students have participated in the Global Enterprise Experience.  We searched through these graduates to find an exemplar who has applied social entrepreneurship skills to create a better world.  Moses Asiimwe is the second winner of this award.  He has undertaken numerous voluntary roles, including, with colleagues, he set up Young Voice Africa – this is a 12 to 17 year old mentoring and capacity building organization that has impacted the lives of 4,000 youth in Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi.    It was awarded the Top 50 Most Innovative Start Ups by the New York Forum Institute.  Moses also adapted his team’s Global Enterprise Experience project from 2015 to enable girls to make their own sanitary pads. This project tackles the challenge of girls dropping out of school because of a lack of sanitation options. 

2015 

Victoria Business School Team Awards

Victoria Business School Champion Team Award

Team 52: Phoenix Ceramic Filters
Locally made water filters in rural Nepal

New Zealand leader – Hamish Anson
Nepal – Asira Khanal
Finland - Nguyen Viet Hung
New Zealand - Zara Kuperus
The Netherlands - Leif Gramer

Victoria Business School Highly Commended Team Award

Team 67 - Clean Valley Organics
Urban waste to fertilizer in Kathmandu, Nepal

New Zealand leader – Logan Coffman
Latvia - Goda Marija Vaitkeviciute
Latvia - Monika Andrijauskaite
Nepal - Samikshya Khanal
Nepal - Ayesha Karki
New Zealand - Amelia Hooker

Team 70 - Mitra Shoes
Use waste plastic for women to create shoes in Nepal

New Zealand leader – Jakub Koska
Australia - Freya Whitehead
Nepal - Sefali Agrawal
Nepal - Alfa Maiya Shakya
New Zealand - Aydan Mitchell
Nigeria - Shodunke Joshua Mayowa
South Africa - Msibi Mthunzi Alpheos
 
Team 98 - Vetiver for Vanuatu
Tropical grass with medicinal qualities, prevents erosion and detoxifies soils

New Zealand leader – Rebecca McKeown
Australia - Emily Entwistle
Bangladesh - Md Raihanul Islam
Hong Kong - Xue Shutian
Malaysia - Chuck Chuan Ng
Nigeria - Akonobi Rita

 Team 99 - Collective43
Designer objects that reflect true refugee stories

New Zealand leader – Toni ann Alamani
Bangladesh - Amina Noor Mimi
Bangladesh - Mumta Hena Pia
Fiji - Kitione Kotoisuva Raratabu
Hong Kong - Chu On Ki Angel
Nepal - Mandira Tripathi
Nigeria - Nwaeze Daniel   

Team 108 - Education as a Community
Community owned school with farm in Nepal

New Zealand leader – Louise Chow
Cameroon - Awanto Mwufor Ernest
India - Sri Krishna Bajaj
Mexico - Jorge Luis Carrillo Arevalo
Mexico - Victoria Eugenia Rodriquez
Nepal - Sujan Adhikari
Nepal - Ankita Bagaria
New Zealand - Jack Stewart

 

 University of Otago Business School Journal Award
Students were evaluated on the quality of their journal as well as comments from colleagues and other evidence about the student’s contribution to the team effort.

University of Otago Business School Champion Journal Award
South Africa - Kgotso Makwana, stepped up to leader of Team 53, Energy4U, Hydrogen power for South Africa

University of Otago Business School Highly Commended Journal Awards

Australia - Benjamin Donald, member of Team 64, Aquaponic Nutrition
Bangladesh - Md Forijul Islam, member of Team 54, Banana Detergent
Colombia - Maria Isabel Leon Gil, member of Team 97, Defence Against the Acid
Nepal - Asira Khanal, member of Team 52, Phoenix Ceramic Filters
Nepal – Sujan Adhikari, member of Team 108, Education as a Community

Global Leader Award

Evidence for leadership came from their journal, comments from team members in their journals, leadership challenges faced and overcome, and the quality of the team report

Champion Global Leader
Siobhan Bassett  - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 107, Make Your Difference

Highly Commended Global Leader
Chelsea Rowlands - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 97, Defence Against the Acid
Hayden Green - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 1, Nigeria’s Plastic Bottle Houses
Michael van der Kwast - Victoria University, leader of Team 90, WasteErase Newtrition
Monique Bullivant - Victoria University, leader of Team 100, The Pure Ginger Co.
Svanhild Bragvin Eriksen, University of Otago, leader of Team 47, Biodegradable Banana Fibre Tree Seedling Containers


Commitment Awards
There were many stories of extreme hardship and challenges faced by participants in the Global Enterprise Experience.  We admire your courage and determination to participate.  In selecting the Commitment Award recipients we checked on the stories to verify them through every means available, and we also selected only those recipients who had clearly contributed to a very high standard to their team.  So below are the stories of six extraordinary people who we salute.

Asira Khanal, Nepal, Team 52, Phoenix Ceramic Filters
Two days into the contest, Nepal experienced a mega 7.8 earthquake that devastated Nepal.  Asira lost five family members, so she took responsibility for caring for her family through its grief.  She actively helped the rescue efforts, while living under a tarpaulin to remain staff from falling masonry during the numerous aftershocks. Electricity and internet connections were absent or scant as the country’s infrastructure struggled to recover.  When Asira heard about the unsafe water that was putting lives as risk, she did the research into creating a water filter using traditional ceramic firing that exists in Nepal.  This project underpinned the impressive report that won this contest.

Asira was one of 67 Nepali participants who fully participated in their global team while contributing to Nepal’s rescue efforts, living in tents, stranded without power and internet, and facing dozens of aftershocks.   Colleagues around the world were in awe of their Nepali members - not only did they show commitment, but in so many cases were the powerhouse of their team, intellectually rigorous, active worker, a creative problem solver, gracious team member, and humble.  Below are the names of these exceptional Nepalis who have all earned a Commitment Award:

Aana Deuja, Aarati Kafle, Aashish Pant, Agan Gautam, Agnesha Dahal, Alex Maharjan, Alfa Maiya Shakya, Amir Mallepati Shrestha, Amresh Subedi, Anamol Rajbhandari, Anjali Acharya, Ankita Bagaria, Arvinda Karki, Ashish Piya, Ashish Shrestha, Asira Khanal, Avritti Bhattarai, Ayesha Karki, Barsha Pudasaini, Barsha Shrestha, Bindu Sharma, Chanda Kiran Adhikari, Crystal Manandhar, Deep Subedi, Dipak Prasad BASTOLA, Janaki Bhatta, Keepa Shrestha, Mahendra Bashyal, Mandira Tripathi, Manish Jung Joshi, Mendhala Lama Gurung, Mohammed Istiyak, Neeraj Pradhan, Neha Jatiya, Niraj Maharjan, Nisham Murarka, Prabina Shakya, Prajita Shrestha, Pranay Lama Pakhrin, Puja Shrestha, Rahul Uprety, Rashmi Pant, Riju Joshi, Robert Tamang, Roshan Adhikari, Roshan Aryal, Sadiksha Thapa, Sagar Upadhya, Salina Sharma, Samikshya Khanal, Samikshya Rana, Samikshya Singh, Sangam Dahal, Sara Sharma, Sarina Shrestha, Sefali Agrawal, Shaibya Gautam, Shovana Chamling, Shreeya Bhattarai, Sneha Shakya, Sonali Agrawal, Sristi Shrestha, Subina Shrestha, Sujan Adhikari, Sunita Maharjan, Surakchya Adhikari, Ujjwal Maharjan, Umesh Gautam 

Aurora Myers, United States, Team 29, Grow-Your-Own Spirulina Kits
Aurora is passionate about food nutrition and food security in the developing world.  She sent her journal in from Nicaragua where she visited to explore how she could use her talents and the ideas developed by her and her team to add nutrition to the diet of Nicaraguans.

Dalphine Netty Tagwireyi, Zimbabwe, Team 95, Nature’s Energy- Biogas Generation
Power outages meant that Dalphine could only access the team via her cellphone.  Dalphine’s own journal is a beautiful insight into social entrepreneurship and its potential for her country, Zimbabwe.  It says little about her hardships or team contribution - but her colleagues in her team wrote appreciatively of the insights they gained from her about the needs in a developing country, and their admiration that she travelled 54km to get to an internet cafe to write her part of the team report.

Dianne Tangara, Philippines, Team 30, Live Help Machine - ATM for Donations
Dianne spent three days in isolation in hospital - but she had her cellphone and that was enough for her to continue to actively contribute to her global team.

Jacob Tsebekgale, Botswana, Team 107, Make Your Difference - Exchange Between MDC and LDC
Jacob was hospitalised in a car accident that caused head injuries and broke his arm and leg.  He got his sister to notify the team, and to bring him his cellphone.  From hospital he continued to contribute to the team effort, and was a vital member.

PF (Name suppressed for safety), Iran, Team 97, Defence Against the Acid
PF was one of nine participants from the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) - an underground university in Iran delivering academic programs in Sciences, Engineering, Business & Management, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Baha’is in Iran are denied access to study, so the BIHE has been forced to operate under the radar in discreet locations, been subject to numerous arrests, periodic raids, mass confiscation of school equipment and general harassment.  Aziz Samandari, a graduate of this Global Enterprise Experience, has now served four years of a five year imprisonment term for the “crimes” of “communicating with foreigners and an association with BIHE.”  Despite PF’s risks of imprisonment for participating, she contributed actively to her team project to address the needs of people assaulted with acid. 

Champion Global Leader Academic Excellence Award

Pierre Sindambiwe, University of Rwanda, Rwanda

Pierre used his voluntary time to support the Rwandan students in the Global Enterprise Experience.  He is an inspirational academic, demanding high professional standards while warmly encouraging his students.  Pierre has a vision of Rwandan universities developing graduates recognised for their integrity, creative problem solving, technical expertise, practical aptitude, and determination to apply their education to make Rwanda a successful country.  He applies modern educational principles such as action learning and student-led learning such that graduates can step up to leadership roles in their future careers.

Champion Social Entrepreneur Award 

Kavi Raj Joshi, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

To date 6000 students have participated in the Global Enterprise Experience.  We searched through these graduates to find an exemplar who has applied social entrepreneurship skills to create a better world.  Kavi Raj Joshi is the first winner of this award.  He has led numerous projects to help Nepal including setting up a business incubator, creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem, holding entrepreneur seminars, establishing a business accelerator, and forming his own venture for emergent businesses to access seed finance and mentoring.  It speaks highly of Kavi’s integrity and high professional standards, that although he contributed to his global team, he asked that his name not be included on the report because he did not feel he had contributed enough - his efforts had been dedicated to the rescue efforts following the devastating earthquake in Nepal.

2014

ANZ Champion Team Award

Team 52: Nepal’s Sanitary Napkin Revolution

Developing low cost sanitary pads for girls in rural Nepal

New Zealand leader – Adam Smith
Nepal – Sujan Adhikari
Nepal – Amulya Bashyal
Australia – Ananda Marsh
Malaysia – Wong Kuan Zhou
Malaysia – Tan Keng Ee
Argentina – Noelia Denise Demelchiorre
Argentina -  Paula Soledad Ruiz

ANZ Highly Commended Team Award

Team 60: Lilypads

Use water hyacinth pads to produce low cost sanitary pads in Uganda

New Zealand leader – Georgia Lockley
Hong Kong PRC – Claudia Primavera
Hong Kong PRC – Lee Pui Chi
Canada – Gan Tian Li
Canada – Ivy Chiehyu
Australia – Linda Le
Colombia - Nicolás Augusto Ferrero Duque
South Africa - Patricia Kass

Team 88: Pall-ETS

New Zealand leader – Nick Harrison
Iran - Abdollah Zibaei
Indonesia - Daniel Lim
Indonesia - Denny Khong
New Zealand - Melissa Gracie
England - Richard Knight
Nigeria - Oyadeyi Samson Busay

Team 68: Misfits Cafe

New Zealand leader – Hayley Mann
Nepal – Asira KhanalSweden - Fanny Melin
Nepal - Shashank Pudel
South Africa - Sheila Wanjogu
Canada - Tsz Ue Crystal Chow
Sweden - Viktoria Berling
Sweden - Fanny Matilda Melin
Hong Kong PRC - Chloe Wong Yuet Sum

 Team 63: Kidz Tech

University of Otago Business School Journal Award

University of Otago Business School Champion Journal Award

Rwanda - Moses Asiimwe, member of Team 111, Banana Leaf Sanitary Pads

University of Otago Business School Highly Commended Journal Awards

Nepal – Sujan Adhikari, member of Team 52, Nepal Sanitary Napkin Revolution
Israel - Maya Mesilker, member of Team 90, Food for Life Restaurant
Vietnam - Phan Uyen Nghi, member of Team 37, Viter International
Canada - Jayapriya Narayanan, Team 63, Kidz Tech
Bangladesh - Mohammad Minhuz Uddin, member of Team 80, Happy Teeth

Victoria University of Wellington Global Leader Award

Victoria University of Wellington Champion Global Leader

Georgia Lockley - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 60, Lilypads

Victoria University of Wellington Highly Commended Global Leader

Anna McDonald - University of Otago, New Zealand, leader of Team 24, Be a Teetotaller
Diep Ngoc Tran - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 32, Sustainable Health for All
Oscar Pipson - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 51, Exposure
Haidee Tooley - Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 80, Happy Teeth
Lauren Gainer- Victoria University, New Zealand, leader of Team 85, Pragati Care

Commitment Awards

Abdollah Zibaei, Iran, Team 88, Pall-ETS

The Government in Iran banned Baha’is from study so the Baha’i community got 475 volunteer faculty to create an underground university teaching 17 degree programmes.  Abs is studying business management.  In 2011 Abs brother, Ramin Zibaei, was tortured, interrogated and imprisoned for four years for being a manager of the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education.  Despite knowing the personal risks, Abdollah has continued his studies, and participated in the Global Enterprise Experience.

Sunghye Kim, New Zealand, Team 29, Microfinance

Sunghye was hospitalised with appendicitis.  As she was being wheeled into emergency surgery she organised for team members to pick up the leadership role

Christopher Elson, New Zealand, Team 34, Edu4Mobile

Chris was hospitalised for over a week from a rock climbing accident.  He was pleased that the trust, strength and team culture was strong at the time of his accident, and was delighted that his team colleague, Pascal Ah-Yu of Australia, picked up the leadership role.

Richard Knight, England, Team 88, Pall-ETS

Richard made an impressive contribution to his team, consulting architects to design the emergency shelter for the team project.  He plans to continue with the project raising funding and launching it in Nigeria..

Ayush Manandhar, Nepal, Team109, Nivaa Solar Powered Desk Lamps
Ayush spent three days conducting research in Nepal for the team project. Like the many other impressive Nepalis who participated in the Global Enterprise Experience, Ayush coped with an epileptic power supply that failed for over 12 hours per day at unexpected times.

Kavi Raj Joshi, Nepal, Team 101, Start Up Machine

The team project is a business incubator in Nepal.  Kavi secured the offer of the incubator space at his university for free, as well as undertaking extensive research with potential business incubator clients. 

2013

The 2013 topic was to develop a business concept proposal for a profitable product or service that addresses one of the Millennium Goals of the UNDP (www.undp.org)

ANZ Team Award

ANZ Champion Team Award

Team 42: Student Entrepreneur Finance Network

New Zealand leader – Jacob McInteer

Bangladesh – Sultana Nasira

Colombia – Angie Michelle Gutierrez Daza

Nepal – Sumit Agrawal

Nigeria – Akindehin Isiaka Alade

Scotland - Eléonore Herrmann

Scotland – Johanna Lim

ANZ Highly Commended Team Award

Team 14: MagGas Co

New Zealand leader – Sophie Pinto-Raetz

New Zealand – Menique Stuart

Fiji – Andrea Thalari

Hong Kong – Yu Meiyao

Malaysia – Casper Chan Wai Kit

Malaysia – Wong Kok Hong

Wales – Robert Whiten

Team 15: MamaSafe Kits

New Zealand leader – Allie McLean

New Zealand – Nell Franklin

Hong Kong – Hogan Kok-Fung Wai

Lebanon – Arine Sarkis Kishian

Nepal – Rashmi Pant

Nigeria – Abdul-Rahman Buhari

Nigeria – Buhari Abdul-Hakeem

Team 31: Rural Pakistan Birthing Kit

New Zealand leader – Benjamin Verboeket

Colombia - Andrés Lozano Cabrera

Colombia - Jair Steven Hernández Barrientos

England – Lucy Daniels

Pakistan – Maham Ali

Pakistan – Misbah Arif

Team 37: StarchBags

New Zealand leader – Fenella Brown

Colombia - Andrés Ramírez Ferrer

Colombia - Sebastian Montes Gil

Iran – R G (Name withheld for student safety)

Malaysia – Muhammad Al’Zaim

Malaysia – Yap Kay Lian

Scotland - Anisah Chaudhry

Uganda – Mariam Tauba

Team 53: Homestay on Annapurna Circuit

New Zealand leader – Marc Stefan Schoppmann

Colombia - Julio César Arias Castaño

Hungary – Dora Cecilia Balint

Hungary – Julia Anna Balint

Macau – Cao Jia Qi

Nepal – Sujan Adhikari

Rwanda – Gaetan Ndahimana

South Africa – Avuyile Andisiwe

Victoria University of Wellington Journal Award

Students were evaluated on the quality of their journal as well as comments from colleagues and other evidence about the student’s contribution to the team effort.

Victoria University of Wellington Champion Journal Award

Zambia – John Musantu, member of Team 65, Tiyeseko Snail Farm

Victoria University of Wellington Highly Commended Journal Awards

Colombia - Santiago Pabón Olarte, member of Team 38, More Than Cookbooks

Nepal – Sujan Adhikari, member of Team 53, Homestay on Annapurna Circuit

New Zealand – Jacob McInteer, leader of Team 42, Student Entrepreneur Finance Network

Nigeria – Buhari Abdul-Hakeem, member of Team 15, MamaSafe Kits

Philippines – Franchesca Gail Lopez, member of Team 59, Vio_M Fertilizer

University of Otago Business School Global Leader Award

Evidence for leadership came from their journal, comments from team members in their journals, leadership challenges faced and overcome, and the quality of the team report

University of Otago Business School Champion Global Leader

Sophie Pinto-Raetz – New Zealand, leader of Team 14, MagGas Co

University of Otago Business School Highly Commended Global Leader

Danica Burghout – New Zealand, leader of Team 34, Ladynique

Fenella Brown – New Zealand, leader of Team 37, StarchBags

Guy Davidson – New Zealand, leader of Team 38, More Than Cookbooks

Hannah Angus – New Zealand, leader of Team 39, Vunvun Defence

Nicholas Barrett – New Zealand, leader of Team 60, Care Milk

UNESCO Commitment Awards

There were many stories of extreme hardship and challenges faced by participants in the Global Enterprise Experience.  We admire your courage and determination to participate.  In selecting the Commitment Award recipients we checked on the stories to verify them through every means available, and we also selected only those recipients who had clearly contributed to a very high standard to their team.  So below are the stories of six extraordinary people who we salute.

Supreme Commitment Award

Aziz’u’llah Samandari, Iran

Aziz’u’llah won a Commitment Award in a previous year for being an exceptional team member despite being aware of the risks that he was taking as a Baha’i in Iran.  Baha’is are banned from study in public universities so he became educated through the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education, a university run by volunteers in kitchens and living rooms across Iran. Sadly Aziz’u’llah has been imprisoned for five years charged with the “crimes” of communicating with foreigners and association with the Baha’i Institute of Higher Education.  He has lost his freedom for the very qualities that every other participant in the Global Enterprise Experience is celebrated for achieving – striving for education and building relationships across cultures. To understand this injustice please view  www.educationunderfire.com.

Commitment Award

Ajiboye Olufemi Festus, Nigeria, Team 25, Olufemi Institute  
Team members commented on the exceptional passion and local research undertaken by Olufemi.  His team leader was so impressed that he said Olufemi “motivated me to a point where I am actually considering going ahead with our business concept in Nigeria, with him as our local partner”.  Olufemi relocated himself to a city where he could better access the internet.

Blessing Oritseweyinmi Mene, Nigeria, Team 38, More Than Cookbooks

Mene shifted towns to be able to access the internet. His sacrifice was greatly appreciated by team members.

Braeden Austen, New Zealand, Team 5, Childcare App
Braeden had a motocross accident which required surgery.  In hospital he continued to contribute to  his team via cellphone in a mrorphine haze, and arranged for another student to pick up the leadership role for a few days.

Jean Marie Vianney Makabuza, Rwanda, Team 41, The Tyrecycling Company
Jean Marie had a full time secondary school teaching job, study, exams and very poor internet access.  He used his cellphone as his computer to contribute his share to the team report.

Udeji Samuel Uchenna, Nigeria, Team 41, Plantain Food and Fuel

The team leader failed to fire and this Nigerian student stepped up to the plate to the lead the team and produce a report on the use of plantain in Africa for food and fuel.   Internet access was very poor and much work was done with the cellphone.

2012

The 2012 topic was to "Develop a six-page business concept proposal  on a profitable product or service that links developed and developing countries for mutual benefit".

ANZ Team Report Award

ANZ Champion Team Report

Team 29: Claw for Coreguaje - Cats claw for arthritis, income to indigenous people

New Zealand leader - Kate Stone
Australia - Alex Le Phuoc Thao Bhui
Colombia - Maria Luisa Panta Correa
Nigeria - Koya, Joshua O.
Rwanda - Tuyisghime Moise
Hong Kong - Wong Man Sam Samantha
Hong Kong - Yuen Kiu Wong

ANZ Highly Commended Team Reports

Team 13: Alternative Energy Ltd - Waste to energy technology in Mumbai

New Zealand leader - Tim Lee
Australia - Dieu Trang Nguyen
Colombia - Andrea Correa Aranzazu
Colombia - Sara Ramirez Mejia
Iran - B K (Name suppressed for safety)
Nigeria - Osundare Regina Ifeoluwa
Nigeria - Sekoni Zacchaeus

Team 20: Drumstick Biodiesel - Sustainable oil from Moringa tree in Rwanda

New Zealand leader - Masina Lee Taulapapa
Australia - Ei Tin Zar Aye
Colombia - Daniela Hernandez Baena
Colombia - Eliana Ramiez Mejia
Italy - Jordan Rosenblum
Italy - Matthew Simon
Nigeria - Oyehan Ismaila Abolaji
Rwanda - Uwijuse Jean De Dieu

Team 22: Travel Light - Booking website for environmentally friendly tourism

New Zealand leader - Kendall Steele
Australia leader - Ricky Jin
Colombia - Andres Felipe Batancur Roldan
Colombia - David Arango Garcia
Rwanda - Muhizi Charles
Malaysia - Leaneshapaatam A L Sivapalan
Malaysia - Yi Shin Lim

Team 51: Teaching Exchange Program - Student volunteers teaching English in remote places

New Zealand leader - Nathalie Fahrni
Australia - Rohan Singh
Colombia - Carla Cristina Montoya
Colombia - Manuela Vasquez Lopez
England - Ifeoma Faith Meniru

Team 90: Global Dialogue Network - Event listing company for dialogue between countries

New Zealand leader - Helene Elisabeth Matti
New Zealand leader - Sanna Ingalill Magnusson
Canada - Chris Velasco
Saudi Arabia - Oyehan Tajudeen Adeyinka
Rwanda - Sibomana Eric
Malaysia - Loo Lek Ho
Malaysia - Ui Chan Ter

University of Otago Journal Award

University of Otago Champion Journal Award

Colombia - Sebastian Höfler member of Team 2, EcoSolution

University of Otago Highly Commended Journal Awards

Australia - Benjamin Donald leader of Team 1, International High School
Nigeria - Oluokun Adewale Mose s member of Team 6, Moringa Enterprises
Iran - E. R. (name suppressed for safety) member of Team 14, Globetrotter Agency
India - Gagan Preet Singh leader of Team 42, Life to Russia
Saudi Arabia - Oyehan Tajudeen Adeyinka member of Team 90, Global Dialogue Network

Victoria University Champion Global Leader Award

Victoria University of Wellington Champion Global Leader

Helena Langer - University of Otago, New Zealand, Team 73, Oyster Mushroom Replacing Syrofoam

Victoria University of Wellington Highly Commended Global Leader

Narayan Mani, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Team 23, Cassava Chips
Kate Stone, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Team 29, Claw for Coreguaje
Charlotte Baddeley, University of Otago, New Zealand, Team 39, Medical Tourism in Colombia
Erin Maher, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Team 48, Recyclotronix
Erin Dickinson, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Team 87, One Pound Project and More

UNESCO Commitment Awards

There were many stories of extreme hardship and challenges faced by participants in the Global Enterprise Experience.  We admire your courage and determination to participate.  In selecting the Commitment Award recipients we checked on the stories to verify them through every means available, and we also selected only those recipients who had clearly contributed to a very high standard to their team.  So below are the stories of five extraordinary people who we salute.

Adeboro Seun Samuel, Nigeria, Team 32:Lagos Waste Management Initiative 
Boro generated several creative ideas for his team that were insightful, viable and rich in data.  His contribution to generating ideas is the finest we have seen from 4500 students who have participated in this contest.  He then committed himself to fully contributing to the team effort to develop the chosen idea into a high quality report.  Boro achieved this despite the tough challenges that face all participants from Nigeria – poverty, poor internet connection, and lives that are a great deal more complicated to achieve the simplest things than for their colleagues in the developed countries.

P. A. (Name suppressed for safety), Iran, Team 19: Refresh
P.A. is a member of the Baha’i Faith in Iran, Iran’s largest religious minority with 300,000 members. For 30 years, Baha’is have been banned from tertiary study, so volunteer professors created an underground university to provide education for them. Their Vice Chancellor has been imprisoned for four years of a 20 year sentence for helping Baha’is to learn and function in a hostile country. Last year five academics were imprisoned for between four and five years merely for teaching IT, science and business to Baha’is. P.A. was in the top 0.01% of all Iranian students in the university entrance exams but was banned entry to university because of her religion. She faces the risk of imprisonment simply for learning and communicating with foreigners – indeed for doing what we are celebrating every other student in this contest for doing. P.A. contributed well to her team, until she was hospitalised with a serious illness.Nevertheless she completed her journal.

Dosubi Joshua Padjo, Nigeria, Team 70: Cane Artz
Like Boro, Joshua faced the extreme hardship of studying in Nigeria. For example in writing his journal he was in an electricity blackout and travelled many kilometres to a friend’s place to use an inverter. What makes Joshua exceptional is that his team leader failed to fire, so Joshua stepped into the team leadership role. He took on this role with grace, working with his colleagues as the first among equals. His team members wrote about his excellent leadership and how he was the powerhouse in uniting members and developing the report. Joshua also took the initiative to do field research on the project idea that he had suggested.

Sara Maya Sanchez, Colombia, Team 60, Warri E-Waste Recycling 
This year there were 149 participants from Colombia of whom all but two completed every requirement of the contest. As participants will know, the Colombians are committed team members shouldering more than their share of the work. Sara was the most outstanding exemplar of Colombian fortitude. Her team leader underperformed so she took on the responsibility of leading her team, demonstrating excellent leadership and communication skills with kindness, firmness and humility. She was the critical team member in developing the team report which was an exceptional piece of work.

Kavi Raj Joshi, Nepal, Team 36: Ecolodge Resort in Peru 
Kavi was an invaluable member of Team 36, contributing ideas, hard work, professionalism and a warm colleagial spirit to his team.  This was despite having 11 hour power shedding throughout the day, no easy access to a computer, clashes with his final assignments and exams, and political strikes that crippled the country and made mobility around the Kathmandu nigh impossible. To top it off, Kavi was hospitalized during the contest, yet still completed all requirements.

Global Leader Academic Excellence Award

Prof Tatiana Velez, EAFIT University and Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia
This is the first year that this award has been offered.  Prof Velez designed an action learning course that drove intercultural skills development.  Her students all performced to a very high standard, and in their journals, they wrote glowingly about their professor whose commitment, student engagement and professionalism inspired them to achieve.

2011

The 2011 topic was to "Develop a six-page business concept proposal on a profitable product or service to foster indigenous development".

It may be something that engages indigenous people, is directed at indigenous people, of affects indigenous people in the developed or developing world.  This includes a wide range of possibilities such as:

•Businesses and crafts
•Health
•Education
•Tourism
•Water and sanitation
•Housing
•Community initiatives
•Food & cooking
•Energy
•Retaining language
•Agriculture, fishing and forestry

ANZ Team Report Award

ANZ Champion Team Report

Team 20, Wayuu Mangrove Beekeeping

New Zealand - Claudia Antonia Ducrot 
Malaysia - Lee Chong De 
Nigeria - Omisakin Yinka Waliyat 
Pakistan - Zeeshan Arshad 
Colombia - María Paulina López Morales 
Colombia - Rosario Tatis-Marin 
Colombia - Maria Fernanda Gallego Maya

ANZ Highly Commended Team Reports

Team 1, Karite Innovate

New Zealand - Sheung Pui Dickson Mo
New Zealand  - Samuel Withers
Australia - Kanji Low
Ghana - Edmond M Balika 
Nigeria -  Ajao Joseph Olayinka 
Bulgaria - Nina Veselinova Petkova 
Colombia  - Andres Felipe 
Colombia - Natalia Granda Medina

Team 30, Kape, Kultura at ang Pilipino

New Zealand - Georgina Anne Ang Geotina 
Singapore - Gilbert Chng Yu Jie 
Jordan - Ahmad Jamal Rashed Daoud
Colombia - David Castano

Team 41, Biodiesel Nigeria

New Zealand - Andre Gilhespy
USA  - Jill Balek 
USA - Sandra Simanskyte 
Nigeria - Awe Sariat Adenike 
Colombia -  Kelly Yuliana Ospina Tuberquia

Team 58, IndiCashew

New Zealand - Jessica Ch'ng Hui Ting
Canada  - Bora Pheng 
United Kingdom - Nicanor F Piñole Álvarez
Colombia - Daniel Escobar Hoyos
Colombia - Andres Mauricio Diaz Penarredonda

Team 60, Messiah for Massai

New Zealand - Daniel Henderson
USA -  Xiang Li
United Kingdom - Ankit Sethi
United Kingdom  - Lekha Mysore Mohan
Colombia - María Alejandra Redondo Romero
Colombia - Julio Cesar Escobar Bedoya
Colombia - Esteban Palomino
Colombia - Nathalie Quintero Madrid

Victoria University of Wellington Journal Award

Victoria University of Wellington Champion Journal

Olaoye Oyinkansola Kofoworola, Nigeria - Plantain Chips

Victoria University of Wellington Highly Commended Journals

Kelly Johana Gonzalez Tapia, Colombia - Wayuu Ethnic Experience

Robinah Atukunda , Uganda - Beans from Rich Coast

Wadzanai Marowa , Zimbabwe - Veddah Training

Benjamin Donald , Australia - Ganguru:Advance to the Outback

Paul Mayuyu , Philippines - Coconut Coir Geotextiles

UNESCO Commitment Awards

These students competed with great hardships although still contribute well to their team and produced an excellent report.

Afolayan, Sulaiman Kehinde (Nigeria)
Kenny contracted typhoid during the contest but managed to fully contribute to his team including conducting field research on the team topic, Refined Zoborodo.  It cost a month of income to be able to connect with the team.

AM Name suppressed for safety (Iran)
AM was one of 22 students of the Baha'i Faith participating in the Global Enterprise Experience.  In Iran Baha'is are banned from studying in public universities solely because of their faith.  So the Baha'i community established their own university run via the internet and in private homes to provide the 300,000 strong community education opportunities for their youth. Three years ago the vice chancellor was imprisoned because of her efforts to provide education and support for the community.  Two months after the completion of the 2011 contest word leaked out of Iran that all of the professors have now been arrested.  We have also not able to get any response from emails to any of the students and hold grave fears for their safety.  AM contributed as an outstanding member of his team, despite the personal risks.

Ibrahim Kamoru Alao (Nigeria)
The 2011 Global Enterprise Experience was held during the turbulent Nigerian elections when there were curfews at night. Kamoru was robbed and injured during the violence in his attempts to get to an internet to connect with his global team.  He completed his team contribution while in hospital with the help of the doctor.

Julio Cesar Escobar Bedoya (Colombia)
Julio had to catch the 3:30am bus to get to an internet for the team meetings which began at 5:30am Colombian time.

Lawer Akrofi (Ghana)
Lawer had to contend with a fickle power supply and poor internet connection to join his team.  His solution was to climb the powerpole outside his home with his computer to get better coverage when the power was going.

Oyehan Ibrahim Adeniyi (Nigeria)
Adeniyi had to cover 17km per day to get to an internet connection.  He was arrested for breaking the curfew during the election turmoil in his attempts to get to the internet.  His troubles were compounded with a bout of malaria.

Prateekshya Shakya (Nepal)
Prateekshya contended with an epileptic power supply that was out for 14 hours of the day - power supply could be at any time of the day or night for an indefinite period. The contest also coincided with her MBA exams.  Despite these challenges she contributed fully to her team.

BE Intent Global Leader Award

This was judged from the report, team member feedback, the challenges faced and the journal.  Below is the journal.

BE Intent Champion Global Leader

Jessica Ch'ng Hui Ting (New Zealand)  - Team 58: IndiCashew

BE Intent Highly Commended Global Leader

Sarah Fisher (New Zealand) - Team 5: Farming for Life

Philippa Parsons (New Zealand) - Team15: Beans from Rich Coast

Kausalya Potluri (New Zealand) - Team 16: Ego to Eco:The Embera Way

Minto Ming-Tao Fung (New Zealand) - Team 26: Coconut Coir Geotextiles

Zandra Johansson (New Zealand) - Team 42: Sami Wildlife Experience

2010

The 2010 topic is to “Develop a six-page business concept proposal for a profitable product or service to foster women’s social and/or economic development”.

It may be something that is directed at women or may affect women in the developed or the developing world. This includes a wide range of possibilities such as:

• Businesses and crafts
• Health
• Education
• Elderly care and child care
• Water and sanitation
• Housing
• Community initiatives
• Agriculture, food & cooking
• Energy
• Safety
• Peace initiatives
• Websites - raise debate & income
• Journalism, film, books and TV

Team Awards

Champion Team Report

Team 18: Amaranth for Africa

United States - Alyssa Silver

Colombia - Andrea Serna Restrepo

New Zealand - Jas Giri

United States - Jason Ryan Kirby

Sweden - Miha Sebenik

Nigeria Oyehan Tajudeen Adeyinka

Highly Commended Team Reports

Team 8: Maid in Delhi

Colombia - Angelo Gutierrez

United States - Brian Leininger

Colombia - Daniel Montoya

India - Gagan Preet Singh

Sweden - Matthijs Hollander

New Zealand - Shirley Wong

United States Sylvia Nguyen

United States Donald Straub

Team 27: Esan Cassava Processors

Colombia - Laura Gomez Cardona

Nigeria - Oli Jude Okechukwu

New Zealand - Paul Maurice Ralph

Sweden - Rients de Boer

Colombia - Wendy Zapata Jaramillo

United States - Westleigh Styer

Team 51: Aqualux

Colombia - Daniel Clavijo Crespo

Sweden - Erik Erlandsson

United States - Laine Armour

Malaysia - Muhammad Hisyamuddin Shahrin

Nepal - Rajeev Shrestha

Colombia - Santiago Sosa Noreña

New Zealand - Victoria Wynn

Team 60: Fashion Recycled

Philippines - Christian B. Guillermo

Colombia - David Serrano

Colombia - Santiago Diaz Velez

New Zealand - Tim Shepherd

Australia - Tse Jie Rui Nicklaus

Finland - Ulla Rosalin

Canada - Willie Yao

Canada - Xiang Min Lin

Team 68: Future Moms Protection Network

Latvia - Johanna Aasame

Colombia - Manuela Gomez dvanced/langs/en.js" type="text/j-avascript">// > Gonzalez

New Zealand - Marc Trotter

Canada - Michelle (Xiao) Liu

Uganda - Patric René Mwimanzi

Colombia - Valerie Santamaria

Journal Awards

Champion Journal

Adeniyi Sheriff Adebowale  (Team 33, Nigeria)

Highly Commended Journals

X(Team 36, Iran)

Brian Carrillo  (Team 15, United States)

Dhiman Gain  (Team 49, Bangladesh)

Kelvin Uwayezu  (Team 2, Uganda)

Maria Scott  (Team 53, New Zealand)

Subin Hachhethu  (Team 45, Nepal)

Global Team Leader Awards

Winner

Cara O’Shell  (Team 33)

Highly Commended

Frances Skilton (Team 32)

Momo Smithers (Team 42)

Tim Pointer (Team 44)

Victoria Wynn (Team 51)

Commitment Awards

X (Name suppressed for his safety), Iran, Team 36

X is an Iranian Baha’i. He has already spent two months in prison solely because of his faith and for being falsely accused of communicating with foreigners. The government will not allow Baha’is to attend public university so academics have provided an education using people’s homes and the internet. For X, and the 11 other Baha’i students in the contest like him, it is very risky to participate in the Global Enterprise Experience.

Amusa Jumoke Fatimah, Nigeria, Team 26

Jummy is the only girl in a family of 15 to study. Money is very tight so she used the internet café in the early hours of the morning when it was at it cheapest. However she injured herself falling asleep as she walked home.

Shishir Hari Rajbhandari, Nepal, Team 45

Nepal is experiencing 12 hours per day of electricity shedding, at uncertain times of the day. Shashir found a way to work, study and participate in this contest by borrowing a laptop and battery from his cousin and using it in the early hours of the morning.

Simon Edward Metcalfe, New Zealand, Team 13

Simon’s wife had a baby during the contest. Simon managed his team so he could commit to both his project and his family.

Sowemimo Olubukola James, Nigeria, Team 10

James was unexpectedly called up for youth service at the start of the contest in a village with no electricity and many miles down a dirt road to an internet café. He contracted malaria during the second half of the contest. Remarkably James managed to contribute to his team and get his journal in on time.

Tommy Israel Etim, Nigeria, Team 13

Tommy travelled 100km to access the Internet. For his team he also visited a region without power to talk to rural communities to do market research on the potential for solar cooking.

Francis Skilton, New Zealand, Team 32

Francis broke her arm and was badly concussed. One could say she led her team single handedly!

Dhiman Gain, Bangladesh, Team 49

Riots closed Dhiman’s university so he needed to walk two hours to find an internet café to connect to his team.

Kelvin Uwayezu, Uganda, Team 2

Kelvin organised for his university colleagues in Uganda to participate in the Global Enterprise Experience, and then provided them with a great deal of help. However the university’s internet broke down so paying for internet connection was a major struggle.

Adeniyi Sheriff Adebowale, Nigeria, Team 33

Sheriff grew up in a village with no electricity, but eventually managed to get an education. The tough circumstances of his upbringing created a commitment to help his fellow citizens. For the contest he s old his cellphone to pay for the internet.

2009

In 2009 the topic was to develop a six page business concept proposal on a profitable product or service to foster a sustainable home, village or city.

Winning report

Team 45 : Rice Husk Technology Solutions

Colombia - Ana Cecilia Greiffenstein

Colombia - Daniel Jaramillo Velez

New Zealand - Stefan Hampker

Philippines - Michael Jonathan Biscocho

Philippines - Rozelle Anne Noriega

USA - Jason Olaivar

USA - Zaneta Owens

Winning Journal

Nigeria - Giwa Jelilat Romoke  (Team 8)

Te Kaihau Commitment Awards

Some participants put in a remarkable effort despite adversity to put their commitment to their team ahead of themselves:

Rwanda - Nkomejegusenga Dieudonne (Team 31)

Access to the internet is very limited in Rwanda, electricity is fickle and daily life is challenging. The final week of the competition coincided with the annual week long mourning period for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Nkomejegusenga Dieudonne, like so many Rwandans, commits his spare time to finding ways to help his fellow Rwandans and community to build a stronger society so that the events of 1994 never re-occur.

Iran - Shiva (full name suppressed for personal safety - Team 6)

Shiva was one of 14 Iranian Baha'i participants this year. University study is banned for people of the Baha'i Faith in Iran, and increasingly also for school aged children. In 1999 volunteer professors were imprisoned for teaching academic subjects to Baha'i youth. Shiva contributed fully to her team despite the personal risks.

Nigeria - Olaoye Oyinkansola Kofoworola (Team 20)

Snowflakes (Olaoye Oyinkansola Kofoworola) was using the internet service very late at night when prices were more affordable, when armed robbers attached the cyber cafe attendant and patrons, killing three and beating the rest. From hospital Snowflakes arranged for the doctor to let her use his internet connection to contribute to her team's final report and send her journal.

New Zealand - Jessica Kairarunga Maraea Smith (Team 31)

Jessica's work took her from New Zealand to the UK, Germany and Switzerland where she found internet connections to lead her team. However, on a personal excursion to Poland, she became very ill in a village with no English, and no ready internet access. She arranged for her sister to fly 18,000km to medi-vac her out of Poland and to find a way to get an internet connection to communicate with her team explaining what had happened.

Colombia - Jennifer Soto Cardona (Team 35)

Participants will know the feeling of let down when one or two members of the team disappear into cyberspace. For Jennifer it was her whole team that disappeared emerging only on the last days of the contest. So Jennifer developed the entire report on her own.

Nepal - Suraj Shrestha (Team 57)

Owing to scant rainfall, destruction of powerlines from flooding, reduced water flow from the Himalayas due to global warming, and a collapsed dam, the power supply in Nepal is in critical condition. On some days there was only four hours of electricity, and this could be at any time of the day or night. Suraj was required to put in longer hours at work to cope with the intermittent power, and then find a moment after work when the power was on to connect with the team.

Singapore - Harry Akbar Sutiono (Team 64)

Harry's mother was diagnosed with a serious illness. So he flew to Indonesia to support her, but continued to also fully support his team.

Colombia - Alejandro Zapata (Team 5)

Alejandro was incapacitated from an operation. However as soon as he was out of hospital he offered to the team to work non stop to help complete the report.

Highly Commended Reports

Team 8 : Biogas Energy Solutions

Colombia - Andrea Restrepo Botero

Colombia - Elizabeth Velasquez Taborda

New Zealand - Lane Vincent Charles Black

New Zealand - Danielle Oosterman

Nigeria - Giwa Jelilat Romoke

Nigeria - Salawu Muideen Oluwatosin

USA - Bettina Michele Collier

USA - Blaine F. Paden

Team 17 : EcoSan Dry Toilets

Colombia - Alejandra Giraldo Escobar

Colombia - Santiago Barrientos Botero

Germany - Samuel Mabikke

New Zealand - Laura Hinderwell

USA - Nurul-Afiqah Lokman

USA - Na Li

Team 59 : Bamboozle

Bangladesh - Ibtihaj Samad Nabil

Bangladesh - Md. Wasequzzaman

Colombia - Diana Marcela Oleya Mesa

Colombia - Maria Alejandra

New Zealand - Timothy Edward Noel Newton-Howes

USA - Jack Cullen

USA - Elysse Egerman

Team 60 : Morphallaxis

Bangladesh - Imtiaz Ahmed

Canada - Sharon Paz

Colombia - Luuisa Fernanda Gallo

New Zealand - May Lee

USA - Christian Acuna

Team 66 : The Mobile Global Food Network

Colombia - Carolina Escudero

Iran - Afsane (full name suppressed for personal safety)

Kyrgyzstan - Nurgul Iminova

Kyrgyzstan - Allakhunov Kabul

New Zealand - Anna Larsen

USA - Rebecca Mielke

USA - Soba Renee Princewill

Highly Commended Journals

Rwanda - Nkomejegusenga Diedonne  (Team 31)

Bangladesh - Md. Wasequzzaman (Team 59)

Philippines - Anna Maria Margarity B. Manzo (Team 47)

Colombia - David Pelaez Gomez (Team 52)

New Zealand - Audrey Sam (Team 58)

2008

Topic

In 2008 participants had three weeks to develop a six page business concept proposal on a profitable product or services that meets the needs of the poor. The topic was based on the ideas of C K Prahalad published in his book "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid". Usually we aim to develop products and services for the wealthy however he developed a series of case studies showing that there is a viable market amongst the world's 4 billion poor earning less than $2/day. However to achieve success requires a radical rethink of business strategy to reduce the price by 90%, maintain world class quality, engage in partnership with the consumers, match the product or service to exactly meets the consumers' needs, and more aspects.

Winning reports and journals are below:

Winning Report
Team 18: BlueGen

Highly Commended Reports
Team 14: The Medicycle Corporation
Team 37: Terra Source
Team 53: Innovate - Global Education and Training
Team 63: Global Enterprise Connect
Team 64: Growth for Life

Winning Journal
Aremu Adewale Abedimi - Nigeria

Highly Commended Journals
Nkomejegusenge Diedonne - Rwanda
Wadzanai Murau - Zimbabwe
Dennis Muchiri Wambui - Kenya
Anna Pallesen - New Zealand
David Trujillo - Colombia

Voeveo Commitment Awards
Many participants overcame extraordinary odds or showed great resilience to contribute to their teams:

* Aremu Adewale Abedimi - Nigeria
Adewale fasted three days per week to pay for the internet and visited rice growing elders to get ideas for his team's project

* Salawu Muideen Oluwatosin - Nigeria
Muideen spent 40% of his money on the internet connection. He had the Global Enterprise Experience, SIFE and his exams all in the same three weeks

* Shergan - Iran (full name suppressed for personal safety)
Members of the Baha'i Faith, Iran's largest religious minority, are not allowed to study at university. Students such as S. M. are studying underground but run the risk of persecution and imprisonment.

* Jose Daniel Zamorano Mejia - Colombia
Jose recognised there was a vacuum with the leadership and successfully stepped into the role. Jose also took the lead role in designing a project for an employee social development fund.

* Debasish Kumar Das - Bangladesh
Riots closed their university during the contest but Debasish found a way to continue contributing to the team.

* Wadzanai Murau - Zimbabwe
Wadzanai went out to the villages to do field research on the needs of the poor for her team.

* Daniel Nzohabonimana - Rwanda
Daniel contracted yellow fever during the contest but completed handing his journal in just a few days late. From a previous GEE contest he put his winnings and GEE contacts towards establishing a gorilla tourist venture and an AIDS centre for 400 children.

* Stanislav Shateev - New Zealand
Stanislav progressed his GEE project to a successful venture. The scenar is a Russian medical device that provides healing for most ailments. He arranged for the manufacturers, RITM, to gift nine scenar to Uganda. The proposal created a system to enable villagers to establish a profitable scenar business and also provide free services to the AIDS centre.

* Norma Garza Bedolla - Mexico
Norma built a complete website to showcase products created by the poor during the three week contest.

* Ashutosh Mani Dixit - Nepal
Ashutosh spent two days living with the very poor in Nepal to gain a better understanding of how to democratise investment. His insights informed the team's project, and also fueled his passion to make a real difference in making capital markets work for the poor.

2007

Topic

"Write a six page business concept proposal that would foster a sustainable environment. Your project needs draw on the diversity of your team members and their countries. The proposal is a preliminary investigation of a concept and sets out the rationale as to who your team should receive a grant to undertake a full business plan. Your proposal will need to convince funders that this is a worthwhile project to pursue, with evidence of information, thoughtfulness, understanding of business issues, and an action plan for how your team would proceed with the venture." In addition, each participant is required to submit a one-page journal that outlines their experience and insights. The one page journal is essential to be eligible to win any of the prizes.

Winning Report

Team 51: Bios Investments

Marit Borrmann - Germany

Patient Irumva - Rwanda

Chloe Dallaway - New Zealand

Angela Delfina Mateus - Macau

Katharina Von Kracht - Germany

Ka Leng Ho - Macau

Highly Commended Reports

Group 5: ValueAdd Recycling Sources Trading Coop

Jovita Seiliute - Lithuania

Ignotas Salavejus - Lithuania

Xian Huang - Unite States

Summer Jones - United States

Sharifah Wardah Binte - singapore

Yuan Zhang - New Zealand

Group 21: The Develop.Com Agency

Andre Mugambira - Rwanda

Anil Prasin - Nepal

Chen Zhang - New Zealand

Daniel Nzohabonimana - Rwanda

Naomi Hu - United Kingdom

Raju Uprety - Nepal

Group 33: The DEBAG Ltd Corporation

Ting Luo - New Zealand

Luca Toffalori - Italy

Alessandra Amerio - Italy

Amanda Nelson - USA

Joseph Smith - USA

Sam Man Cheng, Christy - Macau

Lai Leong Chi, Gigi - Macau

Group 37: Enviromobiles

Irene Chan - Macau

Virginia Cheong - Macau

Maggie Cheung - New Zealand

Ramune Rimgalaite - Latvia

Natalija Snakauskaite - Latvia

Group 48: Ecoprof Consulting

Lin Ziaodong - New Zealand

Andreas Johnnes Golks - Germany

Jan Enrich Winheine - Germany

Umut - Turkey

Oliva Lam - Macau

Angie Wong - Macau

Edwin Odeh Igah - Nigeria

Adebukola Adekanye - Nigeria

Catherine Hatin Bourbeau - Canada

Winning Journal

Kalenzi Richard - Rwanda

Highly Commended Journals

Alessia Morell - Italy

Teresa Chan - New Zealand

Chloe Dallaway - New Zealand

Lo Tin Yee - Macau

Rabindra Shrestha - Nepal

2006

“Write a six page business concept proposal on financing economic development that draws on the diversity of your team members and their countries. Teams may propose a scheme for microfinance, financing trade aid, financing women’s entrepreneurship, encouraging entrepreneurship, venture capital, assisting capital flows into developing countries, or any other concept with a financial theme. The winning proposal will demonstrate why the team should be funded to fully plan and implement their concept.”

Winning Report

Team 34: Link Aid

Highly Commended Reports
Team 7: International Recycled Computer Education Programme
Team 17: Music Juncture
Team 18: Empowerment of Entrepreneurial Woman
Team 40: Fungal Focus

Winning Journal
Samuel Mabikke - Uganda

Highly Commended Journal
Alex Bignotti - Italy
Anastasiya Nedelcheva - New Zealand
Arne Stehnken - New Zealand
Carmen Lou Nga Man - Macau
Eng Hong Ai - Malaysia

2005

Topic

"Develop a five page concept proposal for a business venture that will foster unity in diversity. Your proposal must draw on the diversity of your team members and their countries. Your report is a preliminary investigation of a concept and sets out the rationale as to why your team should receive a grant to undertake a full business plan. Your report will need to convince funders that this is a worthwhile project to pursue, with evidence of information, thoughtfulness, understanding of business issue, and an action plan for how your team would proceed with the venture." 

Winning Report

Team 15: The Gaming Experience

Highly Commended Reports
Team 1: Global Governors
Team 18: Academic Resource

Winning Journal
Sumaiya Aboo - South Africa

Highly Commended Journal
Jenny Mikkola - Finnland
Esther Kou Iok Teng - Macau

2004
Topic

"Develop a concept proposal for a business venture involving music that draws on the talents and opportunities in your team members' countries. Your report is a preliminary investigation of a concept and sets out the rationale as to why your team should receive a grant to undertake a full business plan. Your report will need to convince funders that this is a worthwhile project to pursue, with evidence of information, thoughtfulness, understanding of business issues, and an action plan for how your team would proceed with the venture."

Winning Report
Global Rhyme

Winning Journal
Temalati Kupu - Tonga