Five incredible social enterprises stood out from a pool of over 200 applicants in this year’s selection process for the F.M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact. We are thrilled to announce these five finalists, whose work spans across several continents, impact areas, and business models – and who are all working tirelessly to achieve meaningful impact at scale.
No Means No Worldwide collaborates with local partners across 10 African countries to bring an evidence-based sexual violence prevention intervention to youth living in communities with a high burden of sexual violence. The ten-hour curriculum, adapted by local partners for local context, has contributed to compelling outcomes for is participants, including a 47% decrease in overall incidence of rape among female participants and 79% of male participants who then witnessed physically or sexually assaultive behavior reporting that they successfully intervened to stop it.
I appreciate that No Means No Worldwide brings all stakeholders to the table to create a future without violence. They have developed a boys’ curriculum to explain concepts of consent and positive masculinity as well as bystander techniques to intervene.” – Kandasi Griffiths, Duke MBA ’24, 2024 Kirby Impact Prize Selection Committee
Read more about why we are excited about No Means No Worldwide in this Finalist Spotlight post.
Semilla Nueva is committed to addressing malnutrition in the more than one billion people worldwide whose diets consist primarily of maize. Leveraging existing infrastructure and stakeholders, Semilla Nueva works to align incentives among seed companies, smallholder farmers, consumers, and governments so that biofortified (and high-yield, climate resilient) seeds are planted by smallholder farmers and the resulting biofortified maize reduces the zinc, iron, and protein deficits in its consumers.
We are really impressed with the systems-level approach taken by Semilla Nueva, that in order to scale biofortified maize for maximum impact, it requires aligning incentives for everyone in the system to benefit. Consumers have access to higher nutrition maize; smallholder farmers have the ability to increase profits; seed companies have a higher value product in their portfolio; and governments benefit from a healthier population and a more resilient agriculture sector.” – Henry Drewyer, Duke MEM/MBA ’24, 2024 Kirby Impact Prize Selection Committee
Read more about why we are excited about Semilla Nueva in this Finalist Spotlight post.
SOIL (Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods) has worked in Haiti over the past 14 years to address the most basic sanitation – and related safety and human dignity – rights for the country’s most vulnerable urban communities.
SOIL’s circular approach to bringing sanitation to Haiti’s most vulnerable communities and converting collected waste into compost that can enrich crops and decrease CO2 emissions is impressive on its own – but the fact that they are accomplishing such important impact in an unstable environment, committing themselves to their clients and adapting as needed, really blew us away.” – Juan Pablo Quintero, Duke MEM/MBA ’24, 2024 Kirby Impact Prize Selection Committee
Read more about why we are excited about SOIL in this Finalist Spotlight post.
The Somo Project provides a holistic system of support to low-income entrepreneurs in East Africa to strengthen their businesses, help them access financing, and provide a broader community of mentorship and tools to sustain operations. Over the past seven years, Somo has trained nearly 7,000 entrepreneurs, helped 500 businesses access financing, and contributed to the creation of over 13,000 jobs through its entrepreneurs’ businesses. Through a train-the-trainer model, piloted in Tanzania, Somo expects to dramatically scale its reach over the next several years.
We are particularly excited about Somo’s holistic approach to support. They don’t only provide financing or training, but rather a suite of services that ensures comprehensive support for entrepreneurs during challenging but critical stages in launching and scaling their businesses.” – Caitlin Mason, Duke MBA ’24, 2024 Kirby Impact Prize Selection Committee
Read more about why we are excited about Somo Project in this Finalist Spotlight post.
Urban Alchemy, a U.S.-based employment social enterprise, recognizes the unique assets that formerly incarcerated individuals can bring to drive positive change in communities grappling with poverty, mental illness, homelessness, and addiction. Urban Alchemy recruits and trains formerly incarcerated individuals to serve as practitioners in executing government, business, and community contracts related to safety, housing, and cleanliness initiatives. Urban Alchemy is currently operating in several cities, with a vision to scale nationally, and has demonstrated compelling impact on recidivism rates among its staff (<2% vs. national average of >40%) in addition to the positive impact on the communities it serves.
We were impressed with Urban Alchemy’s strong problem-solution fit, where their returning citizen staff leverage their lived experience and unique perspective to serve others experiencing homelessness and mental health crises in an empathetic, trauma-informed way – with transformative outcomes on both sides.” – Raiven Greenberg, Duke MBA ’24, 2024 Kirby Impact Prize Selection Committee
Read more about why we are excited about Urban Alchemy in this Finalist Spotlight post.
We continue to be inspired by the impact and ambitions of these unique enterprises. Stay tuned for our announcement of the Kirby Impact Prize winner in May 2024.