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PROVO — Some BYU students have innovative ideas that they think will change the world and they're starting businesses that not only make a profit, but also make a social impact. Friday they competed for money to launch their ideas.
Friday was the audience choice event for the Ballard Center's Social Venture Competition. Four different student groups set up booths, made their pitches, and hoped to win votes for their social venture.
One group got their inspiration from Ghana. There, some people live on $1.25 a day, and make a beautiful Kente cloth. It's woven and sold to tourists or used for ceremonial purposes.
"This is exactly what they sell," said Samuel Wilding, founder of Kofi and Company. "It's just draped over the areas where they weave. They just have it hanging there."
While on a study abroad, BYU students Wilding and Chris Cannon had an idea to lift rural Ghanaians out of poverty by providing another market for Kente cloth-making shoes.
"The goal behind Kofi and Company is to source the cloth from the artists and the weavers in Ghana and then to create unique, high-end designs in the states and sell those shoes here and let a portion of the proceeds go back to the weavers in Ghana so they have money to improve their villages and improve their lives," Wilding said.
Usually you can tell a really good idea when you listen to it and the first thing you think is why has nobody thought of that before. And that happens all the time.
–Aaron Miller, Social Venture Academy advisor
It's just one of the ideas competing in BYU's Social Venture Competition.
"Usually you can tell a really good idea when you listen to it and the first thing you think is why has nobody thought of that before," said Aaron Miller, a Social Venture Academy advisor. "And that happens all the time. "
Each year, more than 150 students come to the Social Venture Academy with ideas they think will help solve a serious social problem. The academy provides advice, mentoring, and money to help them get their social ventures off the ground.
"Our idea first is to empower people," said Bryce Herman, founder of Prosper. "We want to help them believe that they have the ability to get out of poverty and then give them the means to do it. "
Herman wants to start Prosper, a company that would provide business training courses to people in Nicaragua.
"People are poor because there aren't jobs or because there are low-paying jobs," Herman said. "So if we can help people create jobs for themselves and others and solve problems in their communities, that's really how economies develop."
The audience choice award went to Prosper. They'll receive $1,000 to help them start business training courses in Nicaragua. Kofi and Company was the runner-up and will receive $250.
