BiD Challenge 2006: Working at the intersection of poverty and entrepreneurship?
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After a successful first 2005 edition, the international competition BiD Challenge is once again offering organizations and individuals the opportunity to finance their business plans aiming at poverty reduction in developing countries. The competition is sponsored by Business in Development, an organization from the Dutch National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO), the main civil in Holland that seeks to reduce poverty through market-oriented initiatives. In line with the committees goals, participating projects should contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Goals at comply with some requirements such as consisting in the creation or enlargement of an existing business, call for a start-up investment of 500-500,000 and Generate profits in a three-year period.
CSR is also factored in
Participant
businesses plans should also
comply with some general guidelines for corporate
social responsibility, developed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD). Thus, BiD enterpreneurs shall respect human rights,
contribute to sustainable development and the employees further education,
carry out environmental-friendly practices, counteract corrupted practices and
strive to transfer technology to the host country, among others (see detailed
version online).
Succesful 2006 edition
Last
year, more than 700 business plans were submitted from 65 different countries.
After a selection process involving the participation of screeners, an expert
panel and a jury, prizes of up to 20,000 were granted to 10 plans. Said funds
will be used to start-up their business initiatives. However, the Challenge
also allowed over 10 non-wining participants to obtain financing funds for
their plans through the organizations partners and network. Visit the BiD`s
page to learn more about the 2005 winners plans.
To participate in this
2006 edition, a 3-page plan (of about 1500 words) should be submitted to the
BID Website (More information on submittal process) before March 20th 2006 at 18 GMT.
