SAB Foundation announces Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment award finalists
INANDA – The SAB Foundation in partnership with The Technology Innovation Agency (Tia) has selected the finalists for their Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment 2017 awards, with the winners to be announced at a ceremony on 23 October.
The SAB Foundation in partnership with The Technology Innovation Agency (Tia) has selected the finalists for their Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment 2017 awards, with the winners to be announced at a ceremony on 23 October.
They have selected a total of 18 Social Innovation finalists from across the country focusing on innovations from the health, energy, education, water and sanitation to the livelihood and sustainable agriculture sectors. These innovations are best suited to help improve the lives of the SAB Foundation’s primary beneficiaries, namely women, the youth, people living with disabilities and people living in rural areas, all of whom are from low-income areas.
Innovations also need to demonstrate their ability to be commercial and scalable. the SAB Foundation provides the best innovations with a combination of financial investment, business support and mentorship.
The overall social innovation winner will receive R1,3 million and the second and third place winners will receive R750 000 and R500 000 respectively. Developmental awards of between R150 000 and R400 000 are presented to deserving innovations.
The foundation’s director, Bridgit Evans said, “We’ve been overwhelmed by the creativity and quality of the entries this year and it was quite a task to narrow down the nominees to 18. Each of the finalists has developed practical solutions to real challenges being faced by communities across South Africa.”
Tia has brought in-kind technical assistance in the form of expert man-hours, design and access to prototyping equipment for the innovations shortlisted to achieve market readiness.
Last year, the foundation established the Disability Empowerment Awards to recognise the critical work being carried out in this under-serviced sector, with additional prize money of over R3 million. The contestants will be judged on their innovation’s business potential, innovation, life-changing potential, job creation and scalability.
Sandton Chronicle keeps you up to date on the winners of these events next week.
