Nine Youth Enterprises Win the IAF’s InnovAction 2.0 Challenge

Young people across Latin America and the Caribbean have ideas for green businesses that could make the world better. Natural filtration systems to neutralize contaminants in the water. Better backend code to reduce the amount of energy used by websites. New synthetic biofuels that would make transportation more efficient. Artificial Intelligence (AI) to detect crop diseases.

To help them take those first steps to develop their businesses, we partnered with the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT)to launchthe InnovAction 2.0 Challengein October 2023, an innovation competition for young entrepreneurs and social entrepreneurs to stimulate emerging business seeking to reduce waste, conserve energy, and manage natural resources sustainably. YABT, an international nonprofit organization that works in cooperation with the Organization of American Statesto promote social and economic development of young people around the world, helped us to recruit, select, train, and provide technical assistance to these entrepreneurs, and to open opportunities to promote their businesses and participate in spaces of public dialogue.

Participating in the InnovAction 2.0 Challenge gave youth entrepreneurs access to extensive live and recorded training sessions on business development through YABT's Business Opportunity Online Training Camp (BOOT Camp). Volunteer judges with backgrounds in business, grassroots development, academia, and technical areas scored the top 100 semi-finalists to arrive at 20 finalists. Finalist teams received coaching from mentors in refining and presenting their business ideas, and panels of around 5 judges per finalist team evaluated the potential, feasibility, innovation, and presentation of the business ideas.

We're excited to announce the following winners of InnovAction 2.0, whose ideas rose to the top out of around 1,200 contenders. Winners will receive between $2,500 and $10,000 in seed funding, six months of follow-on business support, and a variety of promotional opportunities for their businesses. They will also be invited to current and opportunities to represent the voices of young business people in multilateral spaces.

Finalists participated in a series of panels for the finals of the Talent and Innovation Competition of the Americas finals that drew more than 300 viewers.

Startup Winner

Bliss Circular Economyfrom Panamais dedicated to transforming waste into usable products. For example, the business has created a feed supplement for farm animals composed of organic residues and meat waste, bones, or shrimp shells. It also sells home "biodigesters" that use bacteria to turn home waste into a burnable biofuel that can power stoves as well as construction materials made with recycled plastic. Bliss Circular Economy is committed to managing solid waste to achieve positive health, social, environmental, and economic outcomes for Panamanians. Team member Ilenis Gómez Famanía states that "based on initial trials with farms and laboratories, Bliss has shown to provide nutrition to animals, sustainability, benefits to profitability, and creates a diversification in the local economy and creation of jobs."

Minimum Viable Product Winners

BioFunfrom Costa Ricais a new biotechnology business, founded by two female scientists, that uses the natural enzymatic power of fungi to break down water contaminants into harmless compounds. Their first product BioCap450, a water filter device, removes pharmaceuticals and other chemicals potentially dangerous to public health. BioFun is committed to cleaning the environment of pollutants to create a more sustainable future. Team member Ivonne Rodríguez Ramírez states, "Nature is our partner in development, not our enemy."

Kpulí Voltando Terra from Ecuadoraims to reuse tires and debris to create low-cost evaporation-based home wastewater treatment systems that do not require the use of electricity or chemicals, reducing their environmental impact. With treatment, the water can be used to fertilize the soil for agricultural production in areas with relatively low access to treated water. Team member José Paúl Núñez Vásquez says, "I had the great opportunity to participate in permaculture volunteer opportunities and get to know water systems I had never seen in Ecuador. When I got back to Ecuador, I saw communities that needed this water treatment, and realized that the solution was not only to treat contaminated water but convert the waste in a resource for communities."

Defossilize-30 Advanced Biofuelfrom Jamaicaseeks to develop a more sustainable semi-synthetic biofuel for use in powering transportation vehicles called D30. The fuel could be cheaper, cleaner-burning, less corrosive, and more energy-dense than alternatives such as blended ethanol. Defossilize-30 is also developing a clean energy framework to help refiners decarbonize their operations. Team member Damani Thomas seeks to support Jamaica's renewable energy transition, "benefitting workers affected by the fall of industries like sugarcane and combatting this country's alarming brain drain (the second highest in the world) by providing meaningful, high-value opportunities for engineers and chemists to stay in my country and develop it more."

Terra Webfrom Colombiais developing green web solutions with a focus on reducing the growing energy usage of the servers that sustain the Internet. It improves website performance for users and minimizes the use of server resources by optimizing the code and backend. Terra Web also seeks to raise clients' awareness of issues of environmental sustainability in website design and to increase the technical skills of local entrepreneurs in their region of Tolima. Team member Anderson Carreño says, "When we use the internet, navigating or using AI tools, we cause energy and water waste. We can reduce that waste and encourage organizations to look at their footprint online, not just their physical operations."

Prototyping Winners

Campisfrom Peruis a mobile application that uses AI and signal processing to predict or detect diseases and pests in potato crops. Farmers can scan potato plants, track weather patterns to anticipate issues, and get recommendations for plant treatments. The Campis team aims to transform farming, giving farmers more control over their production using technology. Team member Samid Villafuerte Mogrovejo shares, "Tangible long-term benefits for communities can include empowerment with advanced technology, since we'll share AI and other tools, and consciousness-raising on the importance of sustainable agriculture and working with chemical products that do not leave a residue."

Finca Regenerativa Comizahualfrom El Salvadoris using rain and street gutter water to reforest a degraded area with pine, mango, and avocado trees, and native edible plants includingizotesand yucca. The goal of the farm, named for Indigenous Lenca deity Comizahual, is to create an oasis of biodiversity that can serve as a model in the region, living in balance with Indigenous ancestral practices. Sylvia Argueta Ayala states, "My father could not become a farmer, which was always his dream. As children and grandchildren, we've taken up that wish of our family."

Iwa ingenieria y educaciónfrom Colombiais an education company that teaches sustainable engineering and digital skills to students. Teaching topics such as agricultural engineering, the application of electronics for sustainability, and the use of smart homes, simultaneously promotes students' digital literacy and teaches them about the importance of using technology responsibly. According to team member Cristián Dallos, "We provide project-based educational services based in the theory and practice of engineering to equip participants to lead change in their communities."

Oruvitalfrom Uruguayis developing the world's first grape pomace jam, an upcycled and functional food with multiple potential benefits for the environment and human health. Grape pomace is waste produced by the wine industry, consisting mainly of the skin or peel, residual pulp, seeds, and stems. Team member Leonardo David López states that he wants to recover for human nutrition the waste produced by the wine industry: "Each liter of wine creates 220 grams of grape waste, and last year, Uruguay produced 50 million liters of wine. Uruguay isn't the world's biggest wine producer - so we're producing tons of waste from wine."

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.