You have heard about the seif Awards for Social Entrepreneurship and wonder whether is worth to enter the competition, what is needed to make your application outstanding and how to win?
Chris Mugan, a journalist that writes about social entrepreneurship for Amaphiko’s magazine, a platform for social changemakers set up by Red Bull, asked some of the former Award winners the same question and here are their tips.
When you apply for a competition, you never know the outcome, since you usually enter with hundreds of other applicants. However, do not look at the negative, because you never know who else believes in what you are doing.
The mindset of people is changing dramatically as global warming becomes a bigger threat every day and it is becoming a global phenomenon. Social impact is becoming bigger as more and more organisations are putting resources into it, so just sharpen your business plan – these sorts of initiatives are great platforms for getting support.
Henri Nyakarundi, Managing Director, Ared
“In the pre-application phase, don’t hide your idea, but engage with others. Every entrepreneur needs to face peers, colleagues and their own family to see if he or she can defend it.
While writing your business plan, find good examples – we used YouTube – to get a feeling of what a good one looks like. During your pitch, be interesting and trustworthy. After we won, they told us, ‘you guys were getting along great, you covered all aspects of running a business in your work and study experience and the chemistry was right’
One question did catch us completely off guard, though: ‘how would you describe your idea to your mother?’”.
Leo Wilhelmi, Founder, Gartengold
“Our pitch was done via Skype, which was unique for us. With a limited time to share our story, I got nervous and we ran out of time, but the jury still liked our unique solution and the amount of impact we have with our model.
They also liked the fact that we empower people with waste and allow them to take an active role in cleaning up their communities. So put your best foot forward: spend time on your application to ensure it captures the essence of your venture”.
Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, CEO, Wecyclers
The whole article you can read @redbullamaphiko. And in the meantime, do not hesitate, just believe in your idea and apply.