$ 1 : 16
For every $1 of value invested, One Young World Ambassadors deliver $16 of social value, based on a Social Return on Investment analysis of 45 Ambassador-led initiatives addressing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2023
SDG Impact Tracker
Interested in supporting impactful initiatives led by young leaders? Search this database of over 430 projects from the One Young World Community to find out more.
AI Fairness Initiative
AI Fairness Initiative - United Kingdom
Finn Janson, Marta Batlle
Business for Social Good
Clinical trial populations have historically failed to represent certain demographics, in particular minority ethnicities, who are disproportionately impacted by a particular medical condition under research. In the USA, only 2% of clinical trial populations are black, despite Multiple Sclerosis having a 47% higher risk for this demographic than for white patients.
As data scientists at Roche, Finn and Marta are using artificial intelligence to improve patient outcomes. They are working to understand and correct bias in datasets used for medical research, by generating synthetic data that is representative of underrepresented populations. Having shared this solution with senior management, Finn and Marta were selected to represent Roche at the One Young World Summit in Munich.
After attending, they were inspired to formalise the AI Fairness initiative and established a squad to build a tool that identifies and corrects bias in medical datasets. The tool analyses and provides “bias metrics” for each patient population. It will also provide a solution for this bias, using methods such as the aforementioned synthetic data solution. This AI Fairness tool will help scientists to provide fair research outputs, improving patient outcomes across all populations. They are partnering with another group in Roche to apply their tool to the prediction of adverse events in clinical trials based on patients' data. This research will allow scientists to understand better how predictions for adverse events vary for different demographics, improving the predictive model for the benefit of underrepresented populations.
Finn and Marta are also working with a community in the company responsible for defining a best practice framework for using AI models. By integrating their initiative into this framework and giving guidance on the problem and how to solve it, Finn and Marta aim to make the AI Fairness solution standard practice within the research community at Roche.
"One Young World has inspired me to be bold and ambitious. The Summit and my fellow Ambassadors taught me how passion, expressed through dialogue, can be an impetus for powerful change."
Rishi Dorai, bp
For seven years, Rishi worked as a geologist in bp’s exploration businesses on projects across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Encouraged by the role of large corporations in driving innovative solutions, Rishi was keen to explore the new challenges within bp, while in search of his own purpose. It was the perfect time for his introduction to One Young World.
bp provided Rishi with the opportunity to attend the 2017 Bogotá Summit. The inspiration from this global forum of leaders has since helped Rishi find his own purpose and shaped many aspects of his life and career. It reinvigorated his belief in the role of global organisations in driving positive impact and serving as amplifiers for social change. Since that first Summit, Rishi has returned each year, further honing how sustainability can align with his work.
Testament to bp’s support of its One Young World Ambassadors at an executive level, Rishi’s association with the programme opened doors in the company. With fellow Ambassador Kate Arbuthnot, Rishi was invited to participate in bp’s carbon strategy workshops. Together, they provided the perspectives of an emerging generation of young leaders in a room of industry veterans. The experience built Rishi’s confidence in his own voice and helped him form relationships with highly influential leaders at the forefront of the energy transition.
This experience led to Rishi being seconded into bp’s group strategy team in the summer of 2019. There he was tasked with developing a global portfolio model of bp’s Scope 1, 2, and 3 carbon emissions, the latter incorporating emissions associated with the use of energy products by its customers. Paired with solutions for emissions reductions, this was presented to bp executives, and ultimately landed Rishi a permanent role in the team. As part of Bernard Looney’s transition into his role as bp’s new CEO in late 2019, Rishi was invited to join a special project team tasked with developing the company’s route to net-zero along with a strategy to turn this ambition into action. It was a ground-breaking move – bp was the first in its sector to announce a net-zero ambition and lean into the energy transition at this scale.
It was this spirit of leveraging a company as an amplifier for positive impact that enabled Rishi to find himself in a role that not only changed the course of his company, but trailblazed a path for industry-wide impact, with many of bp’s peers since following suit.
Rishi was appointed to the role of ESG Director in Strategy & Sustainability, where he continues to play an active role in bp’s sustainability journey. Alongside this, Rishi was announced as One Young World’s Coordinating Ambassador for the UK & Ireland, where he keeps Ambassadors engaged and connected, providing a springboard from which to progress their own impact journeys.
“My One Young World experiences inspired a stubborn determination that I needed to find a way to connect my purpose with that of what I do at work. Moreover, it helped me realise that – with the resources, reach and support of a global organisation behind you – you really do have the power to change the world.”
Kofi Gyamfi, Unilever
As a student engineer, Kofi engaged with Unilever through a business competition, before becoming a brand ambassador at the University of Ghana and completing a supply chain internship in 2015. He joined the Human Resource division after his graduation as an Employer Brand Specialist, and later as a Talent Advisor. After a nearly three-year stint in Human Resources, Kofi decided to pivot to Supply Chain where he has developed into a young leader in sustainability leading the company’s ambitious efforts towards circularity in plastic packaging in the West Africa Region.
In his previous position, he had become aware of the opportunity to participate in One Young World through applications he oversaw by local colleagues. In his new role, Kofi felt empowered to apply and was one of 40 employees globally selected to attend the 2019 Summit in London. The event electrified Kofi, and the people he met inspired him with a real sense of urgency. The Summit expanded his internal network at Unilever, but also connected him with an invaluable group of peers outside the company. He felt inspired to represent and lead not only his company but his country, Ghana.
Kofi channelled this energy into accelerating Unilever’s goals to make all of its plastic reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025 and collect more plastic than it sells. To further this, they co-created a corporate advocacy platform that builds partnerships with other companies in the industry to tackle the issue in Ghana and Nigeria. He identified plastic aggregators and invested resources in waste collection partners to recover plastics from the environment. Within two years, in Nigeria alone, Kofi’s actions led to the recovery of 2,000 tonnes of plastics working with collection partners like WeCyclers.
After dedicating his time to this role, Kofi had learned a lot and exhausted a lot of opportunities for new impact. This motivated his move to a new role, as Regional Strategy Sourcing Planner. Kofi wanted a greater understanding of the supply chain to build his capacity to lead a sustainable supply chain in the future.
Alongside his work at Unilever, Kofi is an active leader at the Design Thinking Ghana Hub, assisting students in starting their entrepreneurial journeys by incorporating the human perspective at every step of the way. He helps them structure their approach to problem-solving leading to innovative sustainable ventures.
“One Young World heightened my awareness of the urgent need for climate action and my responsibility to lead in whatever capacity I can to create change.”
Alif Capital
Zuhursho and his co-founders did not set out to start ‘another micro-credit company’ in 2014, but a commercial initiative with a social orientation. Fundamental to this was sharia compliance to make a financial institution that was inclusive of the majority Muslim population in Tajikistan. They created investment rules that adhered to the values of Islam, and the nuances of religious views on interest payments. This allows them to provide high-quality and importantly ‘ethical’ financial solutions for small and medium-sized businesses.
From 2014 to 2019, the company offered its first loan, built a CRM system from scratch, secured its banking license in Tajikistan, expanded to Uzbekistan, launched an online retail platform, developed a tech talent training programme, and much more. This rapid growth has allowed Alif’s portfolio of companies to generate revenue according to its core ethical principles. Between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, more than 700,000 people have had access to financing as a result of their services. One particular demographic that has benefited is migrant workers based in Russia, who are able to easily direct funds back to their households in Uzbekistan or Tajikistan.
Fundamental to the ethicality of this micro-credit service is the lack of penalty fees which are prohibited according to the company’s Sharia compliance. To prevent ‘shark loan’ traps, all prices are fixed regardless of whether a person does not fulfil their payments on time. This would normally be the main source of income in the industry, but while there is a charge to promote reasonable repayment, any proceeds are directed into a charitable foundation, Peshraft. The organisation also directly supports the Alif Academy, a non-profit school of IT professionals that helps people of all ages learn programming and access employment opportunities.
"One Young World selected me to represent my home country and travel all the way to Ottawa to take part in the Summit in 2016. This level and quality of organisation and diversity of minds, set high standards for me personally and professionally. I was not just impressed, it was simply mind-blowing. I was exposed to extraordinary people and ideas, common challenges and opportunities in the contemporary world. It forced me to think and act outside of my domain of responsibilities and national borders."
Niya
Toby and his two co-founders, Cameron and Hugh, identified a fundamental gap between tech companies that could not identify diverse sources of quality talent, and the tech talent from disadvantaged backgrounds who could not access the necessary opportunities for work. The three social entrepreneurs founded Niya as a solution to these two intertwined challenges.
Niya is bridging the digital and diversity divide by connecting underrepresented groups to global job opportunities in tech. It identifies the talent through its partnerships with non-profits that support communities that lack access to adequate opportunities. The original stakeholder group were individuals from a refugee and migrant background, and Niya worked with organisations that provide tech education to these communities as well as those who provide more general support. These talented individuals are listed on the Niya platform, which is accessed by a variety of potential recruiters, from tiny tech startups to large multinational organisations.
From this initial focus, the company has expanded its scope to address the imbalance for women in tech, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and neurodiverse groups. Niya is a social enterprise, and for every successful hire from the platform, 80% of the fee is directed to the frontline organisation that referred the individual. This accelerates the impact of this solution on the wider marginalised communities. It is also important to the team that Niya practises what it preaches, and 7 of its 11 employees come from a refugee background.
"The most valuable thing about One Young World is that you’re surrounded by a network of like-minded people. By connecting with other individuals and organisations who advocate for positive change I’ve been reminded to constantly evaluate the impact Niya has on the community and guided on how to maximise that for the greater good."
Memori / Mirath
Memori was founded in 2019, the year that Queenie attended the One Young World Summit in London. Her personal experience exposed her to an issue in Brunei where it is very rare for an individual to prepare a will due to perceived costs, cultural norms and legal proceedings. When her grandparents passed away, she endured and witnessed family disputes over funeral arrangements and wealth distribution.
Queenie started Memori with her close friends to simplify the process and improve access to basic legacy planning services in a digital manner with the aim of tackling misconceptions. It started as a legacy-planning platform that allowed customers to write a Will and attend financial and estate planning workshops. However, despite positive feedback; single-handedly overturning cultural norms is challenging for the small enterprise.
During the pandemic, Queenie and her team diversified after receiving inquiries to support the Muslim community. They created Mirath.io to provide equivalent and relevant support for Islamic legacy planning, including “Jenazah” kits which give low-income Muslim households the materials required for an Islamic Funeral (namely bathing and enshrouding). Mirath has helped more than 700 people write wills and provided Jenazah kits to more than 100 families, since 2019.
Memori is the first Bruneian start-up that has been selected to participate in numerous Global Startup competitions. Recently, Queenie was awarded the ‘National Excellent Youth Award of 2021’ by His Majesty, Sultan of Brunei Darussalam.
"It was an eye-opening experience for me. I am deeply grateful to be given the opportunity to learn from so many inspiring changemakers, and innovators, whose solutions may seem so simple yet have the power to provoke widespread impact and societal change. They’ve inspired me to continue to make a change in my community."
GenEd
GenEd has developed significantly since the idea of an educational initiative first formed in Ghea’s mind in 2010. The early incarnation “Gen Peace”, focused on intra-school violence resulting from a lack of critical thinking. Since then, Ghea has placed teachers at the centre of the solution, creating “Generation Educators”. The Indonesian ed-tech start-up has developed a dynamic web platform that enables teachers to upskill, improve practices, bring innovation to classrooms, be inspired, and connect with teacher networks for their own development. This facilitates them in developing and shaping critical thinkers in the classroom, which will help to create a more educated, literate, and engaged generation.
The other side of the business forges partnerships between schools and the private sector, in order to bridge the employment skills gap. It has co-created modules with companies such as Deloitte to provide education for students that is valued by potential employers and relevant to their future careers. Teachers are able to connect and workshop 1-on-1 with professionals in relevant fields, such as economic teachers collaborating with accountancy professionals, to develop innovative lesson plans. In 2022, GenEd has already engaged with 156 teachers from various backgrounds in high-quality professional development programs, and approximately 900 students have benefitted from innovative classroom exercises.
In scaling the initiative, GenEd aims to focus on working with the Ministry of Education and Universities to deliver programs for public school teachers and school leaders in smaller districts outside of Jakarta. GenEd also seeks to serve other chains of less privileged private schools across different Indonesian cities.
“One Young World was a huge catalyst in my pursuit of a social cause. I have never attended an event that comes as close to the amount of inspiration and commitment to effecting social impact. It was life-changing.”
Xilinat
At 18 years old, Javier was driven by his father’s diabetes diagnosis to find an affordable, sustainable, healthy alternative to sugar. The product he identified was xylitol, a natural, low-calorie, sweet-tasting alcohol substance. Javier discovered that he could produce it in an affordable and circular process from agricultural waste, and so founded Xilinat. The organisation’s patented fermentation-based process turns wasted corn cobs into a product to target obesity and manage diabetes, whilst also removing the negative carbon emissions from industrial levels of agricultural waste.
The funds provided by Asahi were used across three main areas: technology scale-up, social impact implementation, and digital marketing. The first area, scaling up the technologies, enabled Xilinat to double its capacity for production, and the amount of agricultural waste it is able to upcycle. The fermentation process, which in 2019 sequestered 17 tonnes of CO2, was able to sequester 34 tonnes in 2021. This greater scale also increased their impact on farmers, almost doubling the number of partnerships to 13 farmers and their families, increasing their income.
In terms of strategy, the guidance from his mentors has been vital. The team at Xilinat were initially focused on the larger scale, committed to growing across the entire supply chain. However, with mentorship Javier re-focussed his attention to a single aspect, increasing quality substantially, which, as a result, had a much greater impact on sales. Asahi was also able to provide essential support during the pandemic. Their Challenge Partner kindly delayed the provision of funds to a time when Xilinat was able to rent an affordable laboratory in a university. This flexibility and understanding from Asahi meant they were able to pause, survive the pandemic, and then accelerate with the funds throughout 2021 once they had more freedom to grow.
- 100% increase in annual carbon sequestration from the fermentation process
- Partnering with 50 farmers and families to monetise their agricultural waste
Working with multiple mentors in Asahi, Javier was taken aback by how consistent and well-integrated inspiration and leadership is throughout the company. This helped to develop his understanding in various different areas, such as marketing, finance, and research. The leaders at Asahi reiterated his belief that a leader needed to inspire those around them, an ambition Javier has taken on himself.
“Not even mentioning the grant, working with Asahi was transformational in terms of learning from a huge international company, how they work to scale up, enter new markets, and create new strategies.”
Genecis
Luna’s innovative scientific solution solves two global environmental challenges simultaneously, taking food waste and converting it into PHBV plastic that provides a compostable alternative to traditional oil-based plastics. At the end of the lifespans of the products made using Genecis’ plastic, they are immediately compostable. If they do find their way into the oceans they degrade within a single year, compared to PET products that can take up to 1,000 years to fully degrade.
At the time of selection as Mondi’s Lead2030 Challenge Winner, Genecis was pre-revenue. It was searching for a new sales strategy, with an intention to start selling products 3-4 years down the line after substantial production. Mondi opened Luna to the possibility that large companies would invest in research to develop customised products tailored to their specific needs. Mondi also encouraged her to pursue the tactic of using PHA in flexible packaging such as films, whilst previously she had pursued exclusively ‘hard’ products. This less material-intensive product opens new opportunities to tackle a significant proportion of plastic pollution.
Luna invested the grant into internal R&D and customer discovery. As a result, Genecis created a prototype and were able to tune it towards different customers’ requirements, developing different grades of PHA made to handle that. Simultaneously advancing R&D alongside the sales process has allowed Genecis to develop and fine-tune its products whilst generating its first $1,000,000 revenue at the same time. In August, the organisation announced a $6,000,000 grant from NGen that will enable Genecis to scale its impact drastically.
- Products compostable within 1 month and degrade in oceans within 1 year
- $1M revenue generated and $6M investment secured from NGen
Luna was inspired by the actions and dedication of people working within the corporate sector for sustainability, typified by her mentor Susan who is driving sustainability in the area of packaging at Mondi. Her access to a multinational company provided unrivalled insight into decision-making in her potential customers, helping Genecis to secure new deals with big corporations due to an improved understanding of their sustainability considerations
“Within the programme itself, we were able to get a lot of insights from within the organisation under-the-hood information into how large companies like Mondi make decisions. That led to us closing a lot of great new deals, after understanding how companies think about sustainability and how we can add value.”
Eko Group H20+
Ricardo founded Eko Group H20+ when he saw that while rural homes in Colombia often have rainwater storing systems, residents in government housing projects have very limited space for water storage. In a country where 1.2 million people lack access to clean water, this is an issue of national importance. His Ekomuro H2O solution is a vertical, compact, modular water tank system that reuses plastic bottles to store rainwater for use in the home for cleaning, discharge of toilets or watering gardens. The residents can construct it themselves.
A core development for the organisation was to formalise its operations. Encouraged by the team at Reckitt, Eko Group H20+ moved into a new workspace, allowing them to scale up their operations and professionalise as a company. This has also enabled them to employ 8 young people to form a growing workforce. This increased capacity has led to greater productivity, now developing between 10-15 new units every week compared to 5 at the beginning of the year. The enterprise has developed 6 new strategic alliances with national and international companies and foundations in Colombia.
There have also been significant changes in the organisation’s strategies, particularly in marketing. The organisation’s elevated profile has also led to a drastic increase in its online audience, growing on its social media channels from 5,000 to 42,000 followers. Reckitt has also assisted with the re-design process that has led to an entirely new appearance and design for the product, making it more appealing to customers. The focus on where these clients come from has also changed, with Reckitt identifying greater potential in shifting to a B-2-B model.
- 8 new young employees enabled 3x increase in production of water tank units
- 80 rainwater harvest systems provided clean water for 15,534 direct beneficiaries
With support and guidance from Julián Padilla, his mentor, and the rest of the team at Reckitt, Ricardo has become more open and communicative as a leader. He sees the necessity for a two-way dialogue with the people he works with, and the need to surround himself with and listen to other young leaders. The partnership has facilitated this with connections to other contacts in Latin America.
“Reckitt provided us with a link to other leaders in Latin America. They connected me to a company in Colombia that has helped us to develop our brand, and promote it not only in Colombia but in Latin America and the international market.”
Tailored Food
Leveraging Taylor's background in food anthropology and social entrepreneurship, Tailored Food is a social enterprise dedicated to building holistic food systems in countries most affected by malnutrition. It builds coalitions of local entrepreneurs, farmers, industrial manufacturers, and multilateral development institutions to bring food products to people living in poverty. Tailored Food connects populations with a nutritional solution to prevent the rise in non-communicable diseases, that is considered affordable by 77% of consumers living in extreme poverty.
In addition to a new and expert network of technical advisors accessible to him within Reckitt, the funding allowed Taylor to expand the team at Tailored Food. At different times, its has employed fixed-term staff to help with technical tasks such as building the website, but it is now able to have permanent staff. He has also employed local data collectors in Tailored Food’s countries of operation to execute market research to ensure the efficient implementation of projects. This was partially a consequence of the Covid travel restriction, but the countries of operation have grown from 2 to 6 in this time frame.
The majority of the funding was invested directly into the Tailored Food grant pool, as it grew projects in its various countries of operation. The strength of these coalitions has been boosted by the personal relationship between Taylor and a disparate group of entrepreneurs. He has systemised the process to reduce its reliance on himself, clarify the responsibilities on both sides of the partnerships, and provide greater coherence to the projects. He hopes to develop this into a formal community hub online so the entrepreneurs in the network can better share ideas and resources directly with each other.
- 676K additional meals provided to 33.8K malnourished people due to the programme
- 265 new jobs created for women and girls
Call with mentors throughout the company has provided Taylor with a “mini business education”. The openness and frankness of his discussions with Reckitt management on issues in nutrition have been a lesson in communication, and he has opened a more collaborative dialogue with his network of volunteers. It has also encouraged Taylor to think more strategically about his projects, which helps him operationalise his vision as a leader
“I don’t have a business degree, so one of the most effective ways Reckitt has provided real tangible value for me, is I have been able to ‘suck up’ as much knowledge as possible from all different sides of the Reckitt business and many different mentors"
Tierra Grata
Jenifer co-founded Tierra Grata in 2016 with a simple mission in her sights: guarantee access to clean energy, water, and sanitation to rural communities in Colombia. This is a pressing issue for the country, where 4.9 million people lack access to a decent toilet, and an astonishing 1.4 million people do not have access to clean water (1).
The organisation developed decentralised, low-cost, easy-to-install solutions that provide customers with a comfortable and dignified space for hygiene and sanitation. Each Tierra Grata installation can save up to 68,000 litres of water per year and avoids the contamination of surface and underground water sources. In addition, by receiving a controlled and accelerated treatment of organic waste, clients have a significantly improved quality of life. Since its founding 5 years ago, the team has already managed to install 891 of these solutions, providing tangible health and hygiene improvements to more than 9,200 people in under-resourced areas in Colombia.
In 2019, Tierra Grata was selected by RB as their Lead2030 Challenge Winner. This partnership came with a $50,000 grant to invest in expanding the organisation's operations and impact, and 12 months of mentorship which has extended beyond the guaranteed period due to the success of the collaboration for both parties. Biweekly meetings with the team of mentors helped monitor their progress and develop new ideas and strategies. The team also formed a sustainable model so the organisation will not generate dependence on donations.
Tierra Grata's work became even more important during the Covid-19 pandemic, due to increased urgency for sanitation and good hygiene to prevent the spread of the virus in vulnerable communities. One Young World awarded the organisation two grants totalling $20,000 as part of the Covid Young Leaders Fund. Jenifer and the team utilised this money to distribute water filters, hygiene kits, hand washing stations, and eco-toilets to isolated communities. They also delivered practical workshops to instruct beneficiaries on how to effectively use the solutions, and also to provide general Covid-19 awareness. With additional support from other donor organisations and individuals, Tierra Grata managed to impact 6,282 people in 2020, when they were at their most vulnerable.
The Tomato Project
The Tomato Project - Switzerland
Matej Uher, Merten Witte, Laura Prestel, Frederick Puttemans, Emrah Mazi
Business for Social Good
At the One Young World’s Summit in 2018, a selection of DSM employees and scholars took part in a session to identify global challenges and solutions, during which they struck up a conversation with a scholar from Zambia who made them aware of the widespread Vitamin A deficiency in her country. They also discussed the huge level of tomato waste, caused by the seasonal overproduction in the country. These two issues, combined to form the germ of an idea.
This idea became “The Tomato Project”, a collaboration between 5 DSM One Young World Ambassadors and 6 other colleagues. The company encouraged them to take this purpose-led journey, and so they began the process of exploring the wider issue of malnutrition and the solution in more depth. Over two years of proactive engagement, they built a network of partner organisations including Sight and Life, a humanitarian nutrition think tank, who connected them with Nurevas, a nutritional innovation company based in Ghana.
Together with Nurevas, who are already well established in the market, the team joined forces to develop a nutritious tomato sauce enriched with minerals and vitamins to tackle SDG 2 & 3. For many African countries, tomato sauce is a staple food. DSM has expertise in food fortification to make food more nutritious, and tomatoes are often difficult to fortify due to high acidity levels. Therefore, the team decided to investigate the correct balance of the nutrient mix and the correct recipe of the tomato sauce. At the end of 2020, the tomato team finalised the recipe for the tomato sauce and received DSM`s internal approval of the nutrient mix for food application in Africa.
The outcome of their tireless efforts over the past two years is an affordable tomato sauce for the African market, which has been fortified with major vitamins and minerals to tackle malnutrition and help strengthen the immune system. The fortified tomato sauce contains essential micronutrients such as Vitamin A, E, D, B1, B2, B6, B12 as well as important minerals like zinc and iron to help optimize immune function and keep people healthy.
With the innovation stage complete, next comes the distribution of the product and the health impact it will have. In 2021, the product launch will take place in Ghana, with a plan to scale up distribution across the continent once it has received local certifications and approvals. In summary, the core recipe for success was to combine DSM`s science expertise with local innovators in Africa.
Penta Medical Recycling
Penta Medical Recycling - USA 1 [coordinating region]
Kacha Mahadumrongkul
Ambassador-led Initiative
1:20
SROI
"In the US it is estimated that 300,000 prosthetic limbs are discarded every year with no secondary market due to regulation. This high-value waste could be used to satisfy demand in the developing world where around 38 million amputees do not have access to prosthetic care (2). A team of Yale students founded Penta Prosthetics to bring high-quality, low-cost prosthetic care to developing countries while repurposing medical waste in the US. Penta was founded in 2016, and Kacha joined a year later as COO. He ran a volunteering programme to connect students with hospitals in Thailand to learn about healthcare and entrepreneurship. He manages partnerships with health clinics, hospitals, and universities in developing countries to connect them with demand, and with 100 US-based suppliers such as Hanger Clinic.
Through these partnerships, the team has managed to support amputees in 10 different countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Penta has rescued 4,000 prosthetics from premature disposal and fit 1,200 amputees who otherwise would not be able to afford high-quality devices. In Thailand, an imported prosthetic costs approximately 50,000 Baht and for a rural amputee in Thailand, it would take an estimated 6 years with no expenditure to afford this (3). The key environmental benefit to the project is avoiding the improper disposal and unnecessary production of an estimated 2 tonnes worth of devices. Additional support for the organisation has been provided in the form of grants, operational, and marketing support. However, in 2021, the organisation is transitioning to a more sustainable model of social entrepreneurship to reduce its financial dependence. Penta also increasingly lobbies to raise awareness and tackle stigmas against disabilities. In 2020, they worked with influencers and organisations in the amputee community to launch the Dance4Mobility challenge on TikTok and ran community events to promote sports like basketball and rock climbing for amputees.
Kacha also secured a fellowship through the Resolution Project at the One Young World Summit to develop a new initiative developing high-quality prosthetic ankle joints which generate power ‘passively’ through spring mechanisms rather than electronics, potentially reducing the cost from $10,000 per mechanism to $50."
GO TO-U
GO TO-U, was co-founded by Lyubov in 2017 to make the experience of driving and charging an electric vehicle (EV) simpler, more comfortable and more accessible. Finding a charging spot and services nearby becomes a smooth experience with the GO TO-U application.
Road transport is a large contributor to the increase of both greenhouse gases and air pollutants. Despite improvements in vehicle efficiencies over past decades, today the sector is responsible for almost one-fifth of Europe's greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from vehicles also lead to high concentrations of air pollutants above EU standards in many of Europe's cities (1). Gasoline and diesel car emissions are harmful to human, agricultural and ecosystem health. According to the International Council of Clean Transportation, there have been 300k premature deaths in 2019 and 85 million tonnes of grains lost between 2010-12 due to ozone depletion (1).
GO TO-U’s proprietary software technology enables to manage, operate and monetize EV charging infrastructure. Their unique reservation system provides more efficient utilisation of EV charging stations, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The organisation is operational in 47 countries.
How to use to the SDG Tracker
Search for projects by the following case study categories:
- Ambassador-led Initiatives: qualitative and quantitative analysis of the social impact of projects which are led by young leaders in the Community.
- Business for Social Good: written case studies for initiatives ran by corporate partner organisations, led by young Ambassadors/employees.
- Leadership Biographies: short biographies of Ambassadors who are growing into influential leaders for social good in some of the world’s largest companies, organisations, and in government.
- One Young World Funded Projects: detailed case studies of grant recipients from One Young World's funding opportunities, including Lead2030, Rebuilding Communities, and the COVID Young Leaders Fund.