It’s been an exciting month for the social enterprise team at WE CARE Solar. We’re finalists in the Global Social Venture Competition, the largest and oldest student-led business plan competition that supports the creation of businesses that bring about positive social change in a sustainable manner. Out of more than 500 entrants, WE CARE Solar was selected as one of 16 finalists for its social impact! We’ll be presenting our social impact assessment on April 23rd at the Brower Center in Berkeley. (http://entrepreneurship.berkeley.edu/business_competitions/gsvc.html)
WE CARE Solar was also were chosen for the Global Social Benefit Incubator at Santa Clara University. This program brings together two dozen cash-starved social ventures for a year of on-line and in-residence business mentorship with experienced professionals and SCU professors. (http://www.scu.edu/news/?b=208&c=6947)
We’ve also be recognized in other ways. UC Berkeley will be given the 2010 Chancellor’s Award for Public Service to WE CARE Solar this spring! Melissa Ho will be back from Uganda and will help us receive this honor. (http://campuslife.berkeley.edu/content/serviceawards)
We are so grateful for both of these honors, and will keep you posted on our progress.
In Nigeria and Zimbabwe, PHCs Leverage Renewable Energy to Improve Maternal Healthcare
During Dr Laura Stachel’s postgraduate research on maternal mortality at Gambo Sawaba General Hospital (GSGH) in Kofan Gayan, Kaduna State, in 2008, she noticed a connection between the lack of energy supply and high maternal mortality at the health centre.