NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Thursday night, “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah announced the winners of Chivas Regal’s “The Venture”, an international contest open to social entrepreneurs who are using their business as a force for good. With a dedicated fund of $1M, “The Venture” is striving to enable social entrepreneurs around the world to scale and gain exposure.

As part of the Chivas program, the group of finalists took part in an Accelerator Week program earlier this year, created by theSkoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford.

Only five were selected to pitch at Thursday’s finale in front of a live audience and a jury that included actress and philanthropist Eva Longoria and Pernod Ricard Chairman and CEO Alexandre Ricard.

All five received funding in the end, but the big winner was Conceptos Plásticos ($300K), a Colombia-based business that transforms plastic and rubber waste into an alternative construction foundation for permanent housing.