WJF Header
Connect With Us
 
Like us on Facebook   Follow us on Twitter   View our profile on LinkedIn


Major Sponsors
Major Partners

 

Praise

 

"Your organization is critical for entrepreneurs to develop their ideas and get ready to raise capital. [The WJF is] helping to create a future pipeline for investors. There are lots of savvy people who want to start sustainable/ social businesses and truly care about their community. They just need guidance and support to get there."

Kesha Cash, Director of Investments, Jalia Ventures

 

"For social enterprises that are in that early stage prior taking on investment, I really think that all [of those] companies should be involved with the WJF competition because it provides immediate feedback on your plan, even if you only get through the first round. The feedback helped build our team focus. It should be in the entrepreneur handbook - you've got to do WJF." Tricia Compas-Markman, Founder & CEO, DayOne Response

 

"We've won about 20 awards...of all those 20 awards, the WJF was the only one where we actually had access to a lot of the feedback from the judges and it was fantastic in helping us to adapt the model. We just put together our business plan for this next fundraising round and I went back to all the WJF judges' comments to see whether or not we had addressed some of the issues that were raised there. That's been really helpful for us, even three years after we won the award." 
Sameer Hajee, CEO, 
Nuru Energy 

 

Greetings!,

 

Happy New Year to you all. It is a busy time here -- putting more than 200 mentors into teams to work with 70 amazing social entrepreneurs as part of our business plan competition. 

 

Also, we're launching our next Green Grab event for March 3rd in Washington, DC. If you are a company looking for early seed-stage funding, and would be willing to make your pitch in front of an audience, then check out www.williamjamesfoundation.org/greengrabs for details on our process and our events. This two minute video gives a good overview of the event

 

Sincerely,

 

Ian T. Fisk
Executive Director, The William James Foundation
202/365-4570ian.fisk@williamjamesfoundation.org  

 
William James Foundation 10th Annual Sustainable Business Plan Competition

In case you missed it, here is the list of the companies we are working with through our competition this for 2013:  http://williamjamesfoundation.org/InvitedSummaries.pdf. The business model canvas submissions are going out to the judges next week and we're looking forward to all the great feedback they have to share.

Upcoming deadlines for Investors' Circle and GSVC

For the entrepreneurs out there, the deadlines for the Investors' Circle and Global Social Venture Competition are approaching.
  • Investors' Circle (IC) is now accepting applications for their Spring Venture Fair!  IC funds early stage impact enterprises looking to raise between $50-$3m.  For information about our criteria and application, please go here and see the attached pdf.  You can also reach out to Rachele directly if you have specific questions at rhaberthomson@investorscircle.net.
WJF Community Updates January 8, 2013
Have an update you'd like you share with the WJF community? Send an email to kerri@williamjamesfoundation.org.
Maendeleo
Former Entrant Spotlight: Maendeleo Agric 

 

Mr. Abraham Kamarck founded Maendeleo Ventures, LLC in 2009. Maendeleo Agric is a Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) company, focused on spreading sustainable, high-yield greenhouse technology and best practices to everyone by creating hi-tech, low cost solutions for all farmers. The WJF's Conrad Cheeks talked with Abraham Kamarck, founder and CEO of Maendeleo Agric, to ask him about his business.

 

What problem are you trying to solve?
Maendeleo Agric is working to combat the lack of food in emerging economies.

How did you become interested in this problem? 
I won a contract as an entrepreneur from USDA to look at leasing in Ghana to local farmers. Agriculture has been a problem in Ghana is which is why there is no leasing to farmers. The Ghana credit system also has bad reputation and holds huge credit risk. So I thought about what kind of technology could be leased to these farmers. This is how I initially got interested in this problem. 

What is your solution to the problem?
We provide affordable greenhouse solutions to farmers that are competitive. It gives farmers a chance to use their land more effectively to crawl out of poverty and to be able to produce higher quality products.
 

Check out the WJF website to read more about Maendeleo Agric.