Activity Description:

Proteak’s founders, Hector Bonilla and Javier Diaz Calvo have created a profitable, sustainable teak company in a sector otherwise marred by illegal logging and corruption. Hector’s talent for spotting market potential led him to create three startups before a drive past a plantation in Mexico inspired him to research the sizable $12 billion global teak market. Both Hector and Javier were impressed by teak’s price, which is increasing at a rate of six percent annually and commonly sells at $12 per board foot, as compared to $2-$7 per board foot for most other woods.

Proteak’s vision is to operate as a business that addresses social, environmental and economic concerns. Because of its commitment to sustainable business practice, Proteak serves as a model in an industry in which illegal logging runs rampant and the major regions of production in Southeast Asia experience deforestation rates of about one percent per year. Hector candidly asserts that he does not see a separation between profits and sustainable practices. His group is committed to promoting responsible forestry practices and soil management. The 820 hectares of land that Proteak has planted are treated with the minimum possible amount of chemicals, and the trees populating these plantations take in the equivalent of 5,000 cars worth of CO2 emissions every year. The company is also committed to providing benefits for the local community; it is working to reinvigorate agriculture in a region where manufacturing has come to dominate, and Proteak employees receive better pay and benefits than the average worker in their sector.

When discussing these social concerns, Hector is quick to add that he and his board are fundamentally “all about numbers,” and argues that his 50 investors have been drawn in primarily by the 24% projected return on investment. Hector credits his management team with being one of the best and most knowledgeable in the industry. The company has bolstered its marketing strategy with extensive support from New Ventures, a program of the World Resources Institute dedicated to spurring investment in sustainable enterprise. With these strong management and marketing abilities, Proteak has raised $4 million of capital in five successful rounds of investment. In a sector notoriously controlled by inefficient, state-run companies, the Proteak team’s impressive private sector background makes them stand out as a highly productive and profitable enterprise.

Proteak’s superior business model and experienced team combine sustainable practices and solid leadership to create a reliable strategy for growth. This approach earned the company recognition as a winner in the 2005 New Ventures Mexico Investor Forum and ensures that as it sells its first trees on the open market next year, Proteak will continue to thrive.

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Mr. Yan Jingyu, owner of Jiangyou Xun Pai Organic Agriculture Co., had a dream of making organic agriculture a common practice in his native Sichuan province is one that he has been cultivating since he began harvesting the first Damascus rose in 1969. Since then, Yan has not only worked to convert degraded soil into productive land, he has become an entrepreneurial trendsetter by bringing organic practices to the farmers of rural China. As Xun Pai begins to work with international buyers, the company’s quality standards and scalable methods are likely to spread throughout the regional agricultural sector.

Yan’s rose fields are maintained by a cost-effective biological process. Rather than using powerful pesticides, for example, he distributes natural predators throughout his crops to protect them from destructive insects. This is not only much less expensive than the conventional method, it is highly innovative in an industry where some crops such as rice may be treated with up to 15 different pesticides. The founder of Xun Pai has a clear passion for his work and remarkable mentoring abilities that are evident in his efforts to duplicate this process among other practitioners. Aside from having written a textbook that is still part of the curriculum in many agricultural programs, he trains 20,000 farmers occupying 1,000 hectares of land in organic practices. The popularity of Yan’s mentoring is evident, proving that his methods are not only sustainable, but scalable as well.

Xun Pai is also proof of the crucial role Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) play in forming supply chains with larger firms. Two major Chinese buyers, Tetea and Ostore, are going to purchase Xun Pai roses in bulk as ingredients for organic cakes, teas and facial powders. Now international firms as well are beginning to recognize Xun Pai for its quality product and superior market positioning, being one of only two organic rose producers in the country. Yan is negotiating an investment from Granit after having met representatives of the Swiss company at an Investor Forum hosted by New Ventures, a program of the World Resources Institute. Granit is planning to use the roses as a key ingredient in a line of essential oils, and its investment will help Xun Pai expand to keep up with international demand, particularly as it prepares to become a supplier for German companies. As its sales continue to grow, Xun Pai serves as a strong example of the value sustainable SMEs can have as essential actors in forming linkages within an economy and as catalysts for positive change in local businesses.

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The Full Belly Project, spearheaded by Jock Brondis, an ex-Peace Corps volunteer and light and sounds engineer, is a non-profit organization that designs and delivers simple agricultural machines to people in developing countries around the world. This project teaches people how to build hand-operated machines with common materials.

The peanut industry is not only huge in the Philippines but the reach goes as far as the different corners of the hemisphere, to almost 100 countries, feeding 500 million people and making it a great source of protein. It is also a cash crop which provides livelihood for poor people of developing countries.

But for such a big industry, the agricultural technology of peanuts is still trailing behind. People are still shelling peanuts by hand, painfully one by one. In Africa, most of those who do the work are women. (To save on fuel, peanuts are left dried under the sun which makes their shell hard to open.)

Jock Brandis, on his way to visit a friend in Mali, saw the heart of the problem and decided to use his technical skills to provide an agricultural solution. Thus the Universal Nut Sheller was born.

Invented by Brandis, the nut sheller can work 40 times faster than by hand. This coincided with the establishment of The Full Belly project spearheaded by Brondis which aims to “to relieve hunger through appropriate agricultural technology.” The goal of the organization is to distribute these machines around the world and make peanut a number one source of protein of third world countries. Brandis, out of his generous heart, didn´t patent his invention because he believes that it is “a gift to those in need.”

Not only can peanut provide livelihood but it contains highly nutritious properties which could solve worldwide hunger and eventually poverty-this time on a full stomach.

The machine is made of concrete and simple metal parts which only cost 50 dollars to make. It can shell “50 kilograms of peanuts per hour, and one machine can serve the needs of a village of 2,000. Its life expectancy is 25 years.” The Full Belly Project is now working in Uganda, Senegal, Zambia and Ghana. Filipino MIT graduate and Centromigrante head Illac Diaz has also collaborated with Full Belly Project with the help of a local cement company to teach locals how to build the machines.

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Ventures in Development is a social enterprise that seeks to elevate the lives of the poor through growing the spirit of entrepreneurship. Venture in Development is currently trying to incubate two ventures, Mei Xiang Cheese Factory and The Shokay Company. The concept is to capitalize on Western China's abundant resource - 13 million yaks.

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China has set up a special fund to support the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to China's Ministry of Finance (MOF).

The funds, which come from the central government's budget, will offer China's SMEs free financial aid and loan repayment subsidies of up to 2 million yuan (250,000 U.S. dollars) per project, according to a policy document issued by the MOF and the National Development and Reform Commission.

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Founded by three Dutch men in 2005, Kamworks is a Cambodian company that aims at the production and sales of solar energy and other off-grid systems to promote rural development through commercial activity in Cambodia.

Kamworks produces an ultra-high efficiency solar fridge and freezer, a community solar electricity generator, and "Angkor light," a portable solar lantern.

Kamworks has been announced as a winner in the World Bank Development Marketplace Competition with an innovative distribution model for the Angkor Light, in a joint project together with the Khmer Foundation for Justice Peace and Development.

Activity Description: A Chinese company has developed an inexpensive Linux-based computer as a way to close the "digital divide." YellowSheepRiver's $150 "Municator" is available now and claims to have performance akin to Pentium III-quality; it is also compared to MIPS's four-way superscalar R10000 processor, which shipped in 1995.
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Whereas the MIT One Laptop Per Child models offer an LCD display and no harddrive, the Chinese model offers an external 40GB USB drive and an S-video cable to support television hook-ups.

Activity Description: Micronutrient deficiencies threaten the health, development, and productivity of millions of people worldwide. One approach to alleviating malnutrition is fortifying food with micronutrients. On a large scale, food fortification can be cost-effective and sustainable, and it allows people to get more nutritional value from the food they already eat.

To bring fortification to vulnerable rice-consuming communities, PATH developed a manufactured “Ultra Rice"--which can be mixed with rice and mimics the look, feel, and taste of rice--to provide nutrients the local diet may lack. In Colombia, two versions have been developed. One carries vitamin A; the other carries thiamin, folic acid, and zinc. An iron-bearing formula is expected to hit the commercial market later this year.

Activity Description: 95 Percent of underweight children are born in the developing world. Babies who don’t weigh enough at birth are weak and may have respiratory, digestive, and immunitary deficiencies; those who weigh less than 2.5 kg at birth are approximately 20 times more likely to die than heavier infants.

Because many babies in the developing world are delivered at home by traditional birth attendants or midwives who may lack the training and tools to recognize low birth weight, PATH has developed a BIRTHweigh scale that helps low-literate health workers identify low-birthweight children immediately. Once identified, these infants can be given care, such as immediate breastfeeding and warming, or referred for higher levels of medical care. The BIRTHweigh scale compensates for low levels of literacy by supplying pictorial instructions for use.

Activity Description: NABUUR.COM is run by Stichting Nabuur, a Netherlands based not-for-profit foundation. In its current development phase, NABUUR.COM depends on donor funding. After 2006 NABUUR.COM will be self financing.

Communities in developing countries can present their issues on NABUUR.COM and ask for the assistance of online volunteers , or "Neighbours." NABUUR.COM provides the community with its own online Village, a group of online volunteers (Neighbours), and a volunteer Facilitator who coordinates the efforts of the Neighbours.

Activity Description: The Phoenix Fund is a social entrepreneurship fund focused on creating economic opportunity and reducing global poverty. The fund makes seed capital grants administered by Mercy Corps field offices to implement innovative economic development pilot projects led by local entrepreneurs. Country Directors and their staff manage selected programs, sometimes in partnership with local organizations. The Fund offers strategic philanthropists a strong social return on donations by providing quantifiable results from projects, and by leveraging successful pilots to maximize impact and scale.

Activity Description: In response to China's growing problem of deforestation, the Yunnan Zhenzhong Environmental Protection - Energy Conservation Company has designed an biomass stove that saves 3000kg of firewood (compared to average fire-burning stoves) per year.

This stove is targeted at China's 220 million farmers. In addition to providing efficient, more cost-efficient usage of scarce firewood, t

Activity Description: BroadReach Healthcare is an international company dedicated to expanding access to life-saving healthcare across the globe. BroadReach focuses particularly on addressing HIV/AIDS, which infects 14,000 new people every day.

BroadReach works across sectors to: 1) advise governments on strategies for developing and implementing national treatment programs; 2) help design private-sector approaches to HIV/AIDS in their workplace; 3) assist funders, NGOs, governments, and multi-lateral assistance funds in identifying investments and managing projects to ensure a return on their investments.