The Social Venture Network hosted the competition "Imagine What?s Next: Ideas that Will Change the Way the World Does Business" in June and announced the winners on Monday. This innovation award's objective is to find businesses and leaders that create positive social change in the business sector.

Out of the ten winners, I would like to highlight two because of their work within the BOP sphere:Design that Matters, Timothy Prestero, CEO (Cambridge, MA): Design that Matters (DtM) was founded to help social enterprises in developing countries scale more quickly by providing them access to better products designed specifically for their needs. DtM?s design work and business analysis is performed by volunteers from academia and industry, using the infrastructure available at their host institutions. Academic contributors include MIT, Stanford and the Rhode Island School of Design, and corporate partners include IDEO and Fisher Price, SolidWorks and Optikos.

World of Good, Priya Haji, Co-founder and CEO
(Emeryville, CA): World of Good seeks to lift thousands of women in the developing world out of poverty. It creates opportunities for hundreds of artisan cooperatives around the world by serving as a bridge to the U.S. retail market and providing access to fair wages, safe working conditions and long-term economic sustainability. ProjectGood.com is the newest venture launched in partnership with eBay to create a people positive shopping experience designed to help millions of consumers connect with producers around the world.

The winners of the competition will be honored at the SVN Fall Conference in California later next week. Since 1987, SVN has been working to promote social enterprises and encourage socially responsible investing, sustainable and green enterprises. They identify businesses and entrepreneurs that value both social concerns and profitability.