Unilever’s global search for young entrepreneurs with big ideas
View(s):Unilever recently launched a global search for young entrepreneurs aged 35 and younger offering practical and innovative solutions to some of the world’s biggest sustainability challenges for the 2015 Unilever Sustainable Living Young Entrepreneurs Awards.
In line with this initiative Unilever Sri Lanka (USL) is looking for budding young local entrepreneurs that meet the criteria and offer them the opportunity to compete globally for the top prize, the company said this week.
Currently in its 3rd year, the awards are part of Unilever’s efforts to support the 17 United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development, ratified on 25 September. These ambitious goals set out to end extreme poverty, tackle climate change, empower women, secure universal water access, and reduce hunger by 2030. If the goals are met, they will ensure the health, safety and future of the planet for everyone on it.
“Sri Lanka is on the cusp of a new economic age with our young entrepreneurs leading the charge towards positive social and environmental outcomes and greater prosperity. Their unwillingness to accept the world as it is and their commitment to change it is more than deserving of being nurtured and encouraged,” said Sameer Nagarajan, Director – Human Resources and Corporate Relations at Unilever Sri Lanka.
The wards, run in partnership with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL), and in collaboration with Ashoka, offer seven young people a total of more than €200,000 in financial support and individually tailored Mentoring. The overall winner also receives the prestigious Prince of Wales Young Sustainability Entrepreneur Prize.
Polly Courtice, LVO, Director of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, said,“2015 is an exceptional year that sees the convergence of a number of important international agreements on sustainable development, culminating in the long-awaited climate change summit in Paris in December. The young entrepreneurs supported by the Unilever Awards exemplify the creativity and dynamism we need to respond to and construct a new economy that will deliver prosperity long into the future whilst delivering positive outcomes for societies and the environment. We are delighted to bring the research insight of the Cambridge community together with our worldwide network of business leaders, to support these awards in encouraging the innovation and leadership we so urgently need.”