Next week, eleven young entrepreneurs from around the world will be joining us at The Collective Old Oak to go through a four-week residential accelerator experience. This will the second year that The Collective Foundation will be hosting the Global Accelerator and this time around, we have collaborated with some amazing partners like Google, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, The London Mindfulness Project, and UCL Innovation and Enterprise – among many others. So what is it about?
The Collective Global Accelerator (CGA) is the flagship programme of The Collective Foundation, which aims to create stronger communities in cities. We focus on four different categories: Human Connection, Health and Wellbeing, Education and Opportunity and Environmental Sustainability.
Each participating entrepreneur has presented a great business idea in tackling the urban challenges in these four categories. With varying business stages and developments, the Foundation aims to expose the entrepreneurs to a wide variety of opportunities that greatly matches their needs.
We’ve rigorously prepared a set of workshops, coaching sessions, events, and mentorship programmes which all help each entrepreneur build a wide spectrum of developments, from personal to business to tech innovation to investment readiness.
In the long term, The Collective is creating a butterfly effect on resolving the urban challenges on a global scale. We create a close-knit network of passionate and ambitious social entrepreneurs truly wanting to make a difference in the world.
Why do we run it?
The Collective Foundation creates opportunities for those who want to make a difference in their community. CGA is one of the programmes we launched recently to empower and support the creative, ambitious and entrepreneurial young individuals living in the Old Oak local community and from all over the globe.
How did we select the entrepreneurs?
We have created a network of online platforms where we are able to share the open call for interested individuals to lodge an application. For over two months, we received about 4,600 application from more than 160 countries. It was a truly difficult task to be part of the judging panel knowing that some applicants are already listed on Forbes 30 under 30 and other reputable award-giving bodies.
The key pointers for us on selecting the final 11 is the ability to illustrate the need to develop through CGA and scale whilst maintaining the social impact aspect of their startups. Also, we are looking to accelerate businesses which directly respond to The Collective’s call for action: in addressing urban challenges within the four main categories this year.
Below, we run through this year’s entrepreneurs under each category.
Human Connection
Gwen Wong of Tribeless creates a culture of empathy in every organization and community in the world through a facilitation toolkit “empathy in a box”. Gwen’s social innovations hails from Malaysia.
Berat Kjamili of QZenobia develops a mobile application that runs as a refugee hub, based on refugee big-data analytics. Berat is a Macedonian making a difference in Turkey.
Tram Anh Nguyen of Sumi combines chatbot, artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, to automatically answer any questions from teenagers in their own language. Tram Anh disrupts tech in Vietnam.
Shaney Vijendranath of Momsays creates a network of mom-preneurs and simultaneously serves as an analytics platform for moms to connect, review products & services and engage with brands. Shaney is an influential mom-preneur from South Africa.
Health and Wellbeing
Sarah Tuck of Coliberate runs a mental health club on the mission to create a “gym” culture for mental health, by providing wellbeing culture training for organisations, consent education workshops and are now the lead providers of NZ/Aotearoa Mental Health First Aid Certificate. Sarah is leading a gym culture in New Zealand.
Rene Espinaza of Lazarillo creates accessible and intelligent spaces through a mobile application, helping people with visual disabilities connect with their environment, improving their autonomy and quality of life. Rene is making a change visible in Chile.
Education and Opportunity
Arthur Gopak of AlphaGamma develops a business portal for young professionals helping them discover and take advantage of life-changing career opportunities. Arthur is ready to conquer the world starting in The Netherlands.
Charles Lipenga of Maestros Leadership Team runs an organisation in Africa that engages the youth in schools and out schools in working towards achieving the sustainable development goals set by the UN. Charles is leading a movement in Malawi.
Environmental Sustainability
Juliana Gutierrez of Low Carbon City leads an online platform working to tackle climate change in cities, through education, engaging local communities and implementing solutions. Juliana is starting the eco-revolution in Colombia.
Andrei Toma of Homepod creates a predictive e-procurement software for energy efficiency & low carbon footprint buildings, through the blockchain. Andre is eco-driven conquering game from Romania to the United Kingdom.
Katy Renwick of Imperfectly Good delivers tasty lunches made from salvaged, surplus produce. Katy delivers exceptional health food in the United Kingdom.
Interested in meeting the cohort in June?
Although most of the programme is exclusively organised for the accelerator participants, we have however a few events that are open to the co-living members at The Collective Old Oak, investors and anyone interested to meet and greet with the cohort. Here are the links to RSVP:
Opening Ceremony
Demo Day
Breakfast meetings with interested investors
We are very excited to welcoming everyone who would like to support the 2018 CGA cohort. Looking forward to seeing everyone around!