2010
Team Awards
Champion Team Report
United States - Alyssa Silver
Colombia - Andrea Serna Restrepo
New Zealand - Jas Giri
United States - Jason Ryan Kirby
Sweden - Miha Sebenik
Nigeria Oyehan Tajudeen Adeyinka
Highly Commended Team Reports
Colombia - Angelo Gutierrez
United States - Brian Leininger
Colombia - Daniel Montoya
India - Gagan Preet Singh
Sweden - Matthijs Hollander
New Zealand - Shirley Wong
United States Sylvia Nguyen
United States Donald Straub
Team 27: Esan Cassava Processors
Colombia - Laura Gomez Cardona
Nigeria - Oli Jude Okechukwu
New Zealand - Paul Maurice Ralph
Sweden - Rients de Boer
Colombia - Wendy Zapata Jaramillo
United States - Westleigh Styer
Colombia - Daniel Clavijo Crespo
Sweden - Erik Erlandsson
United States - Laine Armour
Malaysia - Muhammad Hisyamuddin Shahrin
Nepal - Rajeev Shrestha
Colombia - Santiago Sosa Noreña
New Zealand - Victoria Wynn
Philippines - Christian B. Guillermo
Colombia - David Serrano
Colombia - Santiago Diaz Velez
New Zealand - Tim Shepherd
Australia - Tse Jie Rui Nicklaus
Finland - Ulla Rosalin
Canada - Willie Yao
Canada - Xiang Min Lin
Team 68: Future Moms Protection Network
Latvia - Johanna Aasame
Colombia - Manuela Gomez Gonzalez
New Zealand - Marc Trotter
Canada - Michelle (Xiao) Liu
Uganda - Patric René Mwimanzi
Colombia - Valerie Santamaria
Journal Awards
Champion Journal
Adeniyi Sheriff Adebowale (Team 33, Nigeria)
Highly Commended Journals
Brian Carrillo (Team 15, United States)
Dhiman Gain (Team 49, Bangladesh)
Kelvin Uwayezu (Team 2, Uganda)
Maria Scott (Team 53, New Zealand)
Subin Hachhethu (Team 45, Nepal)
Global Team Leader Awards
Winner
Highly Commended
Frances Skilton (Team 32)
Momo Smithers (Team 42)
Tim Pointer (Team 44)
Victoria Wynn (Team 51)
Commitment Awards
X (Name suppressed for his safety), Iran, Team 36
X is an Iranian Baha’i. He has already spent two months in prison solely because of his faith and for being falsely accused of communicating with foreigners. The government will not allow Baha’is to attend public university so academics have provided an education using people’s homes and the internet. For X, and the 11 other Baha’i students in the contest like him, it is very risky to participate in the Global Enterprise Experience.
Amusa Jumoke Fatimah, Nigeria, Team 26
Jummy is the only girl in a family of 15 to study. Money is very tight so she used the internet café in the early hours of the morning when it was at it cheapest. However she injured herself falling asleep as she walked home.
Shishir Hari Rajbhandari, Nepal, Team 45
Nepal is experiencing 12 hours per day of electricity shedding, at uncertain times of the day. Shashir found a way to work, study and participate in this contest by borrowing a laptop and battery from his cousin and using it in the early hours of the morning.
Simon Edward Metcalfe, New Zealand, Team 13
Simon’s wife had a baby during the contest. Simon managed his team so he could commit to both his project and his family.
Sowemimo Olubukola James, Nigeria, Team 10
James was unexpectedly called up for youth service at the start of the contest in a village with no electricity and many miles down a dirt road to an internet café. He contracted malaria during the second half of the contest. Remarkably James managed to contribute to his team and get his journal in on time.
Tommy Israel Etim, Nigeria, Team 13
Tommy travelled 100km to access the Internet. For his team he also visited a region without power to talk to rural communities to do market research on the potential for solar cooking.
Francis Skilton, New Zealand, Team 32
Francis broke her arm and was badly concussed. One could say she led her team single handedly!
Dhiman Gain, Bangladesh, Team 49
Riots closed Dhiman’s university so he needed to walk two hours to find an internet café to connect to his team.
Kelvin Uwayezu, Uganda, Team 2
Kelvin organised for his university colleagues in Uganda to participate in the Global Enterprise Experience, and then provided them with a great deal of help. However the university’s internet broke down so paying for internet connection was a major struggle.
Adeniyi Sheriff Adebowale, Nigeria, Team 33
Sheriff grew up in a village with no electricity, but eventually managed to get an education. The tough circumstances of his upbringing created a commitment to help his fellow citizens. For the contest he sold his cellphone to pay for the internet.
2009
In 2009 the topic was to develop a six page business concept proposal on a profitable product or service to foster a sustainable home, village or city.
Winning report
Team 45: Rice Husk Technology Solutions
Colombia - Ana Cecilia Greiffenstein
Colombia - Daniel Jaramillo Velez
New Zealand - Stefan Hampker
Philippines - Michael Jonathan Biscocho
Philippines - Rozelle Anne Noriega
USA - Jason Olaivar
USA - Zaneta Owens
Winning Journal
Nigeria - Giwa Jelilat Romoke (Team 8)
Te Kaihau Commitment Awards
Some participants put in a remarkable effort despite adversity to put their commitment to their team ahead of themselves:
Rwanda - Nkomejegusenga Dieudonne (Team 31)
Access to the internet is very limited in Rwanda, electricity is fickle and daily life is challenging. The final week of the competition coincided with the annual week long mourning period for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Nkomejegusenga Dieudonne, like so many Rwandans, commits his spare time to finding ways to help his fellow Rwandans and community to build a stronger society so that the events of 1994 never re-occur.
Iran - Shiva (full name suppressed for personal safety - Team 6)
Shiva was one of 14 Iranian Baha'i participants this year. University study is banned for people of the Baha'i Faith in Iran, and increasingly also for school aged children. In 1999 volunteer professors were imprisoned for teaching academic subjects to Baha'i youth. Shiva contributed fully to her team despite the personal risks.
Nigeria - Olaoye Oyinkansola Kofoworola (Team 20)
Snowflakes (Olaoye Oyinkansola Kofoworola) was using the internet service very late at night when prices were more affordable, when armed robbers attached the cyber cafe attendant and patrons, killing three and beating the rest. From hospital Snowflakes arranged for the doctor to let her use his internet connection to contribute to her team's final report and send her journal.
New Zealand - Jessica Kairarunga Maraea Smith (Team 31)
Jessica's work took her from New Zealand to the UK, Germany and Switzerland where she found internet connections to lead her team. However, on a personal excursion to Poland, she became very ill in a village with no English, and no ready internet access. She arranged for her sister to fly 18,000km to medi-vac her out of Poland and to find a way to get an internet connection to communicate with her team explaining what had happened.
Colombia - Jennifer Soto Cardona (Team 35)
Participants will know the feeling of let down when one or two members of the team disappear into cyberspace. For Jennifer it was her whole team that disappeared emerging only on the last days of the contest. So Jennifer developed the entire report on her own.
Nepal - Suraj Shrestha (Team 57)
Owing to scant rainfall, destruction of powerlines from flooding, reduced water flow from the Himalayas due to global warming, and a collapsed dam, the power supply in Nepal is in critical condition. On some days there was only four hours of electricity, and this could be at any time of the day or night. Suraj was required to put in longer hours at work to cope with the intermittent power, and then find a moment after work when the power was on to connect with the team.
Singapore - Harry Akbar Sutiono (Team 64)
Harry's mother was diagnosed with a serious illness. So he flew to Indonesia to support her, but continued to also fully support his team.
Colombia - Alejandro Zapata (Team 5)
Alejandro was incapacitated from an operation. However as soon as he was out of hospital he offered to the team to work non stop to help complete the report.
Highly Commended Reports
Team 8: Biogas Energy Solutions
Colombia - Andrea Restrepo Botero
Colombia - Elizabeth Velasquez Taborda
New Zealand - Lane Vincent Charles Black
New Zealand - Danielle Oosterman
Nigeria - Giwa Jelilat Romoke
Nigeria - Salawu Muideen Oluwatosin
USA - Bettina Michele Collier
USA - Blaine F. Paden
Team 17: EcoSan Dry Toilets
Colombia - Alejandra Giraldo Escobar
Colombia - Santiago Barrientos Botero
Germany - Samuel Mabikke
New Zealand - Laura Hinderwell
USA - Nurul-Afiqah Lokman
USA - Na Li
Team 59: Bamboozle
Bangladesh - Ibtihaj Samad Nabil
Bangladesh - Md. Wasequzzaman
Colombia - Diana Marcela Oleya Mesa
Colombia - Maria Alejandra
New Zealand - Timothy Edward Noel Newton-Howes
USA - Jack Cullen
USA - Elysse Egerman
Team 60: Morphallaxis
Baqngladesh - Imtiaz Ahmed
Canada - Sharon Paz
Colombia - Luuisa Fernanda Gallo
New Zealand - May Lee
USA - Christian Acuna
Team 66: The Mobile Global Food Network
Colombia - Carolina Escudero
Iran - Afsane (full name suppressed for personal safety)
Kyrgyzstan - Nurgul Iminova
Kyrgyzstan - Allakhunov Kabul
New Zealand - Anna Larsen
USA - Rebecca Mielke
USA - Soba Renee Princewill
Highly Commended Journals
Rwanda - Nkomejegusenga Diedonne (Team 31)
Bangladesh - Md. Wasequzzaman (Team 59)
Philippines - Anna Maria Margarity B. Manzo (Team 47)
Colombia - David Pelaez Gomez (Team 52)
New Zealand - Audrey Sam (Team 58)
2008
Topic
In 2008 participants had three weeks to develop a six page business concept proposal on a profitable product or services that meets the needs of the poor. The topic was based on the ideas of C K Prahalad published in his book "The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid". Usually we aim to develop products and services for the wealthy however he developed a series of case studies showing that there is a viable market amongst the world's 4 billion poor earning less than $2/day. However to achieve success requires a radical rethink of business strategy to reduce the price by 90%, maintain world class quality, engage in partnership with the consumers, match the product or service to exactly meets the consumers' needs, and more aspects.
Winning reports and journals are below:
Winning Report
Team 18: BlueGen
Highly Commended Reports
Team 14: The Medicycle Corporation
Team 37: Terra Source
Team 53: Innovate - Global Education and Training
Team 63: Global Enterprise Connect
Team 64: Growth for Life
Winning Journal
Aremu Adewale Abedimi - Nigeria
Highly Commended Journals
Nkomejegusenge Diedonne - Rwanda
Wadzanai Murau - Zimbabwe
Dennis Muchiri Wambui - Kenya
Anna Pallesen - New Zealand
David Trujillo - Colombia
Voeveo Commitment Awards
Many participants overcame extraordinary odds or showed great resilience to contribute to their teams:
* Aremu Adewale Abedimi - Nigeria
Adewale fasted three days per week to pay for the internet and visited rice growing elders to get ideas for his team's project
* Salawu Muideen Oluwatosin - Nigeria
Muideen spent 40% of his money on the internet connection. He had the Global Enterprise Experience, SIFE and his exams all in the same three weeks
* Shergan - Iran (full name suppressed for personal safety)
Members of the Baha'i Faith, Iran's largest religious minority, are not allowed to study at university. Students such as S. M. are studying underground but run the risk of persecution and imprisonment.
* Jose Daniel Zamorano Mejia - Colombia
Jose recognised there was a vacuum with the leadership and successfully stepped into the role. Jose also took the lead role in designing a project for an employee social development fund.
* Debasish Kumar Das - Bangladesh
Riots closed their university during the contest but Debasish found a way to continue contributing to the team.
* Wadzanai Murau - Zimbabwe
Wadzanai went out to the villages to do field research on the needs of the poor for her team.
* Daniel Nzohabonimana - Rwanda
Daniel contracted yellow fever during the contest but completed handing his journal in just a few days late. From a previous GEE contest he put his winnings and GEE contacts towards establishing a gorilla tourist venture and an AIDS centre for 400 children.
* Stanislav Shateev - New Zealand
Stanislav progressed his GEE project to a successful venture. The scenar is a Russian medical device that provides healing for most ailments. He arranged for the manufacturers, RITM, to gift nine scenar to Uganda. The proposal created a system to enable villagers to establish a profitable scenar business and also provide free services to the AIDS centre.
* Norma Garza Bedolla - Mexico
Norma built a complete website to showcase products created by the poor during the three week contest.
* Ashutosh Mani Dixit - Nepal
Ashutosh spent two days living with the very poor in Nepal to gain a better understanding of how to democratise investment. His insights informed the team's project, and also fueled his passion to make a real difference in making capital markets work for the poor.
2007
Topic
"Write a six page business concept proposal that would foster a sustainable environment. Your project needs draw on the diversity of your team members and their countries. The proposal is a preliminary investigation of a concept and sets out the rationale as to who your team should receive a grant to undertake a full business plan. Your proposal will need to convince funders that this is a worthwhile project to pursue, with evidence of information, thoughtfulness, understanding of business issues, and an action plan for how your team would proceed with the venture." In addition, each participant is required to submit a one-page journal that outlines their experience and insights. The one page journal is essential to be eligible to win any of the prizes.
“Write a six page business concept proposal on financing economic development that draws on the diversity of your team members and their countries. Teams may propose a scheme for microfinance, financing trade aid, financing women’s entrepreneurship, encouraging entrepreneurship, venture capital, assisting capital flows into developing countries, or any other concept with a financial theme. The winning proposal will demonstrate why the team should be funded to fully plan and implement their concept.”
Winning Report
Team 34: Link Aid
Highly Commended Reports
Team 7: International Recycled Computer Education Programme
Team 17: Music Juncture
Team 18: Empowerment of Entrepreneurial Woman
Team 40: Fungal Focus
Winning Journal
Samuel Mabikke - Uganda
Highly Commended Journal
Alex Bignotti - Italy
Anastasiya Nedelcheva - New Zealand
Arne Stehnken - New Zealand
Carmen Lou Nga Man - Macau
Eng Hong Ai - Malaysia
2005
Topic
"Develop a five page concept proposal for a business venture that will foster unity in diversity. Your proposal must draw on the diversity of your team members and their countries. Your report is a preliminary investigation of a concept and sets out the rationale as to why your team should receive a grant to undertake a full business plan. Your report will need to convince funders that this is a worthwhile project to pursue, with evidence of information, thoughtfulness, understanding of business issue, and an action plan for how your team would proceed with the venture."
Winning Report
Team 15: The Gaming Experience
Highly Commended Reports
Team 1: Global Governors
Team 18: Academic Resource
Winning Journal
Sumaiya Aboo - South Africa
Highly Commended Journal
Jenny Mikkola - Finnland
Esther Kou Iok Teng - Macau
2004
Topic
"Develop a concept proposal for a business venture involving music that draws on the talents and opportunities in your team members' countries. Your report is a preliminary investigation of a concept and sets out the rationale as to why your team should receive a grant to undertake a full business plan. Your report will need to convince funders that this is a worthwhile project to pursue, with evidence of information, thoughtfulness, understanding of business issues, and an action plan for how your team would proceed with the venture."
Winning Report
Global Rhyme
Winning Journal
Temalati Kupu - Tonga
