2008 SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development

February 6, 2008

The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development is an annual international competition, designed to support locally-led, innovative, entrepreneurial partnerships in developing countries, which have the potential to make real improvements in poverty eradication and environmental sustainability.

The SEED Initiative assists young and promising initiatives in strengthening and scaling up the impact of their activities. This is not a cash award. Instead, a comprehensive package of tailor-made support services, with a value of US$25,000, will be provided to Winners.

The support services respond to the challenges that emerging partnerships face when planning and implementing new ideas, including access to relevant expertise and technical assistance, meeting new partners and building networks, and developing business plans and identifying sources of finance.

The SEED Award recognizes and rewards two levels of winners:

Fifteen finalists who will be publicized and receive limited support through capacity development activities. Finalists will be chosen from developing countries in each of the 4 UN regional groups: Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. There will be 3 finalists from each region except Asia, from which six finalists will be selected.

Five Award Winners, selected from the pool of fifteen finalists, who will receive the full 'SEED Award' of support services, which will be delivered over a period of 12 months. The nature of the support services will depend on the needs that the Winners identify and will be developed jointly with them.

In addition to receiving support services, Winners in 2007 were celebrated at Awards ceremonies in their home countries and invited to SEED's International Partnerships Forum and Workshop in South Africa. SEED intends to do the same, and more, in 2008.

Submissions will be accepted until March 16, 2008.  Early submission is highly recommended as this may allow initial feedback to be given to help improve an application. Late submissions will not be considered.  The fifteen finalists will be announced during the 16th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development in New York, May 2008.  Award Winners will be announced in June 2008.

The deadline for submission is March 16, 2008.  More information about the SEED program and the application process is available at www.seedinit.org