2008 SEED Award Finalists 

The SEED Initiative recently announced 15 inspiring ventures that have been selected as finalists for the 2008 SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development.

The finalists offer exciting examples of innovative actionnin important fields of sustainability, include creating community enterprises, climate change adaptation and mitigation, organic, fair-trade agricultural produce, and empowering women and youth.

The SEED Initiative promotes, supports and

The SEED Initiative inspires, supports and
researches exceptional, entrepreneurial, nascent,
multi-stakeholder partnerships for locally led sustainable development.

researches such exceptional multi-stakeholder partnerships, which have developed innovative, locally led solutions to the global challenges of sustainable development.

Five Global Winners will be chosen by an internalional jury of sustainable development experts later this year. Each winner will receive a package worth $25,000 of tailor-made support services, international exposure, and networking activities to assist its development from a project idea to a sustainable enterprise and to create real impact.

SEED’s Associate Partners, including Verde Ventures, stand ready to assist SEED winners and finalists in their efforts to grow their businesses. Being able to draw on the expertise of these organizations gives SEED awardees a much greater chance of success.

Recently recruited Associate Partners include the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, the UN Global Compact, Ashoka, LEAD International, the International Institute for Environment and Development, Environmental Resources Management, South African Breweries, the University of California at Berkeley, Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development, Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, the Whitley Fund for Nature, the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, and the GVEP International.