Categories
Resources for Impact Ventures

Global & Regional Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 3: Mobility & Transportation Global and Regional Programs

impact accelerators

Subscription form (upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs: programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch events, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators)

This is a blog post in the series “Resources for impact entrepreneurs”:  Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 3: Mobility & Transportation Global and Regional Programs.

Part 1.1: Global Food & Agriculture Programs

Part 1.2: Regional Food & Agriculture Programs

Part 2: Global & Regional Water Programs

Part 4: Global & Regional Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs

Resources for your global&regional impact startup programs search

Awards, Prizes and Competitions:

Keeling Curve Prize: looking for projects with a proven track record of taking greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere; the categories include transport&mobility.

Future Mobility Awards: recognizing startups that are bringing the very best new innovations to the industry, and enabling transformations in four key categories: Sustainability, AI for Safety, Connectivity and Virtual Development.

BCG, via iD, EP: European Startup Prize for Mobility, aiming to select and support every year the 10 most innovative and sustainable mobility startups in Europe (and neighboring countries) in order to shape a new landscape for sustainable mobility in EU and around the world.

Hyundai & POSCO: H2 Challenge, looking for hardware & software applications, technologies and solutions for hybridization and decarbonization in the areas comprising Transportation.

Siemens Stiftung: E-Mobility Innovation Calls: “Electric Mobility Made in Africa for Africa”.

Bosch: Future Mobility Challenge, an international technical competition for student teams to develop autonomous driving algorithms on 1/10 scale vehicles provided by the company.

XTC: a social innovation startup competition; the sectors include mobility.

Hackathons, Incubators and Accelerators:

IAA Mobility: IAA Mobilitython, a hackathon for the mobility transition.

Urban Mobility Incubator: a 10-week incubation program to transform mobility ideas into deployed prototypes; geographical coverage: the primary focus are participants from the Baltic states, but ready to consider teams from elsewhere in the world if interested in registering the company in Latvia.

SOLUTIONSplus: New Incubator for start-ups developing e-mobility solutions across the globe.

Volkswagen: Future Mobility Incubator, supporting innovative business ideas related to the mobility of the future and giving entrepreneurs from all over the world the chance to develop their innovative mobility concepts to market maturity.

IMPACT: Connected Car, a 6-month acceleration program

Toyota and ISDI: Toyota Startup Accelerator program, looking for innovative solutions in the startup ecosystem that work in the fields comprising of Mobility for All.

European Union and State of Berlin: Imagine2030 Mobility Accelerator.

EIT Urban Mobility, supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT): acts accelerating positive change on mobility to make urban spaces more liveable.

Connected Places Catapult: Future of Air Mobility Accelerator, selecting 12 SMEs to join a 6-month programme, where they will receive support from a consortium of industry, academic and regulatory partners on the trial and testing of disruptive innovations; key challenges: Data-Driven Aviation, Smart Airports, Advanced Air Mobility.

Dassault Systems: Electro Mobility Accelerator, accelerating successful mobility innovations, while optimizing cost, quality and customer experience, via Cloud or on Premis.

Future Hub: Open Innovation Sustainability Accelerator, a kickstarter for startup & enterprise co-creation; the sustainability areas include mobility; geography: Baltic countries.

DeepTech4Good: an acceleration program, financed under the Horizon 2020 framework, committed to help Deep Tech startups accelerate their development and scale up at European level; the application domains comprise smart mobility.

Plug and Play: three-month accelerator programs boosting startups through corporate business development, networking and pitch events, world-class mentorship, and the potential for investment; the sectors comprise mobility.

Startup Wise Guys: Sustainability Accelerator, meant for B2B startups with solid and passionate teams, global ambitions, and the power to execute; the sectors include mobility; geography: online and offsite format for startups from anywhere.

MAN Accelerator: MAN Impact Accelerator, built to scale social ventures in transport and logistics with a considerable impact on society; geographical coverage: Europe, Brazil, Africa.

Africa Mobility Initiative: Africa Transformative Mobility Accelerator for transformative, practical, well researched and possibly tested solutions to urban mobility challenges in African Cities.

Stay tuned on Linkedin and Twitter for more useful resources and updates on online programs, fellowships, awards, competitions, incubators, accelerators.

If you opt for funding advisory services (600+ impact investing opportunities), you are just one step away.

Other helpful blog posts:

Upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1: Learn and Grow

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Funding Solutions

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 1: Impact Investing Platforms, Founders&Funders Dilemma, and Hundreds of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 2: Founder’s Bias, and Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 1: Tools and Online Platform

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 2: Online Programs and Courses

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 3: Mentorship Support, Online Communities, and Talent Pools

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 4: Pitch Decks, Raising Capital, Impact Investing

Categories
Resources for Impact Ventures

Global & Regional Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Water Global and Regional Programs

impact accelerators

Subscription form (upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs: programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch events, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators)

This is a blog post in the series “Resources for impact entrepreneurs”:  Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Water Global and Regional Programs.

Part 1.1: Global Food & Agriculture Programs

Part 1.2: Regional Food & Agriculture Programs

Part 3: Global & Regional Mobility & Transportation Programs

Part 4: Global & Regional Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs

Resources for your global&regional impact startup programs search

Networking:

Nexus Community: a global and curated community of professionals sharing solutions, business opportunities and knowledge related to water nexus thematics.

WIA: Oceanside Chats, online water community gatherings with experts and professionals from all around the world.

Awards, Prizes and Competitions:

FINNOVA: Ivace Water Startup Europe Awards, open-innovation programme.

Global Water Awards: a competition for projects demonstrating a significant contribution to the water industry.

Ocean Exchange: 3 Ocean Impact Awards.

XPRIZE Carbon Removal: a four-year global competition for innovators and teams from anywhere on the planet to create and demonstrate solutions that can pull carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or oceans ultimately scaling massively to gigaton levels, locking away CO2 permanently in an environmentally benign way.

The Water Council: WaterTech challenge prizes.

MIT: Water Innovation Prize, startup competition focused on water innovation that awards up to $35K to student-led teams from across the country and internationally.

Brew Accelerator: yearly competitions unleashing water innovation by funding water technology startups from around the world with commercialization potential.

XPRIZE Foundation: large-scale global incentive competitions to crowdsource solutions to the world’s grand challenges; the domain areas include oceans.

UN Climate Change Conference: Tech For Our Planet challenge programme, an opportunity for startups to pilot technology that will help us reach our net zero targets (incl.Challenge 6 For Our Water).

MENA Regional Innovation Fund: Calls for Innovations, scaling mid-to-later stage enterprises that have an environmental and social impact in the water-energy-food nexus; geographical coverage: Middle East and North Africa.

Accelerators:

100Accelerator: an accelerator for innovative solutions that have the ability to scale quickly and make a significant impact on one or more of the challenge areas (incl. water stewardship).

Imagine H2O: an innovation accelerator for the world’s top water entrepreneurs.

Katapult: Ocean Accelerator, a digital program that combines 90 days of intense workshops, networking events and learning sessions with $150,000 – 500,000 investments.

Sustainable Ocean Alliance: Ocean Solutions Accelerator for ocean-focused startups.

HATCH: accelerating sustainable aquaculture with a requirement for teams to visit the three office locations during the program (Hawaii, Norway and Singapore).

Stay tuned on Linkedin and Twitter for more useful resources and updates on online programs, fellowships, awards, competitions, incubators, accelerators.

If you opt for funding advisory services (600+ impact investing opportunities), you are just one step away.

Other helpful blog posts:

Upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1: Learn and Grow

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Funding Solutions

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 1: Impact Investing Platforms, Founders&Funders Dilemma, and Hundreds of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 2: Founder’s Bias, and Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 1: Tools and Online Platform

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 2: Online Programs and Courses

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 3: Mentorship Support, Online Communities, and Talent Pools

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 4: Pitch Decks, Raising Capital, Impact Investing

Categories
Resources for Impact Ventures

Global & Regional Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1.2: Agriculture & Food Regional Programs

impact accelerators

Weekly updates (upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs: programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch events, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators)

This is a blog post in the series “Resources for impact entrepreneurs”:  Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1.2: Food & Agriculture Regional Programs.

Part 1.1: Global Food & Agriculture Programs

Part 2: Global and Regional Water Programs

Part 3: Global & Regional Mobility & Transportation Programs

Part 4: Global & Regional Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs

Resources for your global&regional impact startup programs search

Fellowships:

FAO UN Fellowship: designed to attract fellows, typically PhD students, researchers and professors, who have an advanced level of relevant technical knowledge and experience in any field of the Organization.

Co-operative Research Programme: Sustainable Agricultural and Food Systems; eligibility.

Kirchner Food Fellowship: three fellowship programs that harnesses the power of millennials to find, fund and assist promising socially responsible agricultural businesses; geographical coverage: Central America, Mexico.

Networking:

EIT Food: Europe’s leading food innovation initiative, working to make the food system more sustainable, healthy and trusted.

LadyAgri: a network of International and African professionals linking agri-businesses with the finance community, social impact funds, through which women-agri- entrepreneurs can develop and upscale their businesses in Africa and Small Island Developing.

Incubators and Accelerators:

World Resources Institute: Land Accelerator, a four-month program and curated network for entrepreneurs who restore degraded forests and farmland; geographical coverage: Africa, Latin America, South Asia.

The Yield Lab: enabling entrepreneurs to sustainably revolutionize agrifood systems; regional accelerators: North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe.

EIT Food: supporting innovative impactful agrifood entrepreneurs and startups to deliver new food innovations and businesses across Europe (incubator, accelerator, scaleup program).

X-Europe: 6 acceleration cohorts for European startups; the areas include AgriTech.

Fresh Ventures Studio: a venture building program, co-founding companies with experienced professionals and entrepreneurs to address systemic challenges in the food system; for EU participants, require all participants to locate to Rotterdam for the physical part of the program.

StartLife: accelerating food & agtech startups with lasting impact in Europe.

Hatch Colab: a 12-month program (with periods of residence in Geneva) for Europe-based entrepreneurs committed to solving humanity’s grand challenges and driving sustainable change; the sectors include healthcare.

Future Hub: Open Innovation Sustainability Accelerator, a kickstarter  for startup & enterprise co-creation; five sustainability and GreenTech areas: Mobility, Food & AgroTech, Smart cities & Energy, Supply Chain & Logistics, Sustainable Business & Circular Economy; geography: Baltic countries.

FAO and UNIDO: 3ADI+, Accelerator for Agriculture and Agroindustry Development and Innovation; pilot countries: Bangladesh, Suriname, Tanzania.

Big Idea Ventures: food accelerators in New York, Paris, Singapore.

Future Food Asia Platform: aiming to accelerate open innovation in AgriTech and FoodTech across Asia Pacific, with the goal to catalyze and align an ecosystem to cope with the challenges of food.

Kindle VC: mentorship (incubator/accelerator) and EIR support for startups in US and India; the focus sectors include agritech.

Pangea: a Scaleup Program for Africa-based impact driven startups; the sectors include Agriculture.

Village Capital, supported by the IKEA Foundation: O-Farms – Making the Most of Food, helping scale circular agribusiness innovations in East Africa.

Glocal: an accelerator for both, startups and mid – sized established companies in the Agribusiness Sector in Latin America.

Village Capital, with the support of Visa Foundation: Future of Food LatAm AgriTech and FoodTechAccelerator, an investment readiness program for Latin American startups that are tackling the region’s most pressing challenges in the agritech and foodtech sectors.

Stay tuned on Linkedin and Twitter for more useful resources and updates on online programs, fellowships, awards, competitions, incubators, accelerators.

If you opt for funding advisory services (600+ impact investing opportunities), you are just one step away.

Other helpful blog posts:

Upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1: Learn and Grow

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Funding Solutions

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 1: Impact Investing Platforms, Founders&Funders Dilemma, and Hundreds of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 2: Founder’s Bias, and Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 1: Tools and Online Platform

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 2: Online Programs and Courses

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 3: Mentorship Support, Online Communities, and Talent Pools

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 4: Pitch Decks, Raising Capital, Impact Investing

Categories
Resources for Impact Ventures

Global & Regional Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1.1: Agriculture & Food Global Programs

Subscription form (upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs: programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch events, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators)

This is the first blog post in the series “Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs”. Part 1.1: Food & Agriculture Global Programs.

Part 1.2: Regional Agriculture & Food Programs

Part 2: Global and Regional Water Programs

Part 3: Global & Regional Mobility & Transportation Programs

Part 4: Global & Regional Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs

Resources for your global&regional impact startup programs search

Food naturally connects all of us and it is certainly the easiest way for every single person to make a positive impact (from healthier eating patterns to reduced food waste), so let’s start with global growth programs for food & agriculture ventures.

Online Platforms, Networking, and Pitch Events:

SAIRA: a digital matchmaking platform that tackles the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by bringing established experts together with upstart innovators and facilitating long-term initiatives (incl. food&agriculture opportunities).

Food Entrepreneurs Community: an online community for those wanting to transform & power the new food revolution.

Good Food SME Hub: Small businesses making our food more nourishing, sustainable, equitable and resilient.

Vevolution: the plant-based and cell-tech business community.

Food Tech Matters: bringing together the investor, start-up and industry community.

FoodBytes: a digital and physical discovery program connecting the best and brightest startups with corporates and investors through structured mentor sessions, one-on-one corporate and investor meetings, and more, culminating in a live pitch competition.

Vegan Women Summit: VWS Pathfinder, first female founder summit and pitch competition dedicated exclusively to plant-based innovation.

Awards & Challenges:

World Food Forum: Startup Innovation Awards, a global startup competition established to support and showcase innovators and entrepreneurs who are harnessing the power of technology to drive the sustainable transformation of agri-food systems in support of ending global hunger and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Fi: Global Startup Innovation Challenge, competition aimed at rewarding innovative projects within the F&B industry through a specialised support programme tailored to their needs.

Thought for Food: a global agri-food-tech innovation challenge.

The Future of Sports, The Future of Medicine and FoodFWD: Forces of Change Awards, awards for innovators across the food, sports and health industries.

Topsector Tuinbouw & Uitgangsmaterialen: IMPACT 2025 – Topsector T&U Innovation Prize,  selecting international and ground-breaking innovations that contribute to the realisation of sustainable horticulture: cross-border innovation.

Forward Fooding: FoodTech 500, showcasing selected international AgriFoodTech startup and scaleup companies using a unique methodology to rank them based on their business size, digital footprint, and sustainability practices.

UN Climate Change Conference: Tech For Our Planet challenge programme, an opportunity for startups to pilot technology that will help reach our net zero targets (incl.Challenge 2 On Our Plate).

Attention FWD: Forces Of Change Awards, honoring innovators who are making an impact and shaping the future (the sectors include food).

Future Food-Tech: Innovation Challenges for start-ups to tackle some of the most critical issues facing the food-tech industry (The Kellogg Challenge: new microbiome-based innovation for gut wellness; The Unilever Challenge: improving the taste, texture, sustainability of plant-based meat and dairy alternatives).

Iberdrola: Agrivoltaics Startup Challenge, seeking low-cost and environmentally-friendly solutions to combine the roll-out of photovoltaic plants and certain primary sector activities in rural areas in a sustainable way.

XTC: a social innovation startup competition; the sectors include agtech&food.

Incubators & Accelerators:

Counterfactual Ventures: a startup creation studio, an incubator and venture capital fund that is in the business of replacing factory farming and unsustainable fishing practices with scalable alternative protein solutions.

ProVeg Incubator: supporting pioneering companies that are developing disruptive alternatives to animal-based products and services.

Rockstart: a domain-focused accelerator-VC with follow-on growth funding that supports and empowers the best startups on their way to success across four domains, including agrifood.

SOSV: accelerators for elite startups from around the world tackling the biggest problems; the areas include disruptive food.

100Accelerator: an accelerator for innovative solutions that have the ability to scale quickly and make a significant impact on one or more of the challenge areas (incl. smart agriculture).

FoundersLane: several programs for startups; the focus sectors include agriculture.

Plug and Play: 60+ accelerators; the focus areas include food&beverages and agtech.

Kaizen Company: two hybrid technology incubator/accelerator programs to address global challenges in food security and conflict resolution.

RootCamp: incubators and accelerators focused on agrifood tech innovation (for startups from anywhere, but the program takes place in Hannover).

Sente: looking for innovative startups that are disrupting the indoor agriculture world (3 startup programs).

NetImpact: Food Solutions Challenge, an accelerator and pitch competition focused on finding solutions to the most pressing issues in food and agriculture.

FoodFutureCo: a scale-up accelerator in food, agriculture, social, & environmental entrepreneurship.

HortiHeroes: startup program for food & flower startups

Eatable Adventures: an accelerator for food companies.

THRIVE Accelerator: supporting seed stage startups from all areas of the value chain whose technologies drive us towards a more efficient, sustainable, and secure agriculture future.

Acumen Academy: Climate Resilient Agriculture Accelerator, helping to scale your business and bolster the climate resilience of smallholder farmers.

Bind 4.0: connecting dynamic startup teams with well-established companies, to provide external solutions for their internal digital transformation challenges while promoting the development of commercial skills and encouraging the immersion of startups in the local ecosystem, catalyzing new business opportunities; the sectors include food.

Leonhardt Ventures: an innovation accelerator focused on Convergence of Bioelectrics & Biologics for Organ Regeneration and Healing.

Brinc: empowering founders who are solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges through new technology-based solutions: alternative protein, agritech, food technology; location: virtual remote programs and ideally, must be looking to deploy their product / solution in the Asian market.

GROW: Southeast Asia’s agrifoodtech accelerator with an impact focus (online and onsite format for startups from anywhere).

Sprout: helping you navigate your entrepreneurial journey so your company and product gets noticed by Investors who ‘get it’ and want to see you grow a global innovation; location: virtual program, but teams will be expected to travel to New Zealand for a minimum of two visits. It’s our expectation that each company has a business plan to address the New Zealand market and/or connect with one of Sprout’s partners.

FoodTech Accelerator: a Milan-based accelerator, selecting up to 10 of the best startups worldwide each year to boost food innovation.Feel free to follow #LVfinds on Twitter and Linkedin for occasional updates.

Stay tuned on Linkedin and Twitter for more useful resources and updates on online programs, fellowships, awards, competitions, incubators, accelerators.

If you opt for funding advisory services (600+ impact investing opportunities), you are just one step away.

Other helpful blog posts: 

Upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1: Learn and Grow

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Funding Solutions

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 1: Impact Investing Platforms, Founders&Funders Dilemma, and Hundreds of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 2: Founder’s Bias, and Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 1: Tools and Online Platforms

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 2: Online Programs and Courses

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 3: Mentorship Support, Online Communities, and Talent Pools

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 4: Pitch Decks, Raising Capital, Impact Investing

Categories
Resources for Impact Ventures

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 4: Pitch Decks, Raising Capital, Impact Investing

impact entrepreneur

Subscription form (upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs: programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch events, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators)

This is a blog post in the series “Resources for impact entrepreneurs”:  Be Your Own Mentor. Part 4.

Part 1: Tools and Online Platforms

Part 2: Online Programs and Courses

Part 3: Mentorship Support, Online Communities, and Talent Pools

Pitch Deck Templates:

Founder Institute: pitch deck templates.

The Female Founders Lab: free tutorial and deck template.

Venture University: startup resources (pitch deck, investment evaluation, etc.).

37 Angels: resources and blog by investors (ventures hacks, pitch decks, fundraising checklist, list of blogs by investors).

JumpStart Foundry: Healthcare Startup Resources (incl.pitch deck template).

Raising Capital:

Linkedin Learning: raising capital.  

Y Combinator: startup library (fundraising+investors).

Female Founders Fund: VC resources.

SoGal Foundation: courses on investing, breaking into VC, and more.

Kauffman Entrepreneurs: learning materials (Grow Your Business: approaching investors).

WAMVentures: resources and tools (angel investing, venture deals, etc.).

MergeLane: resources (incl.investment cases, venture capital, etc.).

Marigold Capital: resources (incl.podcasts on venture capital).

Drawdown Fund: a series of the books, articles, talks and resources that have been instrumental in helping build the Drawdown Fund (incl.investing).

CASE Smart Impact: a self-paced online program to learn to close the best deal for your impact venture.

Impact Investing:

Sopact: impact investing guide.

Next Wave Capital: resources (angel investing, venture capital investing, crowdfunding resources, etc.).

CASE Smart Impact: an online toolkit to help make impact investment fundraising easier.

venturedeals: standard forms of documents used for early stage financings.

Talgra: Invest with Values, a free educational resource that connects the dots between related investment areas including local banking, community investing, impact investing, and socially responsible investing.

Nia: diversity resources (incl.a due diligence guide for investing, etc.).

If you opt for individual guidance, you are just one step away.

Stay tuned on Linkedin and Twitter for more useful resources and updates on online programs, fellowships, awards, competitions, incubators, accelerators.

Other helpful blog posts: 

Upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs

Resources for your global&regional impact startup programs search

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1: Learn and Grow

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Funding Solutions

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 1: Impact Investing Platforms, Founders&Funders Dilemma, and Hundreds of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 2: Founder’s Bias, and Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs

Growth Opportunities for Impactpreneurs:

Part 1.1: Global Food & Agriculture Global Programs

Part 1.2: Regional Food & Agriculture Regional Programs 

Part 2: Global & Regional Water Programs

Part 3: Global & Regional Mobility & Transportation Programs

Part 4: Global & Regional Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs

Categories
Resources for Impact Ventures

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 3: Mentorship Support, Online Communities, and Talent Pools

impact entrepreneur

Subscription form (upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs: programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch events, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators)

This is a blog post in the series “Resources for impact entrepreneurs”:  Be Your Own Mentor. Part 3. 

Part 1: Tools and Online Platforms

Part 2: Online Programs and Courses

Part 4: Pitch Decks, Raising Capital, Impact Investing

Mentorship Support:

Global

MovingWorlds: helping social enterprises in the ‘pioneer gap’ access the skills to overcome any challenge, while helping the professionals who volunteer their expertise find more purpose in their work and accelerate their for-good careers.

Expert Impact: accelerating the impact of social entrepreneurs by connecting them with world-leading business experts for free advice and mentoring.

All Good Ventures: business mentoring support from volunteers with ‘muscle’ to help social enterprises.

Ashoka: several mentorship programs.

MicroMentor: a community connecting mentors and entrepreneurs from all over the world to help small businesses thrive.

Tech2impact: mentorship support from experienced founders, industry leaders, and experts to startups on their entrepreneurial path in scaling impact.

Lunt Foundation: providing networking for entrepreneurs fostering a better world for humans and the planet alike.

Mentor Capital Network: helping mission-driven entrepreneurs build companies that will be socially, environmentally, and financially sustainable: business plans review, detailed feedback, mentorship.

Social Sector Network: providing top-quality entrepreneurial training to empower innovative leaders around the world.

Legacy International: Global Transformation Corps, live training and coaching events for a select cohort of social entrepreneurs so they can launch and scale their ventures; and a purposeful online network of impact investors, expert coaches and next generation entrepreneurs dedicated to shifting the world to sustainable economies.

Youth Business International: supporting underserved young entrepreneurs (18 – 35 years) to start, grow and sustain their businesses – enabling them to create jobs, build communities and transform lives.

FuseChange: free consulting services for entrepreneurs that are impacting social and environmental change in their community.

SAIRA: a digital matchmaking platform that tackles the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by bringing established experts together with upstart innovators and facilitating long-term initiatives.

Eos Entrepreneur Foundation: supporting social entrepreneurs through coaching, a comprehensive online self-assessment, an analysis of the social entrepreneur’s strengths and weaknesses as well as identifying needs and priorities for improvement.

Regional & National

Enablis: supporting SME entrepreneurs who create jobs in developing and emerging countries, leading to sustainable economic growth.

Makesense Spot: more than 350 mentors for your impact project.

Mentores de Impacto: 3-month mentorship support programs in Spanish.

AirAsia Foundation: mentorship for social enterprises.

Uptima Bootcamp: holistic and culturally relevant education, advising, and community to support US-based diverse entrepreneurs in creating thriving businesses in service to their communities.

NewME: an entrepreneurship education program, serving early-stage business founders and their teams through mentorship, specialized curriculums in US.

Kindle VC: mentorship and EIR support for startups in US and India; the focus sectors include agritech and social impact.

Online Communities/Networking:

Impact HUB: one of the world’s largest networks focused on building entrepreneurial communities for impact at scale.

1MillionStartups: a global platform in support of startups and entrepreneurs who are dedicated to solving real-life problems and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Startup Basecamp: a community for founders, investors, and experts seeking to connect, share, and empower each other to fight climate change with a global #impact.

Ashoka: several networking programs.

Impact Consulting: a global network of aspiring and professional Consultants, who want to make a positive impact on the world.

Zebras Unite: a community of entrepreneurs, investors and allies dedicated to building companies that balance both profit and purpose. 

Earth Ambition: the global community improving wellness & growth of impact-driven freelancers, founders & startups.

UMI Community: a social network dedicated to innovative projects of tomorrow in all fields.

Nexus Community: a global community sharing solutions, business opportunities and knowledge on water nexus thematics.

Talent Networks of Skill-based Volunteers:

Global

Matchable: reimagining volunteering by offering employees unique upskilling opportunities working with exciting non-profits and impact startups.

ShareNest: a social enterprise that matches capable volunteers with NGOs & social impact projects around the world.

Taproot Foundation: helping social change organizations solve critical challenges in their communities with the support of skilled volunteers sharing their expertise pro bono. 

DataKind: providing social change organizations with the pro bono data science innovation team they need to boost impact in the fields of education, poverty, health, human rights, the environment and cities.

Gusher: a startup platform helping companies launch using time equity; everything, incl. health, food.

uBegin: an online platform to look for collaborators.

All Good Ventures: support from volunteers with ‘muscle’ to help social enterprises with small jobs.

Solve for Good: Data Science Volunteers for Social Good Projects.

Virtual Internships: international interns for any project, anywhere, anytime.

National

Encore Fellowships: matching skilled, seasoned professionals with social sector organizations in high impact, paid leadership engagements in the US.

CommuniHelp: matching skilled professionals with the right volunteer opportunities, while helping organizations recruit and retain the right volunteers.

If you opt for individual guidance, you are just one step away.

Stay tuned on Linkedin and Twitter for more useful resources and updates on online programs, fellowships, awards, competitions, incubators, accelerators.

Other helpful blog posts: 

Upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs

Resources for your global&regional impact startup programs search

Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impactpreneurs: Online Programs, Fellowships, Challenges, Pitch Competitions, Bootcamps, Incubators, Accelerators, and more

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1: Learn and Grow

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Funding Solutions

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 1: Impact Investing Platforms, Founders&Funders Dilemma, and Hundreds of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 2: Founder’s Bias, and Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs

Growth Opportunities for Impactpreneurs:

Part 1.1: Global Food & Agriculture Programs

Part 1.2: Regional Food & Agriculture Regional Programs 

Part 2: Global & Regional Water Programs

Part 3: Global & Regional Mobility & Transportation Programs

Part 4: Global & Regional Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs

Categories
Resources for Impact Ventures

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 2: Online Programs and Courses

social entrepreneur

Subscription form (upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs: programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch events, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators)

This is a blog post in the series “Resources for impact entrepreneurs”:  Be Your Own Mentor. Part 2. 

Part 1: Tools and Online Platforms

Part 3: Mentorship Support, Online Communities, and Talent Pools

Part 4: Pitch Decks, Raising Capital, Impact Investing

Courses for Career Changers:

Escape The City: a collection of courses to help people changing careers.

TechChange: online professional development courses and events in technology and social change.

On Purpose: Associate and Pathfinder helping people transition into careers, but more profoundly lives, with more meaning and purpose.

Impact Finance Pro: Impact Pathfinder, One Stop Shop As You Prepare For Your Impact Finance Career Transition.

Courses for Impactpreneurs:

edX: Enabling Entrepreneurs to Shape a Better World; Responsible Innovation: Building Tomorrow’s Responsible Firms; Responsible Innovation: Ethics, Safety and Technology; Data Ethics, AI and Responsible Innovation; Innovation: From Plan to Product; Capstone Economics and Policies for a Circular Economy; Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, and more.

Coursera: Becoming a changemaker: Introduction to Social Innovation; Social Impact Strategy: Tools for Entrepreneurs and Innovators; Business Strategies for Social Impact, and more.

EVPA: online courses on social impact.

Springboard: Social Entrepreneurship online course.

Good Hustle: online programs to help creating enterprises for impact.

The Good Business Roadmap: an 11-week start up course for first-time, purpose-led entrepreneurs, guiding you through the journey of turning a business idea into a sustainable venture.

IIX Institute: a diverse selection of courses and programs related to sustainable finance, business, and leadership.

New Ventures Academy: online courses on impact entrepreneurship in Spanish.

Social Sector Network: Social Sector Network Academy, courses to empower innovative leaders around the world.

i-genius: Business School for Social Entrepreneurs.

BonBillo: a social entrepreneurship platform with lecture videos, quizzes, milestone deliverables, group webinars and discussion forums to launch your social impact startup.

INNOV8SOCIAL ACADEMY: online and live course offerings in social entrepreneurship and social innovation.

The Good People: an online course for innovators looking to do good in the world and make a positive social impact in their work.

Earth Ambition: courses for entrepreneurs and freelancers working to make this world a better place.

Social Enterprise Academy: Global Learning Lab, supporting the development of the social enterprise movement by strengthening practitioner-led, peer learning.

Social Impact Hub: a FREE workshop series as part of the RISE program.

Social UP Project: Design Thinking Field Guide for social enterprises.

Fitzroy Academy: ‘’Design for Impact and Scale’’ course.

Acumen Academy: courses and masterclasses for social enterprises.

Effective Altruism: EA Virtual Programs are opportunities for anyone around the world to engage intensively with the ideas of effective altruism through readings, videos, podcasts, and weekly small-group discussions.

Shift/Co: training materials designed to help you grow your conscious business and further develop your entrepreneurial skills.

Enviu: long-term issue-driven and entrepreneurial programs on building companies that address social & environmental issues and drive failing markets towards a new normal; geographical coverage: diverse locations.

INCO Academy: programs are designed for the new and diverse talents who want to be at the forefront of innovation (course for impact entrepreneurs, ‘’get into green’’).

SoGal Foundation: SoGal Academy with a mission to close the global diversity gap in entrepreneurship and investing.

Hatch Enterprise: online courses for diverse and impact entrepreneurs.

Specialized courses and programs:

Supply Chain School: a completely free Supply Chain Sustainability School.

Sociedade Ponto Verde: digital open innovation program, focused on circular economy and digital disruption of packaging waste.

Global and regional social entrepreneurship fellowships can be found here.

If you opt for individual guidance, you are just one step away.

Stay tuned on Linkedin and Twitter for more useful resources and updates on online programs, fellowships, awards, competitions, incubators, accelerators.

Other helpful blog posts:

Upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs

Resources for your global&regional impact startup programs search

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1: Learn and Grow

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Funding Solutions

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 1: Impact Investing Platforms, Founders&Funders Dilemma, and Hundreds of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 2: Founder’s Bias, and Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs

Growth Opportunities for Impactpreneurs:

Part 1.1: Global Food & Agriculture Global Programs

Part 1.2: Regional Food & Agriculture Regional Programs 

Part 2: Global & Regional Water Programs

Part 3: Global & Regional Mobility & Transportation Programs

Part 4: Global & Regional Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs

Categories
Resources for Impact Ventures

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 1: Tools and Online Platforms

social entrepreneur

Subscription form (upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs: programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch events, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators)

There are many online platforms with resources for impact startups and you can therefore compile different (often free) materials and courses in order to build your own curriculum. If you prefer to move forward on your own, here is the first part in the series ‘’Be Your Own Mentor’’. 

Part 2: Online Programs and Courses

Part 3: Mentorship Support, Online Communities, and Talent Pools

Part 4: Pitch Decks, Raising Capital, Impact Investing

Tools and Templates:

Social Lean Canvas: an online tool with social lean canvas templates.

Canvanizer: a web tool with easy to share canvas templates.

Business Makeover platform: a platform with business model tools.

Strategyzer: canvases templates and other tools.

LEANSTACK: lean canvas tool and more. 

37 Angels: tools.

Innov8social: tools to make social entrepreneurship and impact leadership more accessible and actionable.

Online platforms:

Y Combinator: startup library.

Social Ventures Australia: a business planning guide for social enterprises.

UnLtd: a suite of training guides to support.

MovingWorlds: Social Entrepreneur Guide. 

Cartier Women’s Initiative: courses, videos, and articles.

Queen’s Commonwealth Trust: a range of free learning materials and useful links to help you build your leadership and enterprise skills.

Envolve Entrepreneurship: resources to grow business or work on a new business idea.

Initiative for Social Entrepreneurs: learning resources for social enterprises.

REDFworkshop: free resources for employment social enterprises.

Yunus&Youth: resources for social entrepreneurs.

Triple Crown Leadership: social entrepreneurship resources.

VillageCapital: PlayBook on Team Building.

Kauffman Entrepreneurs: learning materials (Develop Ideas, Get Started).

Pioneer Post: collections of resources.

Makesense Spot: videos, podcasts, articles, templates and all you need for your impact project.

Sopact: Social Impact Resources.

Buy Social Scotland: Bootcamp Resources – Practical Marketing Tips for Social Enterprises.

Hatch Enterprise: a helpful list of resources to help you and your business get through these challenging times.

Reach for Change: Tools to support your journey as a social entrepreneur (courses and templates).

Social Innovation Community: Learning Repository (innovation tools and resources).

Swedish Institute: toolbox for the social business.

RoundPeg Benefit: resources for impact ventures

100+ startups offering free products and services

Have you ever wondered, why professional athletes have coaches? Right, this allows them to progress faster, and if you opt for individual guidance, you are just one step away.

Stay tuned on Linkedin and Twitter for more useful resources and updates on online programs, fellowships, awards, competitions, incubators, accelerators.

Here are other helpful blog posts:

Upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs

Resources for your global&regional impact startup programs search

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1: Learn and Grow

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Funding Solutions

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 1: Impact Investing Platforms, Founders&Funders Dilemma, and Hundreds of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 2: Founder’s Bias, and Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs

Growth Opportunities for Impactpreneurs:

Part 1.1: Global Food & Agriculture Global Programs

Part 1.2: Regional Food & Agriculture Regional Programs 

Part 2: Global & Regional Water Programs

Part 3: Global & Regional Mobility & Transportation Programs

Part 4: Global & Regional Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs

Categories
1-Year Challenge. Monthly Updates

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #2. Part 1: Impact Job Seeker Dilemma

You should never work for someone, unless you would hire them in an alternative universe

UPD:

Subscribe to weekly digests and receive the list of ≈800 (and growing) impact employers hiring remotely

This  is the third monthly update within my 1-year challenge.

I launched a Linkedin group to share remote impact job opportunities (Remote Impact Jobs) a few months ago while searching for a meaningful job opportunity myself. Following a marathon of 50+ interviews and exploratory calls last year I got into, what I call, an ‘’impact job seeker dilemma’’. Paraphrasing Phil Knight – ’’The junk merchant doesn’t sell his product to the consumer, he sells the consumer to his product’’, – I failed to sell different companies/job offers to myself. Life was pushing me in another direction, and that’s how I came up with my 1-year challenge and decided to focus on my very own project LeanVentures this year.

It is starting to take more and more time to monitor and share job offers in the Linkedin group though. And then it is definitely not the easiest way to proceed: 

  • thousands of job offers are published daily (even on weekends);
  • pretty much anything is called an impact job and it is hard to avoid irrelevant employers/job offers;
  • key details are missing in most of the jobs offers (exact remote location (region/country/time zone), deadlines, days the offers were posted, etc.);
  • some of the offers are getting reposted and I therefore happen to share some of the opportunities several times;
  • the number of posts is limited, they get lost in the group thread, and there is no way to sort them by categories (sustainability, social impact, ESG, environment..).

And the list goes on.

All in all, although the Remote Impact Jobs Linkedin group serves its purpose, it does not seem to be the most efficient way to help impact job seekers. So, the idea is to make it easier for anyone looking for a remote impact job to monitor the relevant job offers. Let’s see how the group can be turned into a job platform over the next few weeks. There is no single solution to solve all the problems. I will therefore choose a niche. There are already too many job listings after all.

Are you looking for a remote job with a purpose – feel free to subscribe to weekly digests to be the first to know about the platform launch.

Here are also Most useful resources for your global and regional impact job search

Global and regional social entrepreneurship fellowships can be found here.

Categories
1-Year Challenge. Monthly Updates

1-Year Challenge. Impact Idea #1. Part 2: Founder’s Bias, and Dozens of Growth Opportunities for Impact Entrepreneurs

Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora

impact entrepreneurs

Subscription form (upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs: programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch events, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators)

This is the second monthly update within my 1-year challenge.

Part 1 “Impact Investing Platforms, Founders&Funders Dilemma, and Hundreds of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures” can be found here

My vanity and actionable metrics keep showing interest in the funding opportunities and it is a follow-up to the first monthly update.

While there are many duplicating efforts in setting impact investing platforms that connect impact investors with impact founders/ventures, it is not a solution to the problem impact founders have. There is no lack of information on the funds and individual impact investors (you can check the opportunities provided by the platforms listed in the first monthly update or order the Collection of Funding Opportunities for Impact Ventures with updated information and working links), and still only up to 2% of the business ideas submitted to potential investors actually get funding.

Although there are various reasons for this, I suggest focusing on what can be done by you:

  • Have a team/co-founder(s), as investors tend to choose teams over solopreneurs.
  • Investors provide financial support when there are metrics showing clients and growth (or at least validated ideas). Validate your impact business idea first.
  • Work not only on the idea but also the way you present it. By making your pitch deck succinct and easy to understand you increase your prospects for getting funded. And ”easy to understand” doesn’t mean ”oversimplified”. It does mean providing essential details for investors to make a decision.
  • Do not overlook angels/individual funders – there are higher chances they back the very early-stage startups.
  • Start with sector-specific funds (experts in your specific field). You will not only speak the same language. Expert support will be offered.
  • Train before you pitch your impact business idea.
  • And most importantly, if you keep receiving ‘no’, learn from this feedback and measure what matters (instead of giving up). On a positive note, the research shows that bootstrapped projects have more financially sustainable business models.

Other common mistakes founders make are listed in one of my latest blog posts (do’s and don’ts).

All in all, prior to searching for external investment, you need to invest in yourself and your impact business idea. Be your first investor (both time and funding-wise).

External funding is optional, external expertise is essential.  As paradoxical as it may seem, sometimes you need to slow down to get results faster. And here are dozens of growth opportunities for your impact venture: online programs, fellowships, challenges, pitch competitions, bootcamps, incubators, accelerators. These are mostly global opportunities unless otherwise specified in the below table. The updated version can be found here.

If you still decide to opt for a quicker solution, individual guidance is the best option, and you are just one step away.

Stay tuned on Linkedin and Twitter for more useful resources and updates on online programs, fellowships, awards, competitions, incubators, accelerators.

Other helpful blog posts:

Upcoming deadlines for impactpreneurs

Resources for your global&regional impact startup programs search

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 1: Learn and Grow

Opportunities for Women Impact Entrepreneurs. Part 2: Funding Solutions

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 1: Tools and Online Platforms

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 2: Online Programs and Courses

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 3: Mentorship Support, Online Communities, and Talent Pools

Be Your Own Mentor. Part 4: Pitch Decks, Raising Capital, Impact Investing

Growth Opportunities for Impactpreneurs:

Part 1.1: Global Food & Agriculture Global Programs

Part 1.2: Regional Food & Agriculture Regional Programs 

Part 2: Global & Regional Water Programs

Part 3: Global & Regional Mobility & Transportation Programs

Part 4: Global & Regional Smart Cities & Urban Innovation Programs