Misfits- Social Impact Pitching Competition

                The world has been developing day-by-day. In 20th century, there are lot of inventions, technologies and ideas are evolved. The idea should be social impactful  and useful for the people and society. Through the social impact idea, anyone can become an entrepreneur when they should be confidence on their idea. In this blog, we see a contest called 'Misfits' hosted by Vruksh Ecosystem Foundation encourage the entrepreneurs to enrich their ideas.

                "If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn’t have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution for a problem in your own life."  - Brian Chesky, Co-founder of Airbnb. 

                A community is better off if its employment base is diversified among many small entrepreneurial firms. It promotes abundant retail facilities, a higher level of home-ownership, fewer slums, better, sanitation standards and higher expenditure on education, recreation, and religious activities. In order to enhance our development of society, the entrepreneurship among the people should have to be increased. For that Vruksh Ecosystem Foundation was established in September 2018 by Mr.Abheejit and Mr.Suraj.

                    Vruksh is focused towards building a culture of innovation, problem solving and entrepreneurship in undeserved geographies to solve local problems and build the future. Their aim is to develop an accessible platform to democratize entrepreneurial learning. Vruksh builds inclusive communities to enable behavioural change and social mobility for new age entrepreneurs. The value of Vruksh lies in its ability to identify synergies and facilitate high impact collaboration acting as a catalyst in the network.  Our ultimate goal is to influence local economies which will help us build a Sustainable Future.  

                Misfits is an event conducted by Vruksh Ecosystem Foundation, aims to provide a platform characteristic of Global Coverage, Impact focused and Sustainability. It is a virtual pitch event across 15 regions that creates a platform for social entrepreneurs, innovators and change makers to showcase, connect and expand their horizons. The event offers an opportunity to start-ups, gain seed funding for their ventures, to help create a better social impact. 

"Vruksh Ecosystem Foundation works toward uplifting the entrepreneurship ecosystem, especially in areas where the opportunities are limited. During our journey in the last 2 yrs, Vruksh Ecosystem found that the visibility and opportunities for early stage social entrepreneurs are quite limited. Thus, Misfits as an initiative was born to provide platform for such early stage social entrepreneurs and innovators who work at grass-root level. Vruksh Ecosystem aims to leverage the power of networking and marketing to help deserving startups get support through mentorships, incubation and possible seed investment."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    - Rahul Pari, Associative Director, Vruksh Ecosystem Foundation

Benefits

            The participants will get various benefits for participating this event. The core partner Telebu offers 3000 USD Credits for Telebu Products + 20% Discount for all Participants.  |    The Thrive5.org will give 500USD in Google Cloud credits + 100 USD in Crowdera credits + 90% off on Hubspot professional, Free Fundraising platform for all participants.  |   The PayTM BuildForIndia  offers Payment Gateway and Wallet at Zero Transaction fee* + Complete Integration Support with a Dedicated account manager for all participants.  | The Msg91 offers $600 Messaging Credits ($100/month) and Special rates for further credits.   |   The GlobalShapers, AIC Banasthali & IIIT Hyderabad provides mentoring Support to Winners.   |    The Fundvice offers Seed funding assistance for participants.  |  The Venture Catalysts, thinQbate & Estrela Global Ventures offers Seed Funding Opportunity.   |    The Autodesk Fusion 360 offers 1 year Free Startup license. |   The Eduvance will provide Pro License of Entrepedia – B-Plan Tool.  |  The Kodo gives 50% Discount for Kodo Corporate Card for all participants.

Pitch Events

Zone	Registration Last Date	Pitching Date
North East Zone
North India & Nepal
Sri Lanka	21-10-2020	24-10-2020
Singapore & Hongkong	22-10-2020	25-10-2020
Malaysia & Indonesia	28-10-2020	31-10-2020
Thailand, Laos & Vietnam	29-10-2020	01-11-2020
Misfits Mega Round		12-11-2020

Written by Dharangan Balakrishnan. He is a Engineering student, a Programmer, a Change Agent of Vruksh Ecosystem Foundation. He has passion in coding and web development.

Vruksh is a non-profit organisation to develop the entrepeneurs. It is an Innovation and Incubation maker which create a social impact. It also mentors the entrepreneurs to develop their ideas.

View Your Choice is an outreach partner of Vruksh Ecosystem Foundation and will share series of impact stories from the Misfits Event.

TreeofTheYear Nepal concludes with winner announcement by Creasion Nepal and United Nations Volunteers - UNV Nepal

Tree of the Year Nepal 2020 organized annually by CREASION Nepal and this year in  partnership with United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Nepal successfully concluded on October 7, 2020 through a virtual event. The photography contest which was opened on August 19, 2020 received more than 200 entries from all over Nepal.

Tree of the year Nepal affiliated to the Asian Tree of the Year is a continent wide competition with a focus on starting a conversation amongst citizens on the importance of protecting trees and the importance to preserving Asian biodiversity. Similar event as, Asian Tree of the Year is organized by the Carbon Consulting Company (CCC) and European Tree of the Year  is organized by Czech Environmental Partnership Foundation annually. Nepal at it's crucial cross roads in its development, having to balance the need for industrial growth and economic progress while maintaining crucial aspects of social and environmental sustainability. Tree of the Year is organized annually to create and enhance a nationwide conversation on the importance of recognizing and protecting our vial trees.

                            

                              

Tree of the Year Nepal, 2020 had a diverse judging panel - Ranjit Acharya, CEO fo Prisma Advertising, Dr. Chudamani Joshi, Landscape Ecologist and Special Advisor to Embassy of Finland to Nepal, Bikash Karki, President of Photo Journalist Club, Nisha Adhikari, Actress, Beauty queen, Model and VJ and Moon Gurung, Country Representative of United Nations Volunteers Nepal. 

The closing virtual event was also joined by Ghana S Gurung, Country Representative of WWF Nepal where as Dr. Chudamani Joshi shared a presentation on importance of biodiversity and Moon Gurung on Role of Youth in Conservation.6 Other Judging panels Nisha Adhikari and Ranjit Acharya  shared their remarks with the announcement of winners.

The winning photo and story belonged to Kamal BK who had submitted the picture of a Shami Tree of Joginiya, Saptari. Saira Khadka was declared as the first runner up with her photograph of the Peepal Tree of Bhadrakali, Kathmandu. Similarly, Barsha Thapa Magar bagged the third prize with her picture of a Lakuri tree of Dhading. Shiva Prasad Paudel’s photograph of a Salla tree of Manang received the Special Mentions prize. The winning entries will be sent to the continent- wide contest - Asian Tree of the Year and will compete with the winning entries of trees from different Asian countries. They will also be awarded with cash prizes and certificates. 

Tree of the Year Nepal has been organized by CREASION Nepal since 2017 with the motive of encouraging people towards conservation of biodiversity and the trees. Every year the national winner has always emerged as the winner in the international contest as well. 

View Your Choice shares positive influencing stories. 

If you have a story to share write to us at viewyourchoice@gmail.com

Glocal Teen Hero: A National Platform For Teenagers

Glocal Teen Hero (GTH) is a platform exclusively for teenagers that recognize teenager’s initiation, creativity, and enthusiasm so as to empower them. It is an initiation of Glocal Pvt. Ltd (a business enterprise working in the areas of education, entrepreneurship, and skilling) to bring out the teenagers who are doing something beyond their academics and are active to create a positive effect in their society. It is a fully-funded program for Nepali Teenagers.

The overall purpose of this program is to motivate and encourage teenagers to step out of their comfort zone, be creative, and nurture entrepreneurial thinking. It also acts out as a great platform for teenagers to network with delegates from various industries in Nepal.

Considering the global pandemic COVID – 19; Glocal Teen Hero Nepal shall be hosted virtually on December 12, 2020. At first, Glocal’s 20under20 shall be announced from total applications. After that, the top 6 finalists will be shortlisted for the final round of the Wai Wai Glocal Teen Hero – Nepal based on initiation and the impact of their work. Then the finalist will be interviewed online and individually judged by a jury team comprising of Mr. Abdullah Tuncer Kececi, General Manager of Turkish Airlines; Mr. Ujjwal Shrestha, Executive Director of Panchakanya Group; Mrs. Ritu S. Vaidya, Managing Director at United Traders Syndicate Pvt. Ltd.; Mr. Varun Chaudhary, Executive Director of CG Corp Global and Mr. Anil Chitrakar, President of Siddhartha Inc.

On the event day, The one fantastic teenager will be titled “Glocal Teen Hero – Nepal” and also be recognized as one of the Fantastic Teenagers in the Global. The winner will be given a chance to share his/her inspirational initiation and aspiration for the future. 

Applications for Wai Wai Glocal Teen Hero – Nepal has already opened from September 1, 2020. The application is free and can be filled online at https://nepal.glocalteenhero.com. The deadline for the application is November 14, 2020.

Eligibility: 

1. Must be 13 – 19 years old.

2. Should be Nepalese Citizen.

3. Must have created an impact besides academics.