18:01,
On October 17, Impact Hub Yerevan hosted a pitching day event as well as a humble award ceremony for the participants of this year’s Social Impact Award Armenia.
The Social Impact Award, a prestigious platform supporting young social entrepreneurs, took place for another year of honoring innovative business solutions aimed at addressing pressing social challenges. Under the umbrella of the Collaborate for Impact program, funded by the European Union in Armenia and executed by the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) in partnership with Impact Hub Yerevan, this year's awards have seen a significant contribution from Ararat Bank.
The mission of the Social Impact Awards is to guide and empower early-stage social entrepreneurs on their journey to create meaningful and sustainable change. Since its inception in 2009, the program has inspired and supported young visionaries across more than 25 countries.
The spotlight this year fell on ten exceptional participants of the Incubation Program, featuring enterprises such as Gyugh.org, ContestsLAB, Refill App, reuZe, Science Cube, Adapteon, Young Doctor, Dilijanian Strawberry Greenhouse, Bio Cycle, and EcoTught. On Tuesday, October 17, from 11 AM to 1 PM, these promising ventures gave business pitches for their ideas to a distinguished jury including Gevorg Poghosyan (Impact Hub Yerevan), Arman Khachatryan (Codeex), Diana Chobanyan (EcoHub Foundation), Silva Mesropyan (Institute of Management Consulting of Armenia), Korioun Khatchadourian (H. Hovnanian Family Foundation), Shoushan Keshishian (HUB Artsakh) and Suren Babajanyan (Head of Marketing and Banking Services Sales Department).
“SIA is a unique program that motivates creative and innovative youngsters to build a business model for the social challenges they think the society is facing and I think this is the right path for how we can build a better and much kinder world,” said Gevorg Poghosyan, Executive Director of Impact Hub Yerevan.
Three winners were selected for the coveted Jury Award, receiving an award of 1500 EUR in seed funding and an exclusive invitation to participate in this year's Social Impact Award Annual Summit, scheduled for November 27- December 1 in Serbia. A fourth winner was selected based on the results of online Community Voting on their video pitch.
Thus, the winners of this year’s Social Impact Award Armenia are:
Jury Award Winner – Adapteon
Jury Award Winner – Contests Lab
Jury Award Winner – Gyugh.org
Community Vote Award Winner – Refill
This year, the Social Impact Award money of 1,500 EUR per winner, a total of 6,000 EUR, has been financed by Ararat Bank.
“The Social Impact Award reminds us of the importance of collective well-being, and we are only happy to be part of this one-of-a-kind initiative. Together, we can create an environment where social entrepreneurship will thrive, where innovative solutions to social challenges will be supported at a larger scale, and where the power of business will work for the welfare of the society,” commented Anna Allahverdyan, the Advisor on Public Relations to the Executive Director of AraratBank.
Participating in the official award ceremony were the Advisor on Public Relations to the Executive Director of AraratBank Anna Allahverdyan, Head of the Marketing and Banking Services Sales Department of AraratBank Suren Babajanyan, EVPA Representative in Armenia Nazareth Seferian, and the Executive Director of Impact Hub Yerevan Gevorg Poghosyan.
“Initiatives like SIA are very important because they encourage innovation and help build a future pipeline for new social enterprises in Armenia. Several past SIA participants have grown into social businesses that have a real positive impact on the ground. So SIA is not just about receiving an award,” said Nazareth Seferian, Armenian Representative of EVPA.
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** Impact Hub Yerevan, founded in 2016, is a representative of a network of 110+ Impact Hubs operating around the world. It provides its member entrepreneurs and innovators with a wide range of community innovation resources, educational programs, and events, all in a very stimulating and empowering workspace. Impact Hub is also a social innovation incubator and has many years of experience in designing and implementing incubation and acceleration programs. Since its establishment, Impact Hub Yerevan has designed and implemented 40+ programs, more than 500 educational courses, and events, and now hosts more than 350 members implementing over 100 projects representing almost all sectors operating in Armenia.
** The "Collaborate For Impact: Development of social entrepreneurship and social investments towards economic and social cohesion in the Eastern Partnership" is implemented by the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA) with the financial support of the European Union. The Armenian component of the project was developed jointly with the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia and is implemented by Impact Hub Yerevan.
*** Social Impact Award supports young, early-stage social entrepreneurs in developing and implementing innovative business solutions tackling societal challenges.