Last Thursday, LSE Generate held the finals of the Lent Term funding competition. From a record pool of 75 initial applicants, 14 finalists were selected to pitch in front of a panel of industry experts. As in Michaelmas Term, each team delivered a 15-minute pitch and were then questioned for 15 minutes by the panel. Despite strong competition on the day and extensive deliberation by the panels, the winners were eventually chosen…

We are excited to announce that seven projects were commended for their potential by the panel and were awarded funding:

Artisan and Fox

A social enterprise that connects rural and underprivileged artisans in developing countries to the global market through e-commerce. They empower artisans by allowing them to receive fairer and higher prices for their quality handcrafted goods via ArtisanAndFox.com.

Next Speech

A speech-to-text voice journal iOS app for users to transcribe voice memos and organise them. It’s also a social network where users can listen to others and share within the app or on other social networks.

PoaPoa Natural Cosmetics

A social enterprise that creates coconut oil based cosmetics. They make their own coconut oil in Kenya, working in close partnership with smallholder farmer communities.

Sauti

An SMS-based tool for simplifying trade procedures for small cross-border traders and using crowd-sourced data to map incidents of harassment and bribery at border crossings across East Africa.

The Good Blend

A range of freshly packed and ready-to-freeze smoothies, juices and infusions.

TicToc

TicToc will be a mobile SMS and data-enabled application and payment network seeking to lower the cost of access to financial services. Its initial focus will be reducing frictions in the payment of public utility bills in Panama, especially for people with no access to financial services.

YoungThoughts.org

An online platform designed to give young people of all backgrounds the opportunity to make their voice heard. Any young person with an opinion can contribute, provoke thought, and add to the discussion. It aims to disprove the negative stereotypes associated with young people.

Get involved with Generate in the summer

We’ll return with more events in Summer Term including our Entrepreneur of the Year competition at where the Michaelmas Term and Lent Term winners will battle it out for extra funding and the title of Entrepreneur and Social Entrepreneur of the Year! So make sure you read this blog, follow us on Twitter @LSEGenerate, and visit our website to hear about our upcoming events!