WHAT are young entrepreneurs doing to solve the challenges of the 21st
century? This year, the Said Business School at the University of Oxford
attempted to answer the question by inviting aspiring social and
environmental entrepreneurs from across the world to submit business plans
to the Oxford University 21st Century Challenge competition, the largest of
its kind in the UK.
Nine candidates have now been shortlisted across three categories: Tomorrow’s
Planet, which recognises entrepreneurs tackling environmental challenges;
Tomorrow’s People, for those addressing healthcare and medical problems; and
Tomorrow’s Wealth, for those helping to create wealth in the developing
world.
If there’s anything left of the planet after the ravages of climate change
have taken their toll, competition finalist and environmental entrepreneur
Hayden Hamilton might be one person to thank. Armed with the memorable
slogan “Millions of trees can’t be wrong”, he and his team are attempting to
change the way we think about printing. The company he founded, GreenPrint,
makes software that removes unwanted pages by scanning them for wasteful
characteristics – such as a last page with just a URL or banner ad. If it
enters widespread use, Hamilton predicts it will save 36 million trees and
cut CO2 emissions equivalent to taking 23 million cars off the road for a
entire year. Oh, and save the average Fortune 500 company $2 million (£1
million) in annual printing costs.
Hamilton discovered his entrepreneurial drive at an early age. “At six I was
already trying to start businesses here and there.” Setting up an innovation
department for Ford, he was troubled by the amount of wasted paper he saw.
“There were dozens of print stations and by 10am all of them were
overflowing.” After studying for an MBA at the University of Oxford he went
to India, where paper is about five times more expensive, and something
clicked. “I started looking for solutions to the problem.”
That disabled people face disadvantages in today’s society is, sadly, nothing
new. But in our increasingly computer-dependent world, the blind community
in particular struggles with modern technology so central to most people’s
personal and working lives. Attempts to make computers suitable for blind
people to use have been largely unsatisfactory, says Ethan Smith, 25, the
founder of Tactile Response and a finalist in the Tomorrow’s People
category. Studying for a masters in computer science and psychology at the
University of Central London, he spotted a gulf in the provisions for blind
and partially sighted people – and a potential market niche.
“I saw that it was very difficult for blind people to use computer systems.
Current Braille display readers just show one line at a time – it’s
cumbersome and frustrating.” Hence Tactile Response, the company he set up
to market BrailleScreen, a revolutionary computer screen that allows blind
people to feel the icons, boxes and text, using their fingers as a mouse.
Smith estimates that the equipment will cost less than $200 (£100) to
purchase - compared with current readers costing more than £2,000 ¬- and
will change the lives of 20 million people coping with sight loss. “It’s
been a long time coming,” he says.
It’s no secret that entrepreneurs are out to make money – even the most
socially-focused start-ups need a functioning bottom line. But Yusuf
Randera-Rees, 24, an entrepreneur from South Africa who has been shortlisted
in the Tomorrow’s Wealth category, was not content with making money for
himself – he wanted to help others to generate their own income.
The Entrepreneurs Academy, which he is setting up in South Africa with his
business partner Kwame Osseo-Asare, aims to do just that. Situated near
Johannesburg, in the heart of the country’s largest black urban population,
it will provide aspiring young entrepreneurs from across Africa with three
months of intensive business education to help them to start their own
commercial enterprise. “Small business is the best way to tackle
unemployment,” Randera-Rees explains. When unemployment stands at 40 per
cent, as in South Africa, the potential to empower people is profound.”
The idea came to him while doing an internship on Wall Street. He tested the
water with a summer school in New York, persuading his fellow interns to
encourage the major investment banks to get behind the project. “We wanted
to use our knowledge of financial economics to make a difference.” Its
success spurred him on to create a permanent academy in his home country.
“Some of the best financial returns you can have in the world right now are
in Africa. And in generating financial returns you can make an incredible
social difference.” He hopes to replicate his business model across the
developing world.
Competitions aside, the social and environmental challenges of the coming
decades remain. But if these young entrepreneurs have anything to say about
it, 21st-century business will certainly have a part to play in solving
them.
