At the recent global finals of the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) held on April 5 at Berkeley Haas, two teams representing the U.S. Eastern Region, Key2Enable and Magnomer, had an exceptional showing - placing in the top six, with Key2Enable winning the top prize and $40,000 in funding. The theme of the event, which celebrated its 20th anniversary, was “Technology for Good. “ The competition supports student entrepreneur ventures that promote social good using technology to make a positive change in the world.
The winner, Key2Enable, seeks to empower people with disabilities to develop skills and access to technology through assistive keyboard technologies. Founders of Key2Enable include Jose Rubinger (University of Minas Gerais, Brazil), Adriano Assis (University of Minas Gerais, Brazil), and Julio de Melo (UT Austin).
Ravish Majithia (Texas A&M) is the founder and CEO of Magnomer which creates recyclable bottle packaging through the use of magnetizable ink coatings – these coatings complement materials separation during recycling and allow for plastic bottles to be recycled back into plastic bottles.
Rubinger thanked the Georgia Tech GSVC organizers after his win.“The funding we received will help us change the lives of children who may be invisible right now, but will be served by this solution as we ‘turn the key on’ with Key2Enable.”
Peter Flaaned, a first year Scheller MBA, served as GSVC Chair of the event. “It was such a privilege to be involved with GSVC in the first year of my MBA. Coming from a non-profit management background, I wanted to find opportunities at Scheller to continue to learn how to lead with impact during my MBA, in addition to gaining broad business experiences. GSVC was a very unique way of leveraging our strengths and commitment to innovation at Scheller through gaining exposure to daring and talented social entrepreneurs around the country.”
Georgia Tech is a full regional partner for the competition, which is supported by the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship (ILE).
Jay Cranmer, CEO of Hands on Atlanta and ILE Follow and GSVC Advisory member, said “Georgia Tech and Scheller have knocked it out of the park again by acting as a regional hub for the Global Social Venture Competition and supporting the next generation of change makers. I’m so proud to have served as a judge and Board member, and believe that competitions like GSVC provide a unique opportunity for young entrepreneurs to stretch themselves by attempting to build solutions to some of our world’s most pressing needs.”
The GSVC at Georgia Tech is made possible by title sponsor, Southern Company, as well as sponsorships from Hands on Atlanta, Invested Development, and Mosely Ventures. The GSVC has also received support from the Georgia Tech community through the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business, Venture Lab, CIBER, and the Scheller College of Business.
Dori Pap is the Assistant Director of the Institute for Leadership and Entrepreneurship (ILE), GSVC’s host organization within the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech. She leads Tech’s social innovation competitions, runs the IMPACT Speaker Series, and teaches courses on Social Entrepreneurship. As the faculty advisor for