The Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2022 PCSE Seed Grants. Finalists will pitch in a public event via Zoom on Friday, February 25, at noon Eastern Time. [RSVP here]
These $5,000 awards are intended to fund the launch or early stage growth of a social enterprise, project, program, or venture. Past grantees used this seed funding to help students promote “mental wealth,” produce sustainable clothing, diversify podcasting, and much more. All have reported on their progress here.
The 2022 PCSE Seed Grant finalists are:
Handom
Aldrean Alogon ’23 and Leonard Majaducon ’25
Handom connects exceptional yet underserved Filipino elementary school students to better education opportunities. As scholarship recipients from underserved communities themselves, the founders’ vision is to identify, mentor, and mold students – inspiring them to be leaders in their communities.
i connect Africa
Prosper Ndebele ’25, Christine Butawo ’25, Deborah-Gifty Lalude ’25, Proud Mpala
i connect Africa connects international students from Africa to create a community through which mentorship and support for each other can be achieved.
Nailepu Girls’ Empowerment
Diana Kimojino ’25
Nailepo aims to rescue Maasai girls from early marriage and give them the chance to develop skills through bead-making and salons.
Nebula
Kya Lloyd ’22 and Jahmir Duran-Abreu ’20
Black owned businesses are 4x more likely to fail in the first 18 months than white owned businesses. Nebula is a digital marketplace that empowers ambitious and underrepresented entrepreneurs with resources to grow their businesses to make more profit.
Outspoken
Akansha Singh ’23, Khushi Jain, and Pratishka Poona
Illiteracy is a social disease that needs attention. The current state of literacy for girls and women in rural areas in India is dire and perpetuated by predefined gender roles set by a patriarchal society who believe that “A woman belongs in the kitchen”. Through our interactive, online educational platform, Outspoken aims to impart real world, practical and experiential literacy to rural and peri-urban women to cultivate a future where gender does not determine one’s ability to give themselves a dignified life.
Wesleyan Malagasy Educational Supplies Studio (WesMESS)
Rachel Wachman ’24, Jayne Chen ’24, Margaret Fitch ’22, Professor Joyce Powzyk
In an innovative IDEAS LAB Makerspace class (Biol 161) a coalition of Wesleyan students, together with Professor Powzyk will be designing and constructing science materials for a 5th grade Malagasy classroom. To extend the use of these carefully crafted science materials, the group will also offer the items as novel fund raisers, to monetarily support a Malagasy NGO (CTAS) recognized by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, that is reducing childhood starvation on the island, allowing young Malagasy students to return to the classroom and continue their education.
