2013 Buckminster Fuller Challenge

The 2013 Buckminster Fuller Challenge is providing grants of up to $100,000 to find a solution that has significant potential to solve one of humanity’s most pressing problems.

This prize program is a call to the world’s artists, scientists, designers, architects, engineers, students, and entrepreneurs committed to playing a transformative role in addressing the biggest issues we face today.

Named “socially-responsible design’s highest award” by Metropolis Magazine, The Buckminster Fuller Challenge program has attracted and awarded bold, visionary, and tangible solutions to the world’s most complex problems. Answering Buckminster Fuller’s call for a design science revolution to make the world work for all, Challenge winners exemplify the kind of breakthrough approach urgently needed to solve humanity’s most vexing challenges.

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Round up of what’s new on Yipe!

Business Startup

How to Go about Setting up Your Small Business
For someone starting out in business, success is the ultimate goal. Many people have the desire to work for themselves or run a small business but often it’s knowing where to start that means people fall at the first hurdle.

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Events

Kenya’s National Youth Summit set to kick off a new era in youth development
Kenya’s National Youth Summit 2013 set to kick off from January 31st to February 1st 2013 will bring together 2,000 young leaders from across the country’s 47 counties to inspire pride, patriotism and social cohesion among the young people.

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Awards:

Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship 2014
The Skoll Foundation provides Skoll Awards every year to select few social entrepreneurs whose proven innovations have demonstrated impact on some of the world’s most pressing problems. The Skoll Award recognizes organizations with the potential to not only be individually successful, but also to catalyze large-scale, system-level change.

Do you know that January 2013 is a good time to …

Happy New Year … Do you know that January 2013 is a good time to …

Brush up your skills …

Distance Learning Program on Islamic Microfinance
Islamic Microfinance is an emerging market in the Microfinance sector, and there is an immediate need to educate, train and capacity build on this subject. The AlHuda Centre of Excellence in Islamic Microfinance is offering a distance learning certificate program on Islamic Microfinance.

Clean up your act  …

Keeping records for your business
There’s a saying that goes: what doesn’t get measured doesn’t get done. Running a successful business means keeping accurate and timely financial information. A good record keeping system also gives you the information you need to make better decisions.

Update your market research …

How to find out if your product fits the market
The concept of product-market fit is emerging as an important criteria for entrepreneurs when assessing the viability of starting a business. Not all ideas make for profitable business and its vital to ask before you start just how critical your product or service will be to prospective customers.

Hire someone new …

Employment contract template
An employment contract is an agreement that spells out the roles and responsibilities of the Employer and Employee.

And get inspired! …

Dhamira Moja Youth Group
The Dhamo idea is an African-born global grassroots movement connecting the privileged young (and young at heart) to issues of poverty in Africa and providing them with a framework for action.

Keeping records for your business

There’s a saying that goes: what doesn’t get measured doesn’t get done. Running a successful business entails keeping accurate and timely financial information in order to assess growth. A good record keeping system also provides you with the information you need to evaluate the consequences of your financial decisions.

A business owner engages in various activities whereby money flows through their business. Essentially, there is money coming into the business (income) and money going out of the business (expenses). These money flows are called transactions.

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How to find out if your product fits the market

The concept of product-market fit is emerging as an important criteria for entrepreneurs when assessing the viability of starting a business. Not all ideas make for profitable business and its vital to ask before you start just how critical your product or service will be to your prospective consumers daily lives. Essentially once consumers start using your product, how painful will it be for them in the event that for some reason it is no longer available?

At this stage it’s also wise to assess the competitive landscape and ask the same questions about usage for current market substitutes.

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Employment contract template

Today’s business tool is an template for an employment contract

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Yipe! Funding Opportunity Deadlines & Events for September 2012

Funding Opportunities – September deadlines

2012 Knight News challenge on Mobile
The 2012 Knight News challenge on Mobile seeks to accelerate media innovation by funding breakthrough ideas in news and information. The third in its series, the challenge’s winners will receive a share of US$5 million in funding and support from Knight Foundation’s network of influential peers and advisers to help advance their ideas.

Whitley Fund 2013 funding round
The Whitley Fund for Nature, a UK-based charity provides £35,000 of project funding every year to outstanding conservationists around the world. It recognizes some of the world’s most dynamic conservation leaders and support projects founded on good science, community involvement and pragmatism.

2013 Google RISE (Roots in Science and Engineering) Awards
The Google RISE Awards are designed to promote and support education initiatives in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) and Computer Science (CS). Google grants awards of $5,000 – $25,000 USD to organizations around the world working with K-12 and university students in these fields.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award 2013
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Access to Learning Award 2013 will provide grants of up to $1 million to organizations that are working to connect people to information and opportunities through free access to computers and the internet.

The Fledgling Fund

The Fledgling Fund supports innovative media projects that can play critical roles in igniting social change.

African Social Venture Prize
The Orange African Social Venture Prize will reward three projects or enterprises addressing needs of the ‘bottom of pyramid’ market in Africa through technology.

Events
September 6th – 7th 2012: Freedom Online 2012 Conference
Venue: UN Complex, Gigiri, Nairobi
Kenya will host the second international Freedom Online Conference which will explore the responsibilities of governments to pro-actively further human rights on the internet.

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September 7th – 8th 2012: g|Uganda
Venue: Kampala
This September, g|Uganda will be back in Kampala with two full days of fresh content for business and developer audiences.

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September 11th – 13th 2012: Making Cents International Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference
Venue: Washington, DC

Hosted by Making Cents International, this year’s conference showcases 60 sessions and 120 world-class speakers with a special cross-cutting spotlight on technology.

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September 15th – 18th 2012: International Small Business Congress
Venue: Johannesburg, South Africa

The International Small Business Congress (ISBC) gathers individuals from governments (policymakers), small business support agencies, entrepreneurs, business membership organisations, academia, financial institutions, international development agencies and various others with an interest in entrepreneurship and small business development around the world to discuss issues pertinent to the promotion of entrepreneurship and small business worldwide.

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September 19th – 21st 2012: Convergences 2015 World Forum
This event for professionals interested in new partnerships between public, private, and solidarity-based actors to promote the Millennium Development Goals and to alleviate poverty.

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September 24th – 28th 2012: Hand in Hand Social Entrepreneurship Program
Event Type: Training
Venue: Limuru, Kenya

The Hand in Hand Social Entrepreneurship Program is a crash course on the principles of social enterprise. The curriculum will focus on key issues in the sector, as well as how to grow the organization and move towards sustainability. Participants will get a comprehensive overview of the strategic, organizational, and leadership issues associated with social enterprise. The registration fee for the program is USD 2000.

Youth Unemployment Outlook – August 13th 2012

Arab youth unemployment is a complex and multidimensional problem.

An Islamic perspective on why Arab youth can’t find jobs.

Pakistan: the social and economic costs of youth unemployment are enormous

Pakistan’s Planning Commission says there is an urgent need to invest more in youth to utilise their energies and ensure their futures.

Mexico: Unemployment and insecurity are the greatest concerns to the youth

The National Institute of Statistics and Geography, on occasion of the World Youth Day said unemployment and insecurity worry young Mexicans.

Nigeria: Youth unemployment remains a constant irritant to successive administrations

With the huge number of graduates being produced yearly, the already saturated labour market can no long sustain the output.

Find more news by visiting http://www.yipekenya.org/News.htm

Youth Unemployment Outlook – August 7th 2012

Do ILO regulations contribute to youth unemployment?

The African Development Bank has claimed that labour regulations were “excessively rigid” and contributed to youth unemployment.

South Africa’s DA presents plan to tackle youth unemployment.

This is the second in a series of five thematic plans to grow the nation’s economy and create jobs. Helen Zille’s party’s campaign to tackle youth unemployment includes a voucher scheme for potential entrepreneurs, a youth wage subsidy and a programme for apprentices.

Scotland’s youth jobless rate reaches 49 per cent

In March this year, Scottish Borders Council missed out on Scottish Government funding worth £9 million to tackle youth unemployment.

South Tyneside’s UcanB program tasked with tackle growing problems created by rising youth unemployment

The project is targeted at young adults who have left school with little or no qualifications.

In China prospects for educated workers gets worse

The Chinese media is rife with tales of overeducated young people taking jobs as cashiers, assembly-line workers, even “night soil collectors.”

 

 

 

2012 SNCR Excellence in New Communications Awards

The Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) Awards honor the work of corporations, governmental and nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, media outlets and individuals who are innovating the use of social media, ICT, mobile media, and collaborative technologies in the areas of business, media, and professional communications, including advertising, marketing, public relations, corporate communications, and CRM, as well as entertainment, education, politics, and social initiatives.

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