On 5 February 2015, Lensational was announced as the winner in the Hivos Social Innovation Award in Amsterdam. Bonnie, our co-founder and Director, had the honour to receive the award from Manuela Monteiro, former Director of Hivos, who advocates for the need for humanist values in international development. The prize consists of a € 5,000 prize and a coaching trajectory worth € 10,000 to develop the idea into a prototype.
Hivos Social Innovation Award is a one-of-a-kind competition organised by Hivos, a Dutch international development organisation that has reached 22.2 million in 26 countries. The competition kicked off on 15 October 2014. By the end of the submission round, Hivos received nearly 400 innovations from 61 countries, out of which 20 semi-finalists were selected based on more than 150,000 votes and Hivos’ own selection. The semi-finalists participated in the Hivos Learning Community to share knowledge, learn from international speakers and work in groups to complete their submissions for the finals. After a jury selection, six of the semi-finalists were invited to Amsterdam.
The finalists stayed in Amsterdam for three days:
Day 1: coach training from Beth Susanne, seasoned international pitch coach
Day 2: meeting with jury, including Manuela Monteiro, Valerie Frissen and Sam Gichuru; visit to Vandejong
Day 3: visit to Kennisland and Award Ceremony
Thanks to Hivos and Kennisland, the three days have been extremely fruitful for us to take the ventures to the next level. Lensational was also able to learn from other finalists, coming from Sri Lanka, Uganada, Malawi, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and build friendships that will last beyond the competition.
Stay tuned to our website for updates on our collaboration with Hivos!