Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact

Since its inception, Microsoft has sought to find disruptive innovation. In recent years, the company has focused more of those efforts on sustainability. Sustainably has become especially trendy over the last few decades as more awareness has been placed on the effects of climate change. However, sustainability is more than just doing better for the planet; It’s an opportunity to reimagine the future of business.

That is why Microsoft launched its Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact Program. This program seeks to support for-profit positive impact entrepreneurs who are seeking to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. A great example of this initiative at work is the enterprise startup ICE. On a good day, roughly half of Nigeria’s population is only getting 3 to 4 hours of electricity a day. That’s a huge problem for the country. Most of the electricity is coming from generators that have relatively high costs associated with the service, maintenance, and fuel required to power them.

ICE’s goal to distribute reliable, distributed micro-utilities to some of the most vulnerable communities around the world. Their goal is to leverage technology to achieve this mission by empowering young adults with digital skills and providing small business with clean energy to boost their growth. Microsoft’s Entrepreneurship for Positive Impact gives ICE access to many resources. Some of them include access to Azure Cloud credits, technical and business development support, and a very powerful community of like-minded individuals who have a common goal of a more sustainable future. With Microsoft’s help, they are well on their way to the goals of upskilling 10,000 youth and connecting over 100,000 small businesses to clean energy by 2025.

Links:

https://www.microsoft.com/socialentrepreneurship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpAz7Q2LpDc&list=PLlzNGEvTIKyTLshfjbeKdJ4TwWELE7lB5&index=5