The full-time MBA students of TIAS participated in AIM2Flourish: an international, UN supported platform for sharing stories about business innovations that create value for both business and society. Business students around the world are participating in AIM2Flourish and using Appreciative Inquiry (strength-based interviews) and the UN Global Goals as a lens to search out and report on world-changing innovations. The stories from TIAS students about Global Goals #1 – No Poverty AND Global Goal #10 – Reduced Inequalities are awarded as the best entries in 2021.
As part of their mission to demonstrate the power of Business as an Agent of World Benefit, each year AIM2Flourish honors the best-of-the-best stories with 17 Flourish Prizes – one for each UN Sustainable Development Goal. The Prizes recognize the accomplishments of the student author(s), the professor who oversaw the story’s publication, and the business leader interviewed for the story.
The winning stories
Global Goal #1 – No Poverty: Innovative Agricultural Advisor in Nigeria featuring Kitovu written by Ray Tung and Sherif Tosin Akanbi under the direction of Mirjam Minderman.
Kitovu creates access to the market for farmers by using multi-platform compatible mobile applications which link manufacturers to retailers and consumers. It aims to solve the issues encountered by farmers in their business process from end to end i.e from farm to market. Many farmers in Africa are used to farming from the supply side without considering what is demanded in the market. Kitovu solves the problem of farmer supplies without information on demand by providing farmers with a platform with vital data to aid their decision-making.
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Global Goal #10 – Reduced Inequalities: Empowering Filipino At-risk Young Adults while Caring for the Environment featuring Messy Bessy Cleaners, Inc. in Philippines written by Chelley Sharleene Pecajas and Stephanie Anne Añonuevo under the direction of Mirjam Minderman.
The company not only produces environment-friendly products but also, as a social enterprise, provides education, employment, and empowerment to at-risk young adults. Messy Bessy, through its partnership with Empathways, an organization in Boston, USA which used neuroscience to study the effects of poverty, created a system to empower at-risk youth.
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About the Flourish Prizes
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the planet for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and for work in peace. Alfred Nobel’s high aspiration and intent was an award “for those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” Today the Nobel is well known by all, and its impact reverberates across generations. However there were many additional domains of achievement that were not singled out—for example innovations in film, achievements in the arts and philosophy, and journalism. Each of these has, in turn, spawned a next world respected prize—the Academy Award, the Kyoto Prize, and the Pulitzer. But something is still missing. In a word it’s business leadership at the nexus of societal well being and flourishing: it’s business as a force for peace; business as a force for the eradication of extreme poverty; and business as a force for eco innovation and the generation of sustainable value. In many respects there is no greater long-term potential for building a better world—not just standing alone but also in creative partnership with civil society organizations and governmental bodies—than business.
The 17 Flourish Prizes are given annually recognizing the role businesses play in achieving the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development. The 17 Honorees are chosen from stories of positive business innovation published on AIM2Flourish.com during the preceding calendar year – stories discovered and published by students from around the world.