Today Vancity announced the winners of its first $90,000 Good Money Impact™ Venture Challenge competition, launched to help post-secondary students and recent post-secondary graduates grow businesses that are creating positive social and environmental impact in B.C.
The three winners came from a shortlist of ten businesses representing a wide range of industry sectors including urban agriculture, sustainable products, aquaculture, gaming technology, and clean tech.
Among the Top 3 was 2nd prize winner TwoThirds Water – a BCIC-New Ventures competitor last year that has re-entered the competition for 2012.
TwoThirds Water is a social venture that provides water treatment products for international development and disaster relief. Their launch product is a water filter that is simple enough that any child can immediately treat his or her own drinking water to US EPA standards, without training or written instructions. President and Founder, Bradley Pierik, will graduate from UBC in 2012 with a Masters of Applied Science in Chemical & Biological Engineering. Kevin Reilly is currently earning his PhD in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at UBC.
The Good Money Impact Venture Challenge 1st prize of $50,000 was awarded to Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society and the 3rd prize of $15,000 was awarded to Urban Stream Innovation Inc.