USD to Host Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge

The University of San Diego’s Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies is hosting the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge Finals on Saturday, June 18, 2022. The Fowler GSIC is an unparalleled opportunity for student social entrepreneurs to build an international network while competing for vital seed funding. The top 8 out of more than 40 teams from universities around the world will deliver a 90-second pitch of their innovative sustainable business solutions to global issues for a chance to earn a portion of more than $75,000 in seed funding. In all, 20 seed funding prizes will be awarded. All student ventures will address at least one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Two teams from the University of San Diego are competing in the event:

• Tabitha Nakholi founded the Wezesha Binti Foundation, which aims to address period poverty for girls and women in Kenya. Nakholi’s solution is to create a menstrual care kit called the Binti Box, which contains feminine products that will be made by Kenyan women for Kenyan women.
• Steffek Rainey created Envi Bottle, which aims to tackle plastic pollution in our oceans and beaches. Rainey has designed an insulated metal water bottle with a detachable compartment to store foldable stainless-steel utensils, a reusable straw and a nylon bag, giving individuals easy access to reusables.

“The mission of the Kroc School is to equip and empower students to go on to solve the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Patricia Márquez, PhD, Dean of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies. “The Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge plays a key role in accomplishing our mission because students can combine their passion and knowledge to propose concrete and innovative projects. In the process they gain mentorship, seed funds, and friends from all over the world. We are proud to have supported more than 2,500 student innovators with this initiative. We invite everyone to join us in this year’s global finals. It will be very impactful to have so many innovators back on campus; several of them coming from places that have experienced conflict and great hardship.”

The Fowler GSIC Finals has an expansive list of judges, including Ron Fowler, Chairman and CEO of Liquid Investments, Inc., and Christopher McHone, Section Chief for Political and Economic Affairs and the U.S. Consulate General in Tijuana, among others.

The Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge is organized in partnership between the University of San Diego and The University of St. Thomas. The Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge started in 2011 with only USD students and expanded into a global pitch contest in 2018. Since 2011, the Fowler GSIC has connected more than 2,500 students from more than 25 countries around the world. To date, more than $500,000 has been distributed to seed the most innovative and promising global ventures.

Students who have previously competed in the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge have seen great success. For example:

• The 2050 Company, co-founded by 2019 USD alumnus Austin Hirsh, takes imperfect fruits and vegetables, freeze-dries them and turns them into smoothie packets to address zero waste. The 2050 Company recently launched a Kickstarter for its second food product using imperfect and surplus ingredients– three plant-based pasta dishes incorporating real vegetables and 30 grams of protein.
• BioMilq, a Duke University student-led company, takes breast milk and breast tissue, donated by women in exchange for gift cards, and grows human cells that can secrete milk. With the backing of $25 million from investors like Bill Gates, Novo Holdings and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, BioMilq’s CEO and co-founder, plans to launch the synthetic human milk in the next three to five years.  

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.