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Past Finalists

Ackerman Center for Excellence in Sustainability LIFT Past Finalists

Learn about some previous finalists!

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What were other topics explored by previous finalists?

  • Fostering East African women’s economic empowerment and high-impact entrepreneurship through blended finance, triggering systemic change that will transform the lives of millions.
  • Funding decentralized micro-insurance for healthcare in emerging markets. Using blockchain and AI, we seek to insure low income individuals in rural India.
  • Modernizing recycling infrastructure in the U.S. state of North Carolina through the issuance of municipal green bonds to support the construction of recycling facilities.
  • Blending corporate social responsibility-related philanthropy with bond capital, providing low-rate long-growth loans to start-ups to scale climate technology.
  • Funding an affordable urban farming solution in Cyprus designed to resource innovative agriculture and sustainability solutions by utilizing a lego design concept.
  • Financing the acquisition of privately held businesses along the southern Gulf coast in the U.S. to transition them into employee-owned cooperatives
  • Protecting the Amazon Forest through a partnership with local communities to reinvigorate traditional regenerative practices (e.g., agroforestry, beekeeping) and help finance it through carbon credits.
  • Integrating a blended finance approach to jumpstart a sustainable micro-loan program, promoting financial equity and global partnerships for the SDGs in Mexico and the U.S.