Shell LiveWIRE Grand Ideas Awards for Edwin Broni-Mensah’s GiveMeTap
Last updated 5/30/2010 5:41:09 PM
Shell LiveWIRE Grand Ideas Awards for GiveMeTap
An award through global energy and petrochemicals group Shell's LiveWIRE Grand Idea programme, will help a young UK entrepreneur's vision of getting free water.
Twenty-four year-old Edwin Broni-Mensah from The University of Manchester has been awarded £1,000 to develop his business, GiveMeTap, enabling users of a specially-branded bottle to get free tap water from refills from a network of cafes and restaurant owners in the Manchester area.
GiveMeTap users not only save financially, they also reduce their environmental impact by reducing wastage of discarded plastic bottles. Out of the 13 billion plastic bottles consumed equivalent to 1.5m tonnes of plastic, only 10% are recycled with the rest going to landfills.
Shell LiveWIRE Grand Ideas Awards for entrepreneurs aged 16-30 offering up to four x £1,000 prizes each month to the most innovative or unusual ideas submitted by new businesses in their first 12 months of trading.
Broni-Mensah's idea was pitched at the NACUE 'Business Not as Usual' conference in a special Shell LiveWIRE elevator pitch competition that took place at UCL London at the end of March.
He and two others were shortlisted by a panel of judges and was asked to present his business idea to the audience. It was a landslide victory for Broni-Mensah who won the support of the audience and £1,000 funding. He added: "[This opportunity] will have such a huge impact on making water easily accessible to anyone, anywhere, any time."
Bottled water can be a hidden lifestyle cost. A regular bottled water drinker can see around £300 a year trickle away on their consumption. This is between 250 - 4,000 times more expensive than water that comes out of your tap for free.
Broni-Mensah is also committed to helping others without the same access to high quality, clean water around the world and has pledged 70% of all his profits to funding independent water projects in regions where it is needed most.
The £1,000 award follows successful funding and support from UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, which has enabled Broni-Mensah to start up and develop GiveMeTap.
UnLtd supports UK social entrepreneurs and offers the largest such network in the world. UnLtd resources over 1,000 individuals each year through its core awards programme supporting tens of thousands more via direct engagement and partnership awards initiatives.
UnLtd invests directly in individuals and offering a complete package of resources; from funding between £500 and £15,000 to ongoing advice, networking and practical support.
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