Designing, improving, and accelerating solutions at the nexus of climate and gender.
Ways4Waste Innovation Challenge
Ways4Waste Innovation Challenge by Villgro Philippines and The Incubation Network is a fully virtual 10-week program that seeks to support Filipino innovators solving challenges at the nexus of climate and gender, with a particular focus on waste management systems and female informal workers.
The program will provide 3 design challenges for participants to create solutions around the plastic problem in the Philippines, all of which are focused on creating circular economies and providing better livelihood opportunities to female informal workers.
Program Timeline
Application Period
June 30 to July 29
6-week program
August 9 to September 14
Final Pitches
September 13 to 14
Lean Incubation Support
September 20 to October 14
Program Details
Over the course of 6 weekly sprints, teams will go through the iterative design thinking process: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test. After an initial round of testing, participants will pitch to a panel of judges and 3 teams will be identified to go through 4 additional weeks of lean incubation with a focus on business model development and further rounds of prototyping and testing, coupled with customized mentorship from Villgro’s and TIN’s networks.
Prototyping, customer validation, and testing weeks will engage corporate and local government partners to provide opportunities for the participants to test solutions on the ground with stakeholders that experience waste management challenges on a day-to-day basis. Engaging with female informal workers that these partners work with will be key to drive validation of participants’ solutions.
The design challenges are as follows:
Challenge 1
How might we encourage women working in landfills and coastal areas to create high-value products with longer life cycles?
Challenge 2
How might we ensure that contraceptives are accessible through effective supply chains?
Challenge 3
How might we provide more safe and profitable opportunities for informal workers, especially women and girls?
About us
ABOUT THE INCUBATION NETWORK
The Incubation Network is a catalyst for action and investment in the circular economy that aims to prevent the flow of plastic waste into the world’s ocean. TIN has connected network of innovators, investors, civil society organizations, and government leaders across those key South and Southeast Asian countries. Collectively, they design and deliver programs that drive investment, innovation, and partnerships for inclusive and gender-responsive waste management and circular economy solutions.
To learn more, visit incubationnetwork.com
ABOUT VILLGRO PHILIPPINES
Villgro Philippines is an early-stage impact enterprise incubator that mentors, funds, and nurtures entrepreneurs who are building innovative market-based solutions that can transform the lives of the poor. Our incubation and acceleration model is designed to provide highly customized early-stage support that is anchored in access to risk capital, high quality mentoring, investment readiness and access to talent, networks and markets.
Launch Partner
ABOUT MICROSOFT
Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.
JANE GOODALL
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Once you’re part of the Villgro Philippines network, you are in a powerhouse of a groundbreaking, myth shattering, norm busting ecosystem of peers whose sole purpose is to move heaven and earth to create sustainable social impact.
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