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Meet The Power of Local Challenge Finalists!

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In The Power of Local Challenge, we sought out small business ecosystem builders - organizations, programs, or initiatives that provide small businesses with diverse and equitable opportunities like resources, tools, networking, etc.  

Out of almost 900 applications, these 24 initiatives passed the second round of refinement and became our finalists! Click on each one to learn more about their work.

All Solutions

Get Inspired by reading projects from the participants

A man and three boys stand at the doors of a shop with several bags of animal health products outside. The text across the bottom of the image reads "Rural Animal Health Business Project".

Rural Animal Health

The Rural Animal Health Project empowers small agro-veterinary (agrovet) businesses—veterinary retail stores in rural communities—with animal health b...

A line of several people waiting to play a wheel spin game. A display above the game reads "Konekin".

INKLUSIPRENEUR: Inclusive

Koneksi Indonesia Inklusif (KONEKIN) is a women-led social enterprise committed to building a sustainable and scalable ecosystem as an Inclusive Micro...

Text reads "Reduce Post-harvest losses! Empowering farmers with cutting-edge, eco-friendly cold storage solutions to maximize freshness, reduce waste, and enhance income."

FreshBox | Solar-Powered

We install community-owned solar-powered cold storage units in rural Kenya to reduce post-harvest losses, increase farmers' income, and serve as educa...

A photo of a young black woman wearing a head scarf leaning against a wooden fence post. A building behind her has a sign that reads "Special School Sebenza Women Project".

Going FURTHER

In under-resourced communities where young entrepreneurs are often held back by self-limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome, we build their confidence...

An image collage with people participating in a expo event. Text on the image reads "Expo Favela Innovation"

Expo Favela Innovation

Expo Favela bridges favelas with leading companies and markets, empowering entrepreneurs and showcasing their creativity, innovation, and transformati...

A logo with text that reads "Eazicred".

EaziCred Data Bank

EaziCred is tackling financial exclusion in Nigeria by giving small businesses better access to credit without traditional collateral. Businesses stru...

A group of people pose with vegetables and bottles of specialized agricultural products.

BIKI Point: End-to-End

BIKI Point is partnerships with packing houses belonging to farmer groups by promoting GAP (Good agricultural practice) and GHP (Good handling practic...

Three women stand in a makeshift sheltered chicken coop, standing among seemingly hundreds of chickens.

Doorstep Flexiflow

We transform rural livelihoods by bringing flexible, cashflow-matched credit with no need of immovable collateral and financial education directly to ...

"Craftoor" written in a script language on a black background.

Craftoor

Craftoor is a tech-enabled digital marketplace and business support ecosystem that empowers African artisans by providing market access, business trai...

A collage of three photos. The left photo is a woman dressed in a black and yellow dress standing infront of a herd of goat. The right two photos show women sitting in a group while a person in the group speaks.

Building Drought

ASALs Biofeeds aggregates dairy goat milk from the ASALs of Laikipia, links farmers to the market, trains on goat management and value adds to come up...

A photo of Sago Seafood Noodles, an Indonesian dish with glass noodles, sauteed leafy greens, slivered carrots, and shrimp.

PARARA (The Great Harvest

Indonesia is threatened by a loss of local food knowledge coupled with a loss of biodiversity with conversion and pollution of natural spaces and smal...

A graphic collage with several black africans seated in a room. A "G" set on its side frames a woman at the center of the photo. A logo in the top left reads "Bridging Gaps".

Bridging Gaps: Pay-it

Bridging Gaps is an award-winning German-Ugandan non-profit that empowers aspiring entrepreneurs from marginalized communities through a systemic solu...

A group of people pose for the camera. A logo for SRC is superimposed on the photo with text that reads "Waste to Worth"

Waste to Worth Indonesia

Sustainability for Resource Collectors empowers waste collectors to transition from informal labor to recognized micro-entrepreneurs, by equipping the...

Four men sit in a cobbler shop, two of the men at the edge of the photo are working on pieces for constructing shoes. The two men at the center are speaking with eachother while using their mobile phones.

Somo Africa

Somo Africa empowers marginalized entrepreneurs to build financial literacy, access financing, and connect with investors and networks through compreh...

The FSMK logo next to their slogan. The text reads "Funding Societies, Modalku" with a subheading reading "Stronger SME's Stronger Societies"

Empowering SMEs Through

Empowering underserved and underbanked SMEs in Southeast Asia by increasing their access to financial services, improving financial literacy and provi...

A composite image of a space shuttle with its thrusters still attached flying past a stylized view of space with several planets in view. The image has been given a teal overlay.

Empowering Business as

A new area in an impact accelerator that trains and finances small, extraordinary businesses led by transgender founders, bakers, and artisan women....

A group gathers in a courtyard, one man stands holding a book in front of a flip chart that reads "Idea Refinement". The seated group faces away from the camera and towards the speaker, almost entirely wearing orange shirts that read "Lacac Pe Lony".

Academy for Social

Resilience from Within's Academy for Social Transformation (AST) empowers Northern Ugandan women and youth to co-design sustainable businesses address...

Green text reads "Kuzola #HackingTheFuture"

Ukuzola

Ukuzola is the first startup house in Central Africa that removes financial barriers for social and climate entrepreneurs by offering a co-living spac...

A large group of volunteers, all wearing the same olive-green shirt pose sitting across several rows in a conference room. They are flanked by two large house plants and have a black curtain backdrop.

Association of

Assobio's work strengthens the competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses, positioning socio-bioeconomy as a strategic pillar for sustainabl...

A black woman in a grey jumpsuit and head wrap kneels in a farming plot. The plot if full of vegetation and covered by a grey mesh canopy.

Accelerating Sustainable

"Empowering Black Female Poultry & Fresh Produce Farmers across South Africa 2025" is an initiative by Rhiza Babuyile to unlock economic potential...

A photo collage of a brazilian flag, a diverse group of brazilians (some in hard hats) all superimposed over a panorama of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

Liberdade para Trabalhar

"Liberdade para Trabalhar" (Freedom to Work) is transforming Brazil by reducing bureaucratic barriers and expanding economic freedom across all 27 sta...

Three people stand shoulder to shoulder posed for the camera, one woman and two men. They are standing outdoors in a somewhat forested area.

HERVeg.05

HERVeg.05 empowers women and youth-led small agribusiness owners in Tanzania through integrated village savings networks, mobile layaway systems, prov...

The ABALOBI logo, a graphic image of a mobile device, the screen shows four overlapping hands with open palms each with a simple illustration of a fish.

ABALOBI ICTs for small

ABALOBI is a fisher-led, community-driven platform that empowers small-scale fishers through technology, ma...

A diverse group of young adults pose infront of a mountain on a sunny day with a clear blue sky. The Ocean Hub Africa Logo is superimposed above the mountain's peak.

Oceanhub Community of

African Hub for Ocean Impact NPC (AHOI) proposes to expand and sustain a thriving Community of Practice for Blue Economy Entrepreneurial Support Organ...