Forbes launches $1-M global ‘Change the World Social Entrepreneurs’ competition

NEW YORK – Forbes yesterday announced a $1-million global social impact competition for entrepreneurs under the age of 30 to advance solutions that address global challenges. The Change the World competition will be the largest ever for young social entrepreneurs, with a $1-million prize pool. Five semifinalists will each win $100,000, and the overall winner will receive a $500,000 award. The competition will take place during Forbes’ second Under 30 Summit, from Oct. 4-7, 2015 in Philadelphia, which is expected to bring together 2,000 of America’s most important young entrepreneurs and game changers.

The competition will focus on disruptive and scalable ideas with the potential to change the world, and is open to both for-profit and non-profit enterprises. This is not a business plan competition – the social entrepreneurs must already be operating; the grants will go to accelerate the most promising ideas. The competition will be managed and applications will be taken using the HeroX incentive prize platform and then screened by a team from the Wharton Social Impact Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. The six semi-finalists will be announced in early September, before competing on the main stage at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in October.

The partners for the Forbes Under 30 Change the World competition, each of whom will help select and fund the semi-finalists, are: The Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, the Case Foundation, the Pratt Foundation, the Keywell Foundation and entrepreneur Bob Duggan.

“We have brought together an amazing coalition of good for a historic competition that we hope will inspire and accelerate a generation of social entrepreneurs,” said Randall Lane, Editor of Forbes magazine, who oversees the Forbes Under 30 Summit and The Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy.

This year’s Forbes Under 30 Summit is built on the success of a $400,000 entrepreneurs contest at last year’s Under 30 Summit. The winner, socially conscious online marketplace Enrou, has quintupled its traffic since winning the contest and credits its exposure at last year’s Summit to its rapid growth.

Submissions for the Forbes Under 30 Change the World Competition will be accepted from July 22 until August 26. The application can be found here: herox.com/Under30.

The Forbes Under 30 Summit will take place October 4-7, 2015 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.