Innovation Awards

Meltwater Group in San Francisco, California, USA, received the Stevie Award for Corporate Social Responsibility Program of the Year in The 2011 American Business Awards for the company’s work encouraging and fostering Ghanaian entrepreneurial talent. The 2012 American Business Awards is now open for entries - get your entry kit - and will include the new Best of the ABA Awards. The second early-bird entry deadline is December 14.

Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) is the brainchild of Jorn Lyseggen, the founder and CEO of the Meltwater Group. MEST was founded in 2007 in Accra, Ghana, by Meltwater Group’s nonprofit arm, the Meltwater Foundation.

As one of the least developed continents in the world, Africa is home to many stagnant economies where highly educated individuals have few job opportunities. Jorn, however, recognized this as an exceptional opportunity to transfer Meltwater’s knowledge and experience beyond the company walls and into the global community.

Entrepreneurs in Training
MEST is a non-profit, three-phase, entrepreneurial training program that provides training and mentoring to young African entrepreneurs aspiring to launch new, Ghana-based software companies. “Entrepreneurs in Training” (EITs) are selected through a comprehensive interview process by a panel of successful global entrepreneurs.

Upon selection, the EITs begin Phase One, a rigorous, two-year training course.

Those EITs with business ideas that are deemed to be viable then move on to Phase Two—Incubation—where graduates from the training program are given an opportunity to bring their business ideas to life through seed funding, access to advisors, and office space.

Finally, in Phase Three, the Meltwater Foundation and its network of experienced mentors and advisors provide assistance for companies that emerge from the MEST Incubator.

One of MEST’s biggest accomplishments is the burgeoning success of the current students and their companies, which include RetailTower, Nandi Mobile, Streemio, and Leti Games. In some cases these companies are utilizing corporate partnerships with retailers, telecommunications companies, or banks to distribute solutions to the market.

Success Story
One specific success story is that of Wesley Kirinya and Eyram Tawia. Wesley and Eyram created Leti Games, which through MEST’s guidance and support became Africa’s first commercial contribution to the multibillion-dollar computer gaming industry. MEST awarded the company $100,000 in seed financing that turned it from an idea into a functioning business. It's first game, iWarrior, is available for download on iTunes.

Significant Accomplishment
The success of MEST and its students is made even more significant when taking the Ghanaian economy into consideration. Prospective Ghanaian entrepreneurs face an uncertain marketplace with little economic or political stability. Last year it was reported that Ghana dropped in the ranks relating to the ease of doing business, falling to 95 among the 183 economies and to 113 for ease of obtaining credit.

A Bright Future
With young Ghanaians constituting over 40% of the country’s population, the potential impact that MEST could have on the country as a whole is immense. MEST was a challenging undertaking. It was the first program of its kind in Africa, and there is still no similar program in this part of the world helpting guide potential software entrepreneurs. The sophistication of the technology, ideas, and ultimate success of companies such as Leti Games are a testament not just to the success of the MEST program, but also to the promise of further innovations that will emerge from Africa in the future.

About Jorn Lyseggen
In 2001, with only $15,000, Jorn founded Meltwater News, a business-to-business media search engine company offering business-intelligence services. That company has now grown into the Meltwater Group. As CEO, Jorn leads the expansion of Meltwater with new ventures in the Software as a Service (SaaS) market. Jorn also founded the non-profit Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST), designed to provide training and mentoring to young African entrepreneurs aspiring to launch new, Ghana-based software companies.

A Norwegian entrepreneur and patent holder with four start-ups, Jorn has two trade sales and one IPO to his credit. The most rewarding aspect of Jorn's career continues to be helping young people develop into confident and capable managers.

Jorn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Bergen Ingeniorhogskole in Norway, and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, with specialization in digital signal processing and artificial intelligence, from Iowa State University.  He also studied entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School. Jorn and his family now live in Palo Alto, California.

About The Meltwater Group
The Meltwater Group is a privately held software company founded in Norway in 2001. It currently serves more than 20,000 clients through 57 offices located across North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Meltwater is committed to challenging existing business models by introducing disruptive technologies.​ The Meltwater Group delivers B2B solutions based on search engine technology, cloud computing, and search engine marketing. For more information, please visit http://www.meltwater.com.

Touch Bionics of Livingston, Scotland and Hillard, Ohio USA won the Stevie Award for Most Innovative Company of the Year in Europe in The 2010 International Business Awards. Here we review the amazing accomplishments of this company’s bionic solutions.

Touch Bionics is the developer of the groundbreaking i-LIMB Hand, the
world’s first commercially available, fully articulating, bionic hand. This
product was launched to worldwide acclaim in 2007, but the company has
continued to expand its innovative product lines since then.

ProDigits

In December 2009, Touch Bionics introduced ProDigits, the world’s first bionic finger solution. Extending the technology innovation behind the i-LIMB Hand, the ProDigits solution brings the life-changing technology to partial-hand patients, whose finger absence is due either to congenital anomalies or to amputation from a traumatic incident or medical condition. The amputee population that can benefit from ProDigits is considerable, estimated at around
40,000 in the U.S. and 1.2 million worldwide and, before ProDigits, such people had no commercially available powered prosthetic solution open to them.

i-LIMB Pulse

In May 2010, Touch Bionics introduced the new i-LIMB Pulse. This product is the latest evolution of the i-LIMB product line and a host of innovations have gone into the new product, including:
- Bluetooth-enabled software to allow the customization of the device for the
user;
- Automated grip patterns, allowing users to select the grips that are most
useful to them on a daily basis;
- Pulsing grip strength, allowing incremental additional grip force to be
applied when required;
- Low-profile design, achieved by miniaturizing many of the components of the
device and changing the design to cater almost all male and female users; and

- A new aluminum mechanical structure, for increased overall robustness.

ProDigits and the i-LIMB Pulse were the two most significant innovations from Touch Bionics in 2009-2010, but the company continues to be an innovator.

New Leadership

In June 2011, Touch Bionics appointed a new Chief Executive Officer, Ian Stevens.   With his background at medical devices companies Mpathy Medical and Optos, he will be leading the company through its next phase of growth.

 “I am very pleased to be joining Touch Bionics at such an important point in the company’s evolution and I am looking forward to working with the team at Touch Bionics to ensure that the company enjoys continued success,” said Stewart.

About Ian Stevens
Ian Stevens joined Touch Bionics from medical devices company, Mpathy Medical, where he had served as CEO since November 2007. Prior to that, Stevens worked for Optos, a medical technology company specializing in devices that image the retina, from 1999-2007. At Optos, he served as General Manager for North America, where he had responsibility for all operations in the United States and Canada. Stevens also served as Chief Financial Officer and Director of Operations during his time at Optos.

About Touch Bionics
Touch Bionics is a developer of advanced upper limb prosthetics designed to bring a greater return to form and function for amputees and people with congenitally missing limbs. Touch Bionics created the i-LIMB Hand, the world's first powered prosthetic hand with five articulating fingers, and was the first company to offer a powered prosthetic solution for patients with missing fingers, ProDigits. In addition to its powered prosthetic hand and partial-hand products, Touch Bionics offers a range of custom aesthetic restoration solutions through its LIVINGSKIN business, which are passive prosthetic devices designed to match exactly to a person's natural skin tone. For more information, visit www.touchbionics.com.

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Now referred to as the Mother of the Modern Cloth Diaper, Tereson Dupuy, CEO of Mother of Eden, invented FuzziBunz cloth diapers after her son suffered from chronic diaper rash; prior to her invention, nothing helped.  This determined mother founded a company to produce her patented cloth diapers and it is now a multi-million dollar industry.

Tereson has been featured in national newspapers and television, and is also a popular motivational speaker.  She is available to speak on the topics of women in business; accidental entrepreneurship (how Tereson created a product to solve a personal dilemma, and ended up with a highly successful company); and, of course, anything related to cloth diapers.

		Read the Full Text of FuzziBunz's Stevie Award-winning Nomination...