Competition JAS Social Impact is now open
The grant competition for social projects and social entrepreneurship projects JAS Social Impact is now open for the NU community and NIS graduates. The competition aims to discover social projects and social entrepreneurship projects that will provide solutions to pressing issues in education, culture and art, ecology and improvement, sports, as well as in the formation of family traditions and a healthy lifestyle. The project can also focus on helping people in difficult life situations, as well as on solving problems of children and youth. The key selection criteria are relevance, efficiency and effectiveness, as well as availability of resources, innovation and sustainability.
The competition is organized by Nazarbayev University Social Development Fund. This is not the first time the Fund has promoted the ideas and values of Nazarbayev University. Last year, the Social Development Fund held grant competition for social projects #SDFGRANTS2020. Among nine winners, whose projects at the moment are already underway, there are those that have the potential to become a social business. One of them is the TopyraQ project. It is designed to promote the culture of waste recycling and the use of biological fertilizers. It provides environmentally conscious residents of Kazakhstan with vermicompost, one of the solutions for food waste disposal and its further use as natural feeding for plants.
According to Dina Kenensarinova, Director of Social Projects Department at NU Social Development Fund, the NU community has many people who are ready to become social entrepreneurs.
“This year’s JAS Social Impact includes not only grants for social projects, but also grants for social entrepreneurship. The competition also provides for an additional type of financing – Social Invest. It is intended for already established social entrepreneurs and it has a repayment basis on attractive terms,” said Dina Kenensarinova.
The main goal of JAS Social Impact is to help entrepreneurs implement the most daring ideas that will have a multiplier effect on a socially oriented business and entrepreneur, as well as on the general public. As for those who are taking their first steps in the world of “kind business”, the NU Social Development Fund has prepared a variety of educational materials and webinars for a deeper understanding of “social entrepreneurship” concept. They are available on the official website of the competition.
The selection of the best projects will take place in several stages. It will also include an educational component – participants will learn business skills at JAS Camp, as well as work with mentors. There will be three types of funding: Social Project Grant – up to 1 million tenge, Social Entrepreneurship Grant – up to 5 million tenge and Social Invest – up to 10 million tenge.
For more information about the competition please click here