Dublin YSI Team Win SAGE World Cup 2017

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The team from Portmarnock Community School, Dublin, took the Gold Award at the SAGE World Cup 2017 (Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship), which took place in Odessa, Ukraine in August.

The students were announced as the global winners of the Social Enterprise Business category for their humanitarian street mapping project which has been in development over a number of years. Delegations from 25 countries,  including two from Ireland, travelled to the Ukraine to compete in the prestigious competition.

The team has won a number of Young Social Innovators of the Year Awards including the overall national Gold Award in 2016 for their project entitled, ‘Global Citizens Mapping the Future’.

The Portmarnock team has worked hard to create reliable maps of the Kingdom of Lesotho in Africa, where their twin school is situated. Over the past four years, they have established this small landlocked nation as the most mapped country in Africa. The maps which record geographical information such as infrastructure, population densities and land use have helped authorities tackle challenges such as soil erosion, unemployment and disaster relief. It now serves as a model for other developing countries that have unreliable inadequate maps.

As the national co-ordinating Host for the SAGE World Cup, Young Social Innovators chose this team to represent Ireland at the World Cup for teenage social entrepreneurs.

Speaking after the award announcement Ravikanth Gollapalli, a member of the winning team said, “We are so proud to represent Ireland at the SAGE World Cup and are delighted to be bringing home the Gold Award. We believe we are making a real difference and are looking forward to developing our project throughout other schools in Ireland and beyond. We’d like to thank everyone in YSI for their continued support and our fantastic teachers and YSI Guides Niall Fitzgerald and Colette Cronin who have helped us every step of the way.”

Ireland was also represented at the SAGE World Cup by a team from CBS Charleville, Co. Cork with their project focussing on reducing the waste associated with today’s coffee culture. The “Ditch Your Carbon Cup Print” team placed 3rd in the Socially Responsible Business category World Cup.

Rachel Collier, CEO, Young Social Innovators, said, “Given the right opportunities and platforms young people can realise their potential and become powerful catalysts for social change. Watching these YSI students excel on a global stage makes us extremely proud. I congratulate them, their YSI Guides and their Principal on their wonderful achievement and I look forward to seeing their social enterprise develop in the coming years.”