Ugandan among 8 finalists named for global Youth Ecopreneur Awards
The three-day summit is one of the world’s largest gatherings of solutions for the planet, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and global changemakers in the French capital.
Hellen Munyasa is innovatively transforming plastics to high quality sewing threads through her company Helton Traders. (Photo credit: UNDP Uganda/Joel Akena)
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Ugandan youth ecopreneur Hellen Munyasa has been named among eight finalists selected to pitch their solutions at the ChangeNOW summit in Paris as part of the Youth Ecopreneur Programme (YECO) awards programme.
The three-day summit is one of the world’s largest gatherings of solutions for the planet, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and global changemakers in the French capital.
The organisers received more than 1,500 proposals from over 120 countries.
And from this global pool, 225 entrepreneurs were selected for the YECO Bootcamp to learn practical tools, expert guidance, and peer collaboration.
After looking across the world for the best business ideas to help the planet, eight youth-led ventures have been selected as finalists for the YECO Awards 2025.
Three are under the Green Business category and five under the Land Restoration category.
Munyasa's venture, the Helton Traders Limited, falls under the Green Business.
It is a women-led social enterprise transforming post-consumer plastic bottles into affordable polyester sewing threads while creating green jobs.
In the same category is Egyptian Mohamed Khaled. His NoorNation is a renewable energy manufacturer delivering solar-powered solutions that provide clean energy and safe water to underserved communities and businesses.
Another is Nigerian Patience Onyoche Obande. Her Schrodinger Technologies Ltd is a social enterprise developing solar-powered water purification systems to improve water access, food security, and climate resilience.
The five finalists under Land Restoration are:
▪️ Margaret Wanjiku – Pollen Smart Hive Limited (Kenya). A women-led agritech venture that used the Internet of Things to link up smart beehives and AI-powered pollination services to improve crop yields, biodiversity, and smallholder farmer incomes.
▪️ W. Leif Van Grinsven – Small Farm Cities Africa (Malawi). A climate-smart housing and agroforestry model replacing deforestation-driven burnt-brick construction with sustainable homes linked to income-generating agroforestry systems.
▪️ Camila Saa – Satellites on Fire (Argentina). Finalistas de los Premios Youth Ecopreneur | ITC. An AI-powered wildfire early warning system combining satellite imagery, cameras, and weather data to detect fires faster and protect ecosystems and communities.
▪️ Maria Wilvenna Añora – AtoANI Agriventures Inc. (Philippines). A farming-as-a-service platform connecting farmers to markets, data-driven crop planning, and carbon credit opportunities to support regenerative agriculture.
▪️ Joshua Forte – Red Diamond Compost Inc. (Barbados). A biotech–agritech company transforming organic waste and sargassum seaweed into regenerative agricultural inputs that strengthen soil health and reduce fertiliser dependence.
At the pitching event, finalists will compete for cash prizes of 10,000 US dollars (about 35 million Ugandan shillings) and gain international visibility to support the growth and scaling of their ventures.
The Youth Ecopreneur Programme is a joint initiative of the International Trade Centre and G20 Global Land Initiative-UNCCD, implemented in partnership with World Intellectual Property Organisation, Sidley Austin LLP, Google Startup for Sustainable Development and EY.