Circle Unveils Fourth ‘Unlocking Impact’ Pitch Competition at UN Summit

Today marks a significant event as Circle launches the fourth installment of its ‘Unlocking Impact’ pitch competition series at the UN Headquarters’ SDG Media Zone. This initiative aligns with the UN Summit of the Future and aims to highlight innovative solutions leveraging Circle’s technology to address the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), according to circle.com.

Expanding Global Impact

The ‘Unlocking Impact’ series, which debuted in New York in 2023, has evolved into an international event that unites the humanitarian, corporate, and tech sectors. The goal is to foster the development of new applications and services utilizing digital dollars and open blockchain networks to aid vulnerable populations, offering benefits traditional financial services cannot.

Previous winners, such as Ensuro and Rahat, have already made significant strides. Ensuro uses blockchain and smart contracts to enhance the efficiency and inclusivity of insurance, while Rahat employs similar technologies for rapid and accurate aid delivery, directly to beneficiaries’ phones. Together, they have reached nearly 200,000 people, providing essential services to small farmers, climate disaster victims, and other at-risk groups.

Today’s Competitors

The current competition features several promising projects:

• ATLANTE: Focused on financial inclusion in frontier markets, ATLANTE offers microloans to entrepreneurs in the Kakuma refugee camp, promoting sustainable economic development and transforming aid-dependent regions.
• Etherisc Impact B.V.: This project leverages blockchain to create accessible, transparent, and efficient insurance solutions, addressing global challenges like climate risk and financial exclusion.
• Kshetra: Kshetra’s ImpactCred marketplace connects social enterprises with impact investors to facilitate bridge financing and working capital loans, driving innovation towards the UN SDGs.
• Moja: A Techstars alumnus, Moja provides a platform for group savings, lending, and investment using USDC. The company operates in Cambridge, USA, Nairobi, Kenya, and London.

Judging Panel

The competition will be judged by a distinguished panel, including:

• Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy, Circle
• Taha Bawa, Co-founder and CEO, Goodwall
• Timothy Rann, Managing Partner, MercyCorps
• Erica Moret, Director, United Nations Affairs & International Organisations, Microsoft
• Amina Tirana, Professor of Public Service, New York University
• Bernhard Kowatsch, Head of the Innovation Accelerator, UN World Food Programme
• Ruben Galindo Steckel, CEO, Airtm
• Ana Rold, CEO, Diplomatic Courier
• Ranuak Mittal, Director, Technology and Innovation Lab, World Bank Group

The next ‘Unlocking Impact’ pitch competition is scheduled for October 26 in Washington, DC, during the 2024 Annual Meetings of the World Bank.

Image source: Shutterstock