10 teams of top young innovators from 40,000 entrepreneurs gathered in Istanbul to scale solutions for climate change and global issues.
Istanbul, Türkiye — As part of GenU’s global drive to scale youth entrepreneurship aimed at solving the world’s most pressing challenges, the imaGen Ventures Global Incubation Week (GIW) brought together 10 of the most promising youth ventures selected from a staggering 40,000 young innovators worldwide for an immersive, hands-on experience in Istanbul.
Through masterclasses on business planning, financial management, marketing, and sustainability, the young leaders from 10 countries across the world gained a unique opportunity for hands-on skill-building and capacity development. Co-hosted with UNICEF Türkiye, the week-long programme saw the young innovators gain new skills and connections to sharpen their business strategies, expand their impact, and drive meaningful change in their communities and beyond.
Power of youth-led innovation
The path to GIW has been shaped by a human-centered, community-based approach. Supported by Accenture, UNICEF, UNDP, USAID, Scouts and Plan International, imaGen Ventures supported 40,000 young people across the world to develop innovative entrepreneurial ideas. Their proposals, most of which were green and climate-related were then evaluated by 80 judges from diverse industries.
The ten winning teams came to GIW with pioneering solutions for sustainable agriculture, green energy, robotics, food security, waste recycling, clean energy infrastructure and many more.
Take the BD Highway Turbine team from Bangladesh for example. The team is tapping into the wind pressure created by fast-moving vehicles, as well as natural winds, to generate clean, renewable energy. They are developing an intelligent vertical-axis wind turbine to turn busy highways and coastal areas into renewable energy resources with zero environmental effect. Crucially, the vertical wind turbine poses a potential solution to the noise pollution and threats to flying wildlife presented by standard horizontal turbines.
“With our turbine, we are generating green energy using the winds created by the vehicles and the natural winds, reducing the dependency on non-renewable sources. At Global Incubation Week, I gained insights into business models, marketing strategies, and investor communication techniques to get BD Highway Turbine to the next stage.” Abdullah Al Araf, co-founder of BD Highway Turbine
Then there’s Eco-Erudites, a young team from Uganda which is revitalizing communities along Lake Victoria by harvesting water hyacinth to generate biogas, addressing an environmental problem and creating jobs in the process. The invasive weed chokes water bodies, reducing fish yields and degrading water quality, significantly diminishing local livelihoods. Removing the weed allows aquatic life to thrive again. Communities can stop using firewood and charcoal for cooking purposes by switching to this cleaner, cheaper fuel. And farmers can apply the bioslurry that is a byproduct of the production process as an effective and eco-friendly fertilizer.
“We founded Eco-Erudites to turn this invasive into a source of prosperity, restoring the environment and improving livelihoods,” said Amanda Natukundaga of Erudites Movement. “With our venture, communities living along water hyacinth-infested areas will not only have improved fish yields and access to safe water for human consumption but also reduced the prevalence of diseases such as malaria because hyacinth acts as breeding places for the mosquitoes.
“At the Global Incubation Week, we had time to refine our pitch, business model, and strategy, and that has been really a game-changer for us.” Amanda Ethol Natukundaga
Charify is a venture from Melis and Naz, two young female school students from Türkiye. To tackle the global scourge of heavy metal water pollution, and widen access to clean water, the enterprise developed a sustainable and low-cost water filter material using waste tangerine and banana peels. Heavy metals, known for their persistent toxicity, threaten aquatic ecosystems and human health. Charify uses hydrothermal carbonization, combined with the biodegradable filter, to efficiently absorb heavy metals from wastewater.
“We want to bridge the gap between developed and developing nations, where water pollution disproportionately affects marginalized communities. We believe in the healing power of nature and we’re confident that the success of our social venture will pave the way for present and future generations to access clean water.” Melis Ata, Co-Founder of Charify
Then there is Eco Straw in Egypt. Founded by three teenagers Mahmoud, Mennatallah, and Samir, Eco Straw uses advanced fermentation technology to turn rice straw waste into two valuable resources: high-quality ethanol, a clean-burning fuel; and an organic fertilizer.
Operating in areas like Cairo, where rice straw burning leads to the notorious ‘black cloud’, the youth venture reduces air pollution and improves respiratory health. Eco Straw empowers farmers by purchasing their rice straw, which opens up a new income stream. The venture is also creating jobs for young people within both its production and management.
“We are high-scool students trying to solve climate problems that we face in our country in Egypt. We take rice straw which is usually burned, and turn it into green profit, producing ethanol and organic fertilizer. Our goal is to achieve self-sufficiency in ethanol and bio fertilizer production.” Mennatallah, Co-Founder of Eco-Straw
The ventures showcased above, along with others like ‘Ovejas Ecofriendly’ from Mexico, which champions sustainable livestock production, ‘ReCha’ from South Africa, which focuses on recycling, and Lebanon’s ‘BreedinGo,’ which leverages speed breeding technology to boost wheat production, all made impressive strides during GIW and worked to align their ventures with the SDGs.
They also networked with seasoned entrepreneurs, gaining real-world insights to advance their initiatives. Among those to attend the event were Alperen Adikti, co-founder and CEO of Heltia; Melih Gürel, founder of Futurinn; Arda Helvacilar, CEO of Sertifier; and Zülal Tannur, founder and CEO of From Your Eyes who guided them through pitching, market positioning, sustainable growth, and financial planning.
Through its annual Global Incubation Week, Generation Unlimited aims to foster a strong support network within which young people can thrive as social and green entrepreneurs.
Young people are just 25% of the world’s population today, but 100% of its future. Their ingenuity, energy, and ambition will fuel the solutions to the biggest global threats. It’s why Generation Unlimited is so intent on giving young innovators the backing they need to succeed.