The fundamentals of social entrepreneurship are built on a foundation of positive shared growth and sustainability. The Venture competition aims to encourage business with purpose, and challenge the forward-thinkers of the world to promote their start-ups. Over the last 12 months Chivas searched the globe for passionate and generous individuals who echo the profit with purpose message – three of the finalists originate from Africa and are in the running to win a share of the $1 million grand prize. It has been an ongoing journey fuelled by the spirit of shared success and inclusion. Voting will open from May 8 2017. Vist chivas.com to see who will win the grand prize.

Chioma Ukonu (Nigeria) is a people-oriented businesswoman who values integrity, success and family. “I strongly believe that one has to be surrounded by people who are committed to delivering the same objectives,” she says. RecyclePoints operates as an incentive-based structure that collects recyclable materials from consumers and then rewards them with ‘points’ that they can accumulate and use to redeem or shop for household items offered through the iRecycle store. Her passion and strive is built on enabling community members, in particular women, to work for themselves while building a strong and dependable future for their family and community, while renovating the environment around them.

James Steere (South Africa) has a passion for equality and driving change through innovation in Africa. With over 16 years of experience in drinking water purification technologies, strategy consulting, renewable energy consulting and entrepreneurship, I-Drop Water units encapsulates what James and his team stands for – positive change. I-Drop Water installs purification and dispensing units at the point of sale. Shoppers refill water containers, which means that they reduce plastic waste, while the water supply comes at no cost to retailers. They monitor the units remotely to keep maintenance costs low and split the revenue with the shop owners, which drives economic activity in communities.

Dickson Ochieng (Kenya) previously founded an IT company and has a passion for first class customer service. Dedicated to improving people’s lifestyle and overall health and environment of urban communities, Sanivation was created to deliver clean, safe and efficient sanitation services. Just like Chioma’s recycling business, Dickson and his team are treating waste as a resource. “In urbanising communities we install modern container-based toilets in people’s homes for free and charge a small monthly fee to service them. Then, instead of dumping the waste, we transform it into a clean burning alternative to charcoal,” he says. Furthermore, by displacing charcoal, the briquettes combat deforestation and erosion, saving 88 trees for every ton sold.