Charles Batte, 24, from Uganda has beaten off competition from over 60,000 of the world?s top young social entrepreneurs to win Smaller Earth?s prestigious Your Big Year competition. Charles will now embark on a life changing year which will see him fulfill the role of global ambassador for social entrepreneurship, meeting captains of industry, world leaders and getting first hand experience of working with CSR projects on six continents.
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Smaller Earth?s Your Big Year is a global talent programme, in partnership with Mazars, that gives young entrepreneurs from around the world the chance to win the unique year-long placement. This year the competition, which was founded by Liverpool-based entrepreneur Chris Arnold and is run by his company Smaller Earth, received over 60,000 entries from 221 countries. 16 finalists from 14 countries were selected to be flown to England where they took part in a week of business, media and social enterprise challenges which included pitching to the likes of Sir Richard Branson, Sir Terry Leahy and Martha Lane Fox.
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Having grown up in the slums of Kamwokya surrounded by drug addictions, unemployment and crime, Charles knew from an early age that he wanted to dedicate his life to being a social entrepreneur and improving conditions for others. Aged 20 Charles set up a farm that produces maize and beans which now employs 50 people and provides food for thousands more.
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As well as running the farm, Charles is also studying to be a heart surgeon having been inspired to take up medicine after the severe illness of his childhood friend at the age of five from heart failure. Following his friend?s illness, the five year-old Charles dissected a rat so he cold try and understand more of how the heart worked and ever since has been driven to become a heart surgeon.
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A delighted Charles said, ?I am extremely excited about the prospect of such an amazing opportunity and cant wait to complete my year of CSR and business projects. Social entrepreneurship is such a powerful tool, and I hope that through my work and telling my story, I can touch the lives of many young people and inspire them to become social entrepreneurs. I hope my experiences will help me develop as a person and as aleader of tomorrow.?
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As part of his unique prize, Charles will travel to six continents to meet captains of industry and work on a range of CSR projects. He will have the opportunity to learn first hand about issues people face in different regions of the world and partake in activities to help positively change them.
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Chris Arnold founder of Your Big Year said, ?The aim of Your Big Year is to provide inspiration and confidence to anyone with ambition, and I am delighted and so proud to name Charles as our winner. Throughout the whole selection process, Charles has shown astonishingly mature business ethics, impressive oratory skills, and a real sense of social responsibility and will for change, so rare in a 24 year-old. I can?t wait to send Charles off on his trip, and see what results he can achieve for social entrepreneurism.?
Tony Treacy, a member of the judging panel and marketing director of Your Big Year sponsorship, accountancy firm Mazars said: ?It has been a privilege to spend the last week watching the finalists compete. Without exception they all demonstrated remarkable determination, resourcefulness, commercial aptitude and respect for each other: it was a pleasure to see true entrepreneurial spirit in action. Charles is an outstanding individual and very deserving winner. The projects he will work on over the next year will benefit greatly from his strong work ethic and natural entrepreneurial talent, and no doubt the business leaders he will meet, including those from Mazars offices around the world, will be just as blown away by him as we have been.?
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Notes to editors:
Smaller Earth?s Your Big Year is a global talent programme which gives young entrepreneurs from around the world the chance to win a unique year long placement meeting global leaders and captains of industry while also working on CSR projects.
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The scheme is in its second year and the 2011/12 final took place in Liverpool during the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC). The winner of Smaller Earth?s Your Big Year was announced on the final day of the GEC and was used as a launch pad to announce Merit, a new global entrepreneurship talent-development initiative.
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About Smaller Earth
Smaller Earth has developed alongside its founders, and reflects their passion for travel and personal development.
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Smaller Earth?s purpose is ?to inspire people to go further?, a deliberate play on the fact that their participants are going to go further both physically and on their personal development journey too. With offices all over the world they have a truly global reach and perspective allowing them to deliver this purpose.
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Smaller Earth believe that young people will start to understand the world better if they have experienced a foreign culture first-hand, on a personal level, and have been immersed in the culture.
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Smaller Earth is constantly striving to find programs and tools to help people to connect globally and in their search to find the best way of explaining this they have adopted OXFAM?s definition of what makes a ?Global Citizen?. Starting a movement with these Global Citizens is an ultimate goal for Smaller Earth, and their mission is to positively impact twenty million people by 2020. However, they only believe this is achievable if the person they have helped to shape takes on the responsibility and impacts the community around them.
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Programs that Smaller Earth offer fall under the categories of Volunteering, Work and Travel, and Internships and are available all over the world. Participants are able to go for 1 week and up to 18 months to locations worldwide, fully supported with assistance from experienced staff.
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Smaller Earth flagship programs include:
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Volunteer Kenya;
A range of programs based in Mombasa and close to the Tanzanian border. These programs include supporting schools that feed, clothe and educate children who have nothing and opportunities to get very close to dolphins, sharks and turtles surveying the affect of tourism in the area.
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Internships in China
Business, Marketing, Engineering and more hands on experienced based in many locations across China are available. Top company Executives are keen for external influence and to share their approach to their industry, reflecting our values of cultural exchange and personal development.
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Summer Camp in the USA
Smaller Earth work with 400 summer camps and this ?all-in? opportunity provides everything that participants need to develop themselves and their campers in Traditional Camps, Under Privileged Camp, Special Needs Camps and more.
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