Committed to helping entrepreneurs locally, nationally and globally, SEED SPOT National Director of Expansion C’pher Gresham was one of 125 individuals awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award by Winrock International and the Corporation for National & Community Service. Established in 2003, the award is available on an annual basis to individuals, groups, and families who have met or exceeded requirements for volunteer service and have demonstrated exemplary citizenship through volunteering.
Gresham contributed 100+ hours of volunteer service with King’s College through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Farmer-to-Farmer Program in Kathmandu, Nepal. Working directly with the leading entrepreneurship organizations in Nepal, Gresham developed and trained King’s College staff on a unique business incubation program for students and working professionals. Nanda Mandal, Director of King’s College Entrepreneurship Program, said “Kings College embraces entrepreneurship education and incubation for economic development. The program’s mission is to create a formalized program to support local entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas to have access to a robust curriculum, collaboration with small and growing businesses, mentorship, and access to growth capital. C’pher helped guide the foundation of our program and support the growing ecosystem in Nepal.”
SEED SPOT is committed to global empowerment of entrepreneurs that are solving important societal problems. Gresham explains, “Working directly with diverse cultures and across vast geographies enables SEED SPOT to further expand our impact outside of the US and impact more lives. In addition, we bring back inspiration, stories, and best practices to share with entrepreneurs in the USA looking to expand globally.”
SEED SPOT and Gresham continue to support King’s College through mentorship of educators and of ventures within the incubator in Nepal. Biplove Singh, Associate Director of King’s College, visited SEED SPOT this past spring to further develop a deep and lasting connection between organizations committed to supporting early-stage entrepreneurs.
The award is issued by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation, a group created by President Bush to recognize the valuable contributions volunteers are making in the United States. The Council comprises leaders in government, media, entertainment, business, education, nonprofits and volunteer service organizations, and community volunteering.
SEED SPOT was nationally ranked in 2015 by Cisco & UBI Global as one of the Top 3 Social Impact Incubators in the United States. With a mission to educate, accelerate, and invest in the dreams of social entrepreneurs, SEED SPOT exclusively supports entrepreneurs building products, services, and technologies that improve lives or communities. SEED SPOT has a demonstrated track record of supporting 164 entrepreneurs to date, 88% are still in business and 97% are still in the state of Arizona. For more information visit: www.seedspot.org.
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