Social Enterprise Competition Announces Response to Urgent Need for Global Action, Splitting $1m Prize Between All 26 Finalists Leading blended Scotch whisky, Chivas, has announced today that due to the current global COVID-19 outbreak, this year's Chivas Venture $1 million fund will be distributed evenly amongst the 26 global finalists, including Australian's Okra Solar, with immediate effect. Now in its sixth year, the Chivas Venture gives away $1m in no-strings funding to startups who blend profit with purpose to have a positive impact on the world. This year's competition has seen 26 social enterprises selected from 26 countries, across five continents, with Okra Solar winning the local final in Australia. Okra Solar – who was due to pitch for a share of the fund at a Global Final in June - will now receive $40,000 in funding, which can be put towards creating positive change at a testing time for people across the globe. Pernod Ricard Chairman and CEO Alexandre Ricard comments: "It is with great sadness that we have decided to cut short this year's Chivas Venture competition due to the impact COVID-19 is having across the world. Now more than ever, our world needs the passion and dedication of those who want to bring about positive change. That's why we have decided that each of our finalists should be provided with secure funding now, so they can continue their important work and continue to positively impact their communities in spite of these volatile conditions, which will be particularly challenging for fledgling businesses and the communities they serve." This year's finalists have found unique and creative ways to tackle a wide range of social, environmental and economic challenges, many of which have been exacerbated by the global pandemic, especially in at risk, or isolated communities. Okra Solar designs and develops plug-and-play smart grid technology to provide tools specifically for energy utilities in countries with large off-grid populations, ensuring remote communities have access to sustainable power solutions. "We are extremely grateful to have been a part of this year's Chivas Venture and the opportunity this has given Okra Solar. Due to the current global pandemic, we fully understand and support the decision to curtail the competition and split the prize between so many worthy social entrepreneurs. The decision will help us continue to make a positive impact in a multitude of communities." - Damian Veling, Co-founder of Okra Solar. To date, the Chivas Venture has given away $5 million in no-strings funding to social startups who have positively impacted over 2 million lives across 50 countries – driving major change, including providing 34 million litres of safe drinking water to communities, recycling 1,300 tonnes of waste, helping over 2,500 farmers' families out of poverty and funding over 75,000 days of education for women and girls. Just as Chivas champions the perfect blend of malt and grain whiskies in its Scotch, the Chivas Venture champions entrepreneurs who blend profit and purpose to have a positive impact on the world. To find out more about the Chivas Venture and to learn more about this year's finalists, visit www.chivas.com/the-venture or follow on Twitter @ChivasVenture. #ChivasVenture Chivas Venture Finalists by Country COUNTRY BUSINESS NAME FINALIST NAME BUSINESS OVERVIEW Argentina Mamotest Guillermo Pepe Mamotest's central objective is to reduce the death rate of breast cancer by supporting women who do not have the economic resources to access quality breast cancer diagnosis. Australia Okra Solar Damian Veling Okra Solar designs and develops technology to give access to energy and electricity to those who live off-grid. Belgium Oak Tree Projects Danae Van Dan Bossche Oak Tree Projects provides affordable, co-housing accommodation for people with disabilities. Brazil Raizs Tomas Abrahao Raizs is an online platform that connects organic farmers directly with consumers to put an end to food wastage and poverty. Bulgaria Enova H2O Huseyin Yemendzhiev Enova H2O develops innovative instruments and services for better and faster water quality management. Canada Tandem Technical Heather Ward Tandem helps greenhouse gas emitters across a range of industries capture and convert pollution from a liability into an asset. Chile Wheel the World Alvaro Silberstein Wheel the World is a web platform where users can easily find and book holidays for people with disabilities. China P.E.T. Jane Zhao P.E.T. creates textiles made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. Through the creation of products like scarves and aprons, they are helping to reduce environmental pollution and plan to recycle 1 million plastic bottles by 2021. Colombia Recupera Tu Silla Maria Sanchez Recupera tu Silla is a furniture restoration business with both environmental and social impact. It extends the life of furniture, saving businesses and clients up to 75% in expenses and providing employment opportunities to people in vulnerable conditions. England & Wales WASE Thomas Fudge WASE develops decentralised wastewater treatment systems that embrace a circular economy to recover energy, nutrients and water in wastewater - providing sanitation and energy in under-served communities. Greece 100mentors Georgios Nikoletakis 100mentors connect students from underprivileged schools with mentors, creating a learning experience where students become more engaged, confident and conscious learners. France Pandobac Anais Ryterband Pandobac is an ecological and sustainable, zero-waste solution that offers a service of reusable crates to food wholesalers for fresh produce delivery. Israel HomeBiogas Oshik Efrati HomeBiogas produces a unique appliance that transforms organic waste into biogas and fertiliser; providing a solution that addresses multiple issues including cooking on unclean fuels, waste and sanitation. Italy Pedius Lorenzo Di Ciaccio Pedius is an app that allows the hard of hearing to 'hear' phone calls by converting speech to text in real time. Japan MyMizu Robin Lewis MyMizu is Japan's first free water refill platform that guides people to public water fountains, eco-friendly cafes, coworking spaces, hotels and other businesses that offer free refills around the country. Through the app, users can access free drinking water instead of buying bottled water to reduce consumption of single-use plastic bottles. Kenya Green-Nettle Textile Jonah Mwangi Green-Nettle Textile creates fabric from stinging nettles. By converting the nettle stalks into a linen-like fabric, Green-Nettle is able to produce an eco-fabric out of natural - rather than synthetic - materials, and employ thousands of artisans across the globe. Mexico Graviti Yusef Jacobs Graviti offers bolt-on financing for basic services such as hot water and electricity - allowing the 30% of Mexico's unbanked population access to pre-pay products, protecting users from unexpected extra costs and giving access to key infrastructure. Netherlands Urchinomics Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda Urchinomics is solving the sea urchin problem by turning them into a useful resource for the economy. Divers collect urchins from the sea and re-home them in proprietary land-based urchin ranching systems, from where they are sold onto high-end seafood distributors around the world. Nigeria Soupah Farm-en-Market Ifeoluwa Olatayo Soupah's mission is to tackle inefficiencies in the food supply chain in Nigeria by connecting small scale rural farmers with urban retailers. The corporation engages in rooftop farms, fortified food processing and farm linkages for rural smallholders into urban markets. Poland MakeGrowLab Josh Brito MakeGrowLab is working towards a future of plastic-free packaging material, replacing non-recyclable petroleum-based products with compostable bio-materials that enrich the environment, rather than damaging it. The product is durable, non-toxic and can be grown locally anywhere in the world. Scotland Crover Lorenzo Conti Crover has created a small robotic device capable of moving within grain stores to monitor the condition of grains, with the aim of reducing waste and saving countless grain stocks each year. Spain EthicHub Gabriela Chang Valdovinos EthicHub is a global solution to generate affordable funds for smallholder farming. The blockchain-based platform allows investors from all over the world to help those with no access to fair finance; connecting developing countries and farmers with profitable projects in developed countries. South Africa Hustlenomics Nhlanhla Ndlovu Hustlenomics creates opportunities for women and youths by training them to replace informal backyard shacks with durable structures, using innovative building technology. Hustlenomics offers low income households an opportunity to build durable structures at no additional cost. Thailand YoungHappy Thanakorn Phromyos YoungHappy is a happy community for senior citizens, providing events and support groups that help seniors maintain an active lifestyle, while building their self-esteem and keeping them engaged with their peers. USA Strella Biotechnology Katherine Sizov Strella creates biosensing platforms that can predict the ripeness of produce within the supply chain, reducing food wastage prior to consumption by 40%. Vietnam Cricket One Bicky Nguyen Cricket One reduces agricultural waste and creates a valuable protein source by using the populous, safe and highly nutritious, cricket. Source: The Chivas Venture