CEMEX celebrates 10 years of the CEMEX-Tec Award

For the past 10 years, CEMEX and the CEMEX-Tecnológico de Monterrey Centre for Sustainable Development have presented this award to support high-impact projects that promote economic growth and social commitment, with an emphasis on the preservation of natural resources around the world.

In the Transforming Communities category, there was an international winner and a Mexican winner, both of whom will receive seed capital for US$25 000 each to continue their work. The international winning project was Nadily Nega from Panama. This cultural centre seeks to create an equipped infrastructure for textile and artisanal products from the Guna and Emberá ethnic groups. In Mexico, the winning project was Rescate de Variedades Nativas de Café, a Tec de Monterrey student project that aims to promote organic farming practices in Chiapas and preserve biodiversity of Mexico.

In the Social Entrepreneurs category, there were 15 winning projects, two of them from Mexico, that received training, and the first three places will receive US$10 000 each as seed capital. The winners were Daniel Gutiérrez, from the project Save the Amazon in Colombia; Eimy Barahona, from the TeleSan Mosquitia project, in Honduras, and Eddy Alvarado from Agro360 in the Dominican Republic.

Likewise, in the Communitarian Entrepreneurship category, the ten best projects were recognised, including three from Mexico, of which three will also receive seed capital of US$10 000. The winners were Esteban Van Dam from the Energía Eólica de Cholila project in Argentina, Luz Díaz, from the project Implementation of a Comprehensive Composting System in Colombia, and Marlon Webb from Bosques para Nacer Agua from Costa Rica.

Finally, three Mexican and three international initiatives were selected to receive the awards' training and recognition in the Collaborative Action category.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CEMEX-Tec Award's call remained open from 13 February to 30 June. Students and professionals participated, of which 51% were female, and 49% were male, from 61 countries, where Mexico, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Spain, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and France stood out as the countries with the largest number of proposals.

On this occasion, the Experience Week and the awards were held digitally from 21 September to 02 October in alliance with Ashoka, Unreasonable México, MakeSense, Impact HUB, Disruptivo TV, and yCo.

During these weeks, the participants had the opportunity to exchange experiences and learn about the trajectory and advice of speakers such as Mathew Manos, CEO of Verynice, Ron Garan, former NASA astronaut, and Cristina Ortiz, Coordinator of the Business Innovation Node at Universidad Iberoamericana del Golfo.

“For CEMEX, innovation is part of our DNA, so the CEMEX-Tecnológico de Monterrey Centre contributes to our purpose of building a better future. This year we celebrate a decade of social entrepreneurship that directly contributes to the well-being and development of more sustainable communities and cities,” said Ricardo Naya, President of CEMEX Mexico.

"The CEMEX-Tec Award is one of the programmes with which we strengthen the ecosystem of entrepreneurship and social impact around the world," said Juan Pablo Murra Lascurain, Rector of the Undergraduate and Graduate Programmes. "We are very proud of the growth and international positioning it has had."

"I am proud of the trajectory and growth that the CEMEX-Tec Award has had. We already have a decade where we have grown hand in hand with the winners and our allies. It inspires me to continue growing hand in hand with more than 8600 entrepreneurs from 90 countries, and continue building communities," said Martha Herrera, CEMEX's Global Director of Social Impact and Director of the CEMEX-Tec Monterrey Centre for the Development of Sustainable Communities.

In 10 years of the CEMEX-Tec Award, a total of 5443 projects from 90 countries have been received, uniting more than 8600 people who have proposed ideas with which they seek to change the lives of their communities of origin and the entire world.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/06102020/cemex-celebrates-10-years-of-the-cemex-tec-award/