Shell LiveWIRE Brazil Wins Top World Business Incubator Award
Mar 15, 2018
Shell Iniciativa Jovem, the Shell LiveWIRE programme in Brazil, has been named as the top university-linked business incubator in Latin America, and is ranked number three in the world, by international business incubation specialists UBI Global.
The prestigious award recognises business incubators or accelerators linked to a university that achieves outstanding impact and performance relative to its global peers, and ShelI Iniciativa Jovem outperformed 256 other international incubators, from 53 countries, to achieve their number 3 in the world ranking.
Each of the 259 incubators was assessed on 21 KPIs under three main categories, including: value for the start-up ecosystem; value for client start-ups; and, value for the incubation programme.
UBI Global is a Stockholm-based data and advisory firm specialising in mapping and highlighting the world of business incubation. Its CEO and Co- founder, Ali Amin, said, “Our goal is to visualise the great many accomplishments achieved by the business incubation community. By highlighting the impact and performance of these programmes, we are not only helping incubators and accelerators to become more efficient, but we are also assisting government officials in developing their respective innovation ecosystems. The benchmarking and rankings also enable corporations to make informed partnership and investment decisions about the incubation programmes and the start-ups they intend to engage with.”
Commenting on receiving this prestigious award, Leise Duarte, Programme Manager of Shell LiveWIRE in Brazil, and Social Performance Adviser, Shell Brazil, said, “Working in a collaborative way is critical at this time. Connecting large companies, such as Shell, with start-ups and universities creates connections that are extremely valuable for building a better, more ethical and sustainable future.
“Receiving this recognition from UBI increases our sense that LiveWIRE programmes are moving in the right direction by forming collaborative partnerships around the world. From Shell staff to the entrepreneurs that took part in the programmes, everyone here in Brazil is very proud with the UBI recognition.”
Winner of the Shell Iniciativa Jovem Business Fair 2017, Emanuela Farias summed up the reaction to the award from the programme’s entrepreneurial alumni, saying, “Receiving the news about the UBI Global award for Shell Iniciativa Jovem made me feel like a double winner!
“I spent my entire 2017 immersed in the programme, modelling my business, developing it from a rough draft on paper to a real social enterprise, Mulheres do Sul Global. There are infinite possibilities of being part of a network like Shell Iniciativa Jovem.”