2020 - 2021 GSEA Winners

1st Place

Haja Bah
Uman4Uman
Skidmore College

We are a social enterprise that focuses on addressing the issue of period poverty among young girls in Sierra Leone. We seek funding to provide girls with local, affordable, reusable, accessible, healthy and sustainable sanitary pads.

2nd Place

Marielle Apronti
LUXLife Hair
University at Albany

LUXLife Hair has transformed hair care. We create high quality, natural, ready to wear wigs for those suffering from hair loss and people looking for versatility in hairstyles. Many of our customers have experienced hair loss from alopecia, stress, aging, or cancer radiation. At the forefront of our brand is the maintenance and growth of our customers natural hair, which led us to conduct lab research to formulate our hair regrowth stimulant oil, AFROZE. Our human hair wigs come pre-styled and ready to wear, so it can be installed at home by anyone with ease. All wigs come with the highest quality hair and lace ensuring longevity and leaving all customers with seamless installs.

3rd Place

Novilhelha Moleni
NOVIÉ
Skidmore College

NOVIÉ is a brand that processes and sells products derived from natural herbs and organic oils locally found in Africa. NOVIÉ was founded to address the lack of organic and user-friendly hair and body products in Malawi. The current market is saturated with foreign products price at an expensive price point. There are over 80 percent of African women who are still navigating how best to take care of their hair and which products are the right fit for their hair. NOVIÉ seeks to exploit this gap in the market by making organic and affordable products. Moreover, we seek to promote gender equality across Africa by promoting women in the manufacturing industry. We seek to cater to black hair and skin, a niche market that has been underrepresented for a long time, in South Africa and across Southern Africa.