World Challenge

The World Challenge is a competition run by BBC World News, Newsweek DailyBeast and Shell aimed at funding initiatives around the world which have shown enterprise and innovation at grassroots level. In 2010 it launched Down to Business. Broadcast on BBC World News and hosted by Leo Johnson, this provides help for small and medium sized social enterprises around the world.

Because of our breadth of skills and experience here at ClearlySo we could help in a number of ways, providing promotion via our newsletters, content for their website site, and support in organising a special programme featuring four of the best World Challenge finalists. Here’s a little more detail about how we worked with them.

Events

In October, One Planet Pictures filmed a special edition of Down to Business. The show featured four past finalists of the World Challenge pitching to a team of experts. A specially invited audience then voted for their favourite in a fascinating cross between the Dragons Den and X Factor.

ClearlySo was involved at all stages of the process. Using our ongoing relationship with Coutts, we helped organise the location – Coutts’ headquarters on the Strand – as well as inviting many of the attendees. ClearlySo CEO Rodney Schwartz sat on the panel, offering feedback on each pitch, and provided a blog for the Down to Business website.

In the lead up to the event, we worked closely with the entrepreneurs to ensure they had everything they needed to impress the panel. We helped them finalise their executive summaries and also put them through an intensive pitch preparation session on the morning of the filming in which our in house experts helped them refine their pitch. Our offices also served as a location for media interviews and final preparations.

Sponsorship

Our relationship with the World Challenge had begun almost a year previously when they used our newsletters to spread the word about the competition. Our global network of social enterprises was a perfect target audience and for a month all newsletters bore a clickable logo as well as information about the competition.

Content

We’ve also used our extensive experience to provide content for the Down to Business website, sourcing off-diary news stories around the world. We unearthed stories such as social enterprise schemes in India and micro-insurance in Africa.

What next?