Watch it! Catch video of Jacque's panel discussion at the Clinton Global Initiative University.
Miami’s Edun LIVE on Campus initiative was in the spotlight twice during the month of March.
Organization president Jacque Rupert was invited to serve as a panelist for the first Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) at Tulane University in New Orleans.
The CGI U event, held March 14-15, drew hundreds of students, university officials, and global leaders to discuss issues and commit to action within CGI U’s four main focal areas: energy and climate change, global health, human rights and peace, and poverty alleviation. In a session titled “Students Ending Poverty: Start from where you are,” Rupert spoke about the innovative partnership between Miami’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship and EDUN, a socially conscious clothing design and manufacturer.
The company’s Edun Live product line consists of t-shirts completely made in Africa of African-grown cotton, thereby creating sustainable industry in some of the world’s poorest communities. The goal of EDUN’s partnership with Miami was to expand the market to college students.
Two weeks later, Dr. Brett Smith, director of Miami’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship, traveled to England to receive, on behalf of EDUN Live on Campus, the Ashoka Award for Pedagogical Innovation at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. Ashoka is a global association of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs; people who develop system-changing solutions for the world’s most urgent social problems.
Attendees at the conference were world-class social entrepreneurs from around the world including several Nobel Peace Prize laureates. The keynote was delivered by former President Jimmy Carter.
“In addition to accepting the award, I was able to talk with numerous schools that expressed interest in adopting EDUN Live on Campus,” Smith said.
