F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact

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Applications for the 2024 Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact are open!

The F. M. Kirby Prize for Scaling Impact is an annual global prize of $150,000 in unrestricted funds that amplifies and accelerates the work of an enterprise working to scale its impact on social or environmental problems around the world.

The Kirby Prize recognizes enterprises pursuing strategic pathways to impact at scale, who are close to the challenges at hand, who center the voice and experience of the populations they serve, who have demonstrated traction, and who embody courageous and collaborative leadership.  This prize is open to any legal form, geographic location, and any social or environmental impact area.

2023 Kirby Impact Prize Winner: Essmart

Winner of 2023

Essmart Announced as Winner of 2023 Fred Morgan Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact

Watch the CASE Announcement

The F. M. Kirby Foundation and the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business  are pleased to announce that Essmart has been selected as the winner of the 2022-2023 Fred Morgan Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact.

Essmart is a for-profit social enterprise in India, on a mission to grow rural livelihoods by connecting local retail shops and the customers they serve with high-impact livelihood products. After ten years in operation, Essmart is already impacting more than one million people and reaching 20% of India’s pin codes, with 5,000 shops on its platform. Over the next three years, it plans to leverage its operational modularity, technology platform, and strong networks to scale to serving 10,000+ retail shops. Essmart also continues to change the lives of the shop owners in its network, 83% of whom live below the poverty line, by significantly increasing their earnings.

The prize, consisting of $100,000 in unrestricted funds, is designed to help amplify and accelerate an enterprise’s impact on social or environmental problems around the world. In the 2022-23 application year, four finalists were chosen from a pool of 180 applicants. The four finalists include both nonprofit and for-profit enterprises working across India, Africa, and the U.S., focusing on impact areas such as economic growth, early childhood education, digital access, and racial justice.

Read more about Essmart and the three other finalists: Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, Hello World, and Kidogo.