November 7, 2017
The Takeda Foundation

THE TAKEDA YOUNG ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD 2017
The Takeda Foundation announces the Awardees of the Takeda Young
Entrepreneurship Award 2017. The highest award, the Best Entrepreneur Award
goes to Ms. Kathy Ku of the United States of America for her proposal ofSPOUTS of Water. In Uganda, more children die of water diseases than either
malaria or AIDS. Ms. Ku moved to Uganda with her partner to address water
problems in Uganda, co-founded a company that sells an inexpensive ceramic
filter for households in Uganda, and has made a significant contribution toaddressing water problems in Uganda. She also made efforts to develop humanresources who can manage the filter production. The Takeda Foundation highly
evaluates her achievements and efforts, and gives her the Best Entrepreneur
Award. The monetary prize for the Best Entrepreneur Award is one million yen.
The Selection Committee Special Award goes to Mr. Koki Sano of theUniversity of Tokyo, for his contribution to the development of a dynamic
photonic crystal based on nanosheets. The photonic crystal that Mr. Sano has
developed is recognized as a basic technology in the photonic crystal field, andindustry expects his method to be one of the next generation color tools. The
monetary prize for the Selection Committee Special Award is five hundred
thousand yen.
The Entrepreneur Awards go to Mr. Ammishddai Ofori of Ghana, Ms. Nilar
Myint of Myanmar, Mr. Nishan Chandi Shrestha of Nepal, and Mr. Vaibhav Lodhaof India. The monetary prize for each of the Entrepreneur Awards is two hundred
thousand yen. The Awards Ceremony will be held on February 3, 2018, inconjunction with the Takeda Symposium in the Takeda Hall of the Takeda
Building, the University of Tokyo.
The purpose of the Takeda Young Entrepreneurship Award is to assist thedevelopment of young human resources who bring well-being to people as wellas to cultivate entrepreneurship. The Award requires the submission of
supporting letters from people who will benefit from the success of the proposed
project as well as the project proposal itself. Candidates should be young
individuals under forty years of age regardless of sex, organization or nationality.

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The Takeda Foundation

This year, the Foundation received 320 applications from 74 countries.
Awardees were selected by a Selection Committee (Chair, Dr. Kunihiro Asada,
Director of VLSI Design and Education Center and Professor, the University ofTokyo) consisting of outside intellectuals. Finalists were selected by the selectioncommittee following first and second panel discussions; the Awardees werechosen following video presentations by the finalists.

CONTACT
Norio Ohto, Senior Managing Director (ohto@takeda-foundation.jp)
The Takeda Foundation
The Takeda Building 4th Floor
The University of Tokyo
2-11-16 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo
113-0032 JAPANTEL: +81-3-3868-0160
FAX: +81-3-3868-0161
URL: www.takeda-foundation.jp

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The Takeda Foundation

THE BEST ENTREPRENEUR AWARD
Ms. Kathy Ku, Co-founder, SPOUTS of Water (Uganda), USA“SPOUTS of Water”

THE SELECTION COMMITTEE SPECIAL AWARD
Mr. Koki Sano, School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo,
Japan“Development of a dynamic photonic crystal based on
inorganic nanosheets”
THE ENTREPRENEUR AWARD
Mr. Ammishaddai Ofori, Co-founder & CEO, Flippy Campus,
Ghana“Flippy Campus”

THE ENTREPRENEUR AWARD
Ms. Nilar Myint, Project leader, For Her Myanmar, Myanmar“For Her Myanmar”

THE ENTREPRENEUR AWARD
Mr. Nishan Chandi Shrestha, Managing Director, ECO CELL
INDUSTRIES, Nepal“Eco Cell”

THE ENTREPRENEUR AWARD
Mr. Vaibhav Lodha, Co-founder & Chief Business Officer,Nomisma Mobile Solutions, India“ftcash”

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The Takeda Foundation

Ms. Kathy Ku, Co-founder, SPOUTS of Water (Uganda), USA“SPOUTS of Water”
In Uganda, more children die of water diseases than either malaria or AIDS.
While studying engineering at Harvard University, Ms. Kathy Ku homestayed inUganda and experienced sickness from drinking water. After her return to USA,she designed an inexpensive ceramic filter to be used by households in Uganda.
The ceramic filter can be manufactured by molding and drying a mixture of clay
and sand in Uganda. After she graduated from Harvard, Ms. Ku moved with herpartner to Uganda, co-founded a company, SPOUTS of Water, and started pilot
production of the ceramic filter in 2012. They have confirmed that the ceramic
filter can remove 99.9% of bacteria. The company started sales of the ceramic
filter with the brand name Purifaaya in 2015. The household cost for using theceramic filter is about 20 US dollars for two years. Sales have been constantly
increasing and reached 185,000 US dollars in 2016. The company built a newfactory in April 2017, and the production capacity has increased to four times
that produced at the first factory. They anticipate sales of 910,000 US dollars in2019. They are also developing human resources who can manage thecompany in the future. The Foundation recognizes a significant contribution toaddressing water problems in Uganda and gives the Best Entrepreneur Award toMs. Kathy Ku.
Mr. Koki Sano, School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, Japan“Development of a dynamic photonic crystal based on inorganicnanosheets”
Tropical fish, such as the Blue Damselfish and neon-tetra, have a photonic
crystal composed of cofacially oriented guanine sheets in their fluid cytoplasm,
and can freely modulate their structural colors by dynamically controlling theirnanostructures. If such a dynamic photonic crystal can be artificially synthesized,
it is expected to become versatile tool for the control of light. However, practicallyit has been difficult to develop such a dynamic photonic crystal. Mr. Sano has
found that titania nanosheets with a negative charge can spontaneously form
long-range periodic structures by simple deionization, and succeeded indeveloping a dynamic photonic crystal. The photonic crystal that Mr. Sano has
developed can freely display various colors by changing the temperature, pH
and magnetic fields.
The photonic crystal that Mr. Sano has developed is recognized as a basic

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The Takeda Foundation

technology in the field of photonic crystals, and industry expects his method tobe one of the next generation of color tools. He is collaborating with industry todevelop a biomedical sensor and a wavelength tunable laser. The Foundation
recognizes its fundamental importance for color technology and has decided togive the Selection Committee Special Award to Mr. Koki Sano.
Mr. Ammishaddai Ofori, Co-founder and CEO, Flippy Campas, Ghana“Flippy Campus”
Flippy Campus started as an information sharing website for students in Ghana,with which they can get timely information about class and test schedules. Mr.
Ammishaddai Ofori and his partner gradually developed various services for
Flippy Campus using Amazon Cloud service (AWS). For instance, they
developed an avenue service with which students exchange messages such as
on FaceBook. Now, Flippy Campus has become a multifunctional network withwhich students share information, university staff counsel students, and students
share teaching materials. Recently they have added an online shopping service
with which students can buy necessary goods such as soft drinks and deck
shoes at discount prices. Android, iOS, and Web application versions are now
available. They started the service in 2015, and continue to add necessary
services for students. The number of users is steadily increasing, and themonthly users reached 290,000 in 48 universities in July, 2017. They areplanning to expand the service to universities in Nigeria and Kenya. TheFoundation recognizes his significant contribution to the development a
multifunctional student network, and gives the Entrepreneur Award to Mr.
Ammishaddai Ofori.
Ms. Nilar Myint, Project Leader, For Her Myanmar, Myanmar“For Her Myanmar”
In 2016 Myanmar became a democratic nation after 60 years of rule by a militaryadministration, and Myanmar women are experiencing totally new situations
different from their thousand year old traditional roles. Believing that knowledge
is power, Ms. Nilar Myint started a new FaceBook page, “For Her Myanmar”, totransmit various forms of information to Myanmar women in 2016. Now 15
passionate amateur writers with journalism educations have joined the For Her
Myanmar team, and the FaceBook page reached 380,000 followers in 2016.
For Her Myanmar posts on various topics including book reviews, careerNovember 7, 2017
The Takeda Foundation

information, cosmetics, psychology, and news for women. Each month theyreceive about 500 US dollars worth of advertising revenue. They maintain atransparent policy in revealing supporter names when they receive money; theywrite what they believe is good for readers. They have various activities
including setting an independent website for Myanmar women, forming a paid
membership community, and developing TV programs. The Foundation
recognizes her place at the forefront of women’s journalism in Myanmar, andgives the Entrepreneur Award to Ms. Nilar Myint for her achievement.
Mr. Nishan Chandi Shrestha, Managing Director, ECO CELL INDUSTRIES,
Nepal“Eco Cell”
Nepal suffered major damage when a strong earthquake hit the country in 2015.
Seven hundred thousand houses were damaged leaving 3.5 million people
homeless. It has become an urgent issue to provide construction materials tobuild earthquake-proof houses, and Mr. Shrestha decided to provide low costand earthquake-resilient constructing materials. He has introduced
manufacturing technology of interlocking bricks from India, and established acompany, Eco Cell Industries, to produce interlocking bricks 5 months after theearthquake. Interlocking bricks can be produced by pressing soil, sand and 10%
cement with a pressing machine and curing the bricks for 21 days. Theproduction does not require heat drying as used for producing usual bricks thus
saving energy. The company not only produces the interlocking bricks but alsobuilds houses with them. He also promotes the technology by training NGO,
start-up companies, and individuals. The company has built 21 houses and one
school in 6 areas, and created employment for 70 people. The Takeda
Foundation recognizes his achievement and efforts and gives the Entrepreneur
Award to Mr. NIsahan Chandi Shrestha.
Mr. Vaibhav Lodha, Co-founder and Chief Business Officer, Nomisma
Mobile Solutions, India“ftcash”
India has 55 million small scale merchants, and currently, these merchants haveno alternatives to accepting cash. Most of these merchants cannot afford a POS
machine due to the upfront cost and additional infrastructure requirement.
“ftcash (faster than cash)” provides cash-less transactions for small scale

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The Takeda Foundation

merchants who do not have digital payment systems. It receives online
payments from customers at its bank account, and transfers money tomerchants’ accounts with detailed information about the transactions. Mr.
Vaibhav Lodha started the project with 300 small scale merchants in Mumbai
showing them that they could actually receive payments at their own bankaccounts, and rapidly increased the number of ftcash users. Today, ftcash hasover 30,000 small scale merchant users, transacting over USD 80 million yearly.
ftcash has grown 100 times in the last 18 months.
“ftcash” provides a solution for small scale merchants who can’t receive online
payments, and has opened a door to the net economy for small scale merchants
in India. The Foundation recognizes his achievement and efforts, and gives theEntrepreneur Award to Mr. Vaibhav Lodha.