The Kayhan Ekinci Rising Entrepreneur Award

Each year, the Kayhan Ekinci Award for Rising Entrepreneurs will recognize a young innovator or emerging start-up company that is working on a social entrepreneurship project to meet human needs. The award seeks to encourage innovative business ideas that address issues, as wide ranging as (but not limited to) clean air, water, food, shelter, health, safety, strong communities, or planetary wellbeing. The inaugural award will provide a grant of $1,000 to be applied to seed funding or start-up needs.

The award pays tribute to Kayhan Ekinci, founder of Office Divvy and champion of small businesses and supportive communities. Our goal is to honor Ky’s belief in the power of entrepreneurship, his unique spirit of generosity, and his commitment to investing in people committed to think differently.

Grantees will be selected based on an essay competition. Eligible applicants include young entrepreneurs, age 30 and under, including college students, or start-up companies under three years old. Projects can be in the aspirational phase or in the early phases of development. The winner will be selected based on the most interesting, important, and innovative project. Projects that use innovative technologies are especially encouraged.