PepsiCo, the global food and beverage company, with brands including Quaker Oats, Lays, Gatorade, Tropicana and Pepsi-Cola has announced the launch of the PepsiCo Social Impact Competition for MENA-based social startups.

Organized by PepsiCo in partnership with Wamda, the competition aims to promote, reward, and celebrate social startup enterprises from the Arab world that deliver profitability in a sustainable way. The competition will reward startups that develop innovative solutions with a ‘triple bottom line’ to extend beyond profitability and include social responsibility and environmental impact.

Applicants must be operational startups from MENA that can demonstrate a positive, quantifiable, and sustainable social impact related to one of three pillars of sustainability; health and wellness, environmental sustainability or talent development. The PepsiCo Social Impact Competition is now open and PepsiCo will offer prizes up to 20,000 USD.

Omar Farid, President, Middle East and North Africa region at PepsiCo said: “We are very proud to launch the first PepsiCo Social Impact Competition, which will celebrate and reward sustainable social enterprises. At the heart of PepsiCo is Performance with Purpose – our commitment to integrate sustainability into our business and to invest in society and the communities where we operate. With the staggering rates of youth unemployment in MENA, this competition is our way of contributing and offering opportunities to up and coming entrepreneurs. We are committed to supporting the development of regional entrepreneurship through a series of partnerships and activities, vital for driving the sustainable future of the MENA region and this competition could not be more timely”.

“Through taking part in the PepsiCo Social Impact Competition, startups will be given the opportunity to develop their skills, grow their network, gain exposure, and drive their ventures forward. We hope the competition will strengthen the ecosystem of social entrepreneurs in the region and raise awareness of the importance of delivering profitability in a sustainable manner by integrating social and environmental returns in a company’s business model.”

Habib Haddad, Wamda’s Chief Executive Officer, added: “By combining the pursuit of profit with a commitment to positive social, economic and environmental impact, social ventures can provide sustainable solutions to the MENA region’s most pressing challenges. Therefore, we at Wamda, are firmly committed to supporting these startups and we are happy to partner with PepsiCo to achieve this goal.”

The PepsiCo Social Impact Competition closes for applications on October 15, 2016. Applications will be screened by a jury of regional experts and assessed according to their business potential, social impact, scalability, team strength and quality of deliverables.

In late October, 10 finalists will be selected to participate in the competition and will receive training, coaching, and feedback from the Wamda team throughout the process.  They will be required to pitch their businesses to a panel of distinguished judges and an audience of business professionals in the final round, which will take place at AMWAJ 2016, an international sustainability and entrepreneurship forum, initiated by Revolve and PepsiCo under the patronage of HRH Prince Hassan of Jordan on November 28-29, 2016 in Amman.