3duxdesign co-founder ayana klein receives
the jas k. grewal and suren g. dutia
global impact awards
If 20 year old Ayana Klein wasn't honored enough to have been the only undergraduate student at WashU selected as a finalist at the Global Impact Awards, she was over the moon when II Luscri, managing director of the Skandalaris Center announced that she was one of two social entrepreneurs to receive a $20,000 grant to help take 3DuxDesign to the next level.
"First and foremost, I would like to say thank you for everyone for this honor and helping me along my journey and I'm excited to continue to make a great impact."
When asked about use of funds, Ayana states, "A key priority for me is to quickly implement a remote learning program to help support children out of school right now under the weight of this global pandemic. I am also passionate about engaging my peers here at WashU, many of whom have lost their summer internships. Much of this funding will be used to build a team of student mentors for remote teaching. I aim to make this a global program, since education is no longer limited by geography."
watch the winning pitch
Ayana was one of two WashU social entrepreneurs to have been awarded a $20,000 grant graciously donated by Suren G. Dutia & Jas K. Grewal.
Another recipient of the award was 2017 WashU graduate Andrew Glantz, founder and CEO of GiftAMeal, a company that seeks to inspire simple acts of kindness by making it easy for people to fight hunger in their communities. They do this through a mobile app that helps restaurants reach new audiences while empowering users to feed someone in need. "I am incredibly grateful and humbled to be selected as one of the winners of the Global Impact Award. The prize money will go a long way to grow the impact GiftAMeal can make to heal hunger in our communities".
Excerpt from the Skandalaris Center article:
"The Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship is honored to facilitate the GIA. “We are proud of the work that the ventures in the Global Impact Award accomplish. Through entrepreneurship, these teams are making a lasting impact on the world and the Washington University entrepreneurial community,” shared II Luscri, Managing Director of the Skandalaris Center and Assistant Vice Provost for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “These ventures represent the potential of entrepreneurship to shape society and create community.”The award is made possible through the generous donation of alumnus Suren G. Dutia (BS’53, AB’67, MS’67) and his wife, Jas K. Grewal. The donors established the GIA to support teams whose inventions, products, ideas, and business models have a broad, lasting impact on society; develop a community and knowledge that helps future awardees and others engage in high impact entrepreneurial activity; promote collaboration, develop entrepreneurs through financial and mentoring support who find solutions to the world’s most intractable problems; and identify entrepreneurs who are committed to giving back to help others."