Clipperton interns take silver in Shanghai

A team of Clipperton Finance intern is awarded the Lafarge Prize

The Green Spaces modular housing concept – an innovative solution for amelioration of the world’s slums through the deployment of eco-friendly and flexible dwelling units – was awarded the prestigious Lafarge Prize at the 2010 Shanghai Award.

Run under the auspices of the Shanghai 2010 World Expo the Shanghai 2010 Award challenged students and young entrepreneurs from all over the world to come up with novel and viable business models that made urban living more sustainable and fulfilled the Expo’s core concept of “Better City – Better Life”.

The Green Spaces team comprises Marcus Mendelson, Mikaël Michiels, and Andrei Timoshenko, whose highly diverse backgrounds were united through their studies at HEC Paris, internships at Clipperton Finance, and shared passion for social entrepreneurship. “Upon first reading about the Shanghai 2010 Award it was instantly clear to all of us that we should enter this competition. It was a unique and rare opportunity to let loose creative thinking in a field that all three of us are very much interested in: sustainable development in the context of a rapidly urbanizing world. We had all previously done an internship at Clipperton Finance, where we had the chance to experience a steep learning curve, profiting from the strongly developed business sense and the extensive combined experience of the entire Clipperton Finance team. This established a common ground for us in the way of thinking that we adhered to during the development of our business project. We worked under difficult conditions due to conflicting schedules and distance, but persevered with a minimum of setbacks from our shared understanding, commitment, and experience“, said the team in response to their victory.

Aware of the fact that much of today’s urbanisation is happening through slum growth, and noting the disastrous environmental and social costs of sprawling slums, the Green Spaces team rose to the challenge by submitting a proposal for simple, low-cost, and self-contained housing kits designed to integrate into the natural environment, promote collaborative communities, and improve the daily lives of poor urban dwellers. Through the integration of a variety of interchangeable modules into the roofs and walls, the Green Spaces housing unit makes it easy for its residents to manage their waste, water, food, and energy needs and allows comfortable and sustainable urbanisation to take place even where municipal infrastructure expansion is lagging. This singular vision combined with the projects practical implementability resulted in it being selected for commendation from among over 300 submissions.

Encouraged by the strong positive feedback received from multiple corporate participants present at the Award ceremony in Shanghai, the Green Spaces team is now working to further develop their project.