Learn more about our Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Students!

The GSEA competition recognizes and supports fast-growth, sustainable companies run by high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. GSEA is a catalyst that inspires young people to adopt entrepreneurial behaviors by bringing global visibility to student business owners whose companies are revenue-generating, innovative, socially responsible, and adhere to high ethical standards. The average age of the GSEA participant is 22, and the companies they represent have an average number of 5.2 employees, with annual sales of US$335,051.

Pictured Below Left: Students prepare for giving their presentations. Center: The Finalists at the 2012 GSEA Awards competition gather for an informal group photo. Right: Mandar Tulankar from India won the Innovation Award for his pressure-activated phone charger which fits in a shoe (pictured).

The GSEA students are motivated, innovative, and creating the future of the global economy.

In 2012, nearly 1100 students from 32 countries applied for the GSEA. Over the course of eight months, the students participated in rigorous regional competitions that brought the field down to the top 30 student entrepreneurs. On 14-16 November, The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards held its culminating event, the GSEA Finals, at the New York Stock Exchange and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, New York USA. Here are some other interesting highlights from this year’s competition:

• GSEA named a woman as the GSEA Global Champion for the first time in the EO GSEA’s history— Chelsea Sloan (USA), founder of Uptown Cheapskate (pictured at left). Read an interview with Chelsea in EO's award-winning Octane magazine.

• The first runner-up is Mikhail Naumov (USA), founder of GREEN, Inc.; the second runner-up is Brett Sheffield (Canada), founder of Sheffield Farms and Stay Fit Health Club.

• Global Finalist countries represented include Australia, Puerto Rico, Canada, Sweden, India, Slovakia, USA, Mexico, Nepal, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Malaysia, Russia, Nigeria, Ghana, Turkey, Argentina, and Zambia.

Last year's Global Champion Ludwick Marishane, from Cape Town, SA, (left) shares a moment with the 2012 Graduate Student winner, Brad Moss, from the USA, founder of React Games (right). Ludwick is the founder of Headboy Industries, which makes a bathing lotion that does not require water. Check out Ludwick's amazing TedTalk, in which he describes how he invented his product, Drybath!

Click here to watch a video featuring the 2012 student competitors.

Selected Media Links:

• Clinton Foundation Blog: Fostering Student Entrepreneurship
• American Express OPEN Forum: Uptown Cheapskate Brings New Life to Old Clothes
• First Woman Wins the Entrepreneurs’ Organization’s Global Student Entrepreneur Award
• Global Finals a Featured Event of Global Entrepreneurship Week
• From Surviving Katrina to Spreading the Word About Entrepreneurship

More pictures from the 2012 GSEA Finals in New York City. Below Left: A student prepares for his presentation with a display of his product. Right: At the New York Stock Exchange, a student studies the photographic history of the institution. Center: A student gives his presentation to the judges.

Catching up with previous year's winners:

Between a busy school schedule and a busy work schedule, EO GSEA caught up with 2011 GSEA Finalist Johnathon Bush, owner of Not Just Cookies, to ask him a few "major questions."

Also, watch a video about the 2011 competition!

Learn more about the Entrepreneurs Organization and find us on facebook

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Learn more about the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) and find us on facebook

and twitter

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