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DecPermalution startup founded and led by women from Canada and Jalisco wins funding and in-kind support at Unleash Innovation Lab 2019 and carries operations in Mexico.
It has been quite an end of 2019 for our startup Permalution. During November 2019, we attended the Unleash Innovation Lab, held in Shenzhen, China. Where over a thousand talents arrived to work on solutions for the Sustainable Development Goals. Being part of the new Unleash+ track, our three members took part in the pre-accelerator program with 21 other amazing startups in the same track, competing for a cash prize during a Dragons Den pitch competition.
After five days of intense preparation, canvases methodologies, gate checks, short nights and meeting inspiring and talented people, we were ready for the pitch day.
On the day of the pitch at the Dragons Den, we won one of the cash prizes along with an in-kind contribution funded by Chemonics International. It was a great milestone for the team, and it meant we would be moving forward with our activities for wildfire mitigation using fog in Mexico.
Returning home as winners
We were proud of our team and our efforts. Among the other five winning teams of the track, we were the only Latin, and also female-owned startup to win this track.
We were also invited and featured at the 2019 International Youth Innovation Conference, in Shenzhen, after the event at Unleash.
Since the beginning of the 2020 year, we have received great mentorship on behalf of Chemonics & our board members, and are now closing a new agreement with the CETI (Industrial Technical Teaching Center) a prestigious university in Mexico that focuses on technical and engineering careers, which will help improve and build some aspects of our design.
Permalution team has also been able to set the project scope and planning, around the final use of the fog water in the Natural Protected Area where we have been monitoring fog data and fog water collection. We will be implementing with the SEDESU (Secretary of Sustainable Development of Nayarit, Mx.) a native plant establishment project, for wild orchids reproduction along with native species to the area.*Wild orchids are an endangered species, they are burned regularly by wildfires and the few ones left are picked up for selling by locals, which is highly decreasing its local population