Tony Loyd: Fueled by Prize Money, These Social Entrepreneurs Are Striking at the Root of Poverty, with Leeore Levinstein and Jesse Abelson, Vetiver Solutions
Vetiver Solutions is a for-profit social business that works to alleviate poverty and malnutrition for subsistence farmers in rural Haiti. Listen to the full Social Entrepreneur podcast to learn about how we partner with the Farmers' Association in Moreau, Haiti to...
PBS Rewire: Vetiver Solutions Makes a Social Impact and Wins Big
"A team of college students from the University of Minnesota combined their talents and passion for social change to form the company Vetiver Solutions—and won big in the largest undergraduate national business pitch competition." To continue reading, click...
Vetiver Solutions Sponsors Colorado Middle School Project
Recently we had some students from Deer Creek Middle School in CO reach out wanting to showcase our company for their school's fundraiser for Haiti. They even made mini-golf holes for donations! Awesome to see young people taking initiative and getting involved, glad...
UMN IonE: Vetiver Solutions: Addressing a root cause of poverty in Haiti
Could a tropical grass, Chrysopogon zizanioides, help alleviate poverty and malnutrition in Haiti? A team of University Minnesota students and Acara program alums believe that the plant, more commonly known as vetiver, can do just that – and more. Vetiver Solutions is...
Vetiver Solutions wins Social Impact Award at e-fest®
At the recent Schulze Entrepreneurship Competition (e-fest®), Vetiver Solutions was one of 25 teams from around the country to compete for over $250,000 overall. After making it to the top five, Vetiver Solutions placed fourth overall in the competition. Additionally,...
University of Minnesota Grand Challenge Curriculum: A company striving to decrease malnutrition and poverty in Haiti using one little plant.
Our recent interview with the University of Minnesota Grand Challenge Curriculum has been featured on their website. To read the interview, click here. " I think that as university students, we are always told that we are ‘leaders of tomorrow,’ or future leaders. But...
Our 2017 Reflections
Written by: Jesse Abelson, Chief Executive Officer As the end of 2017 has come and gone, we figured it would be appropriate to look back and reflect on the past year of Vetiver Solutions. It has been a busy year full of successes and failures, but we are incredibly...
College of Biological Sciences: Putting Down Roots
We have been featured on the University of Minnesota College of Biological Science's website. Below is a snippet of the article. To view the full article: click here. "Abelson, also, has been working tirelessly as Vetiver Solutions prepares to launch in early 2018....
Our Experience at CGI U
A few weeks ago we had the honor to travel to Boston for the 10th annual Clinton Global Initiative University Conference. It was an incredible honor to be chosen to both attend this conference and present a poster during the expo session regarding our pilot this past...
Land O’ Lakes: Where are they now: Partnering with Haitian farmers
Excerpt about current Vetiver Solutions CSO and former Land O' Lakes Global Food Challenge emerging leaders: "Months later, I was riding on the back of a motorcycle over rocky roads and rivers in the mountains of rural Haiti, heading to the village of Moreau where our...
St. Louis Jewish Light: Parkway Central graduate aims to address poverty in Haiti, is finalist for grant
Excerpt from St. Louis Jewish Light: Leeore Levinstein, a Parkway Central graduate interning in Israel, has a startup that aims to address poverty and malnutrition in Haiti and is a finalist for a $10,000 grant. The company, Vetiver Solutions, would use the plant,...
Beginning In Moreau
Beginning in Moreau Written on June 19, 2017 Just a few days ago I was in the middle of mountains, crossing a river barefoot with all my possessions on my back. As I sit now in a lounge chair at the airport gate, it’s hard to believe. For the past week, I...
The Adventure Begins
Written by: Jesse Abelson on June 1st, 2017 This week I started on a summer-long adventure in Haiti that was born from an idea all the way back in September. Back when we came up with this idea, I always imagined myself doing this over the summer, but that...
Acara: A sustainable fuel start-up and a hub for the trans community win the 2017 Acara Challenge
Official press release from the 2017 Acara Challenge: International Division Silver Prize: "Vetiver Solutions* seeks to increase the income of rural Haitians by sustainably improving agricultural soil through living plant barriers while simultaneously creating jobs...