Moshal, a business venture created in the university's Coworking StartUPS office, was one of the finalists in "The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards" (GSEA) which took place in Macao, China and was attended by businesspeople and students from different parts of the world who run a business while they also go to the university.

This year, the GSEA worked alongside Amazon Web Services (AWS) in order to support the development of the world's next generation of businessmen through monetary rewards, business services and other recognitions that vary according the place the ventures end up in. 

Moshal is a business venture created by Johanna Salazar (CEO) and Diego Hidalgo (COO). It is based on circular economy and best practices of fair trade aimed at improving the lives of farm workers and their families; it uses cacao waste from its products as renewable energy and it is an example for other businesses, showing that social responsibility is an essential factor for a healthy business. Moshal has given additional value to cacao waste (husk) which is usually thrown away and now uses it to make tea and flour.

In the first part of the competition, Johanna Salazar made the pitch of the venture in the city of Quito and was selected to participate in China. In China, Moshal was selected as one of the 7 finalists among 54 participating countries and ended up in 4th place. First, second and third place was for U.S.A, Guatemala and Brazil. 

This competition emerged as a program from the Entrepreneur's Organization (EO), the only global network for entrepreneurs that seeks to support entrepreneurs to make their business successful and make influential changes in the world. 

"To be one of the best projects is a great achievement. Having competed against many countries makes us proud. We competed against the best projects of every country and ranked among the best", said Diego Hidalgo.