MARK Sultan Gersava is a peace development worker in Mindanao, the Philippines, who decided to act on what he saw as a critical challenge: making his products more environmentally-friendly to help mitigate the effect of climate change while empowering his local community with sustainable and long-term livelihoods.

His enterprise, Bambuhay, produces bamboo straws and toothbrushes to replace plastic-based products. To date, his ambition has created a real, positive impact in the lives of 13,910 farmers, providing them with an increased sustainable source of income and raised 68 families out of poverty.