Marie So and the Ventures in Development team has won another business plan competition. They just took down $15,000 from Business in Development’s Challenge, the world’s first international business plan competition for poverty reduction and profit.

VID was already a winner of Harvard Business School’s social enterprise competition for an earlier version of their plan to work with marginalized communities in China by bringing a Yak yarn comparable to cashmere the American knitters market. VID is also working with a tofu-like cheese made from Yak milk. Shokay is a yak down fiber comparable in quality to cashmere. Their plan says their for-profit social enterprise will benefit 557 families by the third year and increase local income by 30%.

Meanwhile, Ashoka’s affordable housing competition has another week to go, with votes needing to be in online by October 16. Some of the plans look pretty interesting, both US based and international. Also interesting is the online dialogue between entrants and people curious about their plans.