New York, 15 February 2013 – Twenty-four social entrepreneurs have been acknowledged by the Schwab Foundation as Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2013. The winners were selected in recognition of their innovative approaches and potential for global impact. The impact of the award will be discussed during a livecast session at The Huffington Post featuring Hilde Schwab, Co-Founder and Chairperson, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and David Aikman, Senior Director, World Economic Forum and Head, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
“Now that the terms social entrepreneurship and social innovation are well known, it is easy to forget that even a few short years ago they were virtually unheard of,” says Hilde Schwab. “For decades and in relative obscurity, social entrepreneurs have been doing the hard work of building trust with the poor, finding solutions to their problems and creating entire business models and organizations that take their needs into account.”
The 2013 awardees include: Salvatore Forello, Addiopizzo (Italy), Anne Githuku-Shongwe,Afroes (South Africa), Bedriye Hulya, B-fit (Turkey), Frederick K.W. Day, Buffalo Bicycle Company (USA), Janet Longmore, Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) (Canada), Jane Chen andRahul Panicker, Embrace Innovations (USA), Mois Cherem Arana, Enova (Mexico), Anshu Gupta, Goonj (India), Rebecca D. Onie, Health Leads (USA), Jim Ayala, Hybrid Social Solutions Inc. (HSSi) (Philippines), Jonathan Hursh, INCLUDED (People’s Republic of China), Cybele Amado de Oliveira, Chapada Institute (Brazil), Kristin Peterson, Inveneo (USA), Chuck Slaughter, Living Goods (USA), Mads Kjaer, MYC4 (Denmark), Andrew Youn, One Acre Fund (USA), Sugianto Tandio, Tirta Marta (Indonesia), Tristan Lecomte, Pur Projet (France), Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, Rags2Riches (Philippines), Kurt Holle, Rainforest Expeditions (Peru), Tom Szaky, TerraCycle Inc. (USA), Gopi Gopalakrishnan, World Health Partners (WHP) (India), and Njideka U. Harry, Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) (Nigeria).
The awardees will become part of the broader Schwab Foundation community of Social Entrepreneurs, which includes 234 social entrepreneurs from 59 countries. Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurs are fully integrated into the events and initiatives of the World Economic Forum. They contribute actively to and benefit from peer-to-peer exchanges with other social entrepreneurs as well as interaction with top leaders in business, government, civil society and the media.
“Social entrepreneurs are an integral community of the World Economic Forum, and an increasingly sought after one,” says David Aikman, Senior Director, World Economic Forum and Head, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. “A growing number of corporations see income inequality and environmental problems like climate change as fundamental threats to their long-term growth. Many governments are starting to rethink the way they deliver goods and services that improve social outcomes. We are seeing greater appetite among other stakeholder groups of the Forum to learn from social innovation models and collaborate with social entrepreneurs in innovative ways. I am confident this trend will only continue to grow in the future, and the World Economic Forum is proud to be at the forefront of catalysing partnerships amongst these stakeholder groups for social and environmental change.”
To nominate a social entrepreneur or to apply for the 2014 award, please visit: www.schwabfound.org.