Industree connects rural producers to urban consumer markets. Its partly producer-owned retail brand,Mother Earth, focuses on home furnishings, fashion, and food. Industree to date has trained over 10,000 artisans to invest their own working capital, and to develop into enterprising self-help groups.
Dharavi -Today, I had the opportunity to accompany 10World Economic Forum Young Global Leaderson aDharavislum visit. With over 80,000 household units, Dharavi used to be one of the largest slums in Mumbai. But now, there are other informal settlements with over 100,000 household units. In fact, 60% of Mumbai's population of 18 million people lives in slums....read more
13 Social Entrepreneurs at the India Economic SummitMumbai, India, 12-14 November 2011
Questscope provides peer-to-peer mentoring and educational alternatives to help reintegrate marginalized and at-risk youth into mainstream entrepreneurial and social opportunities Blog -My First 24 Hours as a Schwab Social Entrepreneur
Working in five governates in Upper Egypt, the Together Association has brought innovative and low-cost sanitation technologies to some of the region’s most isolated villages
Summit on the Global Agenda 2011 10-11 October 2011 - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
14,the number ofSocial Entrepreneurs (short profiles) participating along with other global experts from over 80 countries – thought leaders from academia, business, government and civil society – to identifykey issues, explore risks and unmet opportunities, and elaborate mitigation strategies in a series of interactive sessions and uniquely designed conversations across councils and relevant themes.
Over the coming two days, 800 leading experts from around the world are descending on Abu Dhabi for intense discussions (Summit on the Global Agenda 2011) on everything from the future of governance to energy security to migration and human rights. Among them are a number ofSchwab Foundation social entrepreneurs– such as Wendy Kopp, Co-Founder of Teach for America and Teach for All, who is a member of the Council on Education Systems; Juliana Rotich of Ushahidi in Kenya, who is contributing to the Council on Informed Societies, and Helio Mattar of the Akatu Institute in Brazil, a long-time member of the Council on Sustainable Consumption. (For a full list of social entrepreneurs attending the Summit on the Global Agenda this week,click here) .........Read More
Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation Special Blog Series on "social innovation at an inflection point." This reflects theCouncil’s view that the time is ripe to move beyond awareness-raising and hero worship action in developing the sector’s full potential. Go toMirjam Schöning's blog on policy for the field of social innovation
Social Entrepreneurs Private Event On Tuesday 13 September, 2011, over 40 social entrepreneurs (Short profiles) of the Schwab Foundation global community convened in Dalian, China for the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions.
Woven into the fabric of several conversations among social entrepreneurs was the higher calling to serve underserved populations, the feeling of a greater responsibility to provide intellectual leadership for public policy in their particular issue area, and a commitment to each other to ensure that the social enterprise space was delivering the greatest possible good. There are two sessions of note from Tuesday afternoon where these themes surfaced......Read More
World Economic Forum on East Asia
12 - 13 June 2011 - Jakarta, Indonesia
Twelve Social Entrepreneurs attended theWorld Economic Forum on East Asiain Jakarta, Indonesia, 12-13 June 2011. They represent regional and global social enterprises working in diverse fields, including but not limited to education, health, agriculture, renewable energy, financial inclusion, environmental sustainability, as well as housing and infrastructure. Read More
Millions of young people around the world are born into a cycle of social injustice with little opportunity to break out. Through the love of football, streetfootballworld brings individuals and organizations together behind a common goal: empowering young people to rise above their circumstances. The streetfootballworld network unites over 80 organizations that use football to tackle social challenges like HIV/AIDS and homelessness. In 2010 alone they helped over 400,000 young people around the world harness their passion for the game to overcome local challenges. streetfootballworld drives an international coalition of private and public sector bodies to strengthen network members through capacity development programmes, opportunities to share expertise, partnerships and advocacy work because stronger network members mean better opportunities for the young people who need them most.
Iq consult seeks to lower unemployment, especially in the eastern parts of Germany, by training, mentoring and funding unemployed and disadvantaged people who are looking to become self-employed. iq consult started operations in 1994 by modularizing job training for long-term unemployed and young people lacking training. This service prepared 150 people for their qualified job diplomas. In 1998, the company started its most successful programme: preparing unemployed young people for self-employment. To date, over 10,000 people have been consulted, trained and mentored, leading to the creation of 1,500 new companies, with over 1.5 generated jobs per newly founded company. More than 70% of the companies survived their first three years, which is well above the average for newly created companies in Germany.
Groupe La Varappe creates jobs in the south of France for people who have been excluded from society. Groupe La Varappe is composed of two main organizations. One is focused on finding temporary employment for people with minimal qualifications. The other organization focuses on three environmental areas: construction and gardening, waste and renewable energies. It is also developing an environmental “self-service” that offers a number of tailored services for companies and individuals such as painting, plumbing, gardening and installation of renewable energy systems. Today, 85% of Groupe La Varappe’s income comes from the sales of its services. More than 65% of the employees who left La Varappe found a steady job in another company. Since 2010, Groupe La Varappe has created a think tank in charge of mapping out projects for the future development of the group, but also new social programmes at the national level.
BioRegional Development Group invents and delivers real-life sustainable communities and businesses. This includes the multi-award-winning BedZED eco-village in London where BioRegional have their main base and seven companies including green property developer BioRegional Quintain, kerbside recycling for SMEs, clean tech for the paper industry and local charcoal supplies to national retailers. BioRegional developed the “one planet living” sustainability design and delivery framework out of their practical experience which is now being used by manufacturers, retailers, local authorities and events such as the London 2012 Olympics and in fifty countries around the world. BioRegional have sister organizations or representative offices in North America, China, Greece, Mexico and South Africa.
Social Entrepreneurs at the World Economic Forum on Europe and Central Asia held in Vienna, Austria 8-9 June 2011 reply to the question: How to expand the frontiers of innovation in Europe and Central Asia?