Sebastien Marot
Executive Director, Friends-International
Speaker
Sébastien Marot is the Founder and Executive Director of Friends-International (Cambodia). He has studied Political Science,
worked in the foreign service and in marketing. Marot has been awarded the
Order of Australia, for services to humanity and the Gold Medal of the Royal
Government of Cambodia, for development of the country; the 2008 Esperitu Award
from the Isabelle Allende Foundation, the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneur
and in 2009 was recognized by The Schwab Foundation for
Social Entrepreneurship as Social Entrepreneur of the Year, East Asia.
Presentation Summary
Friends-International
offers a range of services designed to support marginalized children, youth and
their families to become functional and productive citizens. Services are built
to save lives and build futures. Scale is achieved by building an effective
collaboration with other organizations and governmental services to develop
best practice models, as well as involve the wider community. Through social
businesses (restaurants, cafés, mechanic shops, hair salons),
Friends-International provides practical vocational training and job placement as
well as financial sustainability. The Friends-International model has expanded internationally.
To scale up its
activities to have a broader impact on marginalized young people globally, the
organization has adopted a franchise model. Franchisees buy a business and its
processes, but importantly they adopt the social support and reintegration
processes and the underlying values and
ethics. The Friends-International goal is to combine best practice from the
business world with that from the non-government sector to improve outcomes for
all.
