Georg Schmitt, Corporate Affairs and Foundations, Tel.: +41 79 571 8287, Email: georg.schmitt@weforum.org
· 26 Social Entrepreneurs, 50 Global Shapers and more than 100 Young Global Leaders will participate in the Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters
· Global Shapers, a community of young people under the age of 30, will give a voice to 50% of the world’s population that is still under-represented in global affairs, while Social Entrepreneurs and Young Global Leaders highlight the need for social innovation to correct the shortcomings of capitalism
· A voice for millennials will also be provided through live satellite to 16 cities on five continents, an essay competition and a social media campaign – all of which will be featured as part of the Davos programme
· For more information about the Annual Meeting 2017, please visit http://wef.ch/davos17
Geneva, Switzerland, 5 January 2017 – The World Economic Forum is bringing more than 200 millennials, social entrepreneurs and young leaders under the age of 40 to the Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters to share views on the meeting theme Responsive and Responsible Leadership. They are members of three foundations operating under the World Economic Forum’s umbrella: the Young Global Leaders, the Global Shapers and the Schwab Foundations for Social Entrepreneurship.
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has invited 26 leading social entrepreneurs to Davos-Klosters to highlight the need to better service and support communities that are on the margin of society. Social entrepreneurs are advancing new models of sustainable social innovation. With capitalism in its current form under scrutiny, social entrepreneurs’ use of cutting-edge market analysis and management to achieve social good can provide a much-needed impulse for long-term thinking and business practices.
The community will be represented, for example, by Yasmina Filali, whose Fondation Orient- Occident provides job training and social support to refugees in Morocco or Jordan Kassalow of Vision Spring, who has provided 2,750,000 pairs of eyeglasses to the poorest populations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
“As business and government leaders seek innovative solutions to many of the systemic issues they face, social entrepreneurs are called upon to contribute to these solutions. These entrepreneurs are role models that bring to the Annual Meeting the passion, vision, boldness and experience that are essential in a world that is undergoing a leadership crisis,” said Katherine Milligan, Head of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
The Global Shapers Community is a network of more than 450 city-based Hubs developed and led by young people who are exceptional in their potential, achievements and drive to make a contribution to their communities. Currently, the Global Shapers community has over 6,000 members.
Shaping Davos, a series of sessions that feature local solutions to global issues, connects citizens in 20 cities on every continent to conversations taking place at the Annual Meeting. These interactions are led by Global Shapers in Abuja, Baku, Bangalore, Beirut, Belfast, Bhopal, Budapest, Chennai, Gaborone, Kyiv, London, Monterrey, Muscat, Paris, Portland, Quito, Seattle, Tunis, Vancouver and Yaroslavl, thereby enabling youth and others active in their communities to join the conversation with leaders from business, the public sector, international organizations and academia. Discussion topics cover education, unemployment, social inclusion, innovations in cities and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Learn more here: www.shapingdavos.org.
Zamantungwa Khumalo, Global Shaper from Tshwane, South Africa, will also be in Davos-Klosters after submitting the winning essay in the 2016 Global Shaper essay competition on this year’s theme Responsive and Responsible Leadership.
In Meet the Leader sessions, Global Shapers will discuss pressing issues with heads of state or government, global business and civil society leaders.
In the run-up to the Annual Meeting 2017, millennials will share their expectations of the meeting through a social media campaign under the #WorldWeShape.
“Young people have an essential role to play in shaping the future. Global Shapers in Davos-Klosters bring the voice of youth as well as that of the communities and cities in which they are active,” said Adeyemi Babington-Ashaye, Head of the Global Shapers Community.
The Young Global Leaders, a community of more than 800 leaders from over 100 countries, will be represented by 173 members at the Annual Meeting. This group includes human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, the mayor of Quito, Peru Mauricio Rodas and the Pakistani documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, the first artist to serve as Co-Chair of the Annual Meeting.
“Young Global Leaders are entrepreneurial and inspiring leaders who arrive in Davos at this pivotal moment to accelerate the impact of their organizations and YGL collaborations, and use the Forum’s platform to join their diverse talents to achieve more together than they could separately,” said John Dutton, Head of Foundations Team and Head of Young Global Leaders.
The 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum will take place on 17-20 January 2017 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, under the theme Responsive and Responsible Leadership. More than 3,000 participants from over 100 countries will meet and take part in over 400 sessions.
Notes to Editors:
Read our blogs: http://wef.ch/agenda
Watch World Economic Forum sessions: http://wef.ch/youtube
Access our photo archive: http://wef.ch/pics
Become a Facebook fan: http://wef.ch/facebook
Follow us on Twitter: http://wef.ch/twitter and http://wef.ch/livetweet (hashtag #wef17)
Follow us on Weibo: http://t.sina.com.cn/davos
Find us on WeChat: davos_wef