Chloé Laluc, Public Engagement, World Economic Forum, +41 22 869 37 24, chloe.laluc@weforum.org
· Social entrepreneurs with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship have improved the lives of more than 622 million people in 190 countries
· New report highlights other key impacts including: social entrepreneurs distributing $6.7 billion in loans or value of products and services; mitigating more than 192 million tonnes of CO2; improving education for more than 226 million children and youth; improving energy access for more than 100 million people, and driving social inclusion for over 25 million people
· Read the report here
· Follow the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2020 here
Geneva, Switzerland, 17 January 2020 – Over the past 20 years, social entrepreneurs working in partnership with the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship have improved the lives of 622 million people around the world. That’s the key finding of a new report, Two Decades of Impact: Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, out today.
This report shows how social entrepreneurs can achieve impact at scale, change the systems in which they operate and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
The community has distributed more than $6.7 billion to projects and products that have enhanced livelihoods, including increasing healthcare access, providing clean energy solutions, and improving education outcomes. It has also mitigated more than 192 million tonnes of CO2, the equivalent to taking around 40.7 million passenger vehicles off the road for a year.
“This report challenges the notion that models of social innovation can be dismissed as small, isolated islands of success amidst our overwhelming global challenges,” said Hilde Schwab, Co-founder and Chairperson of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. “Consider the combined capability of all social innovators in the world, those recognized in networks like the Schwab Foundation, and the hundreds of thousands that exist in local communities around the world.”
Demonstrated global impact
The report showcases the diverse work of the community of social enterprises. They operate in more than 190 countries, with 25% of them reaching at least 90 countries each. All 10 countries in which social entrepreneurs are most active are low to middle income markets (with the exception of the US), and six of those are in Africa. They include Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and the US.
“Social innovators have pioneered sustainable approaches and inclusive business models, and serve as a clear demonstration that models of stakeholder capitalism can indeed work,” said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum. “By having as its mission the engagement of all stakeholders in the creation of social and economic value, social entrepreneurs have proven how employees, customers, suppliers, local communities and the environment can benefit.”
Top examples of impact include:
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
The Schwab Foundation was established 20 years ago as a platform to support an under-recognized movement of people who were developing innovative business models delivering social or environmental good. It provides exposure, capacity building and a trusting community of social-change leaders within the World Economic Forum. It now represents 384 late-stage social innovators operating in more than 190 countries worldwide.
The majority of those surveyed in the report cited the three most-valued benefits of the community:
The first two decades of the Foundation were focused on building awareness, enthusiasm and interest for social entrepreneurship. In the decade ahead the Foundation seeks to embed and scale up the potential of social innovation in existing systems globally.
“Social entrepreneurship demonstrates alternative working models to face the current critical challenges to our planet, our societies and our economies,” said François Bonnici, Head of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. “In the galvanizing era of our common agreed purpose towards the Sustainable Development Goals, we recognize that this community – as an organizational expression of social innovation – has much to offer, given how catalytic these approaches are already proving to be.”
World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2020
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2020 will take place on 21-24 January 2020 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. The meeting brings together over 3,000 global leaders from politics, government, civil society, academia, the arts and culture as well as the media. Convening under the theme, Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World, participants will focus on defining new models for building sustainable and inclusive societies in a plurilateral world.
The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting brings together governments, international organizations, business, civil society, media, culture, foremost experts and the young generation from all over the world, at the highest level and in representative ways. It engages some 50 heads of state and government, over 300 ministerial-level government participants, and business representation at the chief executive officer and chair level. For further information, please click here.
Notes to editors:
Read the report here
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