Return to Davos
Sitting on the train it feels like a long way from Zurich to Davos. The air is clean, fresh and thin – making your head feel light. The air around the Congress makes you a little dizzy too. You can almost inhale wealth, success and a sense of power.
From this elevated position in the mountains delegates can almost see the whole world spread beneath them to review the way the world works. Have we done well with our world or should we be trying to do it differently? It seems that everyone has reached the conclusion that it is indeed time to do it differently. This is the time to look at a new reality and to see how a united approach could bring about a rapid change for good.
This is where the social entrepreneurs come to the fore. They, ahead of everyone else, have made innovations, new approaches, making the world safer and more equitable. And the World Economic Forum has supported social enterprise and ensured that traditional business – even those businesses that are leading the world in commercial success – can examine and perhaps even learn from the social innovators.
Riders for Health is returning to Davos in 2011 among a group of amazing fellow social entrepreneurs, people whose innovations and commitment take your breath away. And Riders is also able to look down and to reflect on progress since our last visit. How well have we done? We know that we have raised the profile of health delivery in Africa to greater heights. We know that Riders is enabling health care to be delivered to even more men, women and children who live in remote communities in Africa.
During our week in Davos we are hoping that we can learn from, and influence, leaders from every field and build the partnerships that will make a difference to people who are not a mere two and a half hour train ride away from help, but many days walk in heat and dust. They are not just isolated from wealth and power but from the most basic of needs – health.
Editors Note
Andrea Coleman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Riders for Health, United Kingdom
Social Entrepreneur; Schwab Fellow of the World Economic Forum
Riders for Health ensures health workers in Africa have access to reliable transportation so they can reach the most isolated people with regular healthcare services.
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