When you bring social entrepreneurs together, magic happens!

Yesterday afternoon the Schwab Foundation team welcomed all the social entrepreneurs to the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2011. One by one they trudged into the Post Hotel – some of them weary from long flights and days of travel, others laden down with their luggage, but all of them sporting the thick, heavy boots we recommended they wear. The heavy gear required to navigate the snowy, icy streets of Davos and average nighttime temperatures of -15° C is a far cry from the usual garb of many of our social entrepreneurs, such as Victoria Kisyombe of SELFINA in Tanzania and Brij Kothari of PlanetRead in India, who said they bought special boots for the occasion.

After  welcoming remarks from Hilde Schwab and Mirjam Schöning, the Schwab Foundation team guided the 25 social entrepreneurs through a series of discussions and exercises intended to strengthen community ties, as many of the social entrepreneurs in this year’s Annual Meeting delegation have never met each other. In addition, given that nearly half of the group of 25 has never attended Davos, we paired up each “newcomer” for an in-depth mentoring discussion with an “old-timer,” who helped them bring their objectives for the next five days into sharper focus.

And when you bring social entrepreneurs together, that’s when magic happens. Call it the serendipity of Davos. Sakena Yacoobi drew Harish Hande’s name out of the hat – and then in their subsequent discussion, she drew on Harish’s expertise in installing low-cost solar power systems for rural households in India. He helped her think through one of her biggest problems, how to get an alternative power supply to her hospital in Afghanistan, as the country’s constant power cuts are highly disruptive and eat up fuel costs for the hospital’s back-up generator.

Brij Kothari, whose same-language subtitling on Indian television programmes and soap operas are teaching literacy skills to 300 million Indians, is wrestling with the next step in his vision of achieving a truly inclusive India where all of India’s 1 billion citizens can read. And that is legislative reform to require Indian broadcasters to apply same-language subtitling on TV programmes that target the poor. He was paired up with Garth Japhet, whose educational soap opera Soul City reaches 45 million viewers in Southern Africa with health and environmental messages. Garth has a long history of working with legislators and the public sector, especially Ministries of Health, and he provided tons of helpful suggestions and advice to Brij. They could have kept talking all afternoon!

And we learned about exciting new initiatives of several social entrepreneurs who are looking for  companies that share their values and would like to collaborate to achieve a common vision. J.B. Schramm of College Summit in the US, for example, has launched a new programme called “Be the First,” which celebrates first-generation college graduates in the workplace. Beyond positive reinforcement, integrating this group requires commitment on the part of corporations to embrace supportive hiring and HR policies. J.B. is focusing first in a few US states and then aims to scale nationwide.

Sebastian Marot of Friends International has launched an innovative vocational training initiative to get homeless children off the streets and into stable jobs. Based in Cambodia and with offices all over Asia, Sebastian’s “Ron Deng Restaurant” has the potential to develop self-confidence and career skills in thousands of children, thereby giving them a path out of poverty.

Will Yum! Brands or another multinational company take an interest in Sebastian’s Ron Deng Restaurant initiative? Will Sakena find the financing and local partners to install a solar energy system in her Afghan hospital? We’ve got big hopes for what this amazing community of committed, inspirational people can accomplish over the next five days.

Stay tuned.

Katie Milligan

 

Editor’s note
Katherine Milligan – Head, Middle East and North America,  Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship