Social Entrepreneurs en route to Davos

Thirty Social entrepreneurs from the Schwab Foundation community are travelling to the Swiss mountains next week to attend the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum. They will not just encounter the highest amounts of snow in the last years, but also a record number of participants, including 40 heads of state. The Schwab Social Entrepreneurs are coming from around the world: 7 from Latin America, 4 from the USA, 3 from Africa, 5 from Europe, 9 from Asia and 2 from the Middle East and North Africa. Their innovative and proven solutions tackle a range of issues such as financial inclusion, malnutrition, access to renewable energy, waste management, health care services, housing for the poor and educational. Each one of them truly represents a new model with the potential for a great transformation, if all of them come together for collective action with the other participants at the Annual Meeting in Davos. Stay tuned for more on the program around social innovation, social entrepreneurship and developing shared value strategies in Davos.

Mirjam Schöning
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

 

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM ANNUAL MEETING 2012 (download pdf)

Bam Aquino – Hapinoy – Philippines
Hapinoy is formalizing, integrating, and supplying more than 10,000 small “mom-and-pop” stores in the Philippines. It provides business coaching, leadership training, and store branding to women small store owners in remote areas of Luzon Island. By aggregating demand and delivering supplies directly, Hapinoy benefits store owners with a 5-15% cost savings on products plus access to a greater variety of goods, including over-the-counter medicines, mosquito nets and mobile money technologies.

José Ignacio Avalos – Un Kilo de Ayuda – Mexico
Un Kilo de Ayuda fights malnutrition among children under the age of 5 in hundreds of communities throughout Mexico by supplying nutritional packages to 50,000 children every two weeks and conducting nutritional surveillance and detection programs among affected and vulnerable children. Its Mi Tienda social business supplies small, rural shops with products at lower prices and in smaller quantities than traditional wholesalers.

Eli Beer – United Hatzalah of Israel – Israel
United Hatzalah is the largest volunteer first responder organization in Israel, providing free emergency medical care to thousands of accident victims each year. Over 1500 certified volunteer medics provide immediate lifesaving care within minutes of any emergency incident, often arriving within 2-4 minutes of the emergency call. Volunteers respond to over 120,000 calls and treat over 180,000 people throughout Israel annually. All patients are treated without regard to religion or ethnicity.

Essma Ben Hamida – Enda Inter-Arabe – Tunisia
Enda inter-arabe is the first and largest microfinance institution in Tunisia. With a staff of 750 working in 60 branches, Enda serves 140,000 clients with a US$48 million loan portfolio and a repayment rate above 99%. In addition to issuing traditional lines of credit, Enda has developed specialized products including education, housing and agriculture loans, and provides business development services including financial literacy classes, vocational training, marketing and workplace guidance.

Martin Burt – Fundación Paraguaya – Paraguay
Fundación Paraguaya was the first microfinance institution in Paraguay and continues to be a pioneer in sustainable agriculture education. The Foundation promotes entrepreneurship among people with limited resources, particularly underprivileged youth, enabling them to find jobs or start their own enterprises in the agricultural sector and beyond. Through a national programme in rural and urban schools, the foundation has helped to mobilize over 1,000 members of the business community to mentor more than 50,000 young people. Fundación Paraguaya has expanded greatly since its inception and has begun pilot projects in Africa.

Aleke Dondo – Juhudi Kilimo – Kenya
Juhudi Kilimo finances income generating assets for small-scale farmers in Kenya. Juhudi Kilimo begins working with prospective borrowers nearly 6 months in advance to provide financial literacy training and animal husbandry assistance. In addition to offering loans for rural farmers to invest in productive assets such as cows, agricultural equipment, and transport, they offer compulsory asset insurance and life insurance to the borrower at a small cost (approximately 5% of total loan).

Iftekhar Enayetullah – Waste Concern – Bangladesh
Waste Concern collects and processes organic waste in urban Dhaka, Bangladesh, creating thousands of jobs for the urban poor who work in waste collection and at community composting plants. The company produces and distributes more than 15,000 tons of organic fertilizer per year for Bangladesh’s rural farmers. The model is being replicated in 47 locations in 26 other cities around the world. Waste Concern has also developed a method for quantifying carbon emissions saved by composting organic waste and is selling these savings through the Clean Development Mechanism’s carbon trading initiative.

Juergen Griesbeck – Streetfootballworld – Germany
The streetfootballworld network unites over 80 organisations that use football to tackle social challenges like HIV/AIDS, armed conflict, and homelessness. In 2010 alone the network helped over 400,000 young people around the world harness their passion for the game to overcome local challenges and develop leadership and teamwork skills. streetfootballworld drives an international coalition of private and public sector bodies who work to strengthen network members through capacity development programmes, expertise sharing, in-kind service donation, and advocacy.

Darell Hammond – KaBOOM! – USA
Hammond founded KaBOOM! In 1996 after reading a story in the Washington Post about two children who suffocated while playing in a car, because they did not have any other safe place to play. Over the past fifteen years, KaBOOM! has raised more than USD200 million for its efforts to ensure that every child has a great place to play within walking distance. KaBOOM! has used its community-led model to inspire more than 1 million volunteers to build more than 2,000 play spaces across North America that serve more than 5.5 million low-income children.

Harish Hande –SELCO Solar Light Ltd. – India
SELCO’s approach to providing energy services throughout rural India rests on the belief that the poor can afford and maintain sustainable energy technologies. SELCO customizes energy systems to the needs of rural communities, leading to better lighting and cleaner cooking, and spreads sustainable technology to help set up rural energy entrepreneurs. As their energy products target low-income and poor rural families, SELCO works with banks and microfinance institutions to create financing mechanisms that suit the clients’ budget.

Asher Hasan – Naya Jeevan – Pakistan
Naya Jeevan partners with major insurance providers to offer catastrophe health insurance to low-income workers making less than USD $6 per day. This population includes drivers, nannies, cooks, waiters, and security guards, who can be insured at USD 2.50 per month per adult with a yearly coverage limit of approximately USD 1780. Naya Jeevan also packages the insurance with a variety of high-touch value added services, such as annual medical checks, preventative care workshops, as well as access to a 24-hour medical care and claims assistance hotline.

Elizabeth Hausler – BuildChange – USA
Build Change is improving building practices in earthquake-prone regions, engaging citizens and setting in place new and lasting programs to ensure that earthquake-resistant construction becomes the norm. In Indonesia, China, and Haiti, the Build Change is influencing the adoption of improved building codes – and simple tools for their enforcement – and working on more efficient ways of generating and collating data on the construction industry. So far, Build Change has trained over 12,000 engineers, builders, homeowners, and materials manufacturers worldwide, and over 70,000 people now live in safer houses because of Build Change’s work.

Rajendra Joshi – Empower Pragati – India
Empower Pragati provides innovative vocational training, equipping rural poor youth with information and skills for urban life and promoting sustainable livelihood development. It offers courses in service sectors with demand for entry and mid-level labour, in industries including organized retail, tourism, hospitality, travel, as well as drivers and home management. Before co-founding Empower Pragati, Joshi founded Saath, an NGO that has been working since 1989 to improve the lives of over 100,000 slum residents in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Wendy Kopp – Teach for All – USA
Wendy Kopp is CEO and co-founder of Teach For All, which is fueling a global movement for ensuring educational excellence and equity by accelerating the impact of national organizations that are enlisting their nations’ most promising future leaders in the effort. Just four years into its development, Teach For All is a growing network of 22 independent organizations around the world. Wendy founded Teach For America in 1989 to mobilize her generation to commit two years to teach in the U.S.’s highest-need regions and to become lifelong leaders for expanding educational opportunity.

Norbert Kunz – iq Consult – Germany
Iq consult aims to lower unemployment especially in the eastern parts of Germany by training, mentoring, and funding unemployed and disadvantaged people who are looking to become self-employed. To date, over 10,000 people have undergone the iq Consult training and mentorship programs, leading to the creation of 1,500 new companies, with over 1.5 generated jobs per newly founded company. More than 70% of the companies survived their first three years, which is well above the average for newly created companies in Germany.

Sebastien Marot – Friends International – Cambodia
Friends-International works to protect marginalized children and youth, giving them opportunities to become productive citizens of their countries. It offers a range of social services for young people and their families, including education, vocational training and job placement. Friends-International recently developed the CYTI Alliance and the ChildSafe Network, in order to increase the impact of its model and improve the protection of children globally. Beyond its home base of Cambodia, Friends-International has expanded into Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Egypt and Central America.

Helio Mattar – Akatu Institute for Conscious Consumption – Brazil
The Akatu Institute for Conscious Consumption works to raise the consciousness of citizens about their role in bringing about a more sustainable planet through consumer choice. The institute encourages citizens, starting with youth, to change their consumption habits to: value corporations that are more socially responsible; choose products and services that are more sustainable; and use and discard products or services in a more sustainable way. This is achieved through communications and educational activities targeted at community and opinion leaders, young people in public schools and universities, and employees of partner companies.

Bruce McNamer – TechnoServe Inc. – USA
Technoserve has 35 years of experience in helping entrepreneurs in poor rural areas of Latin America, Asia and Africa build businesses that generate income and economic growth for families, communities, and countries. For example, TechnoServe recently helped a group of Mozambican cashew exporters to open factories and form a commercial association that will ensure the sustainability and continued advancement of the industry. In 2008, these firms purchased US$ 9.7 million worth of cashews from more than 102,000 small-scale farmers, and provided jobs for thousands of people living in areas with little formal employment.

Tony Meloto – Gawad Kalinga – Philippines
Gawad Kalinga (GK) focuses on housing and community infrastructure, ensuring that families have proper access to land and private ownership in the areas in which GK builds. While building materials are provided through corporate donations, GK residents contribute ‘sweat equity’ by constructing their own homes. In addition, the organization promotes local waste management and basic health and hygiene, and provides schools with supplies, mentors, and educational sponsors. GK envisions a slum and squatter-free Philippines and hopes to end poverty for 5 million of the country’s poorest families by 2024.

Kovin Naidoo – International Centre for Eye Care Education – South Africa
The International Center for Eye Care Education (ICEE) works in eight African countries, developing and implementing solutions for improved eye care access. The organization collaborates with governments, communities and international NGOs to develop long-term eye care strategies by investing in local education, professional development and further medical training, and appropriate service delivery systems to ensure sustainable eye care in underserved communities.

Claudio and Suzana Padua – Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPE) – Brazil
Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPE) promotes conservation and sustainability in impoverished communities in Brazil. IPE carries out a number of activities, including research of rare or endangered species, environmental educational programmes, alternative income generation programs for rural communities, policy advocacy for biodiversity conservation and sustainability, and partnerships with the private sector to improve their commitment to social and environmental responsibility.

Sheela Patel – Slum Dwellers International (SDI) – India
Slum Dwellers International (SDI), co-chaired by Sheela Patel in India, is a network of community organisations and other grassroots federations that together give a voice to the poor and urban slum dwellers. Several of the national federations have birthed other social movements, including women’s rights and environmental movements. SDI and their national branches magnify the voice of the formerly voiceless in shaping national and international agendas as well as urban development policies. SDI is backed by organizations such as the United Nations, the IMF and the World Bank.

Francesco Piazzesi – Échale a Tu Casa – Mexico
Echale a Tu Casa helps people in Mexico’s poorest communities become home-owners. Echale trains individuals in construction skills and helps create community-owned micro construction industries. In addition, Echale is creating financially sound households by offering financial literacy classes, creating community savings and loans facilities, and partnering with government to extend families’ mortgages. Nearly 26,000 homes have been built through Echale. In addition, the micro construction industries of Echale have generated 130,000 jobs and USD65 million of income.

Sue Riddlestone and Pooran Desai – BioRegional– United Kingdom
BioRegional Development Group designs and delivers real life sustainable communities and businesses, including the award-winning BedZED eco-village in London, where BioRegional has its main base. The BedZED village also houses seven BioRegional companies, such green property developer BioRegional Quintain, a kerbside recycling company for SMEs, and a clean tech company for the paper industry. BioRegional has sister organisations or representative offices in North America, China, Greece, Mexico and South Africa.

Juliana Rotich – Ushahidi – Kenya
Ushahidi is a non-profit technology company which builds tools for democratizing digital information, increasing transparency and lowering the barriers for individuals to share their stories. Ushahidi specializes in developing free and open source software for information collection, visualization and interactive mapping. Through these tools, Ushahidi has strengthened democracies, for example by verifying election results across Brazil, has facilitated market efficiency by mapping bio-gas markets prices and production across six countries in Africa, and has helped aid workers in Haiti and Japan more effectively and efficiently reach those affected by natural disasters.

Claudia Valladares – Banca Comunitaria Banesco – Venezuela
Banca Comunitaria extends financial services to Venezeula’s poor, providing products and services in the areas of lending, savings, debit cards, and insurance. The bank provides business financing to entrepreneurs who have been in business for at least a year and offers 24/7 services for conducting online banking transactions. Banca Comunitaria has created a network of 176 commercial allies or retail agents. Through financial terminals or electronic points of sale located in community retail shops and stores, as well as a comprehensive website and SMS banking service, clients save important transactional costs and have greater access to crucial services.

Felipe Vergara – Lumni – Colombia
Lumni is the first organization to successfully bring to market the concept of human capital contracts. Whereas traditional student loans require students to pay back the full loan plus interest payments and fees, human capital contracts only require graduates to pay back a percentage of their income after graduation for a fixed period of time. In Lumni’s case, the income differential of graduates generally exceeds the initial investment, creating a win-win for investors and students alike.

Mel Young – Homeless World Cup – United Kingdom
A “serial” entrepreneur, Mel Young has worked with issues of homelessness over the past 20 years, most recently creating the Homeless World Cup, which uses football as an entry mechanism to move people away from the streets and into a greater sense of dignity and improved livelihoods. Annual research shows that around 80% of the players made significant changes to their lives as a direct result of participating in the Homeless World Cup.