Alem Tedeneke, Media Manager, Tel.: +1 646 204 91 91, email: ated@weforum.org
Riviera Maya, Mexico 7 May 2015 – Six Social Entrepreneurs were named today as Latin America Social Entrepreneurs of the Year at the World Economic Forum on Latin America, in Riviera Maya, Mexico. The awards were conferred by Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, at the meeting’s opening plenary in the presence of several heads of state from the region.
“Social entrepreneurs are an integral community of the World Economic Forum, and one that is increasingly sought after,” said Hilde Schwab, Chairperson and Co-Founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the sister organization of the World Economic Forum. The Schwab Foundation, co-founded by Klaus and Hilde Schwab in 1998, manages the largest network of late-stage social enterprises in the world: more than 320 organizations with operations in 70 countries.
“A growing number of corporations see income inequality and environmental problems like climate change as fundamental threats to their long-term growth and governments are starting to rethink the way they deliver goods and services that improve social outcomes,” Hilde Schwab said. “I am confident this trend will only continue to grow and the World Economic Forum and the Schwab Foundation are proud to be at the forefront of catalysing partnerships between social entrepreneurs and other stakeholder groups to drive social and environmental change.”
The 2015 Latin America Social Entrepreneurs of the Year were selected by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship in collaboration with its selection partners, El Mercurio in Chile and Folha do São Paulo in Brazil:
Catalina Escobar Restrepo, Juan Felipe Gómez Escobar Foundation, Colombia
The Juan Felipe Gomez Escobar Foundation seeks to improve the lives of adolescent mothers and infants living in extreme poverty in the city of Cartagena. The foundation has two primary objectives: to save the lives of babies at high mortality risk, and to educate teenage mothers by giving them options for economic and personal empowerment. This purpose is fulfilled by providing comprehensive healthcare, psychological and emotional support, as well as technical formation to generate a stable income and break the poverty cycle.
Eduardo Bontempo & Claudio Sassaki, Geekie, Brazil
Geekie focuses on solutions in education using innovative technology. It is pioneering ground-breaking learning systems and is one of the most well-known and successful social enterprises in Brazil. It offers a platform with many features, which include personalization of the study experience and self-assessment, diagnostic evaluation focused on school-learning management, and adaptive learning technology with personalized content.
Gonzalo Muñoz, Triciclos, Chile
Triciclos is making it easier for people to start recycling by creating a series of Clean Collection Points, where businesses and residents can drop off their rubbish, learn about sustainable habits and see how Triciclos staff separate materials.
Carlos Orellana Aguilar & Javier Okhuysen Urrutia, salaUno, Mexico
SalaUno was created in 2011 as a for-profit enterprise with a social mission. Its innovative business model, based on operating efficiency, high patient volume and cross-subsidies, enables salaUno to provide superior quality eyecare to poor people. By educating doctors and nurses and integration with public, private and non-for-profit institutions, salaUno is transforming the Mexican health system. By 2013, the clinics had already developed the capacity to treat 3,400 outpatients and perform 460 surgeries a month.
About the Schwab Foundation
Since its inception, the Foundation has been identifying the world’s leading social entrepreneurs and engaging this community of 320 award-winners in advancing social innovation in collaboration with corporate, government and academic stakeholders. Selected social entrepreneurs of the Schwab Foundation network participate in World Economic Forum events, providing unique opportunities for them to connect with business, political and media leaders. http://www.schwabfound.org.
Notes to Editors
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