Summer Davos Solutions

By Mel Young, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Homeless World Cup, United Kingdom

“Mastering Quality Growth” is the excellent and relevant title for this year’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions of the World Economic Forum.

The interconnected global economies appear to have hit a ceiling. Some economic commentators talk about long term global depression while political leaders are struggling to come up with cohesive answers about how to tackle really challenging economic issues. How do we stimulate economic growth to tackle deep rooted problems like unemployment without destroying the planet in the process?

So, I am really looking forward to this year’s meeting because the agenda is packed full of sessions which try to look at practical solutions to this challenge. What does sustainable growth really look like in practice? Entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity have a crucial role to play in coming up with solutions and then working out how to implement them. Entrepreneurs have a vital role to play but will bureaucratic systems allow them to take the lead?

Can global capital flows embed sustainability or is it all about financial profit? How do we strike a balance between investment for profit and investment for social impact? How can global institutions, governments and private sector organisations begin to truly invest for both? What role can social enterprises play in delivery?

What is so good about the World Economic Forum is its ability to bring very different players to the table to discuss these issues. Apart from the key political decision makers and global business leaders, leaders from Forum communities like the Technology Pioneers group and the Young Global Leaders group add a dynamic with spark.

I will be there from the Social Entrepreneurs community as part of the WEF Schwab Foundation group which is attending. This adds another constructive dynamic into the discussion which every social entrepreneur is looking forward to.

From my own position, our annual event has just finished and we are still reliving all the positive energy which the Homeless World Cup generates. It is an example of an entrepreneurial way of tackling extreme poverty by putting the people living in poverty at the centre of the solution.

For sure, if we are to create a world which is economically sustainable then we need to create a global system where everyone can participate in it.

Social entrepreneurs have plenty of ideas and practical examples which they can input but so do business and political leaders, technological pioneers, young global leaders, media people and others. I believe the world is at a critical point in terms of its economy. I am really looking forward to some stimulating debate and I hope that some really interesting and constructive solutions begin to emerge.

*Mel Young (@melyoung53), is a Social Entrepreneur and President and Chief Executive Officer, The Homeless World Cup, United Kingdom. He is attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of the New Champions held in Dalian, China 14-16 September 2011