Twenty-four social entrepreneurs throughout the world have been recognized by the Schwab Foundation as Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2013.
Those with innovative approaches and potential for global impact were selected as recipients of this award.
“Now that the terms social entrepreneurship and social innovation are well known, it is easy to forget that even a few short years ago they were virtually unheard of,” says Hilde Schwab, co-founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. “For decades and in relative obscurity, social entrepreneurs have been doing the hard work of building trust with the poor, finding solutions to their problems and creating entire business models and organizations that take their needs into account.”
The awardees are:
Salvatore Forello, Addiopizzo (Italy), Anne Githuku-Shongwe, Afroes (South Africa), Bedriye Hulya, B-fit (Turkey), Frederick K.W. Day, Buffalo Bicycle Company (USA), Janet Longmore, Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) (Canada), Jane Chen and Rahul Panicker, Embrace Innovations (USA), Mois Cherem Arana, Enova (Mexico), Anshu Gupta, Goonj (India), Rebecca D. Onie, Health Leads (USA), Jim Ayala, Hybrid Social Solutions Inc. (HSSi) (Philippines), Jonathan Hursh, INCLUDED (People’s Republic of China), Cybele Amado de Oliveira, Chapada Institute (Brazil), Kristin Peterson, Inveneo (USA), Chuck Slaughter, Living Goods (USA), Mads Kjaer, MYC4 (Denmark), Andrew Youn, One Acre Fund (USA), Sugianto Tandio, Tirta Marta (Indonesia), Tristan Lecomte, Pur Projet (France), Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, Rags2Riches (Philippines), Kurt Holle, Rainforest Expeditions (Peru), Tom Szaky, TerraCycle Inc. (USA), Gopi Gopalakrishnan, World Health Partners (WHP) (India), and Njideka U. Harry, Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF) (Nigeria).
They join a list of over 200 social entrepreneurs in the Schwab Foundation community of Social Entrepreneurs and get the benefit of being fully integrated into the events and initiatives of the World Economic Forum.
With the 2013 awardees named, nominations for the 2014 award are open and can be submitted through the Schwab Foundation website.
Photo and source: World Economic Forum.