The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer Klaus Schwab.
Klaus Martin Schwab is a German mechanical engineer, economist, and founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He has acted as the WEF's chairman since founding the organisation in 1971.
Gbenga Sesan is a social entrepreneur who delivers Information and communications technology to underserved people. He has had a career in the application of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) – for individuals, institutions, nation-states, regional entities and the international community.
Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of organizations, which vary in size, aims, and beliefs. For-profit entrepreneurs typically measure performance using business metrics like profit, revenues and increases in stock prices. Social entrepreneurs, however, are either non-profits, or they blend for-profit goals with generating a positive "return to society". Therefore, they use different metrics. Social entrepreneurship typically attempts to further broad social, cultural and environmental goals often associated with the voluntary sector in areas such as poverty alleviation, health care and community development.
Paul Rice is the Founder & CEO of Fair Trade USA, the leading third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in North America. Since launching Fair Trade USA in 1998, Rice has brought Fair Trade into the mainstream and built a movement to expand its impact. He has challenged and collaborated with hundreds of companies to rework their global supply chains to obtain high-quality products that support community development and environmental protection.
Jack Sim is the founder of the Restroom Association of Singapore, the World Toilet Organization, the World Toilet Day initiative and Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) Hub. Formerly in the construction industry, he decided to devote the rest of his life to social work after attaining financial independence at the age of 40.
Kamal Quadir is a Bangladeshi American entrepreneur and artist best known for introducing e-commerce in Bangladesh by founding CellBazaar, an electronic marketplace which, after reaching 4 million users, was acquired by Norwegian telecommunications operator Telenor in 2010. CellBazaar later was rebranded as ekhanei.com. He is the brother of Iqbal Quadir, who is an entrepreneur and promoter of the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in creating prosperity in low-income countries.
Pamela Hartigan was the Director of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. She was the founding partner of Volans Ventures and was also an advocate for the global non-profit social enterprise Cambia, at the World Economic Forum Davos meetings, and became a Director of Cambia in 2009 until her death.
Mohammad Abbad Andaloussi is a social entrepreneur and former banker in Morocco. He is the founder of Al Jisr, an organization that fosters collaborations between private businesses, the government, and the school system, and of INJAZ Morocco, which works towards cultivating entrepreneurship among middle school, high school and college students. He worked at Wafabank for 34 years and was a director of Attijariwafa Bank Foundation for five years.
Christopher J. Elias is the president of Global Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2012, and the former president and CEO of the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, also known as PATH, a nonprofit organization that improves global health by ensuring that innovations in science and technology are available to low income groups and developing countries, a role he held from 2000-2011.
Chetna Gala Sinha is an Indian social entrepreneur working to empower women in areas of rural India by teaching entrepreneurial skills, access to land and means of production.
Rebecca Onie is the co-founder with Rocco J Perla of The Health Initiative, a nationwide effort to spur a new conversation about - and new investments in - health. In 2017, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine as a nationally recognized leader in the intersection of social determinants, population health, and healthcare delivery. Onie is also the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Emerita of Health Leads.
Jeroo Billimoria is an Indian social entrepreneur and the founder of several international NGOs. Her work has been featured in several books. Her most recent initiatives include Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI), which Jeroo founded in 2011, Aflatoun, Childline India Foundation and Child Helpline International. Her most recent initiative is Catalyst 2030.
Andreas Heinecke is a social entrepreneur and the creator of Dialogue in the Dark. He is the first Ashoka Fellow for Western Europe and a Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Global Fellow. He is also the founder of Dialogue Social Enterprise and an honorary professor and Chair of Social Business at the EBS University of Business and Law, Wiesbaden, Germany.
Silverius Oscar Unggul is an Indonesian environmental activist. He is known for his work in improving natural resource management in Indonesia's regional economies. He founded the organization JAUH to preserve of Indonesian rainforests by helping villages develop sustainable timber economies.
Beverly Schwartz is an American behavioral scientist, business executive, non-profit leader and author specializing in social marketing and social entrepreneurship. From 2004 to 2016 she was the Vice President of Global Marketing of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. Her book Rippling: How Social Entrepreneurs Spread Innovation Throughout the World was honored with the 2013 Silver Nautilus Book Award and the 2013 Axiom Business Book Award. It has been translated into 4 additional languages - Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Korean (Eijipress).
Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) is a Canadian charitable organization and social enterprise that provides technology, entrepreneurship and leadership training programs for young people in East Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Canada. The organization's headquarters are in Ottawa, Ontario, with local operations around the globe. Since the organization was founded in 2001, DOT has directly affected more than 6,000 young people worldwide, who have gone on to reach over 1 million of their fellow community members. More than 90% of alumni, reportedly secure employment or start their own businesses within six months of completing DOT programming.
Roshaneh Zafar is a Pakistani development activist, working in the field of women's economic empowerment. She created the first specialised microfinance organisation in Pakistan, the Kashf Foundation, in 1996 which has served over 5 million women entrepreneurs across Pakistan and continues to pave the path for women's economic empowerment through its holistic financial services program.
Njideka Françoise Harry is a World Economic Forum Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Fellow.
Neelam Pol is an entrepreneur and founder of Khel Planet Foundation. She is a Harvard University alumna and lives in Mumbai.
