The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a Swiss not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 that provides platforms at the country, regional and global levels to promote

social entrepreneur 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 ...

ship.Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurshi
"About us."
Retrieved: 2013-08-06. The foundation is under the legal supervision of the Swiss Federal Government. Its headquarters are in

Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

. Each year, it selects 20–25 social entrepreneurs through a global "Social Entrepreneur of the Year" competition.

History

Hilde Schwab at the WEF Social Entrepreneurs Wrap-up in 2018 In 1998,

Klaus Schwab Klaus Martin Schwab (; born 30 March 1938) is a German engineer, economist and founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He has acted as the WEF's chairman since founding the organisation in 1971. Life Schwab was born to Eugen Wilhelm Schw ...

and his wife Hilde decided to create the independent not-for-profit Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Its mission was to promote social innovation. It was a complementary foundation to the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

which

had founded in 1971. Pamela Hartigan, who joined in October 2000, was its first managing director. The Foundation is financed from the initial endowment provided by Klaus and Hilde Schwab plus grants and fees for services provided to individuals, foundations or companies.

Activities

The Foundation identifies rising social entrepreneurs under the age of 40 through its Forum of Young Global Leaders. The Foundation encourages the activists it identifies to work together as a team. This way ideas are shared and can attract funding from companies, Harvard and Stanford Universities,

INSEAD INSEAD, a contraction of "Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires" () is a non-profit business school that maintains campuses in Europe (Fontainebleau, France), Asia (Singapore), the Middle East (Abu Dhabi, UAE), and North America (San ...

and the support of leaders. providing backing from corporations and political, academic and communication leaders. The chosen people (260 people in 2013) serve on the Forum’s Global Agenda Councils. Case studies on specific social entrepreneurs are provided to leading academic institutions to incorporate into undergraduate and graduate level courses. Each year the Foundation selects 20-25 Social Entrepreneurs through a global “ Social Entrepreneur of the Year” competition. Winners include Mikaela Jade, for innovation in indigenous edu-tech.

Board of Directors

As of January 2015, the organization's Board of DirectorsThe Schwab Foundation Board
/ref> consisted of: * Hilde Schwab (Chairperson, Co-Founder) *

(Co-Founder) *Rick Aubry (Social Entrepreneur & Educator,

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

) *

Paulo Coelho Paulo Coelho de Souza (, ; born 24 August 1947) is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002. His novel ''The Alchemist'' became an international best-seller and he has published 28 more book ...

(Author) *

David Gergen David Richmond Gergen (born May 9, 1942) is an American political commentator and former presidential adviser who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a senior political ...

(Director, Center for Public Leadership,

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

) * Princess Mathilde of Belgium (Honorary Board Member) * Zanele Mbeki (Former First Lady of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

) *

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance ...

(Managing Director of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

's Grameen Bank)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Entrepreneurship organizations Social entrepreneurship