Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2013 Dalian, The People s Republic of China 10-13 September 2013 Cybele Amado de Oliveira, Instituto Chapada de Educação e Pesquisa (ICEP), Brazil Chapada Institute has devised an innovative methodology for improving education by engaging parents, educators, and politicians. It provides support and training for continuing education for school teachers and administrators, while simultaneously establishing intermunicipality networks for broad collaboration around educational improvement. The Chapada Institute approach guarantees significant influence on public policy by working with communities to develop education proposals and then presenting those proposals to candidates who must choose to commit their support prior to elections. Rick Aubry, New Foundry Ventures, USA Rubicon focuses on linking decent jobs in competitive social businesses with housing and a support system for its employees, most of whom were previously poor, homeless, and/or mentally disabled in the US. In 2009, Rubicon spun off New Foundry Ventures to incubate and build new social enterprises that are financially sustainable. Jim Ayala, Hybrid Social Solutions Inc. (HSSi), Philippines At least 20 million Filipinos lack access to electricity, and tens of millions more have unstable and inconsistent power connections. HSSi has pioneered an innovative ACCESS program to provide rural Filipinos with solar and crank powered technologies for development. HSSi arranges financing through community organizations, organizes local technical support networks, and provides user training to ensure long-term sustainability. To date, HSSi has collaborated with over 40 community organizations across the Philippines to connect about 30,000 individuals to solar power. Jeroo Billimoria, Child and Youth Finance International, Netherlands Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI) is set to ensure financial education and financial inclusion for 100 million children and youth in 100 countries by 2015, by working with international stakeholders and experts around the world, including financial institutions, the regulatory authorities of over 65 countries and NGOs. Its work includes forming partnerships to widen the concept of ChildFinance and its integration into national and international policies. ChildFinance was recently set for adoption into the G20's financial inclusion indicators. Jane Marie Chen and Rahul Panicker, Embrace, USA Embrace has developed a low cost portable infant warmer to provide thermal regulation to premature and low birth weight babies. The warmer works without a constant supply of electricity, making it suitable for rural areas in developing countries. Embrace has impacted over 3,000 babies in India since its launch and is working with partners to help millions of vulnerable babies around the world. Its vision is to develop a line of disruptive healthcare technologies for developing countries.
Mois Cherem Arana, ENOVA, Mexico In Mexico, 69% of the population does not have access to computers or the internet, severely limiting opportunities in education. Enova s solution to this challenge is the Red de Innovación y Aprendizaje (RIA), or the Learning and Innovation Network. RIA represents a chain of 70 educational centers that provide underserved Mexican communities with quality educational opportunities and access to information technologies. A successful collaboration among social, public, and private sectors, RIA has served more than 350,000 people in low-income communities since 2007, with 3000 new members signing up weekly. Godwin Ehigiamusoe, LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited, Nigeria LAPO is the leading microfinance institution in Nigeria with over 240,000 clients. It is recognized for delivering sound financial and social services to alleviate poverty and empowering the disadvantaged. Alongside its financial services offering, LAPO supports enterprise development in diverse areas such as food processing, craftworks, merchandising, fabrication and farming. Therese Fernandez, Rags2Riches, Philippines At the Payatas landfill in the Philippines, enterprising women scrounge for scraps of cloth for weaving rugs. Recognizing the women s work ethic, but also the challenges they faced in earning a living wage, Rags2Riches was founded to connect these women directly with garment factories and markets. Rags2Riches has expanded its activities beyond Payatas to provide a fully integrated and sustainable livelihood platform to communities that seek to increase incomes, gain access to social services, and build a roadmap for their families to get out of poverty. In addition, Rags2Riches has partnered with top Filipino fashion designers to build a high-end brand with great social impact. Anne Githuku-Shongwe, Afroes Transformational Games, South Africa African youth present an interesting paradox to the continent's future: the mobile revolution has created massive potential to inform, connect, and educate youth; on the other hand, these 400 million youth are disempowered, jobless, and considered a threat to the stability of countries or a burden to states. Afroes is utilizing interactive mobile learning strategies to teach youth about entrepreneurship and leadership, and to empower them as citizens to address their countries challenges. Krishnamurthy (Gopi) Gopalakri, World Health Partners, India WHP works to address the lack of basic health services for neglected rural communities that comprise 75% of the developing world. The WHP model builds on the existing and often informal networks of village health practitioners, linking them and their patients with qualified urban doctors via telemedicine platforms. This has resulted in tens of thousands of quality medical consultations every year in which rural patients save an average of USD $6 per health episode. David Green, Aurolab, India Twenty years in medical technology transfer to developing countries and the development of financially self-sustaining of Au healthcare service delivery models. Directed the establishment rolab, India, the first manufacturing facility in a developing country to produce low-cost intraocular lenses; directed the technology transfer and establishment of a manufacturing facility to produce ophthalmic suture products.
Juergen Griesbeck, streetfootballworld, Germany Organisations all over the world work with football to empower communities addressing issues such as HIV/AIDS prevention, social integration, and peace building. The streetfootballworld network currently unites 94 such organisations across 61 countries. Its mission is to change the world through football. streetfootballworld believes in the unique power of football to change lives and bring people together behind a common goal. streetfootballworld. Anshu Gupta, Goonj, India Goonj channels excess resources in urban households to impoverished rural and disasterprone areas. Materials include clothes, furniture, and electronic equipment. Goonj collects and delivers 1000 tons of material every year through an extensive network of 500 volunteers and 250 partners across 21 states of India. Goonj also supports village and slum communities in infrastructure/local development projects. Sameer Hajee, Nuru Energy Group, Mauritius Nuru Energy co-created a unique off-grid recharging platform that uses human power to recharge both Nuru Energy s portable LED Lights as well as radios and mobile phones. Nuru Energy deploys its innovative technology via a network of micro-franchises operated by village level entrepreneurs (VLEs), who sell Nuru Lights and then provide recharging services for a small fee. Essma Ben Hamida, enda inter-arabe, Tunisia Enda Inter-Arabe is the first and only best-practice microfinance institution in Tunisia. With a staff of more than 1000 working in 68 branches, Enda serves 218.132 clients with a US$95 million loan portfolio and a repayment rate above 98%. In addition to issuing traditional lines of credit, Enda has developed specialized products including education, housing and agriculture loans, and provides business development services such as financial education, vocational training, marketing and workplace guidance. Tim Hanstad, Landesa, USA Landesa (formerly the Rural Development Institute) is an international non-profit organization that partners with governments and NGOs to help the rural poor in developing countries obtain secure land rights. In particular, Landesa uses the rule of law to help developing country governments provide their poorest citizens with secure land rights, the foundation for economic growth, food security and stability. Njideka Harry, Youth for Technology Foundation (YTF), Nigeria Since 2001, YTF has worked in regions of Africa plagued by poverty and pervasive unemployment, especially among youth and women. YTF Academy provides beneficiaries with life skills and resources to join the economic mainstream. Since inception, 40% of YTF Academy graduates have been employed by local companies in YTF s partner network, and are being paid three times the average salary.
Andreas Heinecke, Dialogue Social Enterprise GmbH, Germany Dialogue Social Enterprise (DSE) offers unique exhibition concepts that break down prejudices around the handicapped and foster dialogue. This is achieved through the "Dialogue in the Dark" exhibition where blind guides lead visitors in total darkness. In addition to the exhibitions, DSE offers corporate workshops and events that provide innovative tools for HR development, leadership training and team building. Simon Henschel, Sunlabob Renewable Energy Limited, Laos Through public-private partnerships, Sunlabob brings sustainable renewable energy solutions to off-grid areas by installing solar lantern rental systems, solar home systems, hybrid village grids and water purification systems. To encourage local enterprise development and ownership, Sunlabob trains village technicians and village committees to maintain, recharge and rent out the lanterns. In addition, Sunlabob provides consultancy services, expanding internationally into Uganda, Cambodia and Afghanistan through franchise agreements. Renat Heuberger, South Pole Carbon, Switzerland South Pole Carbon creates solutions in the fields of climate change and renewable energies. By providing access to finance through international carbon markets, the company has enabled over 250 projects worldwide ranging from renewable energy to waste treatment and forestry, thereby reducing millions of tons of CO2 and creating thousands of jobs worldwide. With "Gold Power", South Pole Carbon has launched the first global renewable energy label. Bedriye Hulya, B-fit, Turkey B-fit is working to empower women in Turkey through exercise and entrepreneurship education. In Turkey few gyms or exercise facilities are available exclusively for women and those that do exist are aimed at high income customers. B-fit provides affordable gym memberships to women and uses the gym as a platform for workshops and educational services relating to entrepreneurship. B-fit gyms are staffed entirely by women and are run by female franchisees. Today more than 150,000 women have B-fit gym memberships. Jane Hunt, Fitted for Work, Australia Fitted for Work helps disadvantaged women get to work by providing a host of job preparation services including vocational training, interview practice, and a dressing service that supplies work-appropriate clothes. Since 2005 Fitted for Work has helped more than 7,000 women prepare for work through the Dressing Service and interview coaching. Jonathan Hursh, INCLUDED, People's Republic of China INCLUDED works to ensure migrants are integrated into cities. It promotes collaboration across sectors, broker access to better services, and provides opportunities for advancement. As eager contributors to society, migrants create some of the most powerful and diverse cities in the world.
Jonathan Jackson, Dimagi, USA Dimagi designed CommCare, an mhealth platform for community health workers that takes an evidence-based approach to improving access and quality of care. Dimagi equips community health workers with mobile phones running CommCare's open source software, allowing health workers to instantly track patient data from previous visits. Richard Jefferson, Cambia, Australia Cambia is a globally focused biotechnology enterprise that invents and distributes opensource tools to empower new innovators in agricultural research. To counter the opacity and complexity of the patent system, Cambia became a force for transparency and inclusion. Its Patent Lens has become the most popular non-profit global patent search facility to shed light on latent knowledge resources in the patent system. Runa Khan, Friendship Bangladesh, Bangladesh Friendship works in a region of Bangladesh that is prone to flooding, and where physical infrastructure and health and education systems are non-existent. To reach the most isolated populations, Friendship provides health care from floating hospital ships, in addition to education and financial services. Roberto Kikawa, Projeto Cies, Brazil Projeto Cies takes specialized, humanized and high-technology preventive medical care to communities in need through the largest mobile medical centre in the world. Projeto Cies is innovative in two aspects: it has a unique self-sustaining management model of integrating health with education and the community; and uses advanced technology through its mobile health centre to offer services in 10 medical specialties. In two years, the organization has served more than 24,000 people in 15 Brazilian cities. Mads Kjaer, MYC4 A/S, Denmark MYC4 believes business must be for a profit, but profit must be for a purpose, and has applied this mind set to help improve access to capital for African entrepreneurs. MYC4 is, via Internet, providing businesses in Africa with direct access to capital on fair and transparent terms as well as providing investors with access to risk/return-adjusted. MYC4 presents an opportunity to make a difference as well as the potential to make a profit. An average loan on MYC4 is 1,700 crowd funded by 50 online Investors. Janet Longmore, Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT), Canada Youth unemployment has become a global crisis. Formal education systems are failing to prepare young graduates with the 21st century skills needed for the modern workforce. DOT s youth-led model creates confident local role models who train and coach their out-of-school, out-of-work peers and community members to become productive technology users taking charge of their personal development and livelihoods.
Timothy Ma Kam Wah, Senior Citizen Home Safety Association, Hong Kong SAR Given shifting demographics, more and more elderly people around the world are living alone. SCHSA provides social support plus 24-hour technology-assisted emergency services for the ageing population in Hong Kong. It also leverages an extensive volunteer network. This model is currently being replicated in other cities in China. Joseph Madiath, Gram Vikas, India Working in isolated and impoverished areas of India, where many lack potable water and proper sanitation, Gram Vikas works with villagers from the most marginalized tribes and castes. It requires program participants to pool together village resources to improve infrastructure and sanitation. Gram Vikas helped more than 10,000 families build low-cost facilities for safe drinking water and improved sanitation. Paul Scott Matthew, North Star Alliance, South Africa North Star Alliance Roadside Wellness Clinics provide truckers and mobile workers with free access to primary health care services, and treatment for HIV, TB, Malaria, and other illnesses. North Star created a software programme that records patient information, diagnosis and treatments and which acts as a health passport in tracking usage and access over a wide geographical area. Sarah Mavrinac, aidha, United Arab Emirates Aidha provides financial education and entrepreneurship training to the world s hopeful poor, serving migrant workers, especially women who leave their home countries to find work as domestic helpers. The organization offers confidence-building, money management, and business courses as well as microcredit services necessary to launch small businesses when migrants return home. Andrew Muir, Wilderness Foundation, South Africa The Wilderness Foundation empowers leaders to envisage a world with protected wilderness areas for the benefit of all species and inspires future leaders to embody an environmental ethos. Currently, the Wilderness Foundation focuses on four key programme areas: the Innovative Conservation and Development programme, the Social Intervention and Job Creation programme, the Advocacy and Awareness programme and the Experiential Education and Leadership Training programme. Through the Wilderness Foundation s social intervention projects, young people are empowered to become financially independent entrepreneurs and breadwinners for their families. Kristine Pearson, Lifeline Energy, United Kingdom Lifeline Energy addresses energy poverty for poor and vulnerable women and children through the distribution of solar and wind-up prime radios, MP3-enabled lifeplayers, lights and energy sources. Since its inception in 1999, the organization has distributed over 450,000 quality self-powered products, mainly in sub-saharan Africa, providing continuous access to information, education and light to more than 10 million people. Lifeline Energy also owns the for-profit Lifeline Technologies Trading Ltd, a new product development and trading company which designs, manufactures and sells clean energy products to the humanitarian sector.
Kristin Peterson, Inveneo, USA Inveneo is a San Francisco-based non-profit social enterprise that designs and delivers sustainable computing and better access to broadband Internet to those who need it most in the developing world. Inveneo enables organizations working in developing countries to better serve people in need, transforming lives through access to education, healthcare, economic opportunity and relief. Inveneo and its partners have delivered projects in 25+ countries, impacting the lives of over 3 million people in some of the poorest and most challenging regions in the developing world. Zoran Puljic, Mozaik Foundation, Bosnia and Herzegovina In the post-war period, increases in donor money led to an explosion in the number of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, each hoping to rebuild a fractured society. Mozaik stresses the importance of mobilizing local resources and volunteers to strengthen the confidence and self-reliance of small communities. Mozaik co-finances tangible improvements in local communities, such as roads, water supplies, street lights and local heritage sites. Mark Ruiz, MicroVentures, Philippines Hapinoy is formalizing, integrating, and supplying goods to more than 10,000 small stores in the Philippines. It provides business coaching, leadership training, and store branding to women micro-entrepreneurs in remote areas. By aggregating demand and delivering supplies directly, store owners receive a 5-15% cost savings on products plus access to a greater variety of goods, such as medicines and mosquito nets. Ramazan Salman, Ethno-Medizinisches Zentrum, Germany The Ethno-Medical Center (EMC) supports migrants in navigating the health and education systems. EMC offers multi-language services that range from trainings for professionals and health information campaigns to community interpreting services. A core program is MiMi - With Migrants for Migrants, which is key for social inclusion and integration of migrants into society. Tomas Sanabria, Fundacion Proyecto Maniapure, Venezuela Maniapure leverages the power of communications technology to deliver specialist medical services to Venezuela s isolated and needy populations. Maniapure s approach is providing formerly unavailable treatment options and services to three states in Venezuela and three states in Ecuador, with increasing operations in peripheral urban areas where the model has proven useful and feasible. Patrick Schofield, The Indalo Project, South Africa The Indalo Project is building a network of artisans with a core of design and marketing excellence. The Indalo Project designs new and unique marketable products, bringing designers together from diverse fields to work directly with local craft producers in different disciplines. Indalo utilizes a professional marketing agency to sell the products, ensuring the best return in both opportunities and income for the craft producers.
Jack Sim, World Toilet Organization, Singapore The World Toilet Organization (WTO) is committed to improving toilets and sanitation conditions throughout the world. Through its franchise, SaniShop, WTO trains people from poor communities to be sanitation entrepreneurs and sales agents, thus creating jobs and sustainable and scalable business models for delivering low-cost, high-volume sanitation solutions. Arbind Singh, Nidan, India Nidan builds livelihoods for marginalized informal workers by collectivizing them around particular industries (e.g. waste collection), and building their businesses to leverage economies of scale. As a result, they become economically competitive for industry contracts. Nidan has helped over 360,000 unorganized workers, positioning them as legitimate competitors in markets opening up in globalizing cities of India. Gisela Solymos, CREN Centro de Recuperação e Educação Nutricional, Brazil CREN has pioneered new methods for tackling the widespread malnutrition and undernutrition problem, first in Sao Paolo, and now throughout Brazil, parts of Latin America and Africa. By first transforming the manner in which malnutrition is measured among young children, CREN has received methodological support from Unifesp (Federal University of São Paulo) and the municipal governments where they operate. Tom Szaky, TerraCycle, USA Globally, an estimated 22.7 trillion pieces of consumer waste are discarded a year, threatening the global health of our green spaces and waterways. TerraCycle is changing the way people view waste by mobilising individuals to collect previously unrecyclable waste, and incentivizing major corporations, like Kraft Foods and L Oreal, to sponsor the recycling of new waste streams. Sugianto Tandio, PT Tirta Marta, Indonesia Traditional plastic that is left behind takes 500 to 1000 years to degrade, causing serious environmental problems. Tirta Marta believes that by developing affordable degradable plastics, it is possible to address environmental challenges and increase economic opportunities for farmers. Tirta Marta s plastics are fair-trade certified, degradable and made from tapioca. Priced for mass-market adoption, Tirta Marta s OXIUM plastic is now used for shopping bags in over 90% of Indonesia s markets and convenience stores. Claudia Valladares, Banca Comunitaria Banesco, Venezuela Banca Comunitaria specializes in comprehensive financial services that provide products and services in the areas of lending, savings, debit cards and insurance. The bank provides business financing to entrepreneurs who have been in business for at least a year and offers 24/7 services for conducting online banking transactions. Banca Comunitaria has created a network of 176 commercial allies or retail agents. Through financial terminals or electronic points of sale (POS Webs) located in community retail shops and stores as well as a comprehensive website and SMS banking service, clients save important transactional costs.
Daniel Viederman, Verité, USA Verité uses management systems to link business objectives with social outcomes. Verité ensures that workers voices are represented in business decision-making, by working with multinationals and their vendors and licensees. The organization has innovated ways of improving working conditions at the bottom of supply chains, where raw materials are grown and harvested. Gary White, Water.org, USA Water.org has successfully demonstrated that the poor can move from being beneficiaries to customers. Water.org underwrites the start-up costs microfinance institutions incur developing water and sanitation loan products, and provides expertise in how to structure the loans. Since the launch of WaterCredit in 2007, more than 350,000 people have access to safe water. Wu Qing, Beijing Cultural Development Center for Rural Women, China The organization empowers rural and migrant women in China by teaching them about their rights as citizens as well as their responsibilities and roles at home and in society. This is being done through the centre's Practical Skills Training Centre and a support network for migrant women. To date the centre has directly and indirectly influenced at least 1.5 million women in China. Gisele Yitamben, Association pour le Soutien et l'appui à la Femme Entrepreneur (ASAFE), Cameroon ASAFE provides business training and development services, alternative financing and access to IT training for the bottom of the pyramid, especially disadvantaged women in Cameroon and other parts of Africa. Using information and communication technologies, ASAFE has brought its entrepreneurs closer together and connected them to larger markets.