It is with great pleasure that we can today share the news that Mads Kjær, CEO and co-founder of MYC4, has been selected as one of the Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2013.
Twenty-four social entrepreneurs have been acknowledged by the Schwab Foundation as Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2013. The winners were selected in recognition of their innovative approaches and potential for global impact.
“I am extremely honored to be among the winners of this award,” Mads Kjær says. ” The award belongs to our team in MYC4, the investors, MFI Providers and the African micro- and small business entrepreneurs who change lives every day. One step at a time.”
“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. “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 will become part of the broader Schwab Foundation community of Social Entrepreneurs, which includes 234 social entrepreneurs from 59 countries. Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurs are fully integrated into the events and initiatives of the World Economic Forum. They contribute actively to and benefit from peer-to-peer exchanges with other social entrepreneurs as well as interaction with top leaders in business, government, civil society and the media.
“Social entrepreneurs are an integral community of the World Economic Forum, and an increasingly sought after one,” says David Aikman, Senior Director, World Economic Forum and Head, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. “A growing number of corporations see income inequality and environmental problems like climate change as fundamental threats to their long-term growth. Many governments are starting to rethink the way they deliver goods and services that improve social outcomes. We are seeing greater appetite among other stakeholder groups of the Forum to learn from social innovation models and collaborate with social entrepreneurs in innovative ways. I am confident this trend will only continue to grow in the future, and the World Economic Forum is proud to be at the forefront of catalysing partnerships amongst these stakeholder groups for social and environmental change.”
The 2013 awardees include:
- 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).
Read more about the Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneurs Class of 2013 in the Huffington Post Series here: Schwab Social Entrepreneurs 2013
Hvor glædeligt! Til lykke!
congratulations! Well deserved for both Mads and the whole MyC4 team and community
Reblogged this on Krispy's Blog vol (on)gevraagde meningen and commented:
Mooi resultaat voor Mads Kjaer van MyC4: gekozen tot 1 van de 24 sociaal ondernemers van het jaar volgens de Schwab Foundation
Congratulations. Hopefully this has created some awareness around MYC4. I hope to see it in the number of active investors at the platform (and the funds they bring along)
[...] the good news that MYC4′s CEO and co-founder, Mads Kjær, has been acknowledged as one of the Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneurs of the Year 2013, Mads’ immediate response was that he was “extremely honored to be among the winners of [...]