Chuck Slaughter, founder and CEO of Living Goods, has been selected as a 2013 Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation. The winners—who are working in fields such as health, education, employment and the environment—were selected in recognition of their innovative approaches and potential for global impact. Chuck is one of 24 global entrepreneurs selected for the honor and one of seven US-based entrepreneurs.
He now joins a network of pioneering social entrepreneurs from organizations like BRAC, Teach for All, Riders of Health, Ushahidi, and many more inspiring organizations applying business models to drive lasting social change.
“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.
“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.”
For more information, visit http://wef.ch/HSSEOY13
