Schwab Foundation

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The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a Swiss not-for-profit organization founded in 1998 that provides platforms at regional, national, and global levels to promote social entrepreneurship.[1][2][3] The foundation is under the legal supervision of the Swiss Federal Government. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland. Each year, it selects 20–25 social entrepreneurs through a global "Social Entrepreneur of the Year" competition.[4][5]

Over 950 million people in 190 countries are impacted each year by more than 500 social entrepreneurs it has backed.[6][7][8]

History

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

In 1998, Klaus Schwab and his wife Hilde created the independent not-for-profit Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.[9][10] Its mission was to promote social innovation. This new foundation was complementary to the World Economic Forum,[11] founded by Klaus Schwab in 1971.[9]

Pamela Hartigan, who joined in October 2000, was its first managing director, serving until 2008.[12][13][14] The Foundation is financed from the initial endowment provided by the Schwabs plus grants and fees for services provided to individuals, foundations or companies.[1][15]

Activities

The Foundation identifies rising social entrepreneurs under the age of 40 through its Forum of Young Global Leaders and encourages the activists it recognizes to work together as a team. In this collaboration, ideas are shared and possible funding is attracted from companies, universities, or INSEAD. The activists may obtain support from corporations and political and academic leaders.[16] The activists (260 people in 2013) serve on the Forum's Global Agenda Councils.[17][18] Case studies on specific social entrepreneurs are provided to academic institutions to incorporate into undergraduate and graduate-level courses.[2] Each year the Foundation selects 20-25 Social Entrepreneurs through a global “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” competition.[19] Winners include Mikaela Jade, for innovation in indigenous edu-tech.[20][21]

Schwab Foundation Awards

The foundation presents annual awards, announced each January at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, in partnership with the Motsepe Foundation.[22] Awardees join a three-year programme of support and become part of the foundation's community of social entrepreneurs and innovators, which the foundation reported as numbering 510 members in 2026.[23]

Awards are made in four categories:[22][23]

  • Social Entrepreneurs – individuals using market-based approaches to address social issues directly.
  • Corporate Social Innovators – leaders within established companies who embed social and environmental impact into core products, services and business models.
  • Collective Social Innovators – people who bring organisations together to address problems that individual actors cannot tackle alone.
  • Public Social Innovators – leaders in the public sector who apply social innovation through policy, regulation or public initiatives.

Eighteen awards were made in 2025 and twenty-one in 2026.[22][23]

Recent awardees

The foundation has named awardees annually since 1998; those in recent years are listed below. A complete list is published by the foundation.[23]

YearCategoryOrganizationAwardee(s)
2026Social EntrepreneursTebita AmbulanceKibret Abebe
eLiberareIoana Bauer Sǎndescu
DrinkwellMinhaj Chowdhury
OnçafariMario Haberfeld
FabricAIDOmar Itani
Pad-Up CreationsOlivia Onyemaobi
Fundación ReimaginaAna María Raad Briz
SaveLIFE FoundationPiyush Tewari
2026Corporate Social InnovatorsSafaricomKaren Basiye
VEJAFrançois-Ghislain Morillion
ReckittHamzah Sarwar
2026Collective Social InnovatorsArab Network for Environment and DevelopmentEmad Adly; Ghada Ahmadein
Beyond100KTalia Milgrom-Elcott; Maya Morales Garcia
MovilizatorioJuliana Uribe Villegas; Mariana Díaz; Lina Torres
2026Public Social InnovatorsMinistry of Microfinance and Social and Solidarity Economy, SenegalMamadou Ndiaye
Laboratorio de Gobierno, ChileOrlando Rojas
Institut Keusahawanan Negara, MalaysiaViviantie Sarjuni
2025Social EntrepreneursCareMessageCecilia Corral
Vineet Singal
SommalifeChristina Mawuse Gyisun
Safe Motherhood AllianceMuzalema Mwanza
Belterra AgroflorestasValmir Ortega
ANA CareManuel Rosemberg
NaTakallamAline Sara
Avanti FellowsAkshay Saxena
2025Public Social InnovatorsTatkraftIslam Alijaj
Agency for Enterprise Development, Viet NamTrinh Thi Huong
2025Corporate Social InnovatorsTencentCaitlyn (Juhong) Chen
Northwell HealthEric Cioè-Peña
Google HealthFred Hersch
2025Collective Social InnovatorsBuddha Institute; Responsible Coalition for Resilient CommunitiesVed Arya
Population Foundation of IndiaPoonam Muttreja
Aga Khan FoundationApoorva Oza
Africa Sustainable Commodities InitiativeAbraham Baffoe
Community Health Impact CoalitionMadeleine Ballard

Allegations of employer misconduct and harassment at WEF

On June 29, 2024, The Wall Street Journal published an article, authored by staff reporters Shalini Ramachandran and Khadeeja Safdar, stating that WEF Founder Klaus Schwab is accused by former WEF employees of having engaged in two instances of sexual harassment. The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a wholly separate organization from WEF and is neither mentioned or the subject of the published Wall Street Journal article.

Board of directors

As of September 2024, the organization's Board of Directors consisted of:[24]

References

  1. "Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship". Devex. Devex. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  2. Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship "About us." Retrieved: 2013-08-06.
  3. "The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship - edie". Edie. Retrieved 2026-07-29.
  4. "Schwab Foundation announces its 2022 social innovators of the Year". pioneerspost.com.
  5. "Schwab Foundation for Entrepreneurship". www.ashoka.org. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  6. "Ioana Bauer, first Romanian woman to receive an award from Schwab Foundation for social innovation". business-review.eu. Business Review. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  7. "Africa's Changemakers: Celebrating the 2026 Schwab Foundation Awards Winners from the Continent". philanthropycircuit.org. Philanthropy Circuit. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  8. "2026 Schwab Foundation Award winners announced, joining a community of innovators impacting nearly 1 billion lives". desmoinesregister.com. Desmoines Register. Retrieved 29 July 2026.
  9. John Elkington; Pamela Hartigan (5 February 2008). The Power of Unreasonable People: How Social Entrepreneurs Create Markets That Change the World. Harvard Business Press. ISBN 978-1-4221-6354-2.
  10. Chavez, Alana (2022-09-27). "SCHWAB FOUNDATION FOR SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP". The Wellbeing Project. Retrieved 2026-07-29.
  11. Forum, World Economic (2019-07-26). "This is what is still holding social entrepreneurs back". The European Sting - Critical News & Insights on European Politics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Business & Technology - europeansting.com. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
  12. Allen, Nathan (2016-02-24). "Pamela Hartigan". We See Genius. Retrieved 2026-07-29.
  13. "Pamela Hartigan". NextBillion. Retrieved 2026-07-29.
  14. "Pamela Hartigan | HuffPost". www.huffpost.com. Retrieved 2026-07-29.
  15. "Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship". www.library.hbs.edu. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  16. mike (2013-05-27). "S is for The Schwab Foundation For Social Entrepreneurship". The Positive Encourager. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  17. "Schwab-foundations-social-entrepreneur-of-the-year".
  18. "Announcing the Social Innovators of the Year 2023 – Motsepe Foundation". Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  19. Forum, World Economic. "2023 Social Innovation Awards: The Power Of Collective Change". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  20. Waters Robichau, Robbie (2010), "Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship", in Anheier, Helmut K.; Toepler, Stefan (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Civil Society, New York, NY: Springer US, pp. 1352–1353, doi:10.1007/978-0-387-93996-4_766, ISBN 978-0-387-93996-4, retrieved 2023-08-02
  21. "Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship | UIA Yearbook Profile | Union of International Associations". uia.org. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  22. "Schwab Foundation Awards 2025: New Social Entrepreneurs and Innovators of the Year Announced" (Press release). World Economic Forum. 21 January 2025.
  23. "Schwab Foundation Awards 2026: 2026 Awardees". Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Retrieved 13 September 2026.
  24. "Our people". Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Retrieved 22 September 2024.