Changemakers for the Planet: How the Schwab Foundation Is Driving Global Impact
Social Entrepreneurs Are Turning Big Ideas into Global Impact
At a time when climate disruption, inequality, and economic uncertainty dominate headlines, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship offers a more hopeful story: one in which innovators are proving that business, social impact, and environmental stewardship can work together.
Founded in 1998 by Klaus and Hilde Schwab, the Foundation aims to identify, support, and elevate social entrepreneurs whose ideas tackle systemic global challenges. Working alongside the World Economic Forum, it connects changemakers with policymakers, investors, corporations, and civil society leaders to help successful local solutions expand globally. According to the Foundation, its community now includes over 500 social innovators whose work has impacted hundreds of millions of lives.
Why Social Entrepreneurship Matters
Why does this matter? Because social entrepreneurship is no longer a niche movement. The Schwab Foundation’s 2025 reporting notes that there are now more than 10 million social enterprises worldwide, generating roughly $2 trillion annually and supporting an estimated 200 million jobs. These organizations are helping shape the green and digital transitions while creating fairer outcomes for communities too often left behind.
The Foundation’s annual awards are one of its most visible tools for change. Each year, it recognizes social entrepreneurs and innovators who are tackling issues in the areas of healthcare, education, climate action, and democratic participation, to name a few. These awardees join a global community of recognized trendsetters who are creating pathways to healthier, fairer, and more sustainable societies.
The Foundation’s latest awardees demonstrate what this progress looks like in practice.
Preventing Human Trafficking Through Education and Advocacy
One of the Foundation’s 2026 awardees is Ioana Bauer Sǎndescu, whose organization eLiberare is working to combat human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Romania. Through prevention campaigns, educational programs, survivor support, and cross-sector partnerships, eLiberare helps vulnerable communities recognize and resist exploitation while raising awareness of one of the world’s most pervasive criminal networks. The organization’s work demonstrates how social entrepreneurship can strengthen human rights, deepen public understanding, and build long-term social resilience.
Protecting Forests While Supporting Farmers
A standout example is the Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative (ASCI), represented by sustainability leader Abraham Baffoe, a 2025 award recipient. ASCI is an ambitious partnership spanning 10 African nations that together contain 75% of Africa’s forests and roughly one-quarter of the world’s tropical forests. The initiative unites governments, companies, non-governmental organizations, and local communities to promote the sustainable production of commodities such as cocoa, coffee, rubber, and palm oil. Its mission is both simple and profound: protect forests while improving smallholder livelihoods. In a world in which deforestation can often seem inevitable, ASCI is showing that economic growth and ecosystem protection can advance together.
Empowering Women Through Sustainable Agriculture
The Foundation also recognized Mawuse Christina Gyisun, co-founder of Sommalife, whose work empowers women smallholder shea farmers in West Africa who are often excluded from economic opportunity. By helping women gain access to fairer markets and more stable incomes, Sommalife strengthens rural resilience while encouraging more sustainable agricultural and conservation practices. The organization’s success highlights an important lesson: environmental progress is far more lasting when communities directly benefit from it.
Expanding Opportunity Through Education
One other inspiring recipient is Akshay Saxena, recognized in the Foundation’s 2025 cohort for expanding educational access through his organization, Avanti Fellows. The initiative helps talented students from underserved communities reach higher education opportunities by providing free academic tutoring, university guidance, and pathways to scholarships. By investing in young people with limited access to resources, Avanti Fellows is helping build a more inclusive future economy.
A Global Ecosystem for Change
Together, these initiatives reveal the breadth of modern social entrepreneurship: from fighting human trafficking and protecting forests to empowering women and expanding education.
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship’s core message is refreshingly practical: many of the solutions the world needs already exist. Around the globe, entrepreneurs are developing models that reduce inequality, protect ecosystems, strengthen communities, and redefine what economic success can look like. By spotlighting these leaders, the Foundation is doing far more than handing out awards. It is helping build a global ecosystem for ideas capable of creating a more equitable and sustainable future.
