A lot of revolutionary creativity is happening in Asia right now. The World Economic Forum on East Asia was hosted in Jakarta on April 20th, where the Schwab Foundation honored the most notable social entrepreneurs of the group. These entrepreneurs are social innovators in their country, striving to make a difference and help those who are most in need. What’s particularly notable are the monumental problems these social entrepreneurs are tackling (widespread hunger, biodiversity, education, health care) and how their companies are really attempting to provide opportunities by finding inventive ways to work with the systems and resources already at hand. They are working with what they have to make the situation better.
The Asian Social Entrepreneurs of 2015
Elaine Montegriffo of SecondBite is basically taking the excess fresh food that would be used for landfill and making it available for people in need, which not only aids in health, but also helps the environment.
Helianti Hilman of JAVARA is also working with food, but is focused on working in partnership with smallholder farmers and distributing indigenous products to help preserve the food biodiversity in Indonesia.
Hanumappa Sudarshan of Karuna Trust strives to make high-quality primary healthy available to the country side of India through the cooperation of the government, the village community, and the social enterprise that ultimately gives free health services to patients.
And in Nepal, Mark Arnoldy and Duncan Maru of Possible Health are pushing a new model of accessible healthcare by negotiating with the government for support to provide low-cost services to the poorest of patients.
Last but not least, Mushtaq Chhapra of The Citizen’s Foundation has been working for a long time to have formal education be attainable in Pakistan’s underprivileged communities with both students and teachers benefiting from his work.