Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

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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] 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.^[2][3]

In 1998, Klaus Schwab and his wife Hilde decided to create the independent not-for-profit Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.^[4] Its mission was to promote social innovation. This new foundation was complementary to the World Economic Forum,^[5] founded by Klaus Schwab in 1971.^[4]

Pamela Hartigan, who joined in October 2000, was its first managing director. The Foundation is financed from the initial endowment provided by the Schwabs plus grants and fees for services provided to individuals, foundations or companies.^[6][7]

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 can also win support from corporations and political and academic leaders.^[8] The activists (260 people in 2013) serve on the Forum's Global Agenda Councils.^[9][10] Case studies on specific social entrepreneurs are provided to leading academic institutions to incorporate into undergraduate and graduate-level courses.^[1] Each year the Foundation selects 20-25 Social Entrepreneurs through a global “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” competition.^[11] Winners include Mikaela Jade, for innovation in indigenous edu-tech.^[12][13]

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. Furthermore, a former employee alleges that she was "pushed out" from her role as leader of an initiative for startups, following a brief trial period, after telling Schwab she was pregnant. Schwab grew upset that she would not be able to continue working at the same pace, people familiar with the incident said, and told her she was not suited for her new leadership role. A fourth allegation was that Schwab ordered the firing of all individuals over 50 years of age at the WEF, which then HR-chief Paolo Gallo refused to do. After this, Schwab allegedly fired Gallo. The article then went on to discuss alleged misconduct by other high-ranking WEF officials, which was not directly related to Schwab. The WSJ article quoted the WEF's response to the specific allegations against Schwab, which the authors had gathered before publishing the article, as: "Schwab has never made sexual advances toward an employee and the women's allegations were vague and false" and that “Mr. Schwab does not and has never engaged in the vulgar behaviors you describe”.^[14] Three days later, the WSJ article was reported on, separately and respectively, in Swiss daily newspapers Tages-Anzeiger and Neue Zürcher Zeitung, where WEF further commented that "it is deeply disappointing that the WSJ made provably false allegations" and that there existed a zero-tolerance policy for this sort of misconduct.^[15][16]

In the aftermath of these revelations, some commentators pondered the future of the WEF.^[17]

As of September 2024, the organization's Board of Directors consisted of:^[18]

• Hilde Schwab (Chairperson, Co-founder)
• Pascale Bruderer, Founder, Chairwoman, Swiss Stablecoin AG
• Mirai Chatterjee, Chairperson, SEWA Cooperative Federation, Self-Employed Women's Association
• Ernest Darkoh, Founding Partner, BroadReach Group
• Charly Kleissner, Co-founder, Toniic
• Johanna Mair, Professor of Organization, Strategy and Leadership, Hertie School
• Queen Mathilde of Belgium
• Subi Rangan, The Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Court Endowed Chair in Societal Progress, INSEAD
• Nicole Schwab, Co-Head, Nature Positive Pillar; Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum Geneva
• Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Director, Thorning Schmidt Global Ltd

• Official website