Four entrepreneurs have been awarded at the World Entrepreneurship Forum which is being held in Singapore. Philipino entrepreneur, Reese Fernandez, was invested with the Young Entrepreneur Award. Rags2Riches, the social enterprise she co-founded, has changed women’s life in the Philippines. Through Rags2Riches women sell design bags, sunglasses and other fashion items, produced out of recycled materials . The project has contributed to women’s empowerment and it has helped them raise their income.
This year’s Social Entrepreneur Award went to William Drayton, Ashoka Founder. Drayton was the first to speak about social enterprise, when he started Ashoka in 1980. The organization is now present in 60 countries and it supports the projects of 2000 members, who have been chosen for the impact they have on the social and commercial environment.
Göteborg mayor, Anneli Hulthen,received the Politician award , for the city’s commitment to social innovation. Some of the projects the city has developed and promoted have been appreciated worldwide for their ability to create new jobs, such as “Expedition Forward”, “Business Emergency Programme” and
“Brew House Incubator”.
This year for the first time the Entrepreneur for the World Award went to a corporation, FOSUN International, which mainly operates in China, has an annual turnover of 4.5 billion Euros and has adopted a strategy to answer the social needs of Chinese society.
The World Entrepreneurship Forum was founded by EMLYON Business School (http://www.em-lyon.com) , KPMG France (http://www.kpmg.fr), Action Committee for Entrepreneurship (http://www.ace.sg) and Nanyang Technological University (http://www.ntu.edu.sg), the City of Lyon (http://www.onlylyon.org) and the Lyon Chamber of Commerce (http://www.lyon.cci.fr). It is the first social justice and entrepreneurhisp think tank and it’s been working since 2008 with its 270 members from 70 different countries.
