Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Mhammed Abbad Andaloussi, Al Jisr, Morocco The NGO, whose name means "the Bridge", works to improve the performance of public schools in Morocco by fostering true public-private partnerships to address their problems, including facilities, equipment, materials and pedagogical styles, and tackling the root causes of poor school performance. It has made a positive impact on more than 360 schools; the organization aims to increase that number to 500 schools by 2017.

Seiko Adachi & Masue Katayama, Shinko Fukushikai, Japan Over the last three decades, Masue has engineered the field of assisted living. In the late 1980’s Masue started renovating pre-owned dormitory buildings (staff dorms built by corporations and abandoned during the economic downfall) and converting them into useroriented, home-like living environment at affordable cost for middle-class families. In 1990, she created Shinkokai, a for profit company, that opened and managed 16 elderly care facilities and her approach – popularly known as the “Shinkokai” model – was later adopted by others and become standard in the welfare industry. Up to date, the social welfare corporation Shinko Fukushikai has 36 elderly care facilities and eight child care operations. The operations are financially sustainable, with 35% of the revenue from its clients and remainings from government subsidies. José Vicente Agueverre, Dia Dia Practimercados, Venezuela Today Día Día supports a network of small stores located in popular areas throughout Venezuela with easy access to transportation (eg against Metro stations, bus stops ), with extended care hours (365 days a year, from 7 -11pm ), a wide range of products from leading brands, and is able to ensure reduced food prices for its low-income customers by securing purchasing and distribution agreements with large national chains. Currently, the Día Día Practimercados distribution platform supports 35 stores through 7 states and 16 cities in Venezuela, 70,000 customers per month and one million transactions per month, whilst employing almost 1,000 sales floor associates. Vinya Ariyaratne, Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka Sarvodaya is the largest grassroots movement in Sri Lanka that encourages the community to share resources including labour, time and ideas to create “sustainable village economies that meet the 10 basic human needs”. Sarvodaya’s approach and activities are guided by Buddhist and Gandhian values with a significant focus on building peace and reconciliation in a war torn nation. As of 2012, this model, spearheaded by a staff of 1500 people, reaches 15,000 villages in 25 districts in Sri Lanka. Today, Sarvodaya also works very closely with the Government in an advisory and collaborative capacity as it accelerates its economic and social development agenda. Rick Aubry, New Foundry Ventures, USA New Foundry Ventures has 25 years' experience seeking social change by creating and supporting nationally scaled social businesses throughout the US that create jobs, provide greater access to healthy food, good credit, and energy efficiency for low- and moderateincome communities. It partners with community-based organizations and businesses, and acts as a strategic adviser to non-profits, foundations, corporations and governments.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Shelly Batra, Operation Asha, India Operation ASHA is tackling the fractured delivery system of the Government of India’s TB control program through a doorstep TB detection and treatment service that is low-cost, high quality and accessible to the poor. It partners with the Government to ensure “last mile” access of treatment and reduces default rates amongst patients thus containing the spread of the disease. Operation ASHA has treated patients with a 90% success rate and lowered the cost of treatment by 15 times compared to other service providers. The model is now being replicated in Uganda and in the Dominican Republic. Eli Beer, United Hatzalah of Israel, Israel United Hatzalah is a non-profit, non-governmental volunteer emergency medical first response organization, using thousands of medics, paramedics and doctors from all socioeconomic and religious sectors to provide fast and free medical first response throughout Israel. United Hatzalah activates thousands of highly trained volunteers who carry their advanced GPS LifeCompass communication and emergency medical equipment, 24 hours a day. Within seconds from dispatch, the closest volunteers are located and are on their way, filling the gap between an emergency and the arrival of an ambulance. Ronald Bruder, Education For Employment (EFE), USA EFE’s mission is to create job opportunities for unemployed youth by linking job training to job placements. EFE identifies sectors of the economy that offer potential for growth, but lack appropriately-qualified personnel and develops training programs that lead directly to jobs. With 6 locally-run affiliates in MENA, EFE has trained more than 4400 youth.

Geoffrey Cape, Evergreen, Canada Since its inception in 1990, Evergreen has partnered with over 700 urban projects and 4,500 school projects, reaching over 3 million people directly. Evergreen is a recognized international leader in the green/sustainable city movement, in large part because of its core strength in facilitating community partnerships and convening leaders to support action to green cities. It is now replicating its effective model to forge community, government and corporate partnerships for change in cities globally. Mois Cherem Arana, ENOVA, Mexico In Mexico, 69% of the population does not have access to computers or the internet, severely limiting opportunities in education. Enova’s solution to this challenge is the Red de Innovación y Aprendizaje (RIA), or the Learning and Innovation Network. RIA represents a chain of 70 educational centers, and 25 Digital Libraries, that provide underserved Mexican communities with quality educational opportunities and access to information technologies. A successful collaboration among social, public, and private sectors, RIA has served more than 450,000 people in low-income communities since 2007 and graduated 130,000 students, with 3000 new members signing up weekly.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Mike Feinberg, KIPP Foundation, USA The KIPP Foundation oversees the KIPP network of public charter schools that prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and character strengths necessary to succeed in college and life. KIPP schools are open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools serving students from underserved backgrounds. 95% of KIPP’s students are African-American or Latino, and 86% are eligible for federal free and reduced price meals. In a 2013 report by independent research firm Mathematica, students at KIPP middle schools showed positive and substantial achievement gains across all grade levels and subjects. Since its origin in 1994, KIPP has grown from educating 47 students in one school in Houston Texas to a network of 141 charter schools in 20 states and DC, serving over 50,000 students in grades PreK-12. Marc Freedman, Encore, USA Encore.org aims to create a human capital revolution by making “encore careers” – second acts for the greater good – a new social norm. In so doing they aim to transform the fundamental challenge of an ageing society into an opportunity by enabling seniors to remain productive members of society. Operating in 15 states, the Encore Fellowships Network places and provides stipends for recent retirees in one-year fellowships in non-profit organizations. In 2011 Intel launched a company-wide policy to allow any North American retirement-eligible employee to apply for an Encore Fellowship, and many other companies such as HP, Goldman Sachs, and Cisco are scaling pilot versions. Erin Ganju, Room to Read, USA Room to Read trains local authors and illustrators on themes and techniques for younger readers and commissions books from local publishers, thereby fuelling a local publishing industry. It has established more than 15,000 school libraries and trained over 40,000 teachers on how to engage students with reading material, including lesson plans, book reports, and read aloud sessions. Under the Girls’ Education programme, A Room to Read provides financial assistance and mentoring through a network of social mobilizers, who act as role models, counsellors, and advocates for girls. The Girls Education programme reached 25,000 girls in 2013 and maintains a 95% retention rate. To date, the organization has benefitted the lives of more than 8 million children. Ashifi Gogo, Sproxil, Kenya Sproxil has developed a Mobile Product Authentication™ (MPA™) solution that enables consumers to verify the pharmaceutical product they are buying is genuine. Consumers use a scratch card, similar to those used to replenish cellular talk-time, to reveal a one-time-use code on pharmaceutical products. Sproxil has set up Africa’s first national, mobile-based anticounterfeit service in Nigeria and has already sold more than 5 million anti-counterfeit labels.

David Green, Aurolab, India Twenty years in medical technology transfer to developing countries and the development of financially self-sustaining of Au healthcare service delivery models. Directed the establishment rolab, India, the first manufacturing facility in a developing country to produce low-cost intraocular lenses; directed the technology transfer and establishment of a manufacturing facility to produce ophthalmic suture products.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Anshu Gupta, Goonj, India Goonj channels excess resources in urban households to impoverished rural and disasterprone areas. Materials include clothes, furniture, and electronic equipment. Goonj collects and delivers 1000 tons of material every year through an extensive network of 500 volunteers and 250 partners across 21 states of India. Goonj also supports village and slum communities in infrastructure/local development projects.

Asher Hasan, Naya Jeevan, Pakistan Naya Jeevan partners with major insurance providers to offer catastrophe health insurance to low-income workers making less than USD $6 per day. This population includes drivers, nannies, cooks, waiters, and security guards, who can be insured at USD 2.50 per month per adult with a yearly coverage limit of approximately USD 1780. Naya Jeevan also packages the insurance with a variety of high-touch value added services, such as annual medical checks, preventative care workshops, as well as access to a 24-hour medical care and claims assistance hotline. Simon Henschel, Sunlabob Renewable Energy Limited, Laos Through public-private partnerships, Sunlabob brings sustainable renewable energy solutions to off-grid areas by installing solar lantern rental systems, solar home systems, hybrid village grids and water purification systems. To encourage local enterprise development and ownership, Sunlabob trains village technicians and village committees to maintain, recharge and rent out the lanterns. In addition, Sunlabob provides consultancy services, expanding internationally into Uganda, Cambodia and Afghanistan through franchise agreements.

Renat Heuberger, South Pole Carbon, Switzerland South Pole Carbon creates solutions in the fields of climate change and renewable energies. By providing access to climate finance, South Pole Carbon has enabled over 250 projects worldwide ranging from renewable energy to waste treatment and forestry, thereby reducing millions of tons of CO2 and creating thousands of jobs worldwide. South Pole Carbon enables corporates to create shared value by investing into climate-friendly projects within a corporate’s own supply chain. With "Gold Power", South Pole Carbon has launched the first global renewable energy label. Rupert Howes, Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), United Kingdom MSC works with fisheries, retailers, and other stakeholders to identify, certify, and promote responsible, environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable fishing practices around the world. This standard - known as the MSC Principles and Criteria for Sustainable Fishing - is the only internationally recognized set of environmental principles to assess whether a fishery is well managed and sustainable. Over 200 fisheries around the world are now certified representing over 8% of global wild capture harvest. Over 100 major seafood buyers have pledged to purchase MSC- certified seafood products, including large super market chains in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Jane Hunt, Fitted for Work, Australia Fitted for Work helps disadvantaged women get and keep work by providing a dressing service that supplies work-appropriate clothes, interview coaching, transition to work and mentoring programs. Once the woman is in work she is assisted to maintain work through career development programs. Since 2005 Fitted for Work has helped more than 13,500 women prepare for and get work. 75% of the women transition to work within 3 months of accessing Fitted for Work’s programs.

Jonathan Hursh, INCLUDED, People's Republic of China INCLUDED works to ensure migrants are integrated into cities. It promotes collaboration across sectors, brokers access to better services, and provides opportunities for advancement. It is building out a network of 10 cities and 100 community centers strategically linked across the world so that it can help cities figure out how to deal with their mass influx of migrants, as well as help migrants deal with the challenges of becoming urbanites. INCLUDED has created the first ever center for migrant slums and design platform, both of which are focused solely on this soon to be one-third of the world’s population. As eager contributors to society, migrants create some of the most powerful and diverse cities in the world. Richard Jefferson, Cambia, Australia Cambia is a globally focused biotechnology enterprise that invents and distributes opensource tools to empower new innovators in agricultural research. To counter the opacity and complexity of the patent system, Cambia became a force for transparency and inclusion. Its Patent Lens has become the most popular non-profit global patent search facility to shed light on latent knowledge resources in the patent system.

Tim Jones, Artscape, Canada Artscape has transformed buildings and spaces across Toronto into dynamic community assets by brokering trust relationships between real estate developers, government housing agencies, the arts and culture community, and local community groups. Since 1986, their projects have helped to stimulate some of Toronto's most vibrant and creative neighbourhoods. For example, Artscape partnered with Toronto Community Housing, The Daniels Corporation and the local community to create the $38-million Daniels Spectrum, a vibrant community cultural hub that opened in 2012 in Regent Park, a long-neglected 69-acre social housing development currently undergoing a five-phase revitalization. Runa Khan, Friendship, Bangladesh Friendship delivers effective development solutions using a holistic needs-based approach to the most marginalised communities in remote isolated areas of Bangladesh. Founded in 1998, it started its journey with the provision of basic healthcare services through the innovative concept of a floating hospital. The programmes are extended today to cover Disaster Management and Infrastructure Development, Education and Good Governance, Sustainable Economic Development and Cultural Preservation. These programmes are interrelated to facilitate an overall improvement in the lives of Friendship beneficiaries, allowing them to rise from poverty with dignity.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Roberto Kikawa , Projeto Cies, Brazil Projeto Cies takes specialized, humanized and high-technology preventive medical care to communities in need through the largest mobile medical centre in the world. Projeto Cies is innovative in two aspects: it has a unique self-sustaining management model of integrating health with education and the community; and uses advanced technology through its mobile health centre to offer services in 10 medical specialties. In two years, the organization has served more than 24,000 people in 15 Brazilian cities. Tristan Lecomte, Pur Projet, France Pur Projet partners with small-scale farmers to address climate change and economic development through the implementation of agroforestry, reforestation, and forest conservation projects, integrated with the supply chains and core business of the companies which fund these programs. To date, more than 3 million trees have been planted and 300,000 hectares of virgin forest conserved, bringing environmental benefits to regions of Latin America, Africa, and Asia and economic benefits to the farmers who plant and maintain the trees. Janet Longmore, Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT), Canada DOT operates at the intersection of the potential of youth and the enabling power of technology. DOT places youth (university and college graduates) at the center of economic and social change in their communities as they help their peers find jobs, start businesses and become engaged citizens. Localized DOT programs and a network of private and public sector partners support youth as they lead change. 4,000 DOT youth leaders have reached 800,000 peers and community members.

Javier Armando Lozano, Clinicas del Azucar, Mexico Clinicas del Azúcar are a chain of low-cost diabetes management clinics that provide accessible preventative and supportive care to the underserved Mexicans. With its one-stop shop model, Clinicas del Azucar has reduced patients’ annual costs by 70%, lowered their diabetes complication rates by 60%, and increased significantly their adherence to treatment. By offering a high quality and cost-effective health care to treat and prevent diabetes, Clinicas del Azucar addresses a critical socioeconomic issue, reduces inequality, and improves peoples’ quality of life and overall productivity

Timothy Ma Kam Wah, Senior Citizen Home Safety Association, Hong Kong SAR Given shifting demographics, more and more elderly people around the world are living alone. SCHSA provides social support plus 24-hour technology-assisted emergency services for the ageing population in Hong Kong. It also leverages an extensive volunteer network. This model is currently being replicated in other cities in China.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Sarah Mavrinac, aidha, United Arab Emirates Aidha provides financial education and entrepreneurship training to the world’s hopeful poor, serving migrant workers, especially women who leave their home countries to find work as domestic helpers. The organization offers confidence-building, money management, and business courses as well as microcredit services necessary to launch small businesses when migrants return home.

Rahul Panicker, Embrace, India Embrace Innovations has developed an innovative, low-cost infant warmer to help the 20 million premature and low birth weight infants born annually. The warmer works without a constant supply of electricity, making it suitable for rural areas. Embrace has impacted over 40,000 babies across 10 countries since its launch, and has been recognized in the World Health Organization's compendium of medical devices for global health. The vision of the organization is to develop a line of disruptive healthcare technologies for developing countries, focused on reducing infant and maternal deaths. Rosario Perez, Pro Mujer, Bolivia Pro Mujer is an international microfinance and women’s development organization whose mission is to provide Latin America’s poorest women with the means to build livelihoods for themselves and futures for their families through microfinance, business training, and healthcare support. Pro Mujer offers loan capital for women’s small-scale businesses and opportunities to save through the communal bank structure, it also provides business training and health and personal development services. Pro Mujer today has fully operating programmes in Bolivia, Peru, Nicaragua, Argentina and Mexico. Over the past 20 years, the organization has disbursed over US$950 million in small loans averaging US$309. Kristin Peterson, Inveneo, USA Inveneo is a San Francisco-based non-profit social enterprise that designs and delivers sustainable computing and better access to broadband Internet to those who need it most in the developing world. Inveneo enables organizations working in developing countries to better serve people in need, transforming lives through access to education, healthcare, economic opportunity and relief. Inveneo and its partners have delivered projects in 25+ countries, impacting the lives of over 3 million people in some of the poorest and most challenging regions in the developing world. Zoran Puljic, Mozaik Foundation, Bosnia and Herzegovina In the post-war period, increases in donor money led to an explosion in the number of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, each hoping to rebuild a fractured society. Mozaik stresses the importance of mobilizing local resources and volunteers to strengthen the confidence and self-reliance of small communities. Mozaik co-finances tangible improvements in local communities, such as roads, water supplies, street lights and local heritage sites.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Saif Rashid, JITA, Bangladesh JITA empowers women and creates consumer impact on health-hygiene-energy through an innovative network of enterprises where the communities of those being failed to reach by traditional supply chain are bridged with companies such as Unilever, BATA, d.light, Grameen Danone. JITA designs and manages a network of distribution hubs system consisting of a hub manager, delivery service person and sales ladies Aparajitas (“women who never accept defeat” in Bengali), its “last mile” marketing channel of women who purchase stock from the hubs and sell it door to door to rural base of the pyramid consumers. In the first two years of its existence, JITA grew from 2500 to 7250 Aparajitas and has distribution hubs in 224 of the 450 sub-districts in Bangladesh reaching 4 million BoP consumers. Sari Revkin, YEDID, The Association for Community Empowerment, Israel Through a national network of Citizen Rights Centres, Sari Revkin’s venture, YEDID, empowers low-income Israelis of all ethnic and religious backgrounds to break the cycle of poverty and reach self-sufficiency by accessing their rights and economic opportunities. YEDID has provided individual assistance to over 250,000 low-income Israelis and introduced educational programmes and successfully effected public policy in Israel on issues including homelessness, labour law, healthcare and welfare.

Jean-Micheal Ricard & Jean-Daniel Muller, Siel Bleu, France Siel Bleu develops a range of activities for the elderly, handicapped people, people who suffer chronic diseases and carers designed to help improve their general physical and psychological well-being through the use of an integrated approach in the context of a preventive care program. Up to date, Siel Bleu has developed 25 types of physical activities adjustable to various levels of handicap, age and skill. Siel Bleu serves more than 80, 000 people a year in France, Belgium, Spain, and Ireland. Ramazan Salman, Ethno-Medizinisches Zentrum, Germany The Ethno-Medical Center (EMC) supports migrants in navigating the health and education systems. EMC offers multi-language services that range from trainings for professionals and health information campaigns to community interpreting services. A core program is “MiMi With Migrants for Migrants, which is key for social inclusion and integration of migrants into society.

‘Gbenga Sesan, Paradigm Initiative, Nigeria Paradigm Initiative Nigeria’s (PIN) vision is to connect underserved young Nigerians with ICTenabled opportunities in order to improve their livelihoods. Solving these twin problems – unemployment and cybercrime – are at the heart of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria’s strategy. Its model involves a two-pronged approach including Capacity Building/ICT Empowerment and ICT Policy interventions. PIN offers income-generating ICT training and Social Media consultancy to private or non-profit organizations that need them, working with Paradigm Initiative Nigeria’s graduates as implementing partners. Current partners include the Peery Foundation, Internews, Microsoft, and Google.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Jack Sim, World Toilet Organization, Singapore The World Toilet Organization (WTO) is committed to improving toilets and sanitation conditions throughout the world. Through its franchise, SaniShop, WTO trains people from poor communities to be sanitation entrepreneurs and sales agents, thus creating jobs and sustainable and scalable business models for delivering low-cost, high-volume sanitation solutions.

Arbind Singh, Nidan, India Nidan builds livelihoods for marginalized informal workers by collectivizing them around particular industries (e.g. waste collection), and building their businesses to leverage economies of scale. As a result, they become economically competitive for industry contracts. Nidan has helped over 360,000 unorganized workers, positioning them as legitimate competitors in markets opening up in globalizing cities of India.

Patrick Struebi, Fairtrasa, Peru Fairtrasa helps underprivileged small-scale farmers in developing nations escape poverty and improve their lives by providing them with technical support and direct access to local and international markets. By creating a tailored farmer development system, Fairtrasa ensures that growers who previously sold their produce to middlemen increase their yields, improve quality and are paid fair prices for their produce - often up to 10 times higher than local market prices. The result is that farmers are able to grow beyond subsistence level and become self-sufficient. Luis Szaran, Sonidos de la Tierra, Paraguay Sonidos de la Tierra uses music as a tool for social and community transformation. Music schools and youth orchestras are currently carrying on their activities and work in over 180 cities, towns, rural and slum schools. The beneficiaries manage the program, generating 88% of the financial resources by their own means, with the remaining budget filled by donor contributions. In 2012, they launched a new program: the H20 Orchestra, with instruments made of bottles, hoses, pipes and funnels, to promote the importance of water. In 2012, the Sonidos de la Tierra youth played at the Forum on Social Entrepreneurship and the New Economy during Rio+20. Adina Tal, Nalaga’at, Israel The Nalaga’at Centre is a meeting place for deaf, blind, deaf-blind and the wider public, aongside engaging both audiences by means of recreational and cultural activities such as the Nalaga'at Theater, home to the only deaf-blind theater group in the world. Awardwinning shows produced by the theater group include Light is Heard as Zig-Zag. Since its opening in 2007, the Nalaga'at Center has hosted over 500,000 visitors from Israel and all over the world. The theatre troupe has toured The United States, including the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Australia, London, Switzerland, Canada and South Korea. Currently, a new show is in the work and is expected to be introduced to the public during 2014.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Pierre Tami, Hagar International, Cambodia Hagar seeks to break the cycle of poverty among previously exploited and vulnerable women and children. To ensure their successful re-integration into society, Hagar offers recovery shelters, vocational training, and job placement into one of Hagar’s commercial enterprises. To date, over 13,000 people have benefited directly.

Sugianto Tandio, Tirta Marta, Indonesia Traditional plastic that is left behind takes 500 to 1000 years to degrade, causing serious environmental problems. Tirta Marta believes that by developing affordable degradable plastics, it is possible to address environmental challenges and increase economic opportunities for farmers. Tirta Marta’s plastics are fair-trade certified, degradable and made from tapioca. Priced for mass-market adoption, Tirta Marta’s OXIUM plastic is now used for shopping bags in over 90% of Indonesia’s markets and convenience stores.

Donn Tice and Sam Goldman, d.light, USA Founded in 2007 as a for-profit social enterprise, d.light manufactures and distributes solar lighting and power products designed to serve the more than 2 billion people globally without access to reliable electricity. Through over a dozen field offices and four distribution hubs in Africa, China, South Asia and the United States, d.light has sold 6 million solar light and power products in nearly 60 countries, improving the lives of nearly 30 million people. d.light is dedicated to providing the most reliable, affordable and accessible solar lighting and power systems for the developing world and reaching 100 million people by 2020. Chris Underhill, BasicNeeds, United Kingdom BasicNeeds works with mentally ill people across 12 countries in the developing world through a model for mental health and development, recognized by the WHO, that focuses on treatment and livelihood development through peer groups in local communities. Up to date, the BasicNeeds’ approach has had an impact on more than 600,000 primary (mentally ill, caregivers) and secondary (other family members) beneficiaries. BasicNeeds has enabled 94% of mentally ill people in its programme to access treatment, of which 70% report reduced symptoms. Chetna Vijay Sinha, Mann Deshi Foundation & Mann Deshi Bank, India The Mann Deshi Bank was founded as India’s first rural cooperative bank in 1997. Its membership is 100% composed of semi-literate and illiterate poor rural women with an average income of less than $1.50 per day. The Bank has served over 185,000 clients and has helped over 10,000 rural women gain ownership of property. By 2020, Mann Deshi aspires to launch one million rural women entrepreneurs through partnerships with social enterprises and mainline financial institutions in India.

Social Entrepreneurs Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2014

Charles Edouard Vincent, Emmaus Defi, France Emmaus Defi provides a solution to the re-inclusion of homeless people. By offering them a flexible framework and access to part-time work, they collect and sell recycled and donated products for a fair prize in Emmaus Défi stores. Unlike existing social employment companies, this model is not contingent on rigid 24 hour per week contracts that discourage participation. Other projects include Emmaus Connect, a solidarity connections’ project that offers a ‘pay as you go’ internet access at a considerably lower price to homeless people in several strategic locations across major cities and the Solidarity Bank, in partnership with Carrefour, a big supermarket chain in France, that re-sells non sold furniture for a significant lower price for low income families. Gary White, Water.org, USA Water.org has successfully demonstrated that the poor can move from being beneficiaries to customers. Water.org underwrites the start-up costs microfinance institutions incur developing water and sanitation loan products, and provides expertise in how to structure the loans. Since its launch in 2003, more than 1 million people have gained access to safe water and sanitation through Water.org’s flagship WaterCredit initiative.

Allen Wilcox, Village Reach, Mozambique VillageReach is a non‐profit social enterprise with a mission to save lives and improve health by increasing access to quality healthcare for the most underserved communities. VillageReach develops, evaluates and proves system innovations that improve health system performance. Through collaboration with governments, non-governmental organizations and communities, VillageReach seeks to extend the reach of health systems in scalable and sustainable ways by strengthening health service delivery, enhancing information and communication technology systems, and engaging the private sector. Wu Qing, Beijing Cultural Development Center for Rural Women, China The organization empowers rural and migrant women in China by teaching them about their rights as citizens as well as their responsibilities and roles at home and in society. This is being done through the centre's Practical Skills Training Centre and a support network for migrant women. To date the centre has directly and indirectly influenced at least 1.5 million women in China.

Gisele Yitamben, Association pour le Soutien et l'Appui à la Femme Entrepreneur (ASAFE), Cameroon ASAFE provides business training and development services, alternative financing and access to IT training for the bottom of the pyramid, especially disadvantaged women in Cameroon and other parts of Africa. Using information and communication technologies, ASAFE has brought its entrepreneurs closer together and connected them to larger markets.