Unusual Pioneers is a platform for corporate leaders and social intrapreneurs turning business into a force for good. Established by Yunus Social Business, The World Economic Forum’s sister organisation, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and Porticus – this program accelerates the work of social intrapreneurs through mentoring, peer-to-peer support, and involvement of executives across industries.
We launched the platform last week with a stellar panel, featuring
- Aaron Hurst, Founder of Taproot Foundation and Imperative and Author of “The Purpose Economy”
- Åsa Skogström Feldt, Manager, IKEA Social Entrepreneurship BV
- Corinne Bazina, General Manager of Danone Communities
- Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, former-Chief Mission Officer for Essilor Luxottica and Essilor International. Senior Advisor & Coach, Essilor Luxoticca.
2020 has shown us there can be no more business as usual. We need businesses to move away from the sole focus on shareholders to include all stakeholders. "The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world" - Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum. This is where the Unusual Pioneers step in: Intrapreneurial employees using the force of their corporate powerhouses to solve tangible social and environmental problems. The Business As Unusual event showcases corporate social intrapreneurs and executives who are working on transforming corporations for the better.
Find out more on the Unusual Pioneers website.
The ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes once famously noted that: “we have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less“. The act of listening as a means of truly understanding an entrepreneur is an important skill when it comes to tackling the challenges they face.
We caught up with the CBO and Co-Founder of Arbusta, Juan Umaran about fighting the ‘war on talent’ in Latin America with opportunity youth. Arbusta is the latest investment of the Yunus Social Business fund in Colombia.
Earlier this year we took a group of philanthropists and partners to visit some of the social businesses in our portfolio in Uganda including Godson Commodities, Impact Water & Tugende. We also visited Kenya to see some of our pipeline companies.