Each year, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship recognizes and supports the world's leading social innovators for their collective efforts in creating a just, equitable and sustainable world for all.
Join us for the 2026 Schwab Foundation Social Innovation Awards ceremony to celebrate this year's outstanding changemakers.
At the Schwab Foundation Awards 2026 in Davos, Queen Mathilde framed social innovators as builders of “trust, credibility and the ability to deliver results over time,” stressing that progress often begins “far from the global stage” where solutions are tested and adapted. Schwab Foundation Director Francois Bonnici echoed the pragmatism: social entrepreneurs are “not superheroes,” but people who face problems they “can no longer choose to ignore” and act “again and again.” Hilda Schwab positioned the community—500+ innovators in 190 countries, impacting nearly a billion lives—as proof that purpose-driven leadership is scalable when it “reimagines broken systems” and empowers people at the center.
Seventeen awardees illustrated four clusters: equitable education and digital inclusion (Safaricom, Fundación Reimagina, Beyond100K); health justice (Tebita Ambulance, Drinkwell, Pad-Up Creations, Reckitt Catalyst, SaveLIFE Foundation); rights, institutions, and civic participation (Senegal’s solidarity economy reforms, Chile’s public innovation lab, eLiberare, INSKEN, Movilizatorio); and climate-smart economies (RAED, VEJA, Onçafari, FabricAid). Across sectors, leaders emphasized collective action—“the future we want isn’t individual, it’s collective”—and system execution, not just funding, as Drinkwell noted: “It’s not a budget issue, it’s an execution layer issue.” The throughline: durable impact comes from partnerships that turn innovation into institutions.
Welcome to the 2026 Social Innovation Awards, celebrating the social innovators and the work they do building inclusive, equitable and sustainable worlds. I'm Johanna Meyer, the director of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute in Florence, and it's my honor and privilege to moderate today's session awardees session on behalf of the Foundation. Before I hand over to Francois Bonnici, director of the Schwab Foundation, it's a great honor to welcome Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, member of the board of the Schwab Foundation, whose long standing engagement with the most vulnerable has inspired change beyond Belgium. Her deep commitment to social innovation from tackling child and intergenerational poverty, to championing mental health and youth leadership, speaks directly to the purpose of the 2026 Social Innovation Awards. Welcome, Her Majesty.
Ladies and gentlemen, social innovators. For many years, I followed the work of social innovators. In my contact with them have always been impressed by their commitment and the difference they make. For many people, communities and societies as a whole, whether part of a small organization or a big company, a social change makers, they invest in human capital to give a future to the more vulnerable in society. Through my work as a United Nations advocate for Sustainable Development Goals and during my many field trips in that capacity, I have seen how progress often begins far from the global stage in communities, cities and regions where social innovators test out what works, learn from their mistakes, and adapt to real needs. This is precisely what the Schwab Foundation has done over the years. Identify leaders who combine innovation with long term commitment and give them a platform to influence policy, markets and institutions. Today, outstanding social innovators will receive a prestigious award from the Schwab Foundation. This is an important recognition of the new ways they are addressing complex challenges that people face worldwide. All continents are represented here in this room, and over the years, a growing community has taken shape, made up of people who learn from, inspire and support one another. Indeed, the recipients of the award whom we celebrate today are not working in isolation. Many are building partnerships across sectors, helping bridges the gap between grassroots action and systems level change, a contribution that is essential to advancing the SDGs. Their achievements also remind us that sustainability is not just about scales, but trust, credibility and the ability to deliver results over time. They are showing us new ways of doing business and new ways of doing international development that ensure we look at the long term for all of our benefit and that of our future generations. At the time of a social socio economic uncertainty, the work of these innovators is more important than ever. They are proving that it is possible to remain both financially viable and socially and environmentally ambitious, even under pressure. I congratulate not only the 2026 awardees, but also the Schwab Foundation for its continued commitment to social innovation that serves people, the planet and the public good. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Your Majesty, for being with us today and for being a champion of social innovators throughout your career. Dear guests, it's really an honor to be here today. And thank you for joining us to celebrate the 2026 Social Innovators of the year, an inspiring group of leaders who remind us that leadership can be grounded in purpose and integrity while still displaying ambition and innovation. My name is Francois Bonnici. I'm the director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and a member of the executive committee of the World Economic Forum. The Schwab Foundation was established in 1998 by Professor Klaus Schwab, the founder of the World Economic Forum, and Hilda Schwab, the current chair of the foundation. Over nearly three decades, in partnership with the forum, the Foundation has provided a global platform for social innovators to drive systemic change, influence policy and stakeholders for transformative solutions. Since then, the Foundation has been committed to scaling social innovation worldwide. Social entrepreneurs are not superheroes, but they are super. There are people who encounter a complex problem they can no longer choose to ignore, and they choose to act again and again and again every day. Their work is grounded in the everyday realities of the communities and nature, and they build solutions that work not because they promise just the next big tech, but because they respond to what people need to what our planet needs and to what markets respond to. In addition to the awardees that we will shortly honor, I wanted to recognize some Foundation board members who are with us today. Of course, Professor Johanna meier, our moderator for today, Pascal Bruderer, who is with us. Thank you. Ernest Darko, I believe, is with us. And I saw Tasso Azevedo. Thank you so much for your service to the foundation in service of this community. And, of course, our honorary board member. Her Majesty, the Foundation awards have been celebrated in partnership with the Motsepe Foundation, founded on the philosophy of ubuntu, which is the African concept of giving and caring for your neighbor and your community. And our sincere thanks goes to Patrice and Precious Motsepe for their long term support of these awards. On your seats, you will also have our latest report called Built to Last Social Innovation in Transition, which highlights a core insight in times of disruption. Leaders who combine adaptability with systemic thinking drive long term impact. It also has the profiles of all of these incredible people. The Schwab Foundation recognizes awardees in four distinct categories, reflecting the different practices of social innovation with different institutions and different approaches required to drive systemic impact. Firstly, social entrepreneurs who are founders or leaders of impact first organizations employing innovative, market based approaches to directly address social and environmental issues. Secondly, corporate social innovators who are leaders in established or purpose built businesses driving transformation by embedding social and environmental impact into core business. Thirdly, the public social innovators who are leaders in the public sector, harnessing the power of social innovation to create public good through policy, regulation or government initiatives. And finally, the collective social innovators leaders who bring together organizations or groups to solve complex problems that cannot be tackled by individual actors alone. Amid a year of profound disruption and geopolitical shifts, these people and their organizations have reimagined our approaches to some of the pressing and complex challenges as the world evolves and sought new opportunities to remain impactful, their collective response redefines sustainability through collaboration, adaptability, and a renewed commitment to making our planet and societies a better place to reflect on the values and commitment that unites this exceptional group of leaders. It's my honor to introduce on video Hilda Schwab, the co-founder and chairperson of the Schwab Foundation, who has a message to share. Congratulations with all of you. Thank you.
Dear awardees, distinguished guests, thank you for joining us today for this very special occasion at the annual meeting on behalf of the whole Schwab Foundation Board, we wanted to congratulate you as we officially award you our Social Innovators of the year for 2026. It is very important to have you here in Davos to engage with world leaders, but also to have your work showcased here today and live streamed around the world in these critical times. Your work as social entrepreneurs and innovators is not just relevant, it is essential class. And I co-founded Schwab Foundation 28 years ago in order to demonstrate that purpose driven leadership for the benefit of all humanity existed everywhere. Over five decades, we have met outstanding business and political leaders around the world, but you remain our greatest inspiration. You are joining a community of over 500 social entrepreneurs and innovators, working in over 190 countries over the last 28 years. This community has directly impacted the lives of almost a billion people, and we know there are another 10 million impactful social enterprises around the world. But the real impact lies not only in the numbers and scale of people that are reached, but also in how social innovators achieve this. By reimagining broken systems, by developing new approaches to complex problems, and by empowering people at the center of all your solutions. I am very thankful for the active role that Schwab Foundation Board and Schwab Foundation team play in this demanding process of selecting and awarding outstanding social innovators from the many thousands around the world. And here, I also want to thank the Motsepe Foundation and Doctor Precious Moloi-motsepe for their long standing partnership with us, specifically for these awards and for our joint work on Africa, where we see social entrepreneurs thriving in many countries across the continent. Today, we are learning about the great work you are leading with your organizations to create a more equitable and sustainable world for all. Thank you for being with us and congratulations again to each one of you.
As we have heard from our speakers, social innovators develop solutions that impact people's lives while also repairing and, if necessary, transforming systems that continue to create and worsen problems. The work of the 2026 awardees focus on focuses on four thematic clusters that give evidence why such an approach is needed. The first thematic cluster centers on advancing equitable education and digital inclusion in a world shaped by technology lacking quality. Education or digital access can lock people out of jobs, services, and even basic information. Social innovation develops fresh ways of learning and using technology so that talent, not postcode or income, determines who can participate and prosper in our shared future. Our awardees are Karen Basil, Safaricom, Kenya.
Imagine with me a world where a young student has a device in their hand, perhaps a farmer or yourself. A device without guidance is just a device. 5 million people, 5 billion people globally have access to a device. In Kenya, mobile phone penetration is at 143%. 60% of the population have smartphones. These are just numbers, and it's easy to assume that everyone has been digitally include included because everyone assumes access equals inclusion. In reality, what we have done at M-Pesa and Safaricom is to ensure that these devices are meaning the farmer has access to farm inputs, they have access to financing and the right crops to grow. The student and the parent can revise and be able to get quality education using the device. So at Safaricom, we strongly believe that digital inclusion is the future and our purpose is to transform lives. And we do this through connecting people to people, people to knowledge and people to opportunities. We are currently working towards being Africa's leading purpose led technology company by 2030. This award is an affirmation of the work we have been doing. Thank you to the Schwab Foundation and all the colleagues at Safaricom who do this work with us, especially my CEO, Peter Ndegwa. Thank you very much.
Anna Maria Radbruch Foundation Reimagine Chile.
I come from a region where four out of five children do not understand what they read. You listen well. Four out of five and more than 50% of them are struggling with internet crash. We have to reimagine the future of our society for a more inclusive and more future ready country and region. That's why I decided to found reimagine to make sure that every child, every young people, every worker can really have access to the knowledge and the development of the skills that they need to thrive, not only today, but also in the future. We don't we don't do this alone. We work collectively with more than 80 organizations in seven different countries. We are connecting more than 1.1. 8 million teachers, curious teachers that are accessing to the best practices and teachers professional development to engage their students and develop the skills they need for today and also for the future. We are we are using technology and AI to scale and working hand by hand with the governments and local policies. This is an invitation to reimagine the future that we want with the best tool that we have, which is education. Thank you, Schwab Foundation for this award and thank you, Foundation for making it happen.
Talia milgram Elcott beyond 100 K. United States of America.
15 years ago today, a call rang out for 100,000 excellent Stem teachers for the US. No single organization could respond to a call that big. So we built something different. Not another program, but a network primed for learning, collaboration and collective innovation. Hundreds of organizations across sectors joined us, and together we didn't just reach the goal, we surpassed it. Preparing 108,000 teachers in a decade. We didn't stop there. Instead, we went beyond today, beyond 100, K is working to end the Stem teacher shortage in the US because an equitable economy and a hopeful future rely on unlocking the Stem potential inside of every child. And that relies on Stem teachers who believe in every child and who tell them that they belong in Stem. 15 years to the day after that first call. I am honored to accept this award, not for myself or our team alone, but on behalf of the hundreds of organizations, thousands of leaders, and more than 100,000 teachers who answered that call with us. This is what collective innovation looks like. It's the generational work of creating connection, building trust, cultivating momentum, and ultimately mobilizing action across difference so that together we can reach a goal that none of us could reach alone. To the Schwab Foundation, thank you for recognizing that the future we want isn't individual, it's collective.
Thank you.
Our second thematic cluster centers on protecting lives and advancing health justice. Whether it is an accident, unsafe water, or the lack of basic care, health shocks can hit any family and often hit the most vulnerable the hardest. Social innovation offers practical ways to bring life saving services closer to people, making health systems more fair, responsive and dignified for everyone. Our awardees are Kibret Abebe, Tabitha. Ambulance, Ethiopia.
I'm very grateful for Schwab Foundation. They confirmed me that I am not alone and I am not crazy. Ethiopia is a big country. The size of Ethiopia is the size of England, France and Italy combined. In this big country, there is no synchronized emergency medical service system. In Ethiopia, there is 194 days per 10,000 licensed vehicle. From these victims. Only 4% of the victims are coming to the hospital with ambulance. The rest are coming with personal car and taxi without any life taking measure. Very unfortunately, first aid is not in the Ethiopian educational curriculum. So if you face an accident, the days will be very imminent. I, who is forced to work in big teaching and referral hospital in Addis Ababa. I was daily almost handling emergency cases and I said to myself that what can I do about this? So I sold my house. I set standard for that country and start my job in darkness. After 15 years, we impacted. We transport more than 100,000 victims, give training for more than 300,000. We influenced more than millions and we are opening the first emergency paramedic college in Ethiopia. We are planning for air ambulance service system in East Africa. Thank you very much.
Minhaj Choudhury, drink well Bangladesh.
What an honor to be receiving the Schwab Foundation Award here at Davos on behalf of the 700 drink dwellers who work tirelessly every day to provide 3 million people safe water in South Asia. Now, does anyone know what the largest mass poisoning in history is? It's arsenic and fluoride impacting over 200 million people. See, you can't see or smell arsenic, but if it's in your water, it can cause cancer. And with fluoride, it can cause bone deformities in children. Now growing up as A, A, B, C, D, or American born confused Desi, I always wondered why water was something I could take for granted in the US, but was considered a luxury in South Asia. Like many children of immigrants, I was taught del doctor, engineer, lawyer or loser. And so during pre-med, I realized that patients are at the bedside because they've been suffering years of poisoning. The issue is more upstream. It's at the tap. And that's why we built Drinkwell, because Hicks nano can remove fluoride, arsenic at 70% of the cost, lower cost than reverse osmosis. We've deployed this 730 times at 99% recovery. But what I'm most proud of is that we're reinventing the infrastructure financing cycle of build neglect, rebuild. See, South Asia budgets $20 billion a year on water infrastructure, but only spends half. It's not a budget issue, it's an execution layer issue. We're reimagining that by bringing together governments, development banks and companies to have skin in the game. And that's infrastructure that lasts. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you can make the global water crisis history. Thank you.
Olivia. Unmoored by Fed Up creations Nigeria.
Can anyone here imagine your 12 year old daughter dropping out of school because you cannot afford sanitary pads? Can you also imagine that girl being exposed to reproductive tract infection because you cannot afford sanitary pads? Unfortunately, across Africa, this is the experience of millions of girls who get exposed to infection because their parents cannot afford to provide them access to sanitary pads. Most of them even drop out of school because they don't want to get bullied. My name is Olivia. I'm the CEO of Paddock Creations, a social company in Nigeria producing reusable sanitary pads as sustainable solution for these girls. We have distributed over 16 million across 21 countries, empowering over 22,000 women who distribute these products across these countries. And we have been able to create 571 jobs. Lack of access to sanitary pads is the worst form of violence against girls, and if we must achieve gender equality, we must ensure that 50 million girls have access to sanitary pads irrespective of their economic, class or location in the next 18 months. You need to join us on this course. So we are grateful to Schwab Foundation and the World Economic Forum for making this possible. This is the validation of the work that we do and we are really grateful for that. Thank you. Thank you so much. Yes. Thank you.
Hamza Zafar, Reckitt, United Kingdom.
Billions of people still lack access to essential healthcare and safe, clean drinking water, robbing them of a chance of a healthy and a dignified life. But there are women all over the world, deeply rooted in their communities, who are innovating to solve these deeply entrenched challenges. The challenge remains that only 2% of VC funding goes towards women led startups. That's despite the fact that they're outperforming their peers and creating six times more jobs. This needs to change, and it's why we created the Reckitt Catalyst in partnership with social innovation acumen and Hajek's. The catalyst exists to back underrepresented founders and scale vital access to communities who need it most. We connect health and hygiene founders with the core resources of a big multinational like Reckitt, our brands, our value chain, our core competencies and capabilities. By doing so, we scale, impact together and build the markets of tomorrow. Over the last five years, over 200 colleagues have supported 84 founders and more than 15 countries, unlocking access more than 1.8 million people. We scale behavior change strategies at the base of the pyramid to improve health outcomes, and we continue to create livelihoods at the base of the pyramid. Together, we show that we can drive inclusive, resilient and sustainable growth. Sincere thank you to the Schwab Foundation and the Motsepe Foundation and all the people who've been part of this journey, and all those who will never make it to the mountains of Davos. Thank you.
Us.
Piyush Tiwari, Safe Life Foundation, India.
Thank you to the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and to this remarkable and inspiring community of global social innovators. I accept this honor on behalf of the Save Life Foundation team, but also the millions of families whose lives are devastatingly reshaped by road crashes each year. Nearly two decades ago, a moment of personal loss changed the way I looked at the world. Loss has that power. It sharpens your sense of what matters, and it leaves you with a choice to move on or to act. And I chose to act. I believe that no one should die because the road was poorly designed. Help arrived too late or the system failed. The most vulnerable. In countries like India, road crashes are a public health issue, but also an equity issue. One road crash can can wipe out an entire family's future. Our work, therefore, is built around fixing systems, but with a lens of cultural empathy grounded in lived realities. This award, therefore, is not the finish line. It is a responsibility to continue moving together, but grounded in our values. Thank you so much.
Our next thematic cluster focuses on protecting human rights, strengthening institutions and civic participation. From disinformation to shrinking civic spaces. Many people fear that their voices matter less. Social innovation helps create new channels, tools, and practices so that more people can safely speak up, claim their rights, and help shape institutions that truly serve the public. Our awards are. Mamadou N'Diaye Senegal government.
Thanks to Schwab Foundation, we permit us to be a time as former ambassador to be the ambassador of a group of persons who decided to change the life of a million of Senegalese. First time you can. You know that in my country, we are now running an agenda of systemic transformation, and this group decided to to transform the life of Senegalese by first building a development policy, inclusive and participative, with permit to share in a large, wide part of the population the principles of CE on solidarity and social economy. But it was not sufficient. We added a clear legal framework which permit to know who is an actor and who is not permit also to rise to to identify the right and the duties of all the actors based on humanism principles. But it was not sufficient. What we add is that it's necessary to have fun to run this kind of economy. Then we adopted a new systemic form of financing, which permit to one a large part of our population, 1 to 3 million to exit easily in financing, apparently of the need and force we have made in in charge a data identify them. Thank you. For Schwab Foundation. We permit us to show to the world all we have in done in this country. Thank you.
Orlando Rojas, Chile government.
What happens when the system designed to support people end up making their lives harder and slowly erode trust in institutions, in government, and even democracy itself? This is the reality of millions of people in Latin America every day. When public services fail, trust in institutions collapses. Latin America is one of the regions with the lowest levels of trust in government. In Chile, one of three people trust. My name is Orlando Rojas. I'm the executive director of Chile's government lab, the National Agency for Public Innovation. And for more than a decade, we have worked helping government not only just to deliver better services, but to rebuild trust in citizens. At the center, we see public innovation, not just a technical tool, but as a political stance, one that puts co-creation and public value at the center. Understand that collective action is the key of progress and one that measures democracy with concrete results. Trust is rebuilt when people participate, when we have concrete results that people can experience, and when we treat people with dignity and respect. That's the work we are committed to. Thank you and Schwab Foundation for recognizing.
Joanna Bowers and Eskew Eliberare, Romania.
Conservative estimates say that right now, 27.6 million people around the world are enslaved in one form or another of human trafficking. That is the total of the population of New York, London, Paris and Tokyo combined. When it comes to sexual exploitation, 90% of the victims are women and children. Human trafficking doesn't impact only victims and their families. It impacts all of us because it robs people of their dignity and of their potential. We can't even dream of building a just and equitable world as long as people on our watch, children are being bought and sold for profit and the gratification of others. That's why at the library we make it easy for people to get involved. We create networks that are resilient and that actually disrupt trafficking before it happens. And we equip unlikely allies to identify trafficking in their communities. We also offer holistic, trauma informed services and opportunities to survivors, shifting the power back into their hands. Exploitation shouldn't be a niche topic. It belongs on the global agenda. And that is why I'm so thankful to the Schwab Foundation, the World Economic Forum, the Motsepe Foundation for awarding our work and actually sending a powerful message because of that, identifying, preventing, and combating human trafficking belong right here. They have to be prioritized, and we cannot do this on our own. If we wanted to make it a thing of the past. We need all of you. So please join the fight.
We want Saguni in Malaysia.
One of the biggest mistakes we make is assuming that talent is insufficient, when in fact opportunity is. I started the work to. I started the work after witnessing how rural and indigenous communities like me back in Malaysia were often excluded from opportunity, not by intent, but because the system was designed centrally. Today, as the CEO of Insan, I focus on building inclusive and decentralized entrepreneurship systems, especially for rural development and social enterprises. One model that we approach is the ground up model inspired by Effectuation theory. We started directly with rural community, built their capacity and network first, and then align their work upward with institutions. In less than two years, we have managed to position Malaysia's poorest state in Borneo as the largest, second and second largest social enterprise ecosystem in the country. This also shows that if we design system properly, we can decentralize opportunities. As my new friend, which I meet here, Lauren from Zimbabwe said because we are alive, we must remain hopeful. To the SCP Foundation and World Economic Forum. Thank you so much for this opportunity. And to Malaysia, especially rural community, this is for you. Thank you.
Juliana Uribe of Colombia.
Ten years ago, my country, Colombia, voted no to a peace referendum. And in that moment we decided instead of staying still, mobilized for 40 days and ask for a second chance for peace. That's how mobilization was born. Years later, when the pandemic hit, we stayed at home. But from there we mobilized using technology and with many partners, built a solidarity campaign Colombia Cuidad Colombia that brought food to 2 million people. Just last year at the climate conference in Brazil, when it was in a record high of fossil fuel lobbyists. We mobilized together with thousands of partners in a funeral for fossil fuels on the streets, imagining a future with green economies and with sustainability. When we mobilize, we achieve change. In these ten years of work mobilization, you have mobilized millions work with thousands of people. We are three mothers working with our team for the future of our children. We don't want a future with war. We don't want a future with climate change. We don't want a future with misinformation. And for that, one key thing is we've learned silence is not the winning strategy. Every voice and every act counts. Thank you to our team to show up for and for the World Economic Forum for this award. Our power is collective and join the movement.
Our final thematic cluster centers on protecting our planet and building climate smart economies. The climate crisis and environmental degradation are reshaping daily lives everywhere. Social innovation shows how communities, entrepreneurs and institutions can rethink production, consumption and energy so that protecting our planet goes hand in hand with building resilient climate smart economies. Our awardees are Emad Adly, Arab Network for Environment and Development, Egypt.
My name is Ahmed Adly. I come from Egypt and I represent the Arab Network for Environment and Development. Right? I come from a region that I'm sure you know about its political instability, but I can tell you that a number of years ago we we have found that also we have and we are one of the most vulnerable regions in the world when it comes to environment, climate change, loss of biodiversity. Would food and water insecurity, lack of awareness, lack of participation and also weak governance. And this is why a group of young activists, environmental activists started in 1990 to establish this right, the Arab Network for Environment and Development, to serve our communities, the communities that are very much in need, to find the solutions for the problems that are facing at their livelihoods, how we can make their participation, and also engagement is meaningful for their lands, for their communities, for their countries and so on. So it has been working for the last 35 years, and now we are 300 members from 18 countries, and we are serving the communities, and we are giving the voice of raising the voice of the communities that they were not able to do that. I'm very proud and honored that Schwab Foundation has given this award to ride on behalf of the 300 organizations and the millions of communities that are served by these organizations. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Francois. Ghislaine Marion. Versailles, France.
22 years ago with Sebastien, my best friend from high school, we decided to create a new brand of shoes called Vaja. So what do you see here? You see a white sneaker canvas, cotton canvas with leather and a rubber sole. But what? Does someone know what Vaja means? In Brazilian Portuguese, Veja means look. So the the idea behind the brand is to ask you what you don't see, what is behind and what behind these shoes. There are today 5000 families of social entrepreneurs. It's not only 1 or 2 social entrepreneurs, it's 5000 families that are harvesting cotton in the northeast of Brazil and in Peru there are the cotton is organic. It grows together with food crops, and you have families, collecting rubber in the world's biggest forest, the Amazon forest, the forest, the the rubber used is wild. It's not like a plantation. It's a way to maintain the forest. You have, waste pickers in the streets. Brazil. So families that live from this activity, that cleans, the streets. And we use the plastic to we recycle the plastic to to do the mesh of the shoes. You have families, growing cattle, organically in Uruguay. So, yes, this is Veja is a collective project. I would like to thank very much the Schwab Foundation for rewarding not only, the company, the brand, but all these families that are the true social entrepreneurs behind it. Thank you.
Mario Haberfeld on safari. Brazil. Thank you. It's an honor to receive this award here at the World Economic Forum. And be among so many entrepreneurs from so many different countries that are creating positive cultural, social and environmental change. As we look back at on safaris 15 year history, we see that the need for biodiversity conservation is ever more pressing. Brazil is home to some of the most important biomes in the world, and they're all under threat. The Global Economic Forum has just released its Global Risk report, and out of the ten out of the ten main risks, five environmental. And the to mitigate that risk on safari works in in various ways mainly creating large ecological corridors reconnecting habitat. We now operate out of 20 conservation bases out of four Brazilian biomes and have recently gone, cross borders in a project called Jaguar Rivers Initiative, together with partners from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia. We're trying to reconnect habitats in the second largest river basin in South America. But conservation can't be done alone. So we need committed partners and supporters. I invite you all to join our efforts of protecting Brazil's rich biomes, for future generations. I'd like to dedicate this prize to our team in Brazil, especially to a very beloved team member that has recently passed away. Diogo will always be with us. Thank you.
Omar Itani fabricate Lebanon.
Marhaba. In the Arab world, there are 77 million people who can't afford decent clothing. Our vision at fabricate from day one was not to eradicate poverty, but to eradicate that symptom of poverty. We created stories in Lebanon and Jordan that allow marginalized communities to come into our stores. Everything is hanged and displayed. There's price tags, fitting rooms, personalized advice. People have the chance to choose whatever items they want at prices that they can actually afford, without feeling that somebody is doing charity for them. Our prices are about a dollar per item. Every year, we are able to sell more than a million items to more than 200,000 beneficiaries. Not only that, a vision that was created while we were creating the company and developing the company was to abolish fabric waste. 30% of the clothes that we receive is overconsumed and damaged. This cloth is today transformed into corporate merchandise, into material that can be used in furniture and construction. The journey of entrepreneurship is tough and is very lonely, and our journey in particular at fabricate has been very, very challenging. Today, with the Schwab Foundation, it's a boost of our morale and an increase of our credibility. And I believe that with you guys, it will be less lonely and less tough. Thank you so much.
What an incredible group of social innovators who not only act, but also allow us to reimagine. Thank you for being with us here in the room and on the live stream. Please congratulate our 17 awardees and celebrate the entire community of social innovators who tirelessly work to improve the state of the world. Thank you.
So I feel slightly taller. Stand on the front line.