 Well hello and welcome to the world economic forums virtual Davos at the it is a proud moment for us to be able to collect thought leaders from around the world together to talk about issues that the world is most concerned about kicking up the Davos agenda we're going to be focusing on what it is going to take to rebuild trust and as part of the overarching theme of the Davos agenda on day one which is today. We are going to focus on one of the five themes that have been identified in today's theme is designing a cohesive sustainable resilient economic system and in that context we're going to talk about the power of social entrepreneurship what can be done to unleash social entrepreneurship and integrated with the mainstream. What are the challenges what are the impediments but more importantly what can be the policy response to ensure that this really does take off. I've got a power packed panel here with me. But again to set context why is this important and why is this up and center here as part of the Davos agenda because on account of the pandemic the inequities of the world is already faced with have only widened. In fact the World Bank estimates that over 420 million additional people will be pushed into poverty and the world's vaccine rollout continues to be patchy through two thousand and twenty one. The Schwab Foundation has put its response together through the Schwab Foundation as well as its coalition of partners to try and see what can be done to use these collaborations to try and mitigate the impact of the COVID pandemic. But more importantly shout out an action agenda on what a post pandemic world would look like introducing you to our staff cast this morning. They happen to be all women from different parts of the world but it's a great start to the Davos agenda. Cheryl Dorsey the president of Echoing Green. She's also the twenty nineteen recipient of the Schwab Foundation Social Innovation Thought Leader Award Echoing Green is a member of the COVID task force response alliance that's been put together by the Schwab Foundation. Also with us today Corrine Bazzina the vice president and Dan on Communities Dan on France. She's the general manager of Dan on Communities and Dan on Communities has expanded to support 12 social businesses across 15 countries and is directly reaching six million people every day. We're also privileged to have that's Alicia Barsena Ebrera the executive secretary of the United Nations of Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. This is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations. And the purpose is to contribute to the economic development of Latin America and coordinate actions there in. Also with us on the panel this morning Precious Molloy Motspe co-founder and chief executive officer of the Motspe Foundation. I've been working in various areas to promote gender equality and of course leadership and the first African couple to join the giving pledge and co-investors of the breakthrough energy venture. So thank you very much to the leaders for joining us here this morning. Cheryl if I could start by asking you why do you believe in a post pandemic world the need to unleash social entrepreneurship is so important. What do we do to mainstream this integrate this with the legacy economic systems that we have. What's been the experience for you as working as part of the coalition that's been put together by the Schwab Foundation to try and deal with the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. Cheryl. Thank you for that question. Shireen and I want to underscore how honored I am to be part of this illustrious panel and what a wonderful way to kick off Davos this year. Let me just start again by defining social innovation. It's really a process of developing and deploying effective solutions to challenging and often systemic social and environmental issues in support of social progress. All of us on this panel know that social entrepreneurs have been working for decades to solve market failures and demonstrate more sustainable models to build inclusive economies. But in this moment in particular never before has it been more clear how vital civil society is to building a more resilient global system in particular in this moment of peril and crisis. It really is a unique moment for social entrepreneurs because we can see the spectrum of civic action that social innovators bring to the public square from response and relief to recovery to rebuilding and reimagining a more just inclusive and sustainable world. So when we look across not only the COVID-19 task force that you mentioned. But also the work that social entrepreneurs are doing globally. It is absolutely clear that they are at work having instantly assumed many first responder roles especially those able to provide last mile support. These extraordinary leaders in their organizations have been critical to providing not only information and services and care to the most vulnerable. But also doing things like developing community tracing initiatives or providing much needed mental health support. They have been able to show up in a way in their communities because they have built a surface of trust on the ground over the course of many years in deep relationship building with low income customers or beneficiaries that is absolutely critical especially in this moment. Cheryl thank you very much for starting the discussion and you're absolutely right. You know we will have to look at this differently what the role is of social entrepreneurship when it comes to recovery but more importantly let's focus on the role of social entrepreneurship when we talk about rebuilding. And let me put that question across to Corrine at Dan on Corrine. Many thanks for joining us. I want to understand from you Corrine. What is what is the future of the public private partnership that you believe we need to nurture. We need to further given the experiences that you've seen with Dan on specially working through the pandemic. But more importantly as we look at sustainable models in a recovery period what would you like to focus on. Thank you Sharon. I would echo a lot of things that have been already said by Cheryl but I think that the actual pandemic more than ever has accelerated for many people the importance of the work that is done every day by social entrepreneur and what we've seen is that in the social entrepreneur that we are supporting for decades now and that we are witnessing on the field have shown an incredible resilience but also creativity the way they have adapted their model because they are linked to the local community really rooted in the community. They had the capability to very quickly adapt their model in order to create social value. So for us it's a proof. I don't think we need the proof but it's even more a proof for for the business and for the world that social entrepreneurship can play a major role in the recovery and thus I would say it's a chance and it's an opportunity for businesses for more businesses to join what Dan on is already doing and invest in social businesses. Well more investments in social business that perhaps is going to be one of the pillars to focus on. But let me go across to Alicia Barcetta. This Barcetta let me ask you about the role that you believe governments need to play and also what the future for regional cooperation could look like in the context of what we've seen through the pandemic. And now as we talk about rebuilding and making sure that the economic recovery that we do see is a lot more equitable going forward. Thank you so much and good morning to all COVID-19 magnified in my region the structural problems. And basically we are going to have a very bad seven years of low growth. We're talking about the last decade. So and inequality has been defining our region and workers for example on without any social protection are health services of any kind is up to 54 percent of the workers of this region of which 57 percent are women. Many women have been affected as particularly in the economic social entrepreneurship almost 2.6 million micro enterprises have been closed. And I believe that most in my region have been women and youth because youth also young people have seen the largest drop in employment and have experienced disruptions to their educational possibility. So what I want to say here is that governments of my region have responded somehow. They have given around. They have been reaching with social measures almost 50 percent of the population in two terms. One is to households. Another one is to micro enterprises. But it's not enough. And I think that despite the support that they have been giving up to let's say almost 85 billion dollars. And of course the difference is going to be huge without measures. We could have 230 million people in poverty with the measures. We're going to get 208 people in poverty is a lot still. OK. But then what can the central governments and the governments in general do because the situation is so bad that now many countries many governments are taking out the support they were giving to many and non-governmental organizations or to social entrepreneurship. This is something that worries me very very much because due to fiscal constraints we have to make sure that the governments do not take away the packages to so the fiscal packages for example to to social entrepreneurship that they stimulate the local markets that the public institutions are still there and are not going to be because we need a public policies on social innovation and economic and we need really to make sure that governments are going to first of all keep in place the support they were giving before. And secondly to I would say to strengthen the support because social entrepreneurship are should be championed by governments because and to scale up social innovation as we have seen because many of the responses are especially at the local level have been done by social entrepreneurship actually who have gone to the local markets to the local arena. But there's definitely a need for public institution platforms. And we have examples in Latin America and the Caribbean that I can put forward in a way we have the countries like the Pacific Alliance Costa Rica Colombia Mexico who are doing a great job and they are leading the social impact investment. And the other element and with this I will end is that the social entrepreneurship needs an ecosystem and the ecosystem is conformed by public institutions intermediaries and financial institutions and of course the organizations themselves. So the government should be empowering the whole ecosystem and also supporting the intermediaries. And I think one of the best countries doing that in my region is Colombia and Colombia and Chile are the two the two countries that are doing a lot of work on this with labs with intermediaries like sector B. And I think this is something that needs to be engaged. And I can comment later on what are the sectors that I believe could be transformative in this case over to you. Thank you so much. And I think that's a very important point that you raised and we will get to the sectoral focus in just a second. But the need to create an ecosystem where the government plays a facilitating role. I think that's a very important point that you made. And also to recognize the fact that governments around the world are dealing with fiscal constraints. And that brings me then to our next guest precious Motspe. Let me ask you what is the role in that context then that you see for philanthropic capital. Take me through your experience for instance in in having to deal with some of these challenges and some of these issues. You're on mute. My apologies. I'm truly excited to be part of this meeting particularly at this time when we have a global economic and health crisis. The worst that we've ever seen in our lifetimes. And I believe that social entrepreneurs hold a unique place where they can assist in addressing the social ills that we see in our communities and in society as well as working with you know governments philanthropists as well as other funders to ensure that we can reach the most marginalized and the most excluded in our society. I I I've been involved through my family foundation with the World Economic Forum's foundation of social entrepreneurship. I've seen over the last few years how the leaders the social entrepreneurs have applied innovative solutions using local contexts and actually solving problems that neither government nor the private sector could actually reach. I mean to give you an example in we have on the continent a young girl who was actually a winner of the social entrepreneur competition that we hold. And she supports what she calls the techno girls. This young girl has put together a community of young girls whom she trains in you know technology in coding. Very very essential part of us recovering and building better. They are you know social entrepreneurs also for instance who've worked in the regions on the continent like in Rwanda who have used drones to deliver special medical care to communities that are far in the rural in rural communities. And I see how this can really help the whole world to now where we are we need to be delivering vaccines to those rural communities. And the innovations that the social entrepreneurs have come up with have really proved to be very very essential. Now you asked me what the role of philanthropy could be in solving and helping us to build better. I believe that as much as social entrepreneurs are uniquely positioned to help with the recovery because of the models that they use philanthropists are also uniquely positioned because they can provide patient capital. They are flexible. They usually will invest in initial stages of supporting development and helping to develop innovations that social entrepreneurs are working on. And they can help build these and put them in a position where other funders can you know come on board and support to scale these innovations. Philanthropists have also worked in collaborating with each other in terms of I've seen for instance on the continent how philanthropists have come together in an unprecedented form of solidarity working with the private sector as well as civil society raising funds for important PPEs for instance and ensuring that communities in you know have access to water and sanitations which were essential in preventing the pandemic. So I believe that the combination of funders like philanthropists and other funders of course as well as this movement this very strong movement of social entrepreneurs which I'm really proud that Hilda Schwab started many years ago not knowing that this will be their time. Yes absolutely and thanks very much precious for putting a very important aspect of the social entrepreneurship conversation on the table which is that these are solutions often that the government doesn't have the bandwidth to deliver on or the private sector doesn't have any interest because it doesn't deliver on profits and hence this is this is really innovative solutions to try and address the markets that neither the government or the private sector chooses to address because of their constraints. But sure let me you know address that issue of fiscal constraints that was brought up by Alisa Barsena. And that is a concern that given the fact that governments at this point in time are trying to fund businesses are trying to provide social protection. You know are we likely to see a retreat from some of the goals that were put forward. Some of the movement that we've already made in being able to address some of these challenges. Do you believe that we are probably going to see a significant retreat on account of the impact of the pandemic and what can we do to ensure that that doesn't happen. That's an important question. You know the the caring economy as I call it of which social entrepreneurs are such a vital point are made for moments like these. These are mission driven mission oriented leaders mission oriented businesses. And this is why they exist. This is not to say that is this is not an existential moment for so many of them. We've got some data and this is building on what Alisha shared with us out of the OECD that has already indicated that so much of the work. So many of the measures to contain the viruses spread have hit small and medium sized enterprises and entrepreneurs particularly hard. This is an existential event for so many of them. However built into the very fiber and being in leadership constellation of these social entrepreneurs is a commitment to remaining true to the work at hand. Pivoting innovating seizing new opportunities where others see only challenges. So I do think there is an opportunity in this moment and I think you can see it through the COVID-19 task force where individual organizations continue to do very important work on the ground in communities but are recognizing the power of partnership and collaboration that are beginning to come together in collective ways. Not only through the COVID-19 task force but even movement building organizations like Catalyst 2030 that Echoing Green is proud to be a part of that is bringing together hundreds of social innovation organizations to help accelerate the progress of the SDGs. So I think there is a moment where organizations are recognizing that there is real peril at hand. But our work is more needed than ever. So I think some of these collective efforts really point to something very promising in this moment. Well we do hope that we do realize the promise and the potential that you speak of Cheryl and the power of a collaboration partnerships and leveraging the power of technology to be able to bring some of those deficits is going to be crucial whether it's health care or education. Alicia Barsana let me ask you because you raised that point where you believe which are the sectors that we should see social entrepreneurship focus on so that you can truly unleash its true potential in your assessment and especially giving given the fact that we're seeing the adoption of technology being accelerated through the pandemic. Where do you believe the focus should be. Well thank you so much. First of all I think that the COVID-19 has changed the priorities for many people. Many people are preparing to move away from from urban areas that are very very badly serviced right now and are moving many of them to the rural areas. Very interesting. And I think that also the social economy is very crucial in terms of changing some priorities because now the need is to move into the care economy to provide health to support the basic services. So many social entrepreneurs are moving for example to provide food because many people are falling into hunger. So they are going and they are organizing themselves to provide food in communities. And what we need to do very quickly Sharon I think is so let me put it this way in the juncture. Many of them are moving to the social sector to the care sector to the agricultural sector and the nutrition side of the equation. Now in the medium term we definitely need to move into energy. I think energy and renewable energy is one of the most important things I guess. In my region I have to say that 40 million households do not have internet connectivity. So many social entrepreneurs are moving into providing a digital basic basket which costs one percent of GDP. So how do we and this is happening basically in rural areas by the way. So I guess that what's happening today is that many of these social entrepreneurs are changing a little bit their modalities to be able to respond to the urgent needs of what's happening after the pandemics. Now I would say that circular economy is one of the traditional areas in which this sector has been working. But of course on agriculture and also in the in the in the in the in the bioeconomy in a new way of producing in a new way of nature. Now the last thing I want to say is that an alliance with the university is essential to make sure that innovation and that they are a platform for for for experimenting and for moving into technology as you very well say. And I believe that the government we are recommending governments to make sure that they understand where the social entrepreneurs are so they can they can be the vehicles to provide many of the social support because they can be the drivers of this help of the government that sometimes they don't know how to get to the people that is in need. So I guess this is something that we may we need to ensure that governments understand that social entrepreneurs can be vital for them to provide the most needed social services. And again I want to thank you. The job and the whole economic forum because I'm sure that we can push for the social entrepreneurship hardly harder and harder is not only philanthropy. It's urgent need in regions like mine. Thank you so much. Absolutely. And I think you've preempted a question that's coming in on on the chat from seconder. He wanted to know how governments can partner with social entrepreneurs. And I think Alicia you've you've highlighted that very eloquently. But Corrine if I could ask you to take that point forward. What is the ask that someone like you at Dan on who is working with social entrepreneurs to try and provide meaning to the communities that you service through that route through those vehicles. What is the ask from governments today. I'm thinking of the social entrepreneur that we are supporting today. Very concretely I think that what government can do is to put a frame of action which is clear for social entrepreneurs so that they can unleash their potential because in some countries for instance I would give you a very concrete example during this pandemic. We have some social entrepreneurs that are very locally rooted also with the lockdown. They were very close to the community. We also need to think about that. That what they could have an impact that wanted to produce. I do I collect gel in order to give it to change their facility in order to move from producing food to produce on top. I do I collect gel. And just for some of them having the right licenses from the government and so on was something quite challenging at the beginning. So I think this kind of thing the government can do. They can ease for social entrepreneur the space where they can they can work. This could be an example. OK. So the ease of doing business perhaps from a regulation point of view. That could be something the government looks into. We've got the final minutes of precious. I'm going to let you leave us with your message to fellow philanthropists to social entrepreneurs who are watching the single priority that they must focus on as we go about with the rebuilding agenda. Well thank you very much. Firstly for me I think it's important that we create more jobs particularly for the youth looking at places like Africa where youth unemployment is very very high. I think we need to come together to ensure that the vaccines reach the most impoverished and marginalized society. If one of us is not safe none of us is safe. So it is important to help with the distribution of vaccines. And lastly I think we need to focus also on uplifting women through social entrepreneurship and ensuring that we can move them out of the informal economy. We can protect them from sexual harassment in our workplaces as well in our home places. Thank you so much. Well thank you very much. Cheryl Alicia Corrine and Precious for joining us here to kickstart this conversation. We need the power of collaboration the power of convergence and the power of communication to be able to deliver on some of these crucial issues that the world is grappling with. And then we certainly need a much more sustainable robust economic model going forward that will bridge the inequities and cater to the most vulnerable across genders. Thanks very much for joining us here. But I would request all of our participants on top link to stay on with us because we have the private dialogue which will kickstart. Megan Fallone will take that forward. But for now many many thanks to my panelists for joining us here this morning. Today we are lacking social inclusion. We must mobilize individuals who in an entrepreneurial and innovative way tackle the big problems we are faced with now and in the future. All innovators whether they're looking for commercial means or social innovators looking to social impact. We all need them to be focusing on creating social environmental and economic impact. For the last two decades the Sharp Foundation has embedded social entrepreneurs into the world economic forum network as peers of business and government leaders. We have these unique skills as we the nerve center that interlinks and creates a new consideration that learns to work together in a more effective way. It means that you are creating practice and methodology which is possible for others to pick up. The secret is not to orchestrate everything is to build people up to the point where they start to go out and do the work on a much greater scale. If you are understanding towards their issues involving them in your work the sympathy raises a voice. How do things grow when there's real spirit real change at scale that matter requires energy not just a formula. We want to bring things to scale from helping a hundred people to helping a hundred million technology in that respect play such a pivotal role. Social innovators have often been the first responders during the covid pandemic as the health and economic impacts have disproportionately affected excluded and vulnerable communities. Together with over 80 global organizations we launched the covid response Alliance for Social Entrepreneurs to support them in their work which is needed now more than ever. For us to achieve systemic change we need to much more immediate access to the governments and change makers who can actually use our tech. What the Schwab Foundation is doing by including entrepreneurship academia and thought leaders is a very strong recognition of the accomplishment of social entrepreneurs who have made this such a strong feel to the extent that public institutions academia universities big corporates see the value of driving social innovation. This is a community that has collectively impacted the lives of 622 million people in over 190 countries around the world. We look forward to building an intersectoral community of social innovators bringing the system into the room to understand build and deliver on the change we know we need. We have the opportunity to begin to hold hands and to allow us to share our models for greater impact at the global level.