Schwab Foundation lauds Asia 'social entrepreneurs'

By Zhang Yu'an (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-12 13:46

The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship will honor five award recipients this afternoon at the ongoing World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, a port city in northeast China's Liaoning province.

Social entrepreneurs to be honored are Asia regional winners from Thailand, China and Cambodia, and country winners from Singapore and Indonesia.

In an interview on the sidelines of the forum, Hilde Schwab, co-founder and chairperson of the foundation, told China Daily that "social entrepreneurship is a key factor in helping us work through the financial crisis, especially today with Asia playing such a critical role in economic progress and development".

The award is designed to encourage more entrepreneurs from Asia as well as from other parts of the world to join the campaign to help make the world better.

Social entrepreneurs have an important lesson to share in today's economic crisis, she noted, because they emphasize long-term sustainability instead of short-term gain. Their focus is to maximize benefits for society and the environment through innovative and effective business models. Their approach to entrepreneurship is one of sustainable economic growth, according to the foundation.

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Describing Chinese entrepreneurs as "very vibrant", Schwab said "there is a huge pool of social entrepreneurs in China and we hope more businesses from China will join social entrepreneurship".

With a population of 1.3 billion, China needs more social entrepreneurs to help the poor and disadvantaged, to develop green and renewable technologies, to provide micro-financial services to help combat poverty, to improve the healthcare and to aid women and children.

"China is a huge country. Many people have many good ideas which can help make our world better," Schwab noted.

Since 2000, the foundation has sought qualified entrepreneurs from across the globe, with 20 to 30 selected every year for the honor.

Timothy Ma of the Senior Citizen Home Safety Association, one of those to be honored this afternoon, is the first from China in the past few years to receive the award.

Ma's association provides elderly subscribers with 24-hour live operator assistance by using information and communication technologies.

Based in Hong Kong, Ma's association also has two retail shops selling products specialized for seniors and a monthly newsletter with information on daily living.

Ma has replicated the business model in partnership with Chinese city governments in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Macao and Shenzhen.