The World Entrepreneurship Forum Announces Winners of its 2012 Awards

Originating from four continents and symbolizing with their success stories the very sense of entrepreneurship, the “Entrepreneurs for the World 2012” Awardees were revealed yesterday at the World Entrepreneurship Forum’s prestigious annual gala ceremony.

The World Entrepreneurship Forum aims to foster sustainable development which combines both social justice and economic growth. This year’s event attracted over 200 participants from 59 countries – business and social entrepreneurs as well as policy makers, experts and academics.

The Forum made awards, in recognition of their achievements in their particular fields, to five individuals in the following categories:

Entrepreneur – Mo Ibrahim : Anglo-Sudanese

Founder of the African telecommunications giant, Celtel, Mo Ibrahim has now set out to improve the day to day lives of over 700 million Africans by encouraging best practice in political leadership and governance across the continent. His first step has been to set up the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which manages an index ranking the quality of governance in all 53 African countries and a prize awarded to democratically elected former Heads of State who have delivered security, health, education, rights, rule of law and economic development to their constituents.

Social Entrepreneur – Tony Meloto: Phillipino

The founder of Gawad Kalinga, a template for enabling volunteers to build integrated, holistic and, perhaps most importantly, sustainable communities in slum areas across the developing world. Initially focused on the Philippines, Gawad Kalinga now works with over 2000 communities across its original home, Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea and has attracted interest as far afield as Latin America and South Africa. Believing that poverty is as much about the loss of human dignity as about scarcity of resources, it seeks to bridge the gap between rich and poor, government and the private sector.

Women Entrepreneur – Aude de Thuin: French

Initially trained as a psychologist, Aude is the founder of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society. An annual event which now embraces over 1,200 delegates the Women’s Forum is designed to promote the representation of women in all areas of society and greater gender parity in all seats of power. The Women’s Forum has been recognised by the Financial Times as one of the most influential of its kind in the world. In 2011, having built its international reputation, she resigned from the Women’s Forum to found “Osons la France”, conceived to encourage society to resist the current economic gloom and “dare to believe in France”.

Policy maker – Irina Bokova: Bulgarian

The first woman to hold the post of Director General of UNESCO. A former Bulgarian minister for foreign affairs, her contribution to her country’s development has been recognised by The New York Times, which described her as playing an active role in Bulgaria’s transformation to become a European Union member. She plays a key role at UNESCO in transforming education to develop global citizenship.

Young Entrepreneur – Melissa Kushner: American

The founder of goods for good which helps local communities in Africa to care for more than 67,000 orphans by providing them with the surplus goods of the developed world – so far over 100 tons of children’s clothes, school equipment, toys and other supplies. Goods for good also helps to build businesses with community centres which provide vulnerable children with real opportunities to live successful, self-sufficient lives.