Social Enterprises Are Officially Part of the World Economic Forum’s Agenda

Last month, for the first time ever, social enterprises were included in the formal agenda of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting. 

Beyond just speaking on panels at Davos 2022, social enterprises attended as members — taking the stage alongside some of the world’s most influential CEOs, and contributing their much-needed perspectives to policy discussions. Their message was clear: social enterprises are pioneers of an inclusive, equitable, and sustainable economy. The conference highlighted their proven solutions to improve digital transformation, expand education, usher in circularity and regenerative business models, increase accessibility for healthcare, and more. 

More importantly, the World Economic Forum announced a number of new strategic partnerships to further support social enterprises, particularly in terms of partnering with the public and private sectors to accelerate the adoption of sustainable business practices. As was reported at The Forum, around 77% of social enterprises report difficulties in their engagement with corporations, especially when it comes to integral business functions. But that doesn’t mean it’s not already happening, and already working: as Sharon Thorne, the Global Board Chair of Deloitte, said, “There are amazing examples of corporates and social entrepreneurs working together, and that should give us real hope for the future.”

The World Economic Forum is investing in reducing these barriers to cross-sector collaboration through its Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship and its ‘Scaling and Partnerships’ Action Agenda. Amongst a number of initiatives the Forum is supporting, it specifically highlighted the TRANSFORM Support Hub, powered by MovingWorlds, to help social enterprises cross this chasm by building the connections they need to grow through revenue-based partnerships with the private sector, and building the capacity they need to deliver on them.

The World Economic Forum called on corporations and other non-state actors to join these efforts to support social enterprises, stating that “There are three trends that we believe need to be developed to enable a more supported social enterprise ecosystem: [1] strengthening corporate engagement, [2] building collective actions and networks, and [3] developing stronger social policies.”

MovingWorlds is proud to be one of the 100 organizations featured by the World Economic Forum as making a demonstrable impact in supporting the social enterprise movement. But we also recognize that this is just the beginning, and continued momentum is needed to reach a critical mass. According to the Forum, “If we want to recover from the current crises, rebuild more quickly, and lay the foundations for greater resilience in the longer term, we need to work together to deliberately and determinedly strengthen the social innovation ecosystem. Anything less will amount to selling our future short.”

If your organization is interested in supporting the social enterprise movement in service of a more equitable and sustainable future for all, we hope you’ll join us. Learn more about how the TRANSFORM Support Hub helps corporations engage employees and achieve sustainability goals here, and how the TRANSFORM Support Hub helps Social Enterprise Support Organizations (SESOs) accelerate their networks and build their pipelines here.