Day 1 Highlights of the 2021 World Economic Forum Davos Agenda

Today, the World Economic Forum kicked off the Davos Agenda, a virtual convening of global leaders to shape the principles, policies, and partnerships needed to support a global economy.

I normally don’t get inspired by a meeting of the world’s leading capitalists, but today, something was different.

Take a look at the below headlines of some of the most popular topics — you’ll find that for a meeting on economic health, the focus on the environment, social justice, democratic institutions, and equity mark a significant shift that gives me hope in our collective desire to #BuildBackBetter:

1. The bold steps business leaders must take on social justice (TL;DR: COVID surfaced issues most already knew were there, especially in relation to systemic and racial inequalities. This year is the inflection point for companies to make real commitments and changes, starting at the Board level.)

2. Greta Thunberg’s message to world leaders on the environment (TL;DR: Long-term commitments and empty promises aren’t enough. Drastic change is needed. Don’t let your children down. Reform is possible.)

3. Gender equality is improving, but not fast enough (TL;DR: This is a systemic issue that requires more leaders to take bolder actions, and more organizations to put data to work to expose and address inequalities.)

4. Mental health is now a business concern (TL;DR: Smart people shared 6 things that are working, all of which start with leadership modeling it and championing mental health care into business strategy.)

5. Social enterprises are a strategic priority (TL;DR: Social enterprises have intimate knowledge of the communities where they work and have proven the most nimble, innovative, and resourceful in mitigating the effects of COVID and initiating rebuilding efforts.)

Last year, in the depth of the crisis, MovingWorlds launched its S-GRID Social Enterprise Accelerator to help social enterprises build connections, knowledge, and internal capacity to partner with corporations in a way that helps scale more sustainable and equitable ways of doing business. As we previously wrote, the World Economic Forum is betting on social entrepreneurship, too. So are SAP, IKEA, and more, and we are excited to see initiatives like this still being highlighted at the World Economic Forum. A special thanks to SAP for assembling this video which helps bring to life the very type of outcomes that the World Economic Forum is hoping to achieve: harnessing the power of business as a force for good.