NFP CEO Wins International Social Entrepreneur Award

The CEO of the successful employment-ready Not for Profit ‘Fitted for Work’, Jane Hunt has been honoured as the only Australian to receive the international Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur Award for 2012.

Some 1,000 organisations were invited to enter the awards program and Hunt was one of 26 entrepreneurs to receive the worldwide recognition.

“Recognition of Fitted for Work’s success in such a domain is truly a milestone for the organisation,” Hunt said.

“The unique relationship between the Schwab Foundation and the World Economic Forum provides Fitted for Work with incomparable opportunities for engagement with the highest level of leaders from business, government and civil society.”

Hunt will undergo an intensive week of community building, activities and events at the Annual Meeting of New Champions as part of her award as well as attending the World Economic Forum in Switzerland next year.

Hunt joins an elite group of only five previous Australian recipients of the award.

“The award recognises the community of people who support the Fitted for Work organisation which has made a difference to over 10,000 women's lives in helping them get and keep employment.”

The winners are selected in recognition of their innovative approaches and demonstrated impact.

Hilde Schwab, Co-Founder and Chairperson of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, presented the awards during a reception at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of New Champions.

“Given the complex nature of today’s challenges, we must find more effective ways to collaborate across sectors, rather than working at cross purposes,” Hilde Schwab said.

“The 2012 awardees are successfully mobilizing a range of actors, including governments and corporations, to effectively address urgent social and environmental challenges. It is a testament to their impact – and to the efforts of thousands of other social entrepreneurs – that social innovation is becoming a priority for decision-makers at the most senior levels.”

The 2012 awardees include: Veronica Colondam of YCAB Foundation (Indonesia), Ronald Bruder and Jamie McAuliffe of Education For Employment (United States), Jane Hunt of Fitted for Work (Australia), Jordan Kassalow of VisionSpring (United States), Runa Khan of Friendship (Bangladesh), Vikram Kumar and Jonathan Jackson of Dimagi (United States),Tri Mumpuni of IBEKA (Indonesia), Thorkil Sonne of Specialist People Foundation (Denmark), Jim and Debbie Taylor of Proximity Designs (Myanmar), Gary White of Water.org (United States), and Anna and Dylan Wilk of Human Nature (Philippines).

The 2012 Awardees will become part of the broader Schwab Foundation community of Social Entrepreneurs, which includes 225 social entrepreneurs from more than 70 countries.

The Schwab Foundation was formed in 1971 by Professor Klaus Schwab (creator of the World Economic Forum) as an independent, Not for Profit foundation. Since then it has grown into a global community of world leaders in business, government, academia and civil society committed to improving the state of the world.