The Skoll Foundation has just announced the five winners of the 2019 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship.
The Skoll Foundation presents the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship each year to a select group of social entrepreneurs whose innovations have already had significant, proven impact on some of the world’s most pressing problems, and invests directly in the promise of even greater impact at scale. By investing in organizations when an innovation is ripe for accelerated and scaled adoption, the Skoll Awards help unleash the full global potential and reach of social entrepreneurs.
Each Awardee receives a $1.5 million investment or core support grant from Skoll over three years to scale their work and increase their impact. They also gain leverage through their long-term participation in a global community of visionary leaders and innovators dedicated to solving the world’s most pressing problems.
“These brave entrepreneurs are on the frontlines of solving the world’s most pressing problems,” said Jeff Skoll, Founder and Chairman of the Skoll Foundation and former Ebay President. “Each social entrepreneur may have a distinct approach, but they all share a relentless pursuit of impact and the desire to create a more just world.”
“These leaders have demonstrated how to spark transformative change to improve health, protect vulnerable individuals, and provide new opportunities for young people,” said Richard Fahey, Interim President and CEO of the Skoll Foundation. “We are thrilled to welcome these passionate problem solvers into the Skoll community.”
Meet the 2019 Skoll Awardees:
Crisis Text Line: Nancy Lublin
Crisis Text Line has built a 24/7 mental health support service that reaches underserved demographics. It leverages its data to catalyze a more effective, cohesive mental health system.
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator: Nicola Galombik and Maryana Iskander
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator confronts South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis—among the world’s highest—with its innovative job training methodology, business partnerships, and opportunity matching.
mPedigree: Bright Simons and Selorm Branttie
mPedigree fights drug and agricultural seed counterfeiting with a product identification marker that consumers use to determine authenticity immediately with a mobile phone.
mPharma: Gregory Rockson
mPharma fixes the broken drug supply chain in Africa to make medicine accessible and affordable by eliminating the inefficiencies and price fluctuations that keep drugs from sick people.
Thorn: Julie Cordua
Thorn defends children from sexual abuse, scouring web data, publicly available classified ads, and online forum data with smart algorithms to help law enforcement find child victims.
Awardee organizations receive $1.5 million in core support investments to scale their work and increase their impact. The social entrepreneurs also gain leverage through their long-term participation in a global community of visionary leaders and innovators dedicated to solving some of the biggest global challenges of our time.
These remarkable social entrepreneurs will accept their awards at an awards ceremony on Wednesday, April 10 at the New Theatre in Oxford, England as part of the 2019 Skoll World Forum.
