We are delighted to announce the five winners of the 2019 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship, one week before we head into the 16th Annual Skoll World Forum: Crisis Text Line, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, mPedigree, mPharma, and Thorn.
The Skoll Awards distinguish transformative leaders whose organizations disrupt the status quo, drive sustainable large-scale change, and are poised to create even greater impact.
“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. “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 of the Skoll Foundation. “We are thrilled to welcome these passionate problem solvers into the Skoll community.”
Each of the 2019 Awardees leads an organization that shows great promise of outsized impact:
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 confronts South Africa’s youth unemployment crisis—among the world’s highest—with its innovative job training methodology, business partnerships, and opportunity matching.
mPedigree fights drug and agricultural seed counterfeiting with a product identification marker that consumers use to determine authenticity immediately with a mobile phone.
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 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.
To watch footage from the Awards Ceremony, plenary talks, sessions, and more, sign up for our free Digital Pass. And follow along on our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using #SkollWF to see live Forum highlights.
