World Entrepreneurship Forum

Founded by EMLYON Business School, KPMG France, Singaporean institutions ACE and Nanyang Technological University, 2 French Institutions City of Lyon and Lyon Chamber of Commerce and Zhejiang University in China; the World Entrepreneurship Forum is the first global think-tank dedicated to entrepreneurs, creators of wealth and social justice. Since 2008, 350 members from 76 countries have met to tackle our world’s most pressing issues with entrepreneurial solutions.

At a time of economic crisis all over the world, and when existing models have shown their limitations, entrepreneurship has emerged as a genuine solution to boost recovery. Selected all over the world for their entrepreneurial achievements and their commitment to society in their country, the members of the Forum comprise 80% entrepreneurs (business or social entrepreneurs) and 20% policy-makers, experts and academics. This community of entrepreneurs from five continents is a unique concept and a showcase for entrepreneurial solutions to the great challenges of our times

Annual Meeting: 13–15 November 2008, Evian, France

The first edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum was held in Evian (France) on 13–15 November 2008 under the patronage of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

At the heart of the initiative: EMLYON Business School (France) and KPMG France, considering that traditional organisations are no more relevant to face the complexity and nature of our world's challenges and issues. Their conviction: by transforming constraints into opportunities, creating organisations creating wealth on a sustainable basis, daring to take risks make entrepreneurs pivotal in addressing our world's issues.

Selected for their achievements in their respective countries by a team based in EMLYON Business School, 62 business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, academics, politicians and media from 36 countries gathered for the first time to discuss a provocative assumption: "Entrepreneurs are creators of wealth and social justice".

A 9-guideline action plan aimed at fostering entrepreneurship globally was voted by members.

Annual Meeting: 18–21 November 2009, Lyon, France

Four international personalities have been honoured with the Entrepreneur for the World:Award on November 19 during the 2009 edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum, which took place in Lyon France, from 18 to 21 November. The Entrepreneur for the World Award is being granted annually by the World Entrepreneurship Forum to four international personalities (an entrepreneur, a social entrepreneur, an academic expert, and a politician) to highlight their remarkable entrepreneurial success and their commitment to the society. The Awardees are Bert Twaalfhoven, Fazle Hasan Abed, Kazuo Inamori, and Mary Robinson.

Annual Meeting: 3–6 November 2010, Lyon, France

The World Entrepreneurship Forum awarded four international personalities who are not only successful as entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, academics, and politicians, but individuals who are significantly concerned about global issues. The award winners for 2010 are :

Mr. Liu Chuan-Zhi, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lenovo Group; Ms. Ela R. Bhatt, co-founder of Self-Employed Women's Association of India, Ms. Christine Lagarde, French Minister for Economy, Industry and Employment; and Dr. Howard H. Stevenson, Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Annual Meeting: 2–5 November 2011, Singapore

The 4th annual meeting of the World Entrepreneurship Forum took place in Singapore. The Young Entrepreneur Award, a new award category for entrepreneurs below 35, has recognised Ms Reese Fernandez, Co-Founder of Rags2Riches in the Philippines. Her venture has revolutionised women’s business practices and lives by transforming rugs from recycling scrap material into fashion handbags, eyeglasses or wine-bottle holders, sought by high-revenue customers, bringing revenues and self-confidence to employed women.

2011’s winner of the Social Entrepreneur Award is Mr William Drayton, Founder of Ashoka, USA. Mr Drayton was the first person to coin the term “social entrepreneurship” and started Ashoka in 1980. The not-for-profit organisation is established in 70 countries and supports the work of 3,000 Ashoka Fellows, selected for their impact on their social and business environments, in replicating and scaling their ventures so as to have a global impact.

The winner of 2011’s Politician Award is Ms Anneli Hulthen, Mayor of Göteborg, Sweden. She is Mayor of an entrepreneurial city that has implemented several initiatives, such as “Expedition Forward”, “Business Emergency Programme” or “Brew House Incubator” widely praised among European cities for their positive impact on entrepreneurs’ ventures and the related creation of jobs.

Finally, 2011’s Entrepreneur for the World Award has been given for the first time to a company, FOSUN International. The Shanghai-based conglomerate with a wide array of activities such as pharmaceuticals or healthcare, being present on the global front through its 7.1% stake in Club Med, generates an annual revenue of 4.5 billion euros and has perfectly aligned its strategy to answer Chinese population’s social needs (such as ageing population or new consumption habits).

Annual Meeting: 24–27 October 2012, Lyon

The World Entrepreneurship Forum 5th edition took place in Lyon, France on 24–27 October 2012. The focus of the 2012 edition was on "Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: cultivating communities to drive wealth creation and social justice".

This event attracted 200 participants from 59 countries – business and social entrepreneurs as well as policy makers, experts and academics. The Forum made awards, in recognition of their achievements in their particular fields, to five individuals in the following categories:

• Entrepreneur - Dr. Mo Ibrahim : Anglo-Sudanese Founder of the African telecommunications giant, Celtel, Mo Ibrahim has now set out to improve the day-to-day lives of over 700 million Africans by encouraging best practice in political leadership and governance across the continent. His first step has been to set up the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which manages an index ranking the quality of governance in all 53 African countries and a prize awarded to democratically elected former Heads of State who have delivered security, health, education, rights, rule of law and economic development to their constituents.

• Social Entrepreneur - Mr. Tony Meloto: Filipino The founder of Gawad Kalinga, a template for enabling volunteers to build integrated, holistic and, perhaps most importantly, sustainable communities in slum areas across the developing world. Initially focused on the Philippines, Gawad Kalinga now works with over 2000 communities across its original home, Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea and has attracted interest as far afield as Latin America and South Africa. Believing that poverty is as much about the loss of human dignity as about scarcity of resources, it seeks to bridge the gap between rich and poor, government and the private sector.

• Women Entrepreneur – Ms. Aude de Thuin: French Initially trained as a psychologist, Aude is the founder of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society. An annual event which now embraces over 1,200 delegates the Women’s Forum is designed to promote the representation of women in all areas of society and greater gender parity in all seats of power. The Women’s Forum has been recognised by the Financial Times as one of the most influential of its kind in the world. In 2011, having built its international reputation, she resigned from the Women’s Forum to found “Osons la France”, conceived to encourage society to resist the current economic gloom and “dare to believe in France”.

• Policy maker – Ms. Irina Bokova: Bulgarian The first woman to hold the post of Director General of UNESCO. A former Bulgarian minister for foreign affairs, her contribution to her country’s development has been recognised by The New York Times, which described her as playing an active role in Bulgaria’s transformation to become a European Union member. She plays a key role at UNESCO in transforming education to develop global citizenship.