Nobel Peace Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus' organisation Yunus Social 
Business, together with partners at the World Economic Forum's Schwab 
Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and the Porticus Foundation, have 
launched an ambitious platform to bring 'corporate social intrapreneurs' 
together to learn from each other and scale. It's called the Unusual 
Pioneers. 
 
   BERLIN, June 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Using the resources, expertise, 
and assets of the company, dedicated employees are developing solutions 
to social and environmental problems --with a business model at their 
heart. These "social intrapreneurs" take on an entrepreneurial role 
within their company and, with the CEO's blessing, they are creating 
social businesses, which are 100% focused on solving a societal problem 
and reinvesting profits. The Unusual Pioneers is a platform created 
solely to support these social intrapreneurs. 
 
   "Large corporations are finally feeling the pressure to do better for 
the societies they serve. But it's a movement coming from their 
employees. We started researching these emerging social intrapreneurs, 
and found that the single most important thing we could provide them 
with is a platform to connect with each other. When you are doing 
something against the grain, it's so important to know there are others 
out there like you," said Saskia Bruysten, CEO & Co-Founder at Yunus 
Social Business. 
 
   "Citizens, activists and young people are crying out for strong action, 
requiring complex changes within businesses. We have seen this call 
answered by a committed group of social innovators acting as internal 
agents of change. These social intrapreneurs develop new products, 
services, and business models that create value both for society and 
their companies in ways that are built to last, while striving for the 
internal changes needed towards realising stakeholder capitalism," said 
François Bonnici, Head of Social Innovation at the World Economic 
Forum and Director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. 
 
   The Unusual Pioneers cohort will be led through an extensive curriculum, 
peer-to-peer exchange and mentoring to scale their initiatives with the 
help of partner organisations including Acumen, Impact Hub, The UNDP's 
Business Call to Action, Fundaçao Dom Cabral, League of 
Intrapreneurs, Craigberoch Business Decelerator and many more. See the 
full cohort of the corporate social intrapreneurs announced today at 
Global Intrapreneur Week by Prof. Muhammad Yunus: 
 
   https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=13UzpY0eEnvo7ROgSBNN5AEChjFeyTE4t5UwoKTrQCX-41EIYaD91maZFAJ48Of3XMnGBAkObxs6bvmiqFSvH2_uguj3Ec093tBHZAj-u-Pq803TnY6bpEfYuzyOUera 
Cristina Campos, Integrated Access Program & Market Lead at Novartis. 
Working on transforming health on lower income populations, the 
initiative provides access to quality healthcare and medicines in South 
Asia & Central America. 
 
   Ruchika told us, "I'm at a company that has the resources, the 
capabilities, the talent and the ideas. If we don't step up to solve 
these challenges and play a meaningful role, who will?" 
 
   https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=UEhTMYJiHQqrz-enVOeYsVO_BwzULnUGQC3tUa2qXm5tfS8-VqtcyS4M-bXqke1JiPFAxFi2NfhZznJ03JkIbbbOZixCC-WZJtEjq_b_FbtlDAkHCwGZjDa79GXHqwaDdsRjox8YRjeo3f_RvYo8IA== 
Garance Wattez-Richards is CEO of AXA Emerging Customers, a business she 
founded that provides insurance products aimed at low-income 
communities. Established in 2016, they cover over 22 million people 
across the world, ranging from migrants, small retail merchants, 
smallholder farmers, gig economy workers, etc. 
 
   https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=fgu3Bgfu89q6IgzoZQt7tVPtVf-tLL7NoQcSbUX2jP7f_uEKWnP2wJVDssFOE-16nCOOmMhhWT9PQW2nmgYud_9gHOJkquIpH_tKZeBhflI= 
Agnes Weil - Social Impact Director at Club Med. Club Med are buying 
from local farmers who live in the proximity to their resorts and 
thereby helping to reduce poverty and protect the local environment. 
They are already working in six countries and have been highlighted as a 
best practice by the World Tourism Organisation of the UN. 
 
   The cohort also includes: 
 
 
   -- Gisela Sanchez, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at FIFCO. 
 
   -- Cristina Campos, Integrated Access Program & Market Lead at Novartis. 
 
   -- Lisa Neuberger, Managing Director, Strategy & Innovation at Accenture. 
 
   -- Benoit Bonello, Social Innovation Director at Suez. 
 
   -- Juddy Gichuki, Senior Manager, Corporate Strategy at Safaricom. 
 
   -- Saad Arshad, Senior Manager Program & Research at HBL Habib Bank. 
 
   -- Saulo Di Pizzo, Head of Social Innovation & Community Engagement at 
      Givaudan. 
 
   -- Sharda Gautam, Head Crafts at Tata Trusts. 
 
   -- Ritesh Agarwal, Senior Manager, Growth & Partnerships at Educational 
      Initiatives. 
 
   -- Nicola Galombik, Executive Director at Yellowwoods Ventures Investments 
 
   -- Salah Goss, Senior Vice President, Global Markets Humanitarian & 
      Developmen at Mastercard. 
 
 
   About Yunus Social Business 
 
   https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=-TedjCtWJOBi4z44FbgFECL3JVY0WdVmKUjzkixrRhVFGsPxwe59SrTodFiTbBoxoGmsXxOJveP_yYldmP3MyeqjCtNLtA7IWdYQvnE-JLk= 
Yunus Social Business (YSB) believes in the power of business to end 
poverty, a model pioneered by our co-founder, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 
Prof. Muhammad Yunus. YSB has supported or invested in more than 2000 
social entrepreneurs worldwide to build meaningful social businesses in 
agriculture, health, education, mobility, clean water, and energy. They 
also accelerate the transformation of corporations into net 'people and 
planet' positive businesses by applying their core competencies to some 
of the greatest human challenges. Founded in 2011, YSB has headquarters 
in Berlin and is led by co-founder and CEO Saskia Bruysten. For more 
information visit 
https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=cP01YNnPRa8t7cEgHeK2if_Shq4exP3ho3Nb8tKgybDcfgCncjntKsaLThLhUTSNdfyNSmvAXmTxxb9sn_q2UixmC3kvRLyl7xXLoSHxTmU= 
https://www.yunussb.com. 
 
   About Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship 
 
   The 
https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=s4ECb_mWfWMxpr-3Q_BYgVhVZDX9Armj73FTVRJ9Ddr0VJ625__Xx2fmyNXzFMs8JSHkjz5iO3bC0sMn2jlgTnfK18d8OaTBbfM39AQcZ_eHvgCgvAPfIXVJyDhcwfd8 
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, sister organization of 
the 
https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=V5OTeunsSQxVKXZdUaoWe7GpwNfK3BLILooBHxeHgLIM9Q0K05tIFmvK71MkvzixCSstvfztLzeNtlCVZTXfh7c0O2i-37OwvupKdc1lakY= 
World Economic Forum, is a leading global platform that accelerates 
outstanding models of social innovation. Every year, the Schwab 
Foundation, awards outstanding social innovation models through four 
categories: 
https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=aAqw_j0VBCO7ZwgxswacVQKy4pwaF8M2if_mP0ufhSfPdLrO0mQZuzVFfpqBtoRV2VpFfcx4HNIC0Q69rn_i-oICWkLhUSa8y-BVqS0Dhx9Ml4ALuuIJob0lJRSIsFv9Wqy-_jltY5wwnmsT9tNe-mCWQ4DPCfpEAwctT5tCvwo= 
Corporate Social Intrapreneurship, Social Entrepreneurs, Public Social 
Intrapreneurs and Social Innovation Thought Leader. The awardees 
accelerate their impact through a strong collaboration with the World 
Economic Forum and its platforms. Founded in 1998 by Professor Klaus 
Schwab and Hilde Schwab, it is chaired by Hilde Schwab and led by Dr 
François Bonnici, Director, Schwab Foundation for Social 
Entrepreneurship The Foundation involves a community of over 400 
change-leaders who have impacted the lives of over 622 million people in 
over 190 countries. For more information visit 
https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=cP01YNnPRa8t7cEgHeK2id-0BWyeWQIgAECDMX8yvx6R9Cklj6snLZJpCvQVPk_zLNy1_T_Z51YLEdCDJNyUsrQA9volwzo8saJwR6TFV-k= 
https://www.schwabfound.org/. 
 
   Media Contact for Yunus Social Business 
 
   Ruby Frankland 
 
   ruby.frankland@yunussb.com 
https://www.globenewswire.com/Tracker?data=fogZGIKW6TarKGyi8MQhqZlINZ36W47Bf03eW5U4noBb9hsQm1x0a060NqF1hYyMQ83nJ0bmnPGo2-rCRvvYLmKt0ZGelsNF-xB2pHOxFZYhE2QZ2vZ3bUpMOlymacdh 
 
 
   Yunus Social Business 
 
   A photo accompanying this announcement is available at 
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/75d5a90a-89da-4887-89bd-decf1173ddbb

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 09, 2021 08:00 ET (12:00 GMT)