Young Social Entrepreneurs for Sustainable Development

Achieving sustainable development requires global, whole-society collaboration, with a major role for innovative young people who are working together to find solutions to the most pressing problems of our time, according to a recent SAP press release.

The Social Impact Award program, of which SAP is a global strategic partner, brings together these so-called "social entrepreneurs" from around the world and provides a platform for them to present their solutions to a sustainability problem after several months of mentoring.

The UN's Sustainable Development Report 2023 serves as a loud wake-up call and reveals a worrying reality; none of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are currently projected to be achieved globally by 2030.

"Supporting young social entrepreneurs is not a matter of choice; it is absolutely necessary to overcome the huge challenges we face," says Claire Gillissen-Duval, Head of CSR, EMEA and MEE at SAP and Global Strategic Partner at SIA.

"These difficulties are unfolding against a backdrop of deepening social divisions, the rise of populism and the global conflicts that have been escalating since the outbreak of pandemic COVID-19 in 2020, which only adds to the severity of the situation. These problems are hitting the world's poorest nations hard and this reinforces the need for innovative solutions," she adds.

The SIA's Sustainable Development Goals program brings together young entrepreneurs from across Europe, Asia and Africa to work on the most pressing problems of our time. These projects cover a range of sectors aimed at achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including responsible consumption and production (SDG 12); reducing inequalities (SDG 10); developing sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11); eradicating poverty (SDG 1); and developing industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), achieving good health and well-being (SDG 3), affordable and clean energy (SDG 7).

The participating teams will be selected after months of incubation in 182 countries around the world. The teams will each produce a 90-second video clip and the top 45 teams with the best 45 goal-oriented solutions will participate in the WSA Global Congress in Chile, where the final champions will be announced.