Adriana Mallet and Celso Athayde are social innovators of the year in Davos

Adriana Mallet is co-founder of the NGO SAS Brasil, which works to bring access to public health to underserved communities in the country, while Celso Athayde is the leader of Holding Favela, a conglomerate of 23 companies that promote business and jobs in communities.

The two Brazilians were recognized this Monday (23) among the 15 Social Innovators of the Year by the Schwab Foundation, during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland.

“This is the best time for a doctor to speak at a World Economic Forum, as we all know the impact that health can have on the economy,” said Adriana, an intensive care physician turned social entrepreneur, in the session entitled ” Transforming through Trust”.

“The pandemic taught us a lot,” continued the Brazilian, who ended her speech with a provocation.

“We already know that making healthcare accessible to more people is the best way to save lives and money. It’s not about charity, it’s strategic.”

Athayde also took the stage in Davos with an inspiring speech about the power that comes from the favela, symbolized by his own trajectory as a man and entrepreneur.

“I come from a place that symbolizes social exclusion in Brazil. I come from a favela called Sapo. My parents were alcoholics and my mother and I lived on the street for six years”, said the co-founder of Cufa (Central Única das Favelas).

Athayde recalled that there are 17 million Brazilians living in favelas, twice the population of Switzerland. “This is the number of people in Brazil who do not have access to basic services.”

He began his speech in “favelês”, he jokes, with a salute to his comrades from the favela, and ended in English for an international audience that, at the end, gave him a standing ovation.

“The world needs to choose. Either we share with the favelas the wealth they produce or we will continue to share the consequences of the social exclusion that the world elite continues to produce”, warned the Brazilian.

Adriana and Athayde were selected by Schwab, after being nominated by Sheet as Social Entrepreneurs of the Year, in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Both participated in editions of the Social Entrepreneur Award in Response to Covid-19.

They and this year’s 13 other laureates in Davos were greeted by Hilde Schwab, who welcomed them to a community of 400 social entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and prominent public and private sector leaders from over 60 countries.

“It’s an exciting time for us all to be gathered here and hear their stories,” said the co-founder of Schwab, the sister community of the World Economic Forum created by Hilde and her husband, Klaus Schwab, 20 years ago.

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the main event of the World Economic Forum returned to being in person.

Opportunity for the participation of a third Brazilian social entrepreneur, Guilherme Brammer Jr., CEO of Boomera, a greentech that focuses on the tripod recycling, science and social inclusion.

Winner of the Social Entrepreneur Award in 2019, Brammer is also part of the Schwab delegation at Davos 2022, marked by a strong agenda on environmental and social issues.

The Brazilian trio joined exponents of innovation around the world.

Among them, Dutch Jos de Blok, CEO of Buurtzorg, which transformed home care into healthcare in the Netherlands, and Australian Mikaela Jade, CEO of Indigital, Australia’s first indigenous technology company.

Professor Alberto Alemanno, founder of The Good Lobby, the main movement in defense of lobbying as a legitimate and healthy practice of democratic life to equalize access to power, was also recognized.

“We have here systemic solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, which will require coordinated action by governments, companies and local actors to ensure a sustainable and fair post-Covid era,” said Hilde Schwab.