Five Indians on Schwab Foundation's 2020 list of social innovators

Five Indians including Azim Sabahat of Global Healthcare and Ashif Shaikh of Jan Sahas have been selected by the Schwab Foundation for 'social innovators of 2020' awards for being among the first responders to the Covid-19 crisis.

The other three Indian awardees are Shanti Raghavan and Dipesh Sutariya of EnAble India, which is building an Indian ecosystem of skilling, employment and entrepreneurship for persons with disabilities, and Prashant Mehra of Mindtree (India).

Announcing 23 awardees from across the world, the Foundation said their work ranges from "building hospitals in rural India, empowering Black-communities in Brazil, providing financial resources to last-mile communities in Ghana, raising over 100 million USD for lower-income families in the US, to breaking the glass ceiling in the public sector in Spain".

These include business and government leaders as well as renowned experts in their respective fields.

Sabahat is CEO of Global Healthcare Systems (India), which established 12 hospitals, over 250 digital dispensaries and a telemedicine network spanning 8 countries, delivering low-cost healthcare using technology to over 15 lakh patients in a short time, the Foundation said in a statement.

Shaikh is Founder and Director of Jan Sahas (India), which it said has empowered millions of migrant workers in India by establishing and providing access to social security delivery systems using a mobile app.

Raghavan is co-founder and Managing Trustee at EnAble India, while Sutariya is co-founder and CEO of the same organisation.

These four Indians have been awarded in the category of 'social entrepreneurs', while Mehra (Vice-President, Social Inclusion, Mindtree), has been awarded as a 'corporate social intrapreneur' for spearheading technology platforms as a public good and capital asset that work at the grassroots level and address market inefficiencies reaching over 20 lakh people, the statement said.

The Foundation said this ecosystem of change-makers is being recognised for driving significant social and environmental impact in service of vulnerable and excluded communities and has been well placed to respond to the needs of those disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It said social innovators are needed more than ever, but face immense challenges to operate, serve and support communities during this crisis.

The awardees also included Anushka Ratnayake, founder and CEO of myAgro (Senegal), which is creating village entrepreneurs in 60,000 farmers in West Africa by creating a unique mobile layaway platform that allows farmers to use mobile phones to purchase seeds and fertiliser in small increments.