EO Members Share Takeaways from 2023 WEF in Davos –

Within the photograph: WEF’s Olivier Woeffray, Julia Devos and Stephan Mergenthaler with EO members John Metcalf, Troy Armour and Nikhil Hirdaramani in Davos, Switzerland.

The World Financial Discussion board (WEF)’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland convened leaders from enterprise, authorities and civil society dedicated to driving constructive, tangible change for the long-term of our planet and the individuals who dwell on it.

Although EO didn’t have an official presence on the January 2023 WEF annual assembly in Davos, 4 EO members attended, having been invited by way of different initiatives: Nikhil Hirdaramani (EO Sri Lanka and EO International Partnerships), Troy Armour (EO Europe Bridge), John Metcalf (EO San Antonio), and Pajani Singah (EO London).

We requested them to share takeaways from the assembly.

The SDG Lab

Nikhil Hirdaramani and Pajani Singah participated within the SDG Lab, which goals to advertise the UN SDGs and brainstorm new concepts for selling them amongst small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) comparable to EO-member firms. Troy Armour additionally attended and shared his story with the SDG Lab.

“SDG Lab is a multi-stakeholder initiative that contributes to the implementation of the UN SDGs. We had been invited to take part by the International Leaders Initiative, which goals to convey key networks collectively to seek out options that tackle the challenges of sustainable growth. Throughout the 4 days of the SDG Lab in Davos, we labored with international leaders to create mutually helpful options to deal with the SDGs,” shared Pajani Singah and Nikhil Hirdaramani.

Nikhil continued: “We had been lucky to have two EO members who had been in a position to show how they’re addressing the SDGs by way of their firms – Pajani Singah and Troy Armour.”

• Pajani Singah’s firm, Amazonia Impact Ventures, was named Top Innovation Winner of the World Financial Discussion board’s 2021 Tropical Forest Commodities Problem for shielding the Amazon rainforest and enhancing the lives of its folks by way of an modern finance firm that works straight with indigenous communities within the rainforests.
• Troy Armour’s firm, Junk Kouture, has created an engaged, energetic, and provoking neighborhood of younger folks working collectively to make a distinction in local weather change by discovering a brand new objective for discarded objects. Greater than 15,000 Junk Kouture designs have prevented an estimated 40,000kg of waste from going into landfills, and impressed youth from 35 international locations.

“At EO, now we have storytelling at our fingertips. We will simply share how our 17,000 members are addressing the UN SDGs with their companies,” Nikhil continued. “It was unbelievable that Troy could possibly be on the SDG Lab with winners from the Junk Kouture competitors who got here dressed of their creations created from discarded objects – offering a real-life instance of methods to breathe new life into what would possibly in any other case have gone right into a landfill.

“As well as, SDG Lab members had been requested to assist the creation of the SDG Olympic Video games for Local weather. They hope to launch it later in 2023. I shared EO’s GSEA mannequin; SDG Lab could take inspiration from that on methods to run this new programme,” Nikhil shared.

Nikhil’s three general takeaways from Davos:

1. Bettering the state of the world is everybody’s enterprise, not simply huge enterprise.
2. There’s a want for the voice of entrepreneurs to be heard in Davos.
3. We’d like to ensure all of the constructive discussions flip into concrete actions with options.

Inspiring Creativity Amongst Youth

Troy Armour carried his firm’s message from youth to the interior circle at WEF, and even received a number of the Junk Kouture alumni a platform to talk and share their tales. Right here’s what Troy shared:

I used to be invited to Davos by Deloitte to talk on “how inspiring creativity amongst youth can drive modern sustainability options and assist towards attaining the SDGs.” One story I informed was about Junk Kouture, the world’s largest youth sustainable style competitors, with a imaginative and prescient to complement and empower the lives of younger folks by way of creativity and sustainability.

I at all times weave EO into the story of Junk Kouture. I share how, in 2018, we skilled important workers points, even because the competitors was reaching its peak recognition in Eire. In late 2018, I let the entire group go, and began over. My largest realisation being that I wanted to put money into myself earlier than I could lead on others. That’s once I utilized to the EO Entrepreneurial Masters Program (EMP) at MIT in Boston.

At EMP, Brian Brault, our course chief, requested me, “Why Junk Kouture?” He stored asking why, and finally the realisation got here on: As a result of each a kind of youngsters are me, and I’m not going to allow them to down! In that second, EO modified the course of my life and my enterprise. Consequently, I employed a group primarily based on the mantra that we existed to complement and empower the lives of younger folks. 

I went into EMP with a ‘millionaire’ mindset and got here out with a ‘billionaire’ mindset, and never simply in cash phrases: I imagine I can affect one billion lives in a constructive manner. That’s transformational for me but additionally for these one billion younger folks — Junk Kouture went from a one-country occasion to now reaching younger folks in 35 international locations. I’ve been lucky to inform this story at a number of occasions, together with three in Davos:  the Targets Home Sustainable Style Roundtable, the UN SDG Lab, and the Deloitte Haus presentation to 130 folks at Deloitte C-level and their purchasers.

General Takeaways from the WEF assembly in Davos

John Metcalf, co-founder and CEO of Upgraded, shared his expertise at Davos 2023:

This yr was my fifth time to go to Davos throughout the WEF annual assembly. I began going usually in 2014 once I turned a Global Shaper. (I’m now an alumnus). On my first journey, I made pals with folks in different WEF communities like Younger International Leaders and Know-how Pioneers. Now once I go, I see previous pals and attend occasions — together with the Swedish Lunch. 

My three most vital takeaways from Davos are:

1. WEF occasions and communities practice you to assume huge. The query will not be, ‘How do I develop gross sales from $10M to $20M?’ The query is, ‘How do I enhance the lives of these in my neighborhood?’ Or, ‘Which of the UN SDGs objectives and targets is my firm working in direction of?’

2. WEF occasions and communities are remedy for Impostor Syndrome. Having the prospect to fulfill leaders on the highest ranges of enterprise, authorities and affect helps me to keep in mind that they aren’t some type of superhumans. Folks you respect may slip within the snow, generally lose their practice of thought, and luxuriate in singing karaoke. 

3. WEF-size objectives + Entrepreneurship is the right match, however we have to convey the two collectively. Within the WEF, entrepreneurship is talked about, nevertheless it’s not on the forefront. On the identical time, my entrepreneur pals sort of contemplate how they’re Bettering the state of the world, nevertheless it’s typically not on the forefront. There’s a possibility right here.

EO and WEF

EO’s collaborative settlement with WEF, the College of Cambridge, and the Nationwide College of Singapore, established in 2021, explores SMEs’ positioning and future readiness across the United Nations Sustainable Improvement Targets (SDGs). The collaboration produced a White Paper, Future Readiness of SMEs: Mobilizing the SME Sector to Drive Widespread Sustainability and Prosperity.

EO is happy to proceed its collaboration to offer worth to its members, improve EO’s visibility globally, elevate the group’s model as a worldwide thought chief, and appeal to new potential members.

For extra insights and inspiration from at this time’s main entrepreneurs, take a look at EO on Inc. and extra articles from the EO weblog.