HONG KONG, Nov. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The opening ceremony of Social Enterprise Summit 2014 International Symposium takes place today (November 3, 2014) in Southorn Stadium, Wanchai. Themed "Our Answers for Tomorrow", the two-day international symposium gathers around 40 social entrepreneurs, scholars, economists as well as political and business leaders, to share their insights into global trends of social enterprise development and 3 crucial local social issues through different programs under 5 overarching themes.
The Opening Ceremony is officiated by Mr. Tsang Tak-sing, Secretary for Home Affairs. He remarks, "In the past 8 years, under effective cross-sectoral collaboration, social enterprises in HK have been growing robustly both in quality and quantity. The number of social enterprises has grown from 260 to 450 in the past 6 years. The service scopes and target groups have been expanding and becoming more diverse." Dr. Jane Lee, JP, Chair of Organizing Committee of Social Enterprise Summit is happy to share that 2000 people have registered for the two-day symposium, while another 2000 people for other programmes under the Summit. On the new attempts of the Summit this year, she says, "In mid-2014 we launched 'Community Forum' and had test-run in 3 local communities -- Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City and Southern District. By organising Community Forums, we focus on local issues and bring innovative ideas into the communities through localization of corss-secotral collaboration. Together we explore and solve problems happening in the community."
The 3 globally renowned social entrepreneurs are invited to deliver keynote speeches today in our opening ceremony, to share their experience in establishing social enterprises and global trend of social entrepreneurship. These 3 keynote speakers are Ms. Jenny Bowen, Founder and CEO of Half the Sky, U.S.; Ms. Meera Shah, Business Development Adviser of Shell Foundation and Dr. Scott Sherman, Executive Director of Transformative Action Institute, U.S.
Marking the seventh year of Social Enterprise Summit, this year's summit was officially launched on September 20, followed by a series of social innovation programs. The flagship event -- two-day International Symposium gathers local and global social entrepreneurs to share their insightful ideas and experience on 5 topics -- "the SE Eco-System", "Entrepreneurship for Social Problems", "Changemakers for Tomorrow", "Hong Kong Experience" and "Community Development". (For details of the programs of the International Symposium, please visit: http://ses.org.hk/)
Keynote Speakers
Ms. Jenny Bowen
Founder and CEO, Half the Sky, U.S.
A former screenwriter and independent filmmaker, Jenny Bowen founded Half the Sky in 1998 along with a small group of adoptive parents. Bowen is the 2011 recipient of the Purpose Prize for Intergenerational Innovation, the 2008 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, and the 2007 American Chamber of Commerce's Women of Influence Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Hong Kong. Bowen serves on China's National Committee for Orphans and Disabled Children and on the Consultative Committee of Experts for Beijing Normal University's Philanthropy Research Institute. She is the author of the memoir, Wish You Happy Forever: What China's Orphans Taught Me About Moving Mountains, published by Harper Collins in 2014.
Ms. Meera Shah
Business Development Adviser, Shell Foundation
Meera works across Shell Foundation with access to Energy portfolio, with a focus on last mile distribution of products and services for the rural poor. Meera has worked with Shell Foundation partners across Africa and India, supporting them to scale up their businesses. Meera is looking at disruptive and innovative market enablers that can address key barriers to growth and scale for many last mile distribution organisations.
Dr. Scott Sherman
Executive Director, Transformative Action Institute, U.S.
Dr. Scott Sherman is the Executive Director of an award-winning social enterprise, the Transformative Action Institute (TAI). The mission of TAI is to train the next generation of social entrepreneurs, innovators, and change makers for the 21st century. Over the last decade, Sherman has taught courses on social entrepreneurship and social innovation at numerous universities, including Yale, Princeton, and Johns Hopkins. In 2005, Sherman won the international Echoing Green competition, which recognized him as one of the world's "best emerging social entrepreneurs." Sherman has also won awards from Ashoka U for excellence and innovation in teaching social entrepreneurship. His curricula and workshops have been used at more than 50 campuses across the United States from Harvard and Stanford to Berkeley and UCLA. His programs have also been used in dozens of nations around the world from Europe to Latin America, and from Africa to Asia.Sherman earned his undergraduate and law degrees from U.C. Berkeley, as well as his Ph.D. in environmental studies from the University of Michigan.
