World Economic Forum AND EO MAP OUT ROLE OF SMEs IN PUSHING ESG AGENDA FORWARD
On 15 September 2021, Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) board members and World Economic Forum representatives will meet at the Forum’s HQ in Geneva to work towards their long-term partnership. Their new effort will build on the recent Future Readiness project to provide a global, cross-industry assessment of SMEs and to support them in increasing their future-readiness through dialogues and exchange of best practices.
This event is part of a series of conversations between EO and Forum, aimed at providing insights and inspiring dialogue on the growth trajectory and motivations of SMEs. To date, the partnership has surveyed EO and Forum members to achieve a representative sample of SMEs and build best practices guides and reports that will be published in November 2021, and used to inform viable trajectories to achieve social, environmental, and economic sustainability.
Carrie Santos, CEO of EO, says: “Exploring a long-term partnership with the World Economic Forum can help us provide entrepreneurs with additional support and shine light on all the great work EO members do to support their communities. Our current involvement in the Forum’s Future Readiness project has helped us understand how small and medium-sized enterprises are responding to changing global needs so we can support them. We look forward to highlighting what we can do to continue building a better tomorrow, together.”
Stephan Mergenthaler, Member of the Executive Committee and Head of Strategic Intelligence at the World Economic Forum, says: “We believe that SMEs have a key role to play in driving the post-COVID recovery, as well as longer term sustainable value creation. Joining forces with EO and its vibrant network is an opportunity to drive that agenda forward.”
Carrie Santos (EO CEO), Marc Stockli (EO Chair Elect), Dave Anderson (EO Chair), Nikhil Hirdaramani (EO External Relations Subcommittee Chair) and Rich Waller (EEC Board liaison) will meet Stephan Mergenthaler (World Economic Forum Head of Strategic Member of the Executive Committee and Head of Strategic Intelligence), Julia Devos (World Economic Forum Head of New Champions Community) and Olivier Woeffray (World Economic Forum Practice Lead, Strategic Intelligence) in Geneva to celebrate the initial phase of this collaboration and define how to expand the work and synergies between our respective networks.
The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) is a high-quality support network of 15,000+ like-minded leaders across 61 countries. EO helps entrepreneurs achieve their full potential through the power of life-enhancing connections, shared experiences, and collaborative learning. EO has been helping entrepreneurs achieve transformational growth since 1987 and its member network is committed to learning and helping each other succeed.