Paul Polman, CEO de Unilever
Paul Polman, Unilever’s CEO discussed at the LinkedIn Pulse #BigIdeas series why young social entrepreneurs are critical to the Sustainable Development Goals, and how his company is trying to reach them developing initiatives like the Sustainable Living Young Entrepreneur Awards. Three years ago, Unilever created this award in partnership with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and Ashoka. This year they received the highest number of entries: 927, from 99 countries. The competition illustrates just how important the Sustainable Development Goals are to young people, and their commitment to achieving them. 2016 winner comes from Pakistan, where 90% of population lives below the poverty line and have little or no access to healthcare. Yet, socio-cultural barriers prevent many women who qualify as doctors from working. Dr Sara Saaed (29) saw an opportunity to address both issues with doctHERs: a network of clinics to enable people without access to healthcare through virtual consultations with qualified female doctors. Since 2015, this initiative has impacted 15,000 lives through clinical services. “Young entrepreneurs are creating new approaches to old and pernicious problems like food security, or climate change, which some have called the greatest ‘intergenerational injustice’ of our time. And they are comfortable turning a profit whilst fulfilling their responsibility to create a better world” Polman explained.
