Kick-off for Impact Pioneers ’24

The Swedish Institute's pilot initiative to support impact entrepreneurship - is now live! The programme gathers leaders from around the world in an effort to connect ecosystems and jointly drive growth of impact entrepreneurship.

Impact Pioneers ’24 brings together leaders from the global ecosystem for entrepreneurship and innovation to jointly foster collaboration and sustainable development. The programme aims to grow participants’ networks and enable sharing of knowledge and tools. The goal is to develop individual capacity as well as collective growth of impact entrepreneurship.

The programme starting point is that collaboration across ecosystems for entrepreneurship strengthens local and global capacity to bring forward more solutions to shared global challenges. With a focus on buliding relations and exchange, the programme sets out to support entrepreneurs in the participating programme countries as well as Swedish impact environments and startups, by creating an expanded international network.

63 Participants Selected from Nearly 1,400 Applicants

In response to a global call for applications in May, nearly 1,400 individuals applied to join the program. After a rigorous selection process that evaluated applicants based on experience, networks, and motivation, 63 participants from 22 countries across three regions were chosen to form the pilot cohort. The group is evenly split between men and women, and includes representatives from the private sector, academia, NGOs, civil society, and government. All participants share a commitment to advancing entrepreneurship within their local ecosystems and a passion for sustainable development.

Networking in Stockholm Part of the 10-week Programme

The program spans 10 weeks and will culminate in a conference week in Stockholm from October 21-25, where participants will meet in person to network with each other and engage with the local Swedish impact entrepreneurship community. Scheduled activities include visits to prominent innovation hubs in Stockholm such as Norrsken House, Epicenter, and STING, as well as participation in the Techarena Zero event on October 23.

Countries included in the pilot initative

Africa: Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa
Asia: India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia,Thailand, Philippines
Europe: Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbadjan, Moldova, Georgia, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden

Read more about the initative in a previous article here