Steffi, Social Innovation Specialist at the WEF, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

As a Social Innovation Specialist at the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, sister organization of the World Economic Forum, I lead the Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship, a multistakeholder community of over 130 organizations working to mainstream social innovation globally. In parallel, I work on private sector engagement, strengthening the involvement of corporations committed to advancing corporate social innovation within their core business and supporting social entrepreneurs.

My role focuses on convening and activating this global community and facilitating collaboration across sectors. I manage member engagement by bringing organizations together through global convenings and working sessions, facilitating connections, and creating opportunities for collaboration around shared priorities. I work on the preparation and delivery of high-level sessions as well at major global convenings  (Schwab Foundation Summit, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, UN General Assembly). In addition I contribute to the Corporate Social Innovator Awards selection process. This involves mapping and scouting leading corporate social innovation leaders, assessing their systemic impact and business relevance and onboarding them into the Foundation’s global community.

More broadly, my work contributes to bringing social innovation into strategic discussions and decision-making spaces. By convening leaders across sectors and elevating these topics in high-level forums, the goal is to ensure that social innovation receives greater attention, investment, and concrete action.

Networking played an important role. After graduating, I stayed in touch with the Sciences Po community and reached out to alumni whose work I found interesting. Most of the time, these were simple conversations driven by curiosity, and I did not know exactly where they would lead.These exchanges helped me better understand the sector, discover roles and paths I had not initially considered, and progressively build connections. They gave me useful perspective and helped me navigate toward the space I work in today.

Several things fascinate me about my work, but most of all, it is the moment we are currently living in. The development sector is going through a dramatic shift. Funding cuts across major institutions and changing political priorities are creating significant disruption.Despite this, I actually am very optimistic. I believe this is also a moment to reinvent and build more resilient solutions that are sustainable in their own context and less dependent approaches. Being part of this space, and contributing to these conversations through the Foundation’s work  is both intellectually and personally energizing.

And finally what leaves the strongest impression on me is the global innovators and leaders I encounter. Social entrepreneurs, corporate innovators, and ecosystem builders are taking initiative and creating tangible change around them. Through their work they put hope into motion.

My experience at PSIA helped me develop a systemic understanding of development issues, and to recognize how structural and institutional factors shape outcomes. The flexibility of the curriculum was particularly valuable, allowing me to engage with both policy and business perspectives, and in some courses work directly on real-world cases to develop practical solutions.

Equally important was building a multi-sector profile early on. During and after my studies, I gained professional experience in the private sector, civil society organizations, and within the UN system. This exposure gave me a concrete understanding of how different institutions function and approach impact. This interdisciplinary experience has been extremely valuable in my current role, which sits at the intersection of multiple actors.

Stay anchored in what genuinely motivates and drives you, but also allow yourself to experiment and expand beyond your initial focus. The same issue can be tackled in different ways, and exploring those different angles helps you better understand where you want to position yourself, what truly motivates you, and also what does not.

And I would highlight: be patient and give yourself grace. Your path does not need to be fully defined from the start. Over time, your experiences will help you build clarity and direction.