A leader in the social business movement, Saskia co-founded Yunus Social Business (YSB) together with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus. YSB Funds invests in social businesses in developing countries with affordable financing and growth support. Their portfolio of social businesses provides employment, education, healthcare, safe water and clean energy to over 13 million people worldwide. YSB Corporate Innovation partners with established corporations to help them use their core competencies to address social problems.
She has been awarded the Vordenker Award 2020 by BCG and Handelsblatt, the BOLD Woman Award 2020 by Veuve Clicquot, Capital’s Young Elite 2017, 2018 and is a member of Young Presidents Organisation.
Together with the World Economic Forum she co-initiated the COVID Alliance for social entrepreneurs spanning almost 60 leading impact-first organizations and networks. Saskia was appointed to the EU Commission’s expert group on social business and has advised on Ban Ki-Moon’s UN MDG Advocacy Group as well as Richard Branson’s B-team. She has lectured at several universities and events, including the World Economic Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative. She co-authored a report with the Boston Consulting Group on the experiences of building large-scale social business joint ventures with corporations.
Prior to YSB, Saskia was the Co-CEO of the Grameen Creative Lab and a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group in Munich and New York. She holds an MBA from the European Business School in Germany and an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. Saskia holds a German and Canadian citizenship.
