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The Women’s Social Leadership Awards were set up in 2007 to recognise the achievements and resilience of women using innovative and bold solutions to solve social and environmental issues.

Here are this year's finalists:

CATEGORY "SOCIAL BUSINESS LEADER 2013"

A woman founder or the leader of a social business (enterprise whose social purposes are aligned with commercial objectives), with a track record.

• Benita Matofska | The People who share // compareandshare.com | UK | @benitamatofska @peoplewhoshare
• Dr Jane Davis | The Reader Organisation | UK | @readerjanedavis
• Sofia Bustamante | London Creative Labs | UK | @olasofia @LonCreativeLabs

CATEGORY "LEADER IN CHARITABLE ORGANISATIONS AND CAMPAIGNS 2013"

A woman whose charitable organisation /not-for-profit / campaign / network has made waves and changed people’s lives – If your charity relies on donations/grants only, this is the right category. 

• Akudo Anuanwu Ikemba | Friends Africa | Nigeria | @akudoikemba
• Brinda Crishna | VAANI - Deaf's Children Foundation | India | @VaaniDCF 
• Madalina Mocan | Ratiu Foundation for Democracy | Romania | @ratiucenter

CATEGORY "LEADER IN THE WORKPLACE / INTERMEDIARY 2013"

A woman providing global / regional activities reaching other social businesses, community groups, charities or campaigns (Consortium leaders, SVI, Consultants, Impact Investors, Angels, Giving platforms); Or a woman leading a CSR initiative, a department or a corporate initiative that contributes to social and/or environmental change.

• Jeroo Billimoria | Child Youth Finance International  | The Netherlands | @JerooBillimoria @ChildFinance
• Kathryn Llewellyn | Positive Women | Wales & Swaziland | @kat_llewellyn @positive_women 
• Marcelle Speller | LocalGiving | UK | @marcellespeller @localgiving

THE PEOPLE'S VOTE

The 7th OGUNTE Women's Social Leadership Awards will take place on June 4th 2013 at OLSWANG in Central London. Book your place here.

THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT

The Judges have selected 9 finalists in 3 categories and we want YOU to choose your favourite finalist for a special People's Vote, which makes a 4th category!

Click on this link to select your finalist and share with us why she deserves to win! Poll closes on May 15th.

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Finalist Women's Social Leadership Awards | Category Social Business Leader - 2013

Think of London Creative Labs as “Grameen meets The Wire”. It's about unleashing individual and collective economic potential in deprived urban areas.

I saw a need to address *creation* of meaningful work, not just getting more people into work. 

Work is linked to health and self-esteem. Poverty is a man-made creation. We can turn it around. We want to help the most disadvantaged become leaders in turning this around. We’ve seen evidence that they can. 

The labs are helping communities and individuals to use what they *have* to address what they *need*. We start with most social excluded first to ensure an inclusive solution.

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Finalist Women's Social Leadership Awards | Category Social Business Leader 2013

Dr Jane Davis: A journey of personal transformation

Once a vulnerable child and school truant, dealing with family problems including alcoholism, literature offered clear spaces, escape routes, truth. I left school with 2 GCSEs but returned to education as a young single mother, working in cafes while completing A Levels before taking up a place to study English Literature at University, gaining a first class degree. Following a PhD I taught for fifteen years in the Department of Continuing Education, and from a small outreach project in Birkenhead, I have led what is now called the ‘Reading Revolution.’

My organisation, The Reader Organisation (TRO), envisages a world in which everyone has access to literature, and in which personal responses to books are freely shared in reading communities in every area of life.

Our mission is to build a Reading Revolution.

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Finalist Women's Social Leadership Awards | Category Social Business Leader - 2013

My vision is to build a thriving Sharing Economy where we share to live and live to share; where the need to own is transformed into the desire to access. Everyone can be a supplier of goods and services; collective capability meets common interest and we collaborate to protect our planet - creating wealth for common benefit. Preaching environmentalism has failed to engage mainstream audiences; our strategy is building a fun, consumer-facing brand, compareandshare.com - the world’s first aggregator of the Sharing Economy, a one stop comparison marketplace where people can easily save / make money by sharing resources.

Think of CompareandShare.com as "moneysupermarket.com meets The Mesh!"

Via the Global Sharing Day campaign, we reach over 60 million people in 147 countries. Where Global Sharing Day activities occur, sharing increases, community bonds grow, people consume more sustainably (carbon lowered by 10.38 tonnes and 35, 418 items diverted from landfill on Nov 14th 2012) 

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Finalist Women's Social Leadership Awards | Category Leader in Charitable Organisations and Campaigns 2013

What is your vision, Brinda?

My vision is to advocate for the right of every deaf child to a full and complete life with respect and dignity.

I am promoting the entitlement of every deaf child to total and complete access to communication, education, protection and personal safety, equity and equality in all spheres and information and knowledge to reach his or her full potential as an individual and as a member of society. 

VAANI aims at positively influencing external stakeholders to develop more favourable policies in regard to disability and deafness. This is why we advocate the need for early intervention and quality services to deaf infants and children.

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Finalist Women's Social Leadership Awards | Category Leader in Charitable Organisations and Campaigns 2013

What's your vision?

Dignity and solidarity between human beings are the core values that inspire and found my professional as well as my personal life. I believe in a society in which individuals are treated and treat others with dignity and, by doing so, create social ties that generate trust beyond family, profession, ethnicity or private interest. Through the projects which I have initiated and implemented as a civil society professional, volunteer, and citizen, I have aimed to create „more equal” relations between individuals and those in power, either by nurturing dialogue or empowering the former to monitor and hold elected officials accountable, as part of a larger social contract in which those electing and those elected are co-signers. Equally important for living in a society with dignity is equal access to justice. We support justice for those affected by violence, be it perpetrated by other human beings or by the state.

How do you create change?

We work at different levels: the individual, small group and community level, and we seek to empower them to change the power relations that are unjust (unfair laws, discriminatory policies, threatening circumstances).