Saskia Bruysten
Co-Founder & Executive Co-ChairYunus Social Business
A leader in the social business movement, Saskia co-founded Yunus Social Business (YSB) together with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus and Sophie Eisenmann.
YSB runs a Philanthropic Venture Fund that turns donations into investments in sustainable social businesses that provide employment, education, healthcare, clean water and clean energy to over 9 million people worldwide. Under Saskia's leadership, YSB has also been working with over 20 global corporations to help them use their core competencies to address social problems.
Saskia has been awarded the BOLD Woman Award 2020 by Veuve Clicquot, Handelsblatt "25 women who make the world a better place 2016", Wired Smart List 2013, Capital "Young Elite" 2017, 2018 and is a member of YPO. 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 speaks regularly at high profile 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. In 2016 she cofounded "Salong", a political debate format bringing the Berliner Salon culture of the 20's back.
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 NY. 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 and lives between Berlin and Amsterdam.