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Empowering Communities: Interview with Social Entrepreneur Claudia

  • Writer: Madhuri Desu
    Madhuri Desu
  • Mar 28, 2024
  • 3 min read

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Welcome to "No Single Path," where we delve into the inspiring journeys of individuals fueled by passion and driven to make a difference. 


Today's guest is, Claudia Akel, who is a dedicated social entrepreneur on a mission to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As the Vice President of the UNA-Miami chapter, Claudia works tirelessly to mobilize local communities in support of the United Nations' vital initiatives. Recently appointed as a UNA-USA Global Goals Ambassador for SDG 9: Innovation, Infrastructure & Industry, Claudia's commitment to driving positive change is undeniable. Join us as we explore her journey and the impact she's making on a global scale.



SDG goals and focus - 


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Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were created by the 193 member state countries of the United Nations by the collective voice of the community initially focusing on poverty alleviation and diseases for underdeveloped countries. With the success achieved in moving the needle for these goals, new areas needed to be focused for the goodness of the planet and environment. Now the goals are categorized into 17 pillars. Claudia’s awareness of the social sector, focusing on changing lives with a purpose that goes beyond revenue sparked her passion to become a social entrepreneur. With her Social Impact Movement, she started understanding more on the story behind each goal and how businesses can measure their Environmental, Social, Governance ESG’s to deliver a bigger impact globally.

Several areas can be the actors of change so SDG is a collective framework that is a  movement of all voices.

Technology for Scaling SDG Initiatives

Technology and SDGs are interrelated, as the problems identified are being solved with technology advancements. AI has brought industry revolution in areas like Renewable energy, sustainable transportation with electric vehicles, resource management, agriculture is propelling the advancements faster. As early adopters of AI technology we need to be a little more responsive and ethical as we are building the language models. sdgtalks.ai platform is encouraging university students to create prompts for training models with ethical knowledge. The United Nations group “AI for Good” is doing an immense work by connecting with businesses to promote ethical behavior in the technologies built. Education 

I promote AI in an ethical manner through technologies that are leveraging the SDGs.

Social Responsibility

As we are preparing students to be a global citizen, empowering them with education with greener curriculum where SDGs are discussed helps them become global learners and increase their social responsibility. More companies are improving their Corporate Social Responsibility CSR by focusing on their environmental standards with sustainable materials and carbon footprint. But companies can really embrace CSR by training their workforce, promoting community engagement and supporting local communities. 

“Companies can embrace CSR faster when the workforce is trained and knows about it which by itself has a ripple effect.”

Challenges bringing the change

Changing systems is not easy but it is a persistent pathway motivated by several tiny things. Social Entrepreneur is not the same as charity, as you are working to elevate the lives but that doesn’t mean it has to be free. Be Persistent and celebrate the small changes and wins as we are on a pathway for the big change. Embrace the patient capital mindset which is Return On Investment with Impact(ROII) to promote ideas for sustainable growth innovations. Earth51 has released a course called “Power of Equity” focused on Women changing systems and not women being changed by the system.

People have a mindset that it’s a women talking about social entrepreneurship therefore this is charity

Parting Advice - 

Be very persistent, strategize for being resilient. But don’t be afraid to share your thoughts even if you are the sole woman's voice at the table. We need women who can challenge and put their voices out. 

Resources - 

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