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New release: SEWF22 event report
This year 2,770 participants came together from 93 countries for two inspiring days of learning, inspiration and connection at SEWF22. Participants had the chance to join either in-person at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (BCEC) in Brisbane, Meeanjin (Australia), attend virtually via Hopin or join SEWF22 from over 30 SEWF Community Hubs around the world.
Download the event report →

Programme and speakers
Building on the learnings from past years, the SEWF22 programme was co-designed in close collaboration by SEWF, White Box Enterprises, our global community including the Australian social enterprise community, previous participants and speakers.
- 60% of speakers identified as women or girls
- 70% were first-time SEWF speakers
- 20% of speakers were under 30 representing
“….one of the things that most impressed me was the respect expressed to the people who live on the Australian land for many decades. The acknowledgement of Indigenous people and Indigenous entrepreneurship was present in every fibre of the event. For me this embodies social entrepreneurship in its true essence by adding value to society, instead of at the cost of society.” – Jorien van Lookeren Campagne, Beleid & Onderzoek bij Social Enterprise Netherlands (SEWF 2023 Co-host)
Sustainability and accessibility
Guided by the SEWF Carbon and Sustainability Statement to ensure a zero-waste event, White Box Enterprises, in partnership with Green Connect oversaw the adoption of sustainable practices and also put measures in place to aggregate data and calculate the footprint at BCEC. During the event, a total of 908.3kg of waste was produced and of this total,
- 68.9% (614.8kg) was diverted from landfill and entered the supplied composting waste stream
- 10.3% (93.8kg) entered commingled recycling
- whilst the remaining 22% (199.7kg) was generated landfill waste.
All tickets (Digital Passes and Physical Passes) for SEWF22 included a mandatory carbon offset. This was split between two social enterprise partners, SELCO Foundation in India as our international partner and the Aboriginal Carbon Foundation as our Australian partner.
“SEWF22 was inclusive, mobilising and has just set a new standard of zero waste events… I was always hopeful but have never seen it pulled off so spectacularly”. – Kylie Flament, Former Green Connect CEO, Australia
Participant feedback
- 9 out of 10 participants felt that SEWF met their expectations
- 8 out of 10 participants felt motivated to increase their involvement in the social enterprise movement
- 9 out of10 participants agreed to have been exposed to inspiring content on social enterprise
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to get the opportunity to talk to some amazing people especially the motivational speakers and the founders and CEOs of Social Enterprises”. – Participant, Papua New Guinea
Download the SEWF22 event report →
⏤ Written by Tessa Porter