The Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative (ASCI) has been selected as a winner of the Schwab Foundation Awards 2025. Proforest’s Africa and Global Director, Abraham Baffoe, receives the award for Collective Social Innovators on behalf of ASCI today at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.
The Schwab Foundation awards recognise outstanding social entrepreneurs and innovators who are driving systemic change around the world. The 2025 awards celebrate 18 social entrepreneurs and innovators from 15 organisations in 13 countries, who are engaged in action as diverse as protecting nature, supporting livelihoods of economically marginalised communities, and transforming healthcare and education. ASCI is joining a global community of nearly 500 social entrepreneurs and innovators, who collectively impact 931 million lives.
Agriculture is a key economic driver in Africa, providing jobs and livelihoods for millions of people, but it is also a cause of deforestation, biodiversity loss and human rights abuses.
To help navigate the complexities of balancing agricultural development to feed the growing population while protecting forests and biodiversity, the Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative brings ten countries in West and Central Africa together, committed to principles of responsible production, in a way that protects natural resources and advances human rights and livelihoods.
These ten countries – Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone – represent 75% of Africa’s tropical forests and 25% globally.
Abraham has been instrumental in leading the ASCI since its inception as the Africa Palm Oil Initiative in 2014. Over ten years the collective has driven changes in policy, established new national process and built capacity, creating an enabling environment for long-term, sustainable growth and development, through an African-owned and led initiative, inclusive of government, private sector and communities.
“This award is an honour I share with all the members of the Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative,” said Abraham Baffoe, Proforest Africa and Global Executive Director. “ASCI embeds the multi-stakeholder process at every stage and every level, which has been a crucial element in its ongoing success. This recognition from the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a springboard to what I hope will be further global engagement and investment through ASCI, where there is so much opportunity ahead, and so much need to support livelihoods for millions of people and protect our natural resources in Africa.”
