846,523

The number of jobs we have helped create so far

 

PERCY BARNEVIK - HAND IN HAND INTERNATIONAL FOUNDER

Percy Barnevik

Percy Barnevik, is a Swedish business executive with more than forty years’ experience working for some of the world’s largest national and multinational companies. He has been CEO/Chairman of Skanska, ABB, Investor, AstraZeneca and Sandvik. Percy Barnevik is a former board member of American Du Pont and General Motors.

In 2000, Percy Barnevik decided to focus his philanthropic work on poverty alleviation in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu having witnessed the devastating impact of child labour. His vision was to reduce poverty through job creation for adults. By creating new jobs for parents, families would be able to pay for essential goods and services, allowing children to go to school.

HiH International (HiHI), located in London, was founded in 2006 by Percy Barnevik to support the job creation model developed in India and expand it to other locations. Today HiHI raises money for and provides support to organisations that implement the HiH job creation model in Asia, Africa and South America. These organisations are either HiH branded affiliates or partners who work with the poorest and most marginalised populations in these regions.

Percy Barnevik has received numerous international management awards including the ʼGD Birla International Award for Rural Upliftment in Indiaʼ, Vice President of India 2010. The ʼChange Maker of the Year Awardʼ, 2008. ʼChange manager of the ninetiesʼ from Heinz Goldman Foundation, Germany and ʼGlobal Executive of the Decadeʼ, World Trade, USA 1998. The ʼCEO/Chairman of Europe’s most respected companyʼ in Financial Times/Price Waterhouse survey of 1800 senior European executives 1997, -96, -95, -94. ʼWorld Trade Hall of Fameʼ, Los Angeles and the ʼGolden Omega Awardʼ, Electric and Electronics Conference, Chicago1993.

Today Percy Barnevik holds a number of honorary positions including:

  • Member of the Advisory Council at the Academy of Engineering Sciences in Finland
  • Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999)
  • Honorary Member, the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK
  • Member of the Advisory Council at the Wharton School of Business Administration
  • Member of the Advisory Council at the Humboldt University in Berlin
  • Member of the Advisory Council of Centre for European Reform, UK
  • Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences since 1982
  • Member of the Governing Board and Advisors at the Grassroots Business Fund
  • Honorary Chairman of the Board of Sandvik
  • Member of the Business Council and the International Investment Council advising the South African government