The Founder
Mel Young, 57, is recognised as one of the world's leading social entrepreneurs by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
Alongside with Austrian born Harald Schmied, they attempted to invent an international language to enable homeless people to communicate with each other around the world so the Homeless World Cup was born in 2001.
In 1993 Mel co-founded The Big Issue in Scotland, a weekly magazine sold by homeless people in the streets of Scotland now with a circulation of 40,000. With the success of The Big Issue in Scotland, he co-founded the International Network of Street Papers, a global network of over eighty street papers sold in every continent, of which he is Honorary President.
The combined annual circulation of these papers is over 30 million helping 100,000 homeless or long-term unemployed people throughout the world every year.
In June 2002, recognising the potential of Fairtrade as a successful tool to alleviate poverty, Mel founded New Consumer Magazine, the UK’s leading ethical lifestyle magazine, enabling consumers to use their purchasing power to change the world.
Mel is the author of GOAL: The story of the Homeless World Cup. He has received honorary degrees from Queen Margaret's University; Herriott Watt University, Edinburgh and Glasgow Caledonian University. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a lifelong supporter of Hibernian FC.
The international headquarters of the Homeless World Cup is located in the South Stand of Hibernian FC's Easter Road stadium.
Read more about this topic: Homeless World Cup
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