Supporting Young Changemakers’ Mental Health Opens the Door for Lasting Positive Change

By Alexandra van der Ploeg, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility, SAP

Did you know that nearly half of young social entrepreneurs are at high risk of burnout? On World Mental Health Day, let's highlight the challenges young social entrepreneurs face—burnout, financial insecurity, and climate anxiety—and why supporting their mental health is essential for a better future. These young leaders are creating real change but need mental resilience, not just passion, to handle the pressures they face.?After years of working with young changemakers, one thing is clear: building a supportive ecosystem is crucial.

Challenges Impacting Social Entrepreneurs

The 2023 Possibilists study , co-sponsored by SAP, shows that 70% of young changemakers are overwhelmed by responsibilities, 60% lack financial security, and nearly half are at high risk of burnout. Moreover, 83% are worried or extremely worried about climate change—a significant stressor that compounds their mental health challenges. These statistics are a wake-up call. We must provide the proper support and resources to help young leaders continue their vital work. The Possibilists Alliance, a collaboration of global networks supporting youth innovation, aims to create an environment where young changemakers and their ventures can thrive. Still, it will take all of us to make that happen.

Take Ryan Gersava, for example. As the founder of Virtualahan, a Filipino organization empowering people with disabilities through employment, Ryan has faced burnout multiple times.?Recounting how he once pitched at the final stage of a competition, despite being feverish, to secure his team’s salary for another six months. “Many young founders experience this. It will continue to harm them unless we do something to address this growing problem,” he says. His story illustrates the need for collective action to support these young leaders before they reach a breaking point.

Providing Essential Support

How can we make a difference? A big part of the solution lies in collaboration. In fact, 94% of young changemakers believe better collaboration is critical to their success, and 92.6% stress the importance of access to relevant global connections and networks. At SAP, supporting social enterprises and their networks is central to our corporate social responsibility strategy. We focus on knowledge transfer, pro bono consulting, mentorship, and connections to new B2B markets through the SAP Business Network.

As part of this commitment, we launched SAP’s Acceleration Collective. This initiative allows our employees to share their expertise with social enterprises through the TRANSFORM Support Hub , a partnership with MovingWorlds, Unilever, and the TRANSFORM program. Through this platform, social enterprises receive mentorship, skill-building workshops, and strategic guidance. This support helps them grow their ventures while fostering community and reducing isolation.

One of these employees was David Elliott, a senior user assistance developer who collaborated with Faces Up Uganda, a youth development NGO that uses arts and crafts education to help young people overcome psychosocial challenges and develop essential personal and professional skills. He leveraged his expertise to review the organization’s website and strategic plan, enhancing the communication of its vision, mission, and values, and wrote grant applications to help secure funding.

Knowing they’re not alone can significantly reduce stress and feelings of isolation, which are common contributors to mental health issues. Building these supportive relationships, we help young changemakers develop the resilience they need to face challenges head-on.

Real change can happen when more actors invest in ecosystems that empower young changemakers. I said this multiple times, but let’s build the infrastructure that helps these solutions grow and flourish. Together, we can create a world where young changemakers are not just supported but are more resilient to lead us into a brighter, more inclusive future.