I have just spent an exhilarating two hours as one of 8 discussion leaders in a session titled The Girl Effect: Taking It Forward to chart out the barriers and solutions to issues facing girls children across the developing world. Last year when The Girl Effect session was introduced for the first time, it became the forth most popular session at WEF. Today’s session was over booked and many many people were turned away. And no it was not open to spouses.

These were delegates at WEF. On my table was the head of Chanel, the French fashion firm, and the head of a body that oversees and regulates share market behaviour on the New York stock exchange. On other tables were the head of Nike, Goldman Sachs and other biggies of mainstream business. Something was changing, is changing. The financial crises seems to have made a dent in some peoples’ consciences’ about the necessity of seeing the connectivity of real life and real issues with the bottom line. Hurrah.

The temperatures outside range from -7 to -20 degrees. The mountains are in sunlight and it is so bright that one can not see right. But inside, slowly people are seeing. Or so the sessions and the number of social innovators, activists and world NGO heads’ presence indicate. And then there are the young change makers – 16 to 19 year olds who have been vetted through a long process as being people who are the change. They too are being given centre stage.

Oh of course the black suited types are still closeted making deals. But Presidents and Prime Ministers can be seated next to you. As can authors of best selling books on why poverty has to be looked at as a business opportunity, to Margret Attwood, to Paolo Coehlo and more. And there are some far seeing and sensible faith leaders – Rabbis, Bishops, Buddhist monks. I took part in a fascinating debate this morning about how to look at the past to learn lessons for future values. Nobel laureate Jody Williams and the head of the Pope’s confederation of over 200 Catholic organizations, Caritas gave inspirational presentations.

Last night was the tenth anniversary of Hilde Schwab’s (the wife of Klaus Schwab, the Founder of WEF) Social Entrepreneurs Forum. Recognizing that extraordinary people were doing extraordinary good in different parts of the world, some in a not for profit model, some in a part profit and some in a business model WEF decided to recognize them and make them Fellows. Here the Indian representation is strong, with some known and some less known names. But reading their biographies is, for me, an uplifting and heart warming experience.

There is a man who has set up an organization to help governments and corporations do the right thing by the landless of the world, and those who occupy land whose papers they do not have or are fudged. There is the woman who runs a company to leverage women entrepreneurs whose total turnover last year crossed $400 million – all small and medium businesses, many rural, many in slums across the world. Or our own Harish Hande who is doing wonders in producing and creating business models for small solar lights in rural areas where a villager becomes the entrepreneur, renting out solar lanterns to other villagers and recharging them every morning.

But there is much more that the organizers of WEF need to do. The corporate honchos, especially those in the developing world need to come to the sessions that they see just now as non-financial and therefore irrelevant. That means that these sessions need to be in the main Congress Hall and not clash with other obvious ones like the Future of Chinese Industry. And WEF needs to push further its agenda for reimaging and redesigning the world, an endeavour in which some of the world’s best minds are currently, rightly, engaged.

One thing is for sure. Here is a forum where some of the best and most innovative minds and the most committed to change people gather. And in four days one can meet and converse with people one might otherwise travel around the world for two years trying to get appointments with.