The Editor's Post: New year cheer for 2026

We kick off our 2026 stories on a celebratory note, highlighting the impact leaders who were recognised by the King in the UK’s New Year Honours list. While the UK’s honours system is flawed and often controversial, it’s undeniably a positive start to the year to see people such as Georgina Wilson of BUD Leaders and Gael Drummond of Firstport (who were both recognised in our WISE100 Women in Social Enterprise 2025 initiative) gain a royal and governmental seal of approval.

For more new year cheer, check out our latest Good Leaders podcast. Our founding editor Tim West talks to a trailblazing social entrepreneur, Giselle Gonzales, who, after documenting the journey of refugees across Europe, identified a gap in the market for connecting businesses with the massive refugee talent pool across the world. She created social enterprise EqualReach and tells us how she’s worked with AI researchers in the West bank of Palestine, a team of world-class marketers in Uganda, and many more through her award-winning enterprise.

Taking a moment to reflect, I spent some time this week looking at our most popular content on Pioneers Post during 2025. We can see from the figures (and we know from experience) that the Pioneers Post community loves our WISE100 and SE100 programmes, which enable social entrepreneurs to connect and learn from each other, as well as celebrate their work. (So make sure you’re up to date with our all-new SE100 Impact Pioneer Awards 2026, which opened for applications just before Christmas.)

What we can also see is that many of you have been concerned about the impact of Donald Trump’s US presidency on your work and the world in which you operate. Our stories about the USAID shutdown, and responses to it (like this one from the Skoll Foundation) have attracted significant attention. 

But, as you all know, at Pioneers Post we aim to do much more than draw attention to problems, because we also seek out and shine a light on solutions. Our Earth Fixers series, for example, (which remains perpetually free to read, thanks to our partnership with Hogan Lovells) examines how entrepreneurial minds are helping to restore the planet in a variety of ways. We’re really pleased that you engaged with our beautiful features about using AI to tackle environmental challenges, and the innovators who are experimenting with exciting new biomaterials in an effort to shake up the fashion industry. 

As 2026 dawns, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the challenges that the world faces. Yet we know that every one of you in the Pioneers Post community is aiming, in myriad ways, to turn that tanker of doom around. We look forward to reporting on your work this year!

This week's top stories

UK New Year Honours list 2026 celebrates social entrepreneurs and impact leaders

Let’s wake the sleeping giant of social change: procurement

Giselle Gonzales, founder of EqualReach: from the Syrian refugee route to creating opportunities for displaced tech workers