Bart Weetjens is a Zen teacher, personal growth coach, public speaker, and celebrated social entrepreneur from Belgium. In 1995 he founded the non-governmental organisation APOPO which saves human lives by training rats to detect landmines and tuberculosis. Bart’s initiative received multiple international recognitions, like the Skoll Awards for social entrepreneurship, the Global Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award to the World Economic Forum, and Ashoka fellowship.

Currently Bart is involved in several social innovation initiatives, including “The Wellbeing Project” which aims to catalyze a culture of inner wellbeing for all changemakers.

As a public speaker, Bart inspires audiences with his authentic storytelling. He has been featured on 100+ stages, including at TED.com (600k+ views) and various TEDx, World Economic Forum, Skoll World Forum, United Nations Social Innovation Summit, Ernst & Young’s Strategic Growth Forum, Global Peter Drucker Forum, and Global Philanthropy Forum.

Bart’s work has been featured on major media outlets, including CNN, PBS, BBC World, Al Jazeera, New York Times, Newsweek, the Economist, the Huffington Post, National Geographic and The Guardian.

SPEAKING TOPICS INCLUDE: 

TOPICS: 

Social innovation: HeroRATs – How I trained rats to detect landmines

Personal Wellbeing: Living a harmonious, fulfilling life

The Skull in our Suitcase: What we can learn from Zen in challenging moments