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"The question that they usually ask me is: How can a 30-year-old artist, being young, be so fascinated by the aging and wrinkles that mark each person's face?" artist Antonio Finelli explained in an email to The Huffington Post. Indeed, judging by his works, the Italian artist does seem to possess an uncanny fascination with the ways of wrinkles, furrows and creases. The way skin thins and folds over time.




Finelli channels this interest into wildly intricate hyperrealist drawings, zoomed-in encounters with strangers who display time's wear on their flesh in beautiful and wholly unique ways. In Finelli's meticulous renderings, cheeks begin to rumple, chins double over and skin turn a shade at once spotted and translucent. However, throughout the intense physical shifts taking place, his subjects' eyes remain as glittering and keen as ever.

"I am continuously obsessed by the sloughing of the body through time," Finelli continued. "In fact, I don't like to represent in a drawing the oldness itself but rather the passage of time that ends necessarily in this human state. I am deeply in love with the human body, with the skin -- its most external layer, that absorbs and records all the experiences of our life -- but most of all I am interested in a body's evolution, its transformation, throughout the years. I am intrigued by the signs, lines, points, which enrich our cutis year after year and testify all the changes of our lives."



With the help of some well-sharpened pencils, rubbers and magnifiers, Finelli creates intimate portraits so realistic one feels, upon looking at them, like they're face to face with a complete stranger. Save for the fact that the artist leaves moments of his process incomplete, a deeper reminder of the transformation we all undergo.

"With my portrayals I want to bring a specific thought into the viewer's mind: the body suffers a metamorphosis through the slow passage of time. With this, comes aging, that sooner or later arrives in each and everyone's lives. There is nothing we can do. The only possible way of redemption from this status is death."

Discover the beauty of our imminent mortality in the images below. Be warned, some of the drawings are nude and may not be suitable for work.

How would you respond to the fact that 21,000 children die every day around the world, equivalent to one dying every 4 seconds, and just under 7.6 million children dying every year? Behind these deaths are the silent killers poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases, and other related causes. Such death of children is just single instance of crisis among myriad global crises like unemployment, the energy crisis, and conflict.

As for global unemployment, we see records broken every year. According to the International Labor Organization, almost 202 million people were unemployed in 2013, an increase of almost 5 million from the year before. Composing more than 45% of additional jobseekers, the bulk of the increase in global unemployment crises threatens the East Asia and South Asian region (like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan). If the current trends continue, global unemployment is set to worsen, albeit gradually, exceeding 215 million jobseekers by 2018. To mitigate the effects of the aforementioned crises, the situation requires sustainable solutions, reducing mortality rates from causes like hunger and disease, and at the same time creating a sufficient number of jobs addressing extra 2.6 million laborers in the market every year.

As a result, present examples and situations suggest that social entrepreneurship can be the most revolutionary and enduring solution to these problems. Social entrepreneurs act as agents of positive change in their communities, rendering opportunities to others by inventing and disseminating new approaches. They initiate sustainable solutions that create sets of social values. Unlike traditional business entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs primarily seek to generate 'social value,' rather than profits solely. And unlike the majority of non-profit organizations, their work targets not only immediate and small-scale strategies, but largely emphasizes sweeping and long-term changes.

According to European Commission in its Communication to the European Parliament on the new €90m Social Business Initiative:

"A social enterprise is an operator in the social economy whose main objective is to have a social impact rather than make a profit for their owners or shareholders. It operates by providing goods and services for the market in an entrepreneurial and innovative fashion and uses its profits primarily to achieve social objectives."

Recognizing the vital impact that a social enterprise can have, entrepreneur Ahmad Ashkar founded the Hult Prize, a start-up accelerator for budding young social entrepreneurs emerging from universities around the world. Referred to as one of the top 5 ideas changing the world by President Bill Clinton in TIME Magazine, the annual competition for the Hult Prize aims at identifying and launching the most compelling social business ideas -- start-up enterprises that tackle grave issues faced by billions of people around the world.

This fall, the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) was one of several universities selected to host a quarter final round of the Hult Prize. It is the beginning of a joint journey of Hult Prize and BUET, a top university in Bangladesh and in Asia. BUET plays a significant role in sustainable development of technical sectors in the country and South Asia, and the distinguished scholars of the university conduct a range of result-oriented technical research, as well as diverse development projects.

Acting as Campus Director of Hult Prize at BUET was one of the most challenging jobs for me in recent years, and spreading the concept of social entrepreneurship and business among technical students was a challenging task for our organizing team. However, our expectations couldn't have imagined the enthusiasm met by the students of BUET. This year's challenge, the lack of early childhood education in urban slums, is relevant and significant to students here. The 3-5 age group of the population of Bangladesh is projected to be 9.2m in 2015, up from 8.7m in 2010.

Among them, 3.41 million children are not enrolled in pre-primary school, a great threat to our progressive economy. Maybe this is what drew the attention of huge number of students to compete in the Hult Prize, to find a solution despite being the tech institute students. Around 500 students in over 115 teams joined the campus event, and our judges selected a winning team, "HALCYON." An interdisciplinary team of 5 members, Muntaseer Bunian, MD.Moinul Islam, MD. Arif Ishtiaque Khan, Prattay Deepta Kairy and Rajat Ghosh, they will now head to the regional finals, along with another BUET team, "Bioscope."

Social entrepreneurship has been a buzzword for few years in Bangladesh, a land full of opportunities and influential minds, such as Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Sir FazleHasan Abed, and many others who have been shaping the world for years. Bangladesh is also viewed as a great place to start new ventures, with a large supply of labor and a favorable business environment.

In the World Economic Forum's 'Global Risks-2015' report, unemployment, water, and spread of infectious disease crowd at the top of the list of risk of occurring, and highest impact. Now, we need more people to become social entrepreneurs, driving positive change in society and the world. Perhaps no better option exists to get out of the present crises this world is facing.

The future of work is often positioned as the next great battle between machines and humans. A future where, according to a 2013 study by the Oxford Martin School, 47% of all jobs in America and the UK are at risk because of computerization -- realizing John Maynard Keynes' 1930s prediction of 'technological unemployment.'


It is statistics like this that led Andrew Keen, in a recent article for The Sunday Times entitled 'March of the Robots' to write, "The race against the machine has begun. And we are being outrun, outgunned and outflanked by today's increasingly widespread network of digital devices and algorithms".


At the core of this dystopian vision of the future is the assumption that we only care about productivity -- as machines are more efficient and smarter than people this can only lead to one conclusion. It's an assumption that we believe is misplaced.


We are witnessing an increasing trend towards business putting people and planet alongside profit. More and more businesses are realizing the value of caring deeply about the people who work for them and the communities they serve -- businesses that at their heart are 100% Human not 100% Machines.


We're fortunate to be supporting The B Team, a group of global business leaders catalyzing a better way of doing business for people and planet. Over the last year we've been working with a community of over 30 businesses that are part of a People Innovation Network; a collective that are passionate about enabling people to thrive at work.


The insights from the People Innovation Network, many of which we've collated in our New Ways of Working report (such as the growth of purpose-driven organizations, lifelong growth opportunities for employees and the trend to welcoming well-being) have made us more optimistic than ever before that work is changing for the better.


Here are a few examples of shifts that put people at the heart of business:


Being Human Matters: In a world that is more connected that ever before people are ironically feeling increasingly isolated and craving human connection. Work can deliver positive connections and companies that treat people like a family rather than "headcount" are realizing the benefits to their bottom line. For example, Appletree Answers started an initiative called 'Dream On' where every employee has the opportunity to submit one dream. The dreams can be for the employees themselves, co-workers, family members or even complete strangers. They have ranged from giving homeless employees somewhere to live, to giving a seriously ill partner of an employee, the chance to meet an entire NFL football team after attending the game. Rich Sheridan, founder and CEO of Menlo Innovations, has an explicit goal of creating joy in every aspect of their work -- whether it is managing without fear by encouraging employees to experiment and embrace failure, bringing babies or pets to work and fostering camaraderie by everybody working in pairs.


Purpose Matters: Tim Brown, CEO and President of innovation and design firm IDEO, believes that only businesses with a clear 'reason for being,' or Purpose, will be innovative and truly sustainable in the future. Increasingly we are seeing more Purpose-driven organizations that bring people to work together to achieve something beyond maximizing productivity and financial gain. These organization are successful because they bind people in a common pursuit and help people deliver to their own personal purpose at work -- whether it is the Virgin Group's purpose of 'Changing Business for Good', IDEO's ambition to ensure 'positive and disproportionate impact in the world through design' or Google's aim 'to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.'


Shared Dignity Matters: Meaningful work gives people the dignity they deserve. Companies are starting to see the opportunity to use work as a tool to lift communities out of poverty and positively impact lives. This is being done through flexible and part time work by creating more shared jobs, as well as ensuring healthy, thriving workplaces throughout supply chains. In the UK Timpson makes a difference to the lives of hundreds of ex-offenders by providing them with meaningful work in their shoe repair and key cutting business, dramatically reducing the prospects of them reoffending. The internet has also allowed millions of people to get access to the resources and distribution channels they need to start their own businesses. Platforms like Etsy and Kickstarter have given a vast online network of entrepreneurs the opportunity to realize their business dreams. In turn, these entrepreneurs have created meaningful jobs in their communities and globally.


Equity Matters: Productivity increases, often at the expense of human beings and Mother Nature have created significant wealth for a small percentage of the population. There is a growing movement towards a fairer, more equitable world of work where employee ownership will become the norm, exorbitant bonuses will be a thing of the past and a restructured ecosystem for work will spread the wealth through shared roles, flexible hours and portfolio working. The John Lewis Partnership means that all 69,000 permanent employees are partners who own the department stores, supermarkets and online and direct service companies. At investment firm Bridgeway Capital Management, all employees are partners, no partner receives more than seven times the lowest paid partner and the company has a foundation which gives away half of the company's profits to the community and other causes around the world.


Excess no Longer Matters: the crown on the king of consumption is starting to fade. People are realizing that stuff will not bring them the happiness they are searching for, instead it is connections and experiences with other people that will. They are also becoming more and more aware of the need to take better care of our planet. Outdoor clothing company Patagonia famously urged its customers to buy less with a full-page advert in the New York Times that read "Don't buy this jacket" and also has the 'Worn Wear' program, celebrating their customers' stories of their clothes which have lasted for decades, sharing clothes repair manuals and this spring Patagonia will be sending clothing-repair experts out on tour. Retail chain Marks & Spencer has instituted 'Shwopping' to encourage shoppers to drop off one item of item clothing every time they purchase a new one -- all clothing goes to Oxfam (who resell it, recycle it or give it to someone in need) -- and encourages customers to think about what they need. These shifts will really put into question productivity at all costs.


Increased transparency in business means that consumers, like future employees, are better informed than ever before about corporations and their business practices. Companies today are more exposed, and often forced to defend their actions to change the way they do business to meet society's demands. Poor business practices that negatively impact employees or society risk a consumer backlash. As Dr. Mo Ibrahim, B Team Leader and founder of Celtel International commented, "If we're all naked, we had better look good."


Perhaps the conversation needs to shift away from machines vs people, to how machines make work better for people and for the planet. What a brilliant opportunity we have to reinvent the world of work to deliver an abundance of meaningful jobs within an environment that is 100% human.