The Ashoka

Ashoka is the largest network of social entrepreneurs worldwide, with nearly 3,000 Ashoka Fellows in 70 countries putting their system changing ideas into practice on a global scale. Founded by Bill Drayton in 1980, Ashoka has provided start-up financing, professional support services, and connections to a global network across the business and social sectors, and a platform for people dedicated to changing the world. Ashoka launched the field of social entrepreneurship and has activated multi-sector partners across the world who increasingly look to entrepreneurial talent and new ideas to solve social problems.

How Ashoka works

To ensure that the leading ideas for social change are fully developed and sustained, Ashoka have designed an approach that offers critical interventions on three levels—the individual, the group, and the sector.

  • Supporting Social Entrepreneurs Social entrepreneurs are the engines of social change and role models for the citizen sector. Ashoka identifies and invests in leading social entrepreneurs and helps them achieve maximum social impact.
  • Promoting Group Entrepreneurship Groups and networks of social entrepreneurs working together accelerate and spread social impact. Ashoka engages communities of entrepreneurs and develops patterns of effective collaborations that change entire fields.
  • Building Infrastructure for the Sector A global network of changemakers requires tools and support systems to deliver sustainable social solutions. Ashoka creates needed infrastructure, such as access to social financing, bridges to business and academic sectors, and frameworks for partnerships that deliver social and financial value.

Venture and Fellowship

For thirty years, Ashoka has been at the forefront of identifying and supporting the leading social entrepreneurs who are changing patterns and transforming systems. Venture is the mechanism through which Ashoka finds and supports the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. It is the flagship model upon which Ashoka was founded and remains the heart of Ashoka.

Ashoka believe that the growth of a global citizen sector begins with the work of individual social entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs drive the sector forward, responding to new challenges and changing needs. They are rooted in local communities but think and act globally. They are the ultimate role models and the pillars of Ashoka’s vision of Everyone a Changemaker.

Ashoka Fellows
Ashoka Fellows are leading social entrepreneurs who we recognize to have innovative solutions to social problems and the potential to change patterns across society. They demonstrate unrivaled commitment to bold new ideas and prove that compassion, creativity, and collaboration are tremendous forces for change. Ashoka Fellows work in over 70 countries around the globe in every area of human need.

How to become the Ashoka Fellow ?

Go through detailed process of selection described here:

https://www.ashoka.org/files/Ashoka%20selection%20criteria_1-pager.pdf

How to find more information?

Visit Ashoka Website: https://www.ashoka.org/