You are the Author of your Own Story!
The Holstee Manifesto is an inspiration to everyone in need of stimulation and change in their life. Michael Radparvar, co-founder of Holstee, shares his journey as a young social entrepreneur. Holstee is a life style brand that promotes sustainable living by offering responsible consumer choices. Based on the triple bottom line People, Planet, Profit, Holstee […]
Making health care possible in the world's most impossible place
Possible Health is a non-profit tackling the issue of health care in a very challenging environment. Based in a rural area of Nepal, Possible Health’s mission is to prove that it is possible to deliver high quality health care services at a very low cost. Mark Arnoldy, 27, founder of Possible Health, is a serial […]
Making health care possible in the world’s most impossible place
Possible Health is a non-profit tackling the issue of health care in a very challenging environment. Based in a rural area of Nepal, Possible Health’s mission is to prove that it is possible to deliver high quality health care services at a very low cost. Mark Arnoldy, 27, founder of Possible Health, is a serial […]
Why We Should See Farming as a Business
In 2050 food production almost needs to have doubled to feed the future population of then 10 billion people. As agriculture forms the backbone of Kenya’s economy, contributing 50% to the country’s GDP and employing 70% of the labor force, it holds great potential to increase production levels. Investments in agriculture are critical to let […]
How Can Markets Identify The Better Farmers?
The answer to this question is not trivial. In fact, it might mean the difference between a healthy, vital and sustainable agricultural sector and a poor, desperate and very unsustainable one. Ashoka Fellow Lucas Simons explains. In the next 40 years we need to almost double our food production to feed our fast growing world […]
Social Innovators: Healthy Soil Makes Healthy People
Howard Buffett’s recent book, 40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World, shares two interrelated insights: that a farmer gets to produce around 40 annual harvests in her lifetime, and that living soils play an absolutely essential role in her and future generations’ abilities increase that harvest each year. Will a small farmer in Africa […]
Silo Busting: 4 ways to do good business
Role of business in shaping a better tomorrow Solutions to the world’s most pressing problems and exciting opportunities are global, interconnected and interdependent. Business’ resources dwarf those of the philanthropic and public sectors combined. All require leaders with vision and capacity to build systems for change across industries and borders. Yet alone, now and in […]
Moving Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility
In 2009, in the middle of the economic crisis, Danone CEO Franck Riboud made the following statement: “It is a common sense observation that no living organism can grow and develop in a deprived environment or a desert. It is in a company’s best interests to take good care of its economic and social environment, […]
The Secret Weapon of Intrapreneurial Innovators
peshkova / 123RF Stock Photo Last summer, Jennifer Sigler, the Chief Operating Officer at Global Giving, shared with me that her entire staff was reading the Lean Startup by Eric Ries. The idea that a senior manager of a non-profit would have all of her employees read a book about start-up strategy sounded unconventional and […]
Economic Inclusion – Accelerating Impact Collectively
Social Entrepreneurs with proven models for including low-income populations convene to refine their impact scaling strategies and collectively overcome ecosystem barriers. Great business ideas go global to serve customers around the world. Great social innovations, however, too often remain local or national because market forces do not work as efficiently in low-income markets. Although many […]
Social and Business Co-Creation
In a world defined by rapid change, the search for solutions to societal and environmental challenges has become more complex. While market systems have become interconnected and supply chains have become supply webs, public policy and industry norms are not changing as fast. As a result, they are increasingly inadequate tools to govern our societies. […]
5 Things Changemakers Can Learn From Muhammad Yunus
It is unlikely that the 15-year-old Muhammad Yunus, who visited North America on a Boy Scout trip a half century ago, ever imagined returning 57 years later to receive the United States Congressional Gold Medal. He was awarded such an accolade earlier this year because he’s had a profound influence on the way the world […]
Tackling the Youth Employment Crisis in Southern Africa
News headlines are filled with stories of a growing youth bulge and impending youth unemployment crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the bad news. Many social entrepreneurs are at work even now creating solutions to these types of challenges—a sort of counterbalance that shapes fortune out of misfortune. Young Africa (YA) founder, Ashoka Fellow Dorien […]
Four Lessons From a Social Entrepreneur Tackling the Youth Employment Crisis in Southern Africa
News headlines are filled with stories of a growing youth bulge and impending youth unemployment crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the bad news. Many social entrepreneurs are at work even now creating solutions to these types of challenges—a sort of counterbalance that shapes fortune out of misfortune. Young Africa (YA) founder, Ashoka Fellow Dorien […]
FoodTrade – Delivering the Goods
The last 60 years have been good to you. You’ve probably never run out of affordable food or cheap energy and you’ll likely live longer than your grandparents. What’s more, you can travel anywhere in the world in less than a day, and access virtual omniscience from the palm of your hand. Life is very, […]
Getting to the Bottom of…Toilet Innovation
Danielle Batist, Communications Associate at Ashoka UK More than a third of the world population does not have access to a clean toilet. 1.1 billion people defecate in the open. On the first UN-recognised World Toilet Day on 19 November, two social entrepreneurs explain why “everyone should give a shit”. When the UN Deputy Secretary-General […]