SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
BILL DRAYTON
As many of SVN's members were growing their companies, Bill Drayton was formulating work around a different kind of entrepreneurial activity — what is now called social entrepreneurship. "By 1980,there was a new
"Each social entrepreneur is a role model. His or her success will encourage many others to stand up, care and organize."
BILL DRAYTON |
generation coming up that was tired of the inefficiencies of the older order," Drayton says. "We could see that the historical moment had come for transformation."
With that, Drayton launched Ashoka: Innovators for the Public.
Drayton focused on one idea: provide social entrepreneurs with an entire web of resources to help them develop their visions into enterprises that fuel long-term social change. Today, Ashoka provides financial support to more than 2000 leading social entrepreneurs in over 60 countries (known as Ashoka Fellows) elected to join its network. With that, it provides a strong and lifelong community of peers that offers support and advice. Fueled by this powerful mix, Ashoka Fellows bring their enterprises to scale, and 
in the process, catalyze structural changes in the communities in which they operate and around the world.
"The very small investment needed to launch a powerful new idea and entrepreneur sets in motion a long-term change," Drayton says. "Each social entrepreneur is a role model," Drayton says. "His or her success will encourage many, many others to stand up, care and organize."
Now in operation for more than 25 years, Ashoka's impact is far-reaching. Upon surveying Fellows five years after joining the organization, Ashoka found that 97 percent continue to pursue their vision full-time. 90 percent have seen independent institutions copy their innovation, and over half have changed national policy.
Says Drayton, "SVN has been enormously helpful, especially in our early years. Its belief in the integration of social and business worlds is a view that is quite central to Ashoka’s understanding of history and the opportunities before us."
Idea 14: NATURAL CAPITALISM →
