When most people think ‘venture,’ they think risk-a daring undertaking that has no guarantee of success; venture capital. Much like traditional business ventures, Ashoka’s Venture program, where we search for and select the leading social entrepreneurs, does involve some level of risk—risk inherent in investing in individuals and their ideas at the launch stage. Rather than measure success with a bottom line, we measure it in the form of social impact and systemic change. In Ashoka’s case, the investment is often small, and the social change it makes possible is remarkable. Ashoka was first to coin the term “social entrepreneur” nearly thirty years ago. Since then we have elected nearly 3000 Ashoka Fellows and launched a movement around the world.
Social entrepreneurs are visionaries with new ideas who blend idealism with practicality and the efficacy of business--learn Ashoka’s definition of social entrepreneur and our Fellow selection criteria.
Learn more about our corps of Fellows based in Ireland. Map and List
Meet our Fellows in nearly 70 countries around the world.
Meet our Fellows living and working in Scandinavia.
Learn more about our process for finding leading social entrepreneurs:
