Ashoka helps launch social enterprises

Germany needs assistance to help itself. That is why Ashoka has recently opened an office in Germany in order to promote entrepreneurs with innovative social ideas that aim for sustainable social change. According to Konstanze Frischen, the head of the German office, the special approach of Ashoka is “to invest not in projects, but in the entrepreneur driving these projects.”

Ashoka was founded 23 years ago in India by Bill Drayton with a capital of 50,000 dollars. Today, Ashoka is a very successful international organization and has elected over 1,300 Fellows in 44 countries. 97 percent of the Fellows are still involved with Ashoka five years after being elected as Fellows - a success rate traditional venture capital firms can only dream of.

Ashoka expects to select its first fellows in Germany soon. The requirements are high. A candidate needs to have a new idea with a high social impact and the potential to solve a social problem on a national scale. Also, he needs entrepreneurial skills and high ethical fibre. "People who possess these qualities are desperately needed in Germany", says Frischen, considering the current political and economic environment.

The impact a social entrepreneur can have is breathtaking. Frischen reported the case of Fabio Rosa, who brought low cost electricity to large areas in rural Brazil. By using wood rather than cement poles, copper rather than steel wire and by engaging locals in the construction, Fabio managed to cut electrification costs from 7000 to 400 dollars per unit. He brought electricity to millions of peasants who could then start building their own electric wells, and increase their productiviy and standard of living. As a result, the flight to urban areas has been reversed - peasants who had moved to the slums of the cities are coming back to their villages.

But it is not only in developing countries that these entrepreneurial ideas are needed. When Ashoka launched its program in the US two years ago, J. B. Schramm was among the first to be elected as fellows. He had observed that kids from families with lower educational background are highly unlikely to move on to get a college degree. Schramm helps these students and their tacher familiarize themselves with the university environments, he holds workshops and "immersion weeks". The result is stunning: 75 percent more children from lower income families go to university and have much higher chances to move up in the social hierarchy. The reputation of their schools and univiersities increase, too. Konstanze Frischen hopes for these kinds of ideas in Germany as well: “Social changes are not only a matter for the government.”

Translated and abridged)
Tagesspiegel Article
by Dagmar Dehmer
06/02/2003
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