Google is a company that believes deeply in entrepreneurship. And this is a company that believes deeply in the power of information. We don’t think there’s another organization that combines these two things in a more compelling way than Ashoka.
Howard Weinstein
| Country: | Brazil |
| Region: | South America |
| Field Of Work: | Health |
| Subsectors: | Appropriate Technology, Disabilities, Early Childhood Development |
| Target Populations: | Disabled (Physical/Mental), Government, Health Care Professionals |
| Year Elected: | 2008 |
Howard provides low-income populations throughout Brazil with improved access to low-cost, high-quality hearing aid technology. His hearing aids rely on solar-powered batteries that free users from the economic burden of buying costly zinc batteries, and he has formed several unique partnerships with government and private audiologists to reduce distribution costs. Recognizing the extraordinary dexterity of many hearing-impaired individuals, as well as the need to develop leaders within the deaf community, Howard employs deaf people to manufacture the hearing aids and encourages them to build their own initiatives. Having already implemented a similar model in Botswana, Howard plans to distribute one million hearing aids to users across Latin America in the coming years. Howard joins the invention-led development group supported by the Lemelson Foundation.
