PRESS RELEASE - Ashoka and The UPS Foundation join forces on Pan-African Project to Promote Equity and Economic Empowerment through Social Entrepreneurship

January 11, 2023 - Ashoka, a global network of over 4,000 social entrepreneurs, and The UPS Foundation, the philanthropic arm of global logistics leader UPS, today announced a partnership to create greater equity and economic development across the African continent. The partnership will empower marginalized communities by engaging 15 equity leaders in an accelerator program and cultivating a community of 80 women changemakers across Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco to reach 160,000 beneficiaries. 

The UPS Foundation allocated more than US$170,000 to source, select, and support initiatives directly serving marginalized communities in the region to drive real, positive and impactful change. 

“Ashoka Africa is excited about the newly formed Pan African Strategic Partnership with The UPS Foundation,” says Angelou Ezeilo, Vice President of Empathy for Ashoka Africa. “The UPS Ashoka Equity Accelerator Program is timely for the fast-paced changing world that we are all living in today.  Our social entrepreneurs are working on solutions to some of Africa’s most pressing social and economic challenges, and we are thrilled to provide them with resources to reach more beneficiaries. The Ashoka team is looking forward to working closely with UPS, an organization that not only understands the importance of systems change but also the significance of shifting mindsets so that every person- regardless of ethnicity, gender, age, or socio-economic status self-actualizes as a changemaker.  I believe this collaboration is the start of something powerful and transformative.”

“At UPS, we’re committed to advancing equity and inclusion, and we are proud to partner with Ashoka to empower the next generation of African entrepreneurs and leaders,” says Ufku Akaltan, president of Indian Subcontinent, Middle East, Africa and Central Asia at UPS. “We believe entrepreneurship is key to driving innovation, unlocking prosperity and creating equity, which is why we offer programs like the Women Exporters Program and the Green Exporters Program. We look forward to working with Ashoka to help inspire and support these young leaders as they embark on improving the lives and livelihoods of their communities.” 

Concretely, the partnership will see a number of activities take place:

• Kicking off the partnership, 15 equity leaders from across Africa will be brought together in Lagos, Nigeria from January 15th to 18th, where they will participate in an accelerator program that can spark collaborations as well as support them to drive scale. 
• Following the in-person accelerator, participants will meet online regularly to share and learn, identify common equity problems, and collectively develop solutions to the identified problems.
• January 19th, a group of 20 women social entrepreneurs from the four target countries will attend the Pan-African Women’s Town Hall, hosted by the Women’s Initiative for Social Entrepreneurship (WISE), and is intended to create connections between women innovators on the African continent.  
• Ashoka will offer up to three grants of $5,000 to groups of Fellows who commit to a collaborative project during the Townhall. There will be two follow-up virtual Town Halls to grow and continue cultivating the community initiated in Lagos.

The direct connection between Ashoka’s mission of creating an Everyone a Changemaker World and supporting social entrepreneurs; and The UPS Foundation’s mission to create a more equitable and just world, allows for this partnership and alignment to help drive system change in the Equity Ecosystem to create a wholly inclusive Africa. 

The UPS Foundation’s philanthropic approach centers on four focus areas that reflect its mission, UPS’s corporate values and expertise: Health & Humanitarian Relief, Equity & Economic Empowerment, Local Community Engagement and Planet Protection. Founded in 1951, The UPS Foundation leads the UPS’s global citizenship programs and is responsible for facilitating community involvement to local, national, and global communities.
 

About Ashoka:  
Ashoka is the largest network of social entrepreneurs worldwide, with more than 3.800 Ashoka Fellows in over 90 countries, including over 500 Fellows and young changemakers in 20 countries in Africa, 121 Fellows in the 11 Arab Countries, and putting their system changing ideas into practice on a global scale. Ashoka identifies and supports the world-leading social entrepreneurs, learns from the patterns in their innovations, and mobilizes a global community that embraces these new frameworks to build a world where everyone is a changemaker. NGO Advisor has ranked Ashoka among the Top 5 NGOs in the world.   www.ashoka.org/

Press Contact: 

Hadeel Kamel, [email protected] 

Confidence Awak, [email protected] 

Sarah Mujulizi - Ashoka Africa Communications Lead