We are very excited to share with you the seventeen entrepreneurs who have been selected to participate in the Ashoka Globalizer Fellowship this year!
The program aims to leverage Ashoka's global reach, selection process and network of social and business entrepreneurs to link initiatives ready for global scale to the strategic, intellectual and financial support they require to go global. After a very intensive process, involving great conversations and critical inputs from local staff around the globe, strong nominations from every region, a round of detailed conversations with Fellows and deliberation among the Globalizer team, we now have a fabulous new cohort of Fellows dedicated to scaling the impact of their ideas globally.
Now, without further ado, here are your 2011 Ashoka Globalizers:
MARTA ARANGO – Marta’s organization CINDE (International Center for Education and Human Development) has revolutionized early childhood care, education and development in Colombia and other countries by including families, communities, and childcare professionals. She is looking at using the latest in digital media to prepare a new cadre of professionals to spread her model throughout Latin America and beyond.
AL ETMANSKI & VICKIE CAMMACK – Vickie and Al have created Tyze (tyze.com), a web strategy to create personalized social networks for groups vulnerable to social isolation. Within 5 years they plan to scale beyond Canada, the US, and the UK to support the elderly, family caregivers and people with disabilities worldwide.
MIKE FREERICK – Mike’s company ALISON is the global source for online education – a free form of online community college offering everything from computer courses to English classes, opening up employment opportunity for its users. While currently serving nearly half a million registered users around the world, Mike wants to reach multi-millions through what he believes will become the Google of higher education.
MARY GORDON – Implemented throughout Canada, Mary’s powerful model to reduce childhood aggression by teaching students emotional literacy and fostering the development of empathy has now launched in Ireland, Scotland, USA and New Zealand and is beginning in Germany. Mary’s goal is finding the way to train others in Roots of Empathy’s very specialized methodology and philosophy quickly enough to meet strong worldwide demand, while ensuring quality.
GILDA HENRIQUEZ DARLAS – Gilda’s universal primary-school education program has equipped children in Mexico, Guatemala and India with the tools to become self-aware moral actors. The first ambitious step in her plan to take her model global is working with 1500 schools in 10 countries, piloting an e-learning platform and financing her work by selling her SIMULATOR for “Ethical Development” product to other sectors, such as business, government, and international organizations.
JOHANN KOSS – Right to Play targets over 700,000 children and youth worldwide with sport and play to teach life skills, promote health, and develop peaceful communities. “Going deep” and “going broad," Johann wants replicate his business model to reach one million.
RON LAYTON – Through LightYears IP, Ron Layton is creating global mechanisms that provide poor producers in developing countries with a full range of intellectual property tools that allow them to develop sustainable businesses and compete more fairly in overseas markets. His well-tested model has improved the lives of millions of the poorest farmers and now Ron wants to create new distribution systems to bring greater benefits to an even wider group of producers.
JOHN MIGHTON – John’s method of teaching mathematics results in measurable higher scholastic performance, along with major improvements in students’ self-esteem and attitude towards learning. His organization, Junior Undiscovered Mathematical Prodigies (JUMP), spreads this method among public schools that serve low-income students in Canada and the U.S., and he is now ready to take it to the rest of the world.
KOVIN NAIDOO – Kovin Naidoo is revolutionizing access to eye care and eyeglasses the rural poor through a new economic model that provides benefits to over 1.5 million people throughout South Africa and other African countries. Providing ultra low-cost eye services and eyeglasses, it also creates a system of sustainable and replicable training and employment of eye care providers and lens manufacturers. His ambition is to reach 100% of the people in need of eye care, and he is looking to do so by operating clinics or kiosks inside remote government clinics or major hospitals.
PAUL RICE – Paul’s organization Fair Trade USA has already benefitted over one million small producers around the world by cultivating a more equitable global trade model. He is now looking to re-engineer his current model to extend benefits, including sustainable development and community empowerment, to 100 million producers and help them break out of poverty.
KARL-HENRIK ROBERT – A former cancer researcher and clinician, Karl-Henrik Robert has successfully nurtured a global environmental movement by building a global institutional platform that brings together disparate strands of environmentalism (scientific, social, economic, etc.) to assist institutions, from companies to governments, to create concrete sustainability strategies. With branches in 11 countries already, he is looking to adjust The Natural Step to scale more quickly.
ALBINA RUIZ – Albina’s Healthy City Group supports the establishment and operation of community organizedcollection, recycling, and waste-disposal enterprises. It regroups recyclers allowing them to formally register as legal businesses and earn status as the official waste-management system for their communities. HCG was first established in Lima, Peru, and expanded to Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico and India. Albina’s aim is to further spread her business in Latin America and Asia.
JACK SIM – Jack, known as “the Toilet Man”, is restructuring the field of sanitation worldwide to provide clean, safe toilets for the estimated 2.6 billion people who lack access. His organization, the World Toilet Organization (WTO), comprises 59 member organizations in 42 countries aligning citizen groups, budgets, and government agendas to underscore the urgency of proper sanitation. He is now looking to extend WTO’s impact by franchising a new concept: the Sanity Shop.
VISHAL TALREJA – Formerly an investment banker and venture capitalist, Vishal Talreja has built a network of volunteers that offer vulnerable children opportunities to increase their chances for normal childhood development. Through his organization, Dream A Dream, children explore, innovate and build important “Life skills”. Vishal is working on the Dream A Dream package in a box to speed replication in order to meet the large demand for this effective product.
LESLEY ANN VAN SELM – By allowing young inmates to shape their own rehabilitation program while in prison and creating support and employment networks for them upon their release, Lesley Ann Van Selm effectively reintegrates juvenile offenders into society. Through her organization Khulisa she has spread this model throughout South Africa, has begun working in Manchester, UK and is poised to spread throughout Africa.
ADALBERTO VERISSIMO – Alberto’s organization IMAZON combines applied research and win-win negotiations among rivals leading to the sustainable management and development of 5 million hectares of forests; the protection of 25 million hectares of the Amazons through the first ever 2006 Law of National Forest Preserves; and the development of a satellite monitoring system of the Amazon, the Amazon Health Index, to track trends in the health of the Amazon every couple of days.
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Globalizer's receive pro-bono support from Ashoka’s leadership and partner organizations to develop strategic and communications plans on par with their global ambitions. Fellows are aggressively marketed throughout the Ashoka network to ensure that their compelling social innovations are recognized by the broadest possible global audience.
We sincerely thank all who pitched in to help identify, analyze, contact, excite, and ultimately select this year's Fellowship. More news on both Globalizer and the exciting new design elements are on their way. Stay tuned!
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