Over 25 years, Ashoka has helped change the lives of millions all around the world through its Fellows, programs, and staff. And while the numbers of those helped are extraordinary, we are most proud of the impact our Fellows have had in terms of systemic change—shifting societal perceptions, encouraging new behavior patterns, and revolutionizing entire fields.

Charles Maisel

Charles Maisel’s latest venture combines several of his previous social innovations and serves as hub for future endeavors. Maisel sees himself as a social artist and entrepreneur constantly looking for gaps in the market, challenging himself to develop creative solutions and finding new ways to fill those gaps. He started the Innovation Shack in 2005. True to its name, it is a center for innovative approaches to social problems and allows its founder to constantly research, develop, finance, and launch new social entities. Maisel has pioneered a number of creative social enterprises that have received numerous awards, benefited society, and have operating budgets valued at several million rand. These successful ventures are left in the hands of capable managers to run the organizations. Royalties from successful social ventures are paid to Maisel in exchange for his continual involvement, fundraising and consultation. These royalties allows Maisel to create new social entities that inspire others in the social development field and add value to people’s lives.  Maisel also lectures audiences on topics related to creative innovations in the social sector and has a social exhibitions space where he can teach creativity in social development.  Maisel hopes that the Innovation Shack will serve as a model for other serial social entrepreneurs.

Rob Small

Through his work with Abalimi Bezekhaya, Rob Small is moving small farmers from purely subsistence farming to sustainable livelihoods. Its latest venture “Harvest of Hope” started in February 2008. It gives small farmers access to local markets, competitive prices for their produce, centralizes packing and distribution facilities, and income generating activity. Customers pay in advance for fresh produce. Once the produce is harvested by local farmers, Abalimi sorted and distributed the vegetables to customers. Over the course of a year, customers receive four boxes of fresh vegetables. Half of the proceeds from Harvest of Hope go directly to the farmers while the other half is retained for Abalimi’s operating expenses. Currently 50 farmers working on 20 gardens participate in Harvest of Hope producing roughly 120 boxes of fresh vegetables per week. Participating farmers have received an additional 1,500-3,000 rand in monthly income as a result of their involvement with Harvest of Hope.  The social benefit the additional income has a massive impact in the lives of these farmers and society as a whole. The project encourages job creation for the people in the packaging facility along with others. In turn, farmers in poor communities have the ability to save and sell. The economic potential of these gardens is attracting men and young people into community gardening, a field previously dominated by older women. Abalimi plans to expand Harvest of Hope to include the participation of 500 farmers. Harvest of Hope has attracted attention for the international and domestic press, and partnered with Pick and Pay, a major South African grocery chain. The Center for Urban Agriculture, an international organization, is using the model as a learning tool to be replicated in other African countries. Abalimi continues to run its other projects. It supports 2,500 farmers on 100 community gardens and operates two community garden centers, which are the only public garden centers accessible to people in the Cape Town townships. Each year, Abalimi Bezekhaya’s projects benefit roughly 3,000 families and 15,000 people.

Noel De Villiers

Noel De Villiers is spearheading a rural upliftment project that connects poor communities with mainstream tourism markets. Open Africa attracts travelers rather than tourists to remote communities. Travelers are interested in interacting with local people, witnessing authentic local culture, willing to stop at different destination points along their journey and go without city comforts. Open Africa creates route maps for each of participating community, links the community with municipal tourism departments, and helps the community coordinate infrastructure for travelers. It also provides ongoing advice and advertising these routes on the Open Africa website. Profits from the routes go directly to the local communities. Presently the Open Africa website has 56 routes in 200 communities spread across 6 countries with plans to develop routes further north into parts of central and eastern Africa. Community participation and environmental conservation are essential to the success of a given route. Thus, Open Africa presents a compiling argument for the conservation of local ecosystems to the local communities by showing them how the preservation of indigenous plants and animals can attract visitors, establish cottage industries and creates jobs thereby providing long term income generation activities for the area as opposed to the destruction of these natural resources due to short term economic need. Abuse of the environment is often driven by economic difficulties. Jobs are acutely needed and sorely lacking in rural communities. The food stuffs are often at the mercy of the weather. To make matter worse, these communities are situated far from commercial markets and are therefore forced to overuse the land. Open Africa provides sustainable job creation and environment conservation to remote communities.

Click here to read about Ashoka Fellow, Trevor Mulanduzi in the Voice of America Article, "African Entrepreneurs Pioneer New Ways to improve Sanitation," and learn about the impact of our fellows.