The Ayala brothers will sponsor first Ashoka fellow.

Ashoka, a network of global social innovators, is now in the country and is initially backed by the Ayala brothers, businessmen Fred, Jim and Manny. Fred, CEO of Livelt Solutions, Jim, president and CEO of Ayala Land, and Manny, CEO of Entertainment Gateway Group will sponsor the first Ashoka fellow, hoping that they could encourage other local businessmen to join the Ashoka Support Network, which will fund the stipends of other social entrepreneurs.

Ashoka country representative Tony La Viña decided to introduce the social movement of Ashoka to the Philippines after more than a year of planning and forming his team. Ashoka has yet to raise a five-year budget of P15 million for 15 fellows elected over three years for it to go full steam, La Viña said during the launch last week a the Filipinas Heritage Library in Makati. Ashoka hopes to have its first batch of fellows in January 2008.

Founded by Mckinsey management consultant Bill Drayton in 1980, Ashoka provides resource leverage to people whose ideas could lead to systemic improvements. Take note however, that the support is specified as “resource” and not “financial.”

While Ashoka provides a stipend for each fellow, it does not give him the monetary backing to start his “business.” The stipend is to be used for the fellow’s expenses on his basic needs. For starters, the Ayala brothers will give a $10,000 allowance for the first Filipino Ashoka fellow. Ashoka, however, opens a world of opportunities for the social entrepreneur to market his idea to potential investors, and to learn from and partner with other social entrepreneurs all over the world.

To be a fellow, one has to pass the criteria and evaluation of local country representatives and of the international Ashoka board of directors. These criteria include having a new idea or solution to a social crisis, a great amount of creativity to sustain that idea for years and to come, possessing an entrepreneurial or determined quality, and most importantly, having strong ethical fiber.

No Government Help

While these social entrepreneurs may abound, their ideas could remain dormant without support. Ashoka’s presence in the country makes the search for that pioneer group of Pinoy social entrepreneurs active.

According to La Viña, Drayton originally planned to bring Ashoka (named after a social catalyst in India) to the Philippines in 1983. However, due to the political instability under the Marcos dictatorship, the plan did not push through.

Ashoka’s E2E Program Director in Asia Chris Cusano said that Ashoka works on such unique partnership, or what the group calls the “business-social” bridge. This organized mechanism drives economic entrepreneurs to support social entrepreneurs in their paradigm-changing endeavors.

This “bridge” also keeps Ashoka from being influenced by political figures, Ashoka member Terri Jayme said. Ashoka is purely a citizen sector initiative, and does not accept help in any form from the government, though it supports the government's efforts for social improvement. Also, the stringent selection process of Ashoka fellows does not allow politicians to dip their hands into the association’s operations.

From Ordinary People to ‘Heroes’

Last year, 142 Ashoka fellows were added to the 1,700 member-team of Ashoka social entrepreneurs. The fellows came from 60 countries, with one of them gracing the event last week.

Anshu Gupta, an Ashoka fellow from India, told the audience of local businessmen and foundation managers, how his simple idea of addressing the basic need for clothing turned poor villages into proactive communities. “All over the world, organizations talk about solving problems that range from domestic violence to AIDS and others, but nothing has tackled the problem on lack of clothing. The scarcity of clothing is not just a fashionable subject,” he said.

Anshu’s Goonj movement used this problem to mobilize people in rural communities to build roads, fix schools and clean their environment. If development is visible, the villagers get clothes given by concerned individuals and entities.

Anshu embraced his Ashoka fellowship in 2005, believing that his Goonj movement could inspire other common folk to let their little ideas on changing the world grow.

La Viña said that just like Anshu, anyone― regardless of profession, with or without background on social reforms ― could be a social entrepreneur.

Harvey Keh, the Ateneo School of Government’s director of youth leadership and social entrepreneurship, said that with Ashoka, social entrepreneurs could make helping society their lifetime commitment. Keh, an Ashoka member and founder of Pathways, a program that matches bright but poor Filipino students to scholarship sponsors, is one of these social entrepreneurs.

“Pathways now have 500 scholars, but if I had known about Ashoka a little earlier, that 500 could have been 5,000. Ashoka stops social entrepreneurs from worrying about their survival, and allows them to work full time on their dreams.” Keh said.

“If there are two things that are uniquely Filipino,” Keh pointed out, “it is that we have generous hearts as shown by our bayanihan spirit, and that we have innovative ideas.”

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