Ashoka Ireland

About us

Ashoka is a global organisation supporting the world’s leading social entrepreneurs – men and women with system-changing solutions to the world’s most urgent social, economic and environmental problems. Over our 35-year history we have identified and elected as Ashoka Fellows over 3,000 entrepreneurs across 87 countries, and supported them to maximise their impact. Ashoka Fellows are visionaries and have spearheaded worldwide movements in areas including micro finance, open education citizen journalism, and many more.

Ashoka’s mission is to find the most promising, high potential social entrepreneurs, and support them in their vision to transform society at a national and international level.

83% of Ashoka Fellows have changed a system at a national level within ten years of election;
91% have their ideas replicated;
80% feel that being elected to the Ashoka Fellowship has been critical to their success;
57% of Ashoka Fellows have changed a national policy within 5 years of election.

Ashoka Ireland was founded in 2007. Since then, we have elected 13 social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows. In 2012, Ashoka Ireland imported the models of 20 Ashoka Fellows from across Europe, the US and South America. Ireland now has one of the highest numbers of leading social entrepreneurs in the world, per capita.