Empathy Movement Leader

A day of changemaking at IIM Bangalore with Ashoka Fellows. How Business Leaders and Social Entrepreneurs came together for a larger social impact. Saturday, 8 August 2026 - IIM Bangalore campus. On Saturday, 8 August 2026, the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) partnered with Ashoka Innovators for the public an international network of 4,000 leading Social Entrepreneurs elected as Ashoka Fellows across 99 countries, to host events on its campus: * A morning "Huddle" that paired IIMB alumni and business leaders one-on-one with leading social entrepreneurs. This opened a huge opportunity for the Business Leaders to discover their changemaking, engage with social entrepreneurs and similarly the Social Entrepreneurs found the strategy conversations valuable. * Afternoon Multi-Stakeholder Meet that brought government, business, academia, philanthropy and civil society together around SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Different formats, one shared thread the conviction that India's toughest social challenges get solved faster when sectors that rarely speak to each other start talking. Morning session: The Huddle - strategy meet with Social Entrepreneurs. The Huddle is Ashoka's signature format for connecting business leaders with social entrepreneurs. Designed uniquely as a set of intense, one-on-one "roll up your sleeves" strategy conversations. For four hours, 14 IIMB alumni and business leaders sat down individually with 13 Ashoka Fellows - the founders of some of India's most respected social-impact organisations - to work through their real strategic challenges: funding, scaling, organisational design and succession. Why It Matters - For the Social Entrepreneur and the Business Leader Alike It is designed as a space where accomplished Business Leaders discover their own role in changemaking by putting their sharpest thinking to work on a cause bigger than their day job. Business Leaders consistently leave a Huddle having reframed how they see their own role: not just an advisor on someone else's mission, but a changemaker in their own right, with a network, a skillset and an instinct that the social sector genuinely needs. That is precisely why Ashoka wants more alumni to say "yes" to the next one. The Huddle is built just as much for the Ashoka Fellows on the other side of the table. A Huddle conversation brings something rare: an out of the box, strategic mind that has built and scaled organisations at a completely different order of magnitude, applied for a few focused hours to their hardest problem. Co-Hosted by IIM Bangalore The 13 Social Entrepreneurs in the Room Business leaders and alumni were paired with Ashoka Fellows leading organisations across education, health, disability inclusion, digital rights, civic governance, community reintegration and more, including: * Brij Kothari - PlanetRead & the Billion Readers (BIRD) Initiative, pioneering Same Language Subtitling to build reading practice at population scale * Osama Manzar - Digital Empowerment Foundation, digitally empowering rural India * Dr. Evita Fernandez - Fernandez Foundation, championing midwifery and maternal health * Christopher Turillo - Medha, building youth employability at scale * Prachi Deo - Nayi Disha, a lifelong support system for families of children with disabilities * Meera K. - Oorvani Foundation / Citizen Matters, civic media for local democracy * Prof. Gopal Naik - Saksham-IIMB, rural school development, nutrition, water and sanitation * Col. Christopher "Chris" Rego - Sunbird Trust, peacebuilding through education in Northeast India * Vineet Jawa - TIMBBR & Purusha, the wellbeing and self-leadership of boys and men * Dr. Beena Chintalapuri - Unnati, cognitive-behavioural rehabilitation in India's prisons * Jessica Mayberry - Video Volunteers, India's largest network of community media creators * Rigzen Wangmo - Village Lab Foundation, place-based education in Ladakh * Sivasankar "Shiva" Jaygopal - WinVinaya Foundation, skilling and employment for persons with disabilities What the Room Discovered Both sides left with reflections that speak to why this format works: Afternoon Session: Multi-Stakeholder Meet on SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals Immediately after the Huddle, a second and distinct conversation convened in Room M-24: a Multi-Stakeholder Meet built around SDG 17, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal that holds every other goal together. As the invitation to the session put it, SDG 17 "is not a goal but a method" - and advancing it meant bringing people from every corner of the ecosystem into the same room to discover what becomes possible when different strengths meet. Nearly 40 leaders took part across ten constituencies - government, business, academia, CSR, philanthropy, media, civil-society collectives, intermediaries, policy and social entrepreneurship - including L.K. Atheeq, IAS, Financial Adviser to the Chief Minister of Karnataka; Dr. C.S. Kedar, IAS (Retd.), Chairman of India4IAS and former Additional Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka; Devesh Kumar, Deputy Director General (Engineering), Prasar Bharati; Jacob Peter, Executive Vice President, Bosch Digital; and Ajit Kumar, Managing Director - Innovation & Build-Up, Deloitte, alongside senior voices from CSR, philanthropy and academia. The session deliberately had, in the organisers' own words, "no stage, no audience, no logo, no ego" - just an honest, peer-to-peer conversation about partnerships that none of the participants could design alone from where they each currently stood. Co-Hosted by IIM Bangalore A Case Study in Real Partnership The centrepiece of the afternoon was a fireside conversation between Brij Kothari, founder of PlanetRead and the Billion Readers (BIRD) Initiative, and Devesh Kumar of Prasar Bharati - tracing how a research idea born in a PhD thesis (Same Language Subtitling) became, through nearly three decades of sustained collaboration between a social entrepreneur and India's public broadcaster, a national broadcast policy now reaching over 120 million weak readers, with a mandate to reach a billion. Participants used this real, lived case to surface the honest patterns - both helpful and unhelpful - behind cross-sector partnerships that actually last. What Helps Partnerships Work - and What Breaks Them Working in small mixed-sector groups, participants first named the limiting beliefs that quietly block collaboration - "government is too slow," "NGOs only talk about problems," "corporates only care about branding" - and tested which were actually true. They then mapped what each sector brings to a partnership and what it needs from others, before distilling their collective experience into two lists: Enablers of cross-sector collaboration * Trust, listening, and repeated, boots-on-the-ground relationship-building * Alignment on mission, goals and how resources will be shared * Making space for different points of view, and real, defined expertise on the table * Agility, risk appetite and an acceptance of failure * A shared willingness to not worry about who gets the credit * Clear outcomes, a structured framework, and identifiable key stakeholders Disablers of cross-sector collaboration * Power asymmetries and misaligned incentives between public and private partners * Leadership changing hands mid-partnership, without institutional continuity * Hierarchy that lets one partner dictate direction to the rest * Vague, undefined plans - talk without a concrete project * No sustainability planning once initial funding or energy runs out The session closed with participants naming concrete commitments and next steps to carry their new connections into ongoing partnerships - turning a single afternoon of honest conversation into the start of longer collaborations across sectors. Be Part of the Next One Both sessions on 8 August were, by every account, a resounding success - Ashoka's own note of thanks to IIMB described the day as one that left alumni "with valuable learnings and insights from the social entrepreneurs" and gave them "a great avenue to meet changemakers and reflect on their own role in changemaking," while the social entrepreneurs found "great value in meeting such supportive business leaders," with many continuing to engage well beyond the day itself. IIM Bangalore and Ashoka plan to keep bringing these two communities together. Alumni, business leaders and anyone in the IIMB ecosystem curious about the Huddle format or future SDG 17 multi-stakeholder convenings are warmly invited to reach out. ABOUT ASHOKA Ashoka, Innovators for the Public, coined the term "social entrepreneur" and built the field itself when it was founded in 1980. Today it is the world's largest network of social innovators - over 4,000 Ashoka Fellows working across 99 countries, together reaching an estimated 650 million people every year. Four Fellows are Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Ashoka India, launched in 1982, is one of the organisation's largest hubs, home to 550+ Fellows and 43 Ashoka Young Changemakers. Ashoka's belief is simple: everyone can be a changemaker - and the fastest way to solve society's biggest problems is to bring social entrepreneurs into the same room as the business leaders, policymakers, and institutions who can help their ideas scale.

Ifeyinwa Egwaoje (Ashoka): "How INGOs and social entrepreneurs collaborate to transform global development" Red Social Innovation team interviewed Ifeyinwa Egwaoje about the recent report published by Ashoka Africa How INGOs and Social Entrepreneurs collaborate to transform global development. Ifeyinwa Egwaoje joined Ashoka as the Venture and Fellowship manager of Anglophone West Africa. Born in Nigeria where women are denied equal opportunities to men she decided to commit her life to creating an environment where women and men have equal opportunities to live quality lives. She started off as an adolescent reproductive health and gender development trainer, positioning young women with information and skills to help them question gender roles and become visible and empowered members of their communities. What was the motivation behind this research? Do you have particular examples that made you rethink INGOs actions towards global development? The research was informed by 3 powerful systemic drivers of social innovation and collaboration between INGOs and social entrepreneurs. . The Innovation for development agenda: As the disparity in funding needed to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) increases there is the demand for new strategies to address the world's most urgent issues. . The Localization agenda: which suggests that international development organizations must acknowledge the significance of local leadership and ownership in promoting sustainable development. . Decolonization of foreign assistance: INGOs have been called to reflect on their "power footprint," i.e., "...the centralization of power, resources and assets within the INGO at the expense of local organizations", and plans need to be put in place for the transfer of power and resources to local organizations. Also as an organization Red Social Innovation wanted to understand the dynamics of the collaborations between INGOs and social entrepreneurs and enhance an enabling environment for social entrepreneurs and INGOs to collaborate. What were some of the challenges or barriers identified when sourcing effective collaboration between INGOs and social entrepreneurs? Some of the challenges identified are: . INGOs are large organizations that have been in operation for many years and have developed tightly regulated operating systems and procedures over time. . They lack a clear approach on how to pursue social innovation and this can hinder actions in INGOs. . They lack Organizational capacity as their project-based funding prevents INGO staff from integrating social innovation into their everyday business practices and perpetuates the mindset that innovation is ancillary to core strategy. . They are disconnected from key stakeholders, and they lack clarity about their role within the ecosystem. . Social entrepreneurs do not take time to understand the INGOs and this translates to a lack of understanding of how these organizations operate. They face rather strict regulations and operating systems and procedure of INGOS which translates to inflexibility. And the role of the social entrepreneur is often predetermined in these collaborations, time is not taken to understand their unique strengths, challenges, and background. What are the most innovative solutions you have found in the field that solve a social problem? One of the most innovative solutions is the work of Ashoka Fellow Regina Honu, the founder of Soronko Academy. Regina Honu is an Ashoka fellow who was selected in 2014 as part of the Mastercard cohort for her work in Ghana focused on shifting the paradigm for women and girls in Ghana and changing their trajectory by moving them from consumers to creators of technology. Her work in Ghana tackles three core issues: Bridging the gender digital divide, breaking gender stereotypes and tackling unemployability. Regina recognized that women and girls have been historically underrepresented in the tech sector. To address this disparity, she started off with bridging the gender digital divide by positioning women and girls in Ghana with digital skills for them to become creators of technology rather than consumers. she offers comprehensive training programs and workshops specifically tailored to women and girls. These programs cover a wide range of tech-related topics, including coding, web development, data analysis, and entrepreneurship: 1. Breaking Gender stereotypes Regina has actively challenged the traditional gender stereotypes that discouraged girls and women from pursuing careers in STEM fields. Through showcasing successful female role models in tech, hosting mentorship programs, and fostering a supportive community, she has changed the narrative around gender and technology, and created an environment where women and girls are venturing and excelling in tech-related disciplines. 2. Addressing Unemployment: Regina has played a key role in addressing the issue of unemployability. Beyond equipping women and girls with valuable tech skills, she also closely supports these women to ensure they get employed with the skills they developed. She partnered with tech companies both locally and internationally and ensured that they can get talent from the pool of women in her organization as employees. Graduates of Soronko Academy's programs have been able to employ themselves and get jobs in the technology sector, both locally and internationally. This not only reduces unemployment rates but also contributes to economic development by creating a skilled workforce. Regina has also ensured that the lack of computers does not become a barrier to the women accessing opportunities, each Soronko academy graduate is given a laptop that they can pay for instalments so that they can continue to practice what they have learnt. Regina has worked with the Ministry of communication to address the gender digital divide and include more women in ICT ecosystem. Also, she is part of the committee by the central bank to provide best practices on how women interact with digital tools enabling the government to shape policies and processes that include women 3. Redesigning Remote Work Opportunities: Africa's population is 1.4 billion people. It's not only huge, but it's the youngest and fastest-growing continent and this population will double by 2050. The local economy is not creating enough jobs or income-generating opportunities for such a rapidly growing African population. But at the same time, for countries in the global north whose working-age population is shrinking, where's the labour going to come from? The solution to both problems lie in remote work. Regina has capitalized on this opportunity to preparing her students to take up these opportunities and also excel in remote work settings. By providing training in remote collaboration, digital communication, and project management, she is positioning Ghana as a competitive player in the global remote work landscape. Contributing to Economic Growth: Regina's efforts have far-reaching implications for Ghana's economic development. The fact that she is producing a diverse and skilled tech workforce helps to strengthen the country's position in the global tech market. She is attracting foreign investment and also fostering the growth of local tech startups and innovation ecosystems. As Ghana becomes a more attractive destination for tech companies and entrepreneurs, it experiences economic growth and diversification. Were there any unexpected findings of the research? Did they challenge existing assumptions or narratives about humanitarian action? Yes, the fact that INGOs are seen as the enemy by a lot of local initiatives who are working on the ground. Simply because they have access to a lot of funding but are a bit disconnected from the work that is actually done by social entrepreneurs on the ground. But INGOs do have a very vital role that if carefully harnessed will lead to systems change. What additional research or initiatives do you believe are needed to further enhance collaboration between INGOs and social entrepreneurs in transforming global development? Deeper research into how social entrepreneurs create change and this has been done by Ashoka in its research titled Roots of Change Report | Ashoka | Everyone a Changemaker. Another research that has been carried out by Ashoka in collaboration with Illuminate, Cocreative, Garfield and Mastercard is the Signal Survey. How would you evaluate the context in which to implement this? Would it be as well in an emergency context? Yes this will work well in any setting where there is the need for collaborations between INGOs and social entrepreneurs. Discover more stories

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