2.19.2008 - 02:16pm ET

(CSRwire) February 19, 2008 - Ashoka, the world's community of leading social entrepreneurs, is expanding it's operations in the Middle East and Europe due to the increasing number of social entrepreneurs who are creating solutions to critical social issues. In response, Ashoka has announced the advancement of Iman Bibars and Konstanze Frischen to Leadership Group Members (LGMs), Ashoka's highest professional level. LGM's are every bit as powerful in entrepreneuring major structural social change within Ashoka as the Ashoka fellows are in their work bringing basic change to the environment, health and all the other areas of human need. Together the Fellows and LGM's must help their regions move quickly to build a world of changemakers, towards the establishment of Ashoka's everyone a changemaker(TM) vision, as well as lead major global collaborations to ensure, among other things, that all citizens have access to the law and an opportunity to become full economic citizen.

The new LGMs embody the demanding leadership qualities Ashoka seeks.

Konstanze Frischen of Frankfurt, Germany. Frischen introduced a very new idea to Germany, working skillfully with the press, the universities, and other opinion leaders. She sought out and won critical funding and other support from the area’s leading business entrepreneurs, Ashoka's second major constituency. She has now completed two years of quality Fellow and Member elections and is now working on introducing new programs in the region. Germany, for example, led Europe in introducing Youth Venture, a critical Ashoka program that enables all young people in their teens to 21 to initiate social change projects. This experience helps them master the skills and confidence to be changemakers for life. Frischen has also been very important to the success of wonderfully collegial multi-continent teams that have made possible major advances for Ashoka programs (such as the Entrepreneur to Entrepreneur program or the Social Financial Services initiative) on several continents and also a major global initiative, Housing For All. Currently, she is also helping lead the organization's global Strategy Committee.

Ashoka CEO Bill Drayton commented: "Over the last few years, Iman and Konstanze have both changed their regions of the world quickly and significantly. They are great social entrepreneurs whose impact on history will only grow." Ashoka President Diana Wells added, "They have also strengthened our global team and movement. They are great colleagues."

About Ashoka

Founded in 1980, Ashoka is the world's working community of more than 2,000 leading social entrepreneurs. It champions the most important new social change ideas and supports the entrepreneurs behind them by helping them get started, grow, succeed, and collaborate. As Ashoka expands its capability to integrate and connect entrepreneurs around the world, it builds an entrepreneurial infrastructure that is supporting the fast-growing needs of the citizen sector. Ashoka's vision is to create change today, for an everyone a changemaker(TM) society to become the reality of tomorrow. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org.

For more information please contact:

Alexis Early, Global Marketing
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public
703.600.8302
www.ashoka.org

For more CSR news and information from this organization:

Corporate Social Responsibility Profile for Ashoka: Innovators for the Public

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