Spain: Ashoka selects five social entrepreneurs

Ashoka has selected five individuals to support who are innovative, creative and ethically irreproachable. Their names are Antonio, Isabel, Raúl, Vicki and Jean Claude and were selected after Ashoka contacted with more than 150 experts, analysed more than 500 ideas and held around 100 interviews with people who were in close terms with them. This work, which was developed in co-operation with the ?Fundació Un Sol Món?, ?Grupo Vips? and ?Grupo Norte?, extended for one year.

Antonio has launched a project to reinforce artisan fishing as a sustainable and economically profitable activity within which fishermen become environmental managers of the area they know the best, the sea. Antonio has created ?Lonxanet?, the first enterprise that will distribute fish directly to big and small consumers and in which fishermen themselves participate.

Isabel has developed an attractive and available leisure programme called ?A toda vela?, targeted at intellectually disabled individuals for them to be able to have a richer social life. Disabled individuals participate in the planning, management and evaluation of programmes, while the project has created a civic network made up of professionals and volunteers who share their spare time with intellectually disabled individuals.

Jean Claude works on migration by using a simple tool of financial investment that is achieving that people gather together in order to meet basic needs. So far, he has created 13 Communities of Financial Self-management for migrants in Catalonia.

Raúl joins social values with business management by resorting to the same instruments that the traditional system but giving them a different use. To succeed in his aim of using employment to achieve the social inclusion of those individuals with more problems, he created IUNA, a holding of four social enterprises that is currently employing around 100 individuals.

Vicki founded in 1997 ?Fada? from her own experience as a child who was sexually molested. Fada provides a comprehensive treatment for victims as well as perpetrators of sexual abuses.

Ashoka will allow them to devote full attention to their respective projects and will get them in touch with a network of 1700 social entrepreneurs all over the world.

www.ashoka.org