This is a CTP of initiative: Ashoka Germany
The election of the first official fellows in Germany in 2005, was an existential CTP in the life of the organization. It was “the first milestone to prove that what we thought we should do actually worked”. Before the CTP, the organization struggled to have credibility, and it was difficult to find the first fellows, which the interviewee attributed to the cultural and historical characteristics and the societal structure of the country and the existing prejudices. They ventured into a completely new territory with starting such an organization in Germany at that time. “When we started, social entrepreneurship was a term which wasn’t heard before in Germany. So, people were pretty sceptical, especially as an entrepreneurship is not seen so much something positive in Germany.” They had various difficulties initially, such as, “we wanted to rent a place in Munich they wouldn’t rent it to us because they didn’t believe that we were credible enough to rent this place. So, we had, one of our supporters had to sign the contract.” Starting to work with the first official fellows was not only a CTP in the life of AG, deciding whether they should continue their work or not, but it also gave the necessary initial impetus for gradually changing how social entrepreneurship is viewed and for creating a positive context for it. The CTP helped to grow trust both internally and externally regarding their work. The first group of AG fellows helped them prove that it is possible to find people in Germany that fit the profile of the social entrepreneur they had been looking for, while the work and behaviour of the fellows also paved the way for the future by abolishing some of the previously strong stereotypes. “We had then the first social entrepreneurs who were so much not privatizing the social sector and so much not the new capitalism, but so much just persons who incorporate this entrepreneur spirit, so much, that helped a lot, it helped for both, you know.”
The cooperation and support of several influential individuals were necessary for this CTP to happen. While financial support received from wealthy families and individuals was crucial in order to be able to start the first fellowships, personal contacts from the field of business and education that enhanced the credibility of the organization also played in an important part. For example, Ann-Kristin Achleitner had been a supporter of the work of AG and the social entrepreneurship movement in general. "She, with her credibility and her address book she just introduced to so many people. She did PhDs on her chair about social entrepreneurship and she introduced it to other universities and so on. So, she was mainly very influential in shaping that field.” From within the organization, Konstanze, the first country director of AG, was the motor of reaching out and gaining support. “She was very impressive to raise the funds and she had this brilliant Ann-Kristin Achleitner who gave her credibility and trust, and opened her the doors”.
2003: Ashoka Germany was Founded.
By 2004 the first country director of AG was able to “have 3-4 really influential, wealthy families who believed in the vision”, and raise the necessary funds for electing and supporting the first fellows, which was essential for the CTP to occur. “Without that, we'd never managed to get the organization off the ground”.
2005: AG organized an event in Munich to gain more support, inviting the inviting 15-20 influential individuals, as well as the founder of Ashoka, Bill Drayton.
2006: AG hosted an event to introduce their new fellows, with about 150 people attending. This event became part of the organization and AG has been organizing it with growing success each year. Around 500 people were attending in 2015.
2006: The first social venture funds started in Germany, which, together with the work of the Starch Foundation, strengthened the social entrepreneurship movement in Germany, while simultaneously presenting rivals. “So, on the one hand, we had allies, on the other hand, we had competition”.
2006, November: an article about the 7 elected fellows was published in the major German newspapers. “I remember very vividly when we then, you know, went on to a hunt for nominators, we always sent this article, because you know, just the fact that a newspaper published about it maybe it’s so much better for them to believe in us.”
Although there was no contestation within the organization about whether they should go forward and elect the fellows, the members of AG were not completely confident in their ability to do so. They were met with a lot of scepticism from the outside. “Because they thought that this kind of people do not exist. They said because the welfare state is so strong in Germany, is taken care of and there’s no creativity at a new entrepreneurship in that field.” Even the people that supported the cause were sceptical about the possibility of building a bridge between the social sphere and business. “We had people who gave us money and were enthusiastic about the concept, that said quite honestly, ‘I don’t think you’ll find anyone in Germany like that’.” Therefore, the contestation was due to the opposition between the general discourse and what AG wanted to achieve. “I think it was just a difficult discussion, in general, to open the social sector to this kind of concept." The organization successfully overcame the contestation by going forward despite the scepticism and disbelief they received from the outside. The previously described supporters, as well as, the fact that that the fellows proved that what they set out to do was possible all contributed to this. Over time, the contestation completely disappeared as, aided by new trends around the world, the discourse related to the topic of social entrepreneurship changed in Germany.
The CTP had been anticipated by AG members and it was rather a conscious decision. “I think, you know, this was an early, this was an easy thing. We just decided that if you don’t, cannot prove that this works, you don’t have to start, also for ourselves.” It was understood as a critical turning point for the existence and sustainability of the organization even at the time of when it occurred. “I think if we had realized that these people do not exist or they are so extremely hard to find, or even that we can find them, but we cannot add any value to them and I think it would have died.” They were also aware of the necessity to change the discourse and the perception of social entrepreneurship in Germany. "When we elected these fellows, what we were told that in order to tip society or to make social entrepreneurship relevant in Germany, we would have at least, I think 50 fellows, or you know, between 40 and 50, depends with whom you are talking, and so we were, you know, we knew that these 7 fellows were only a very early start, but it was the proof it works and in order to really make this a phenomenon in Germany and to be taken seriously."
The CTP was definitely a positive contribution towards achieving the goals of the organization. An important learning point that contributed to the success of this CTP and to the ongoing sustainability of the organization as well, was AG’s ability to secure funding for their fellows in advance. “It was the huge contribution of Konstanze that she fundraised for the first fellows before we elected them. So clearly, we had a buffer of money, that, you know, if we elected these fellows and we wouldn't get any additional funding at least, we could have financed these fellows. And this is actually something which still carries us because if you have the fellows, it is not that difficult to get the funding, but we always had this kind of buffer or however you call it, some money in the bag which we can draw on, and that relaxes us a lot.” Nevertheless, the continuous growth of the number of AG fellows also presents challenges at the current state of the initiative. “The way Ashoka and the fellows organized themselves was very different from how it is now. So, the typical, like when you have small networks only eight people and everybody knows each other and so it's very cosy. And the more you grow, the less cosy you get, and obviously, for the fellows of the first court, the Ashoka now is very difficult for them, in a way.”
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