This is a CTP of initiative: Ashoka Germany
This CTP consists of the developments that resulted from AG engaging in a study with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm.
The CTP supported AG in clarifying its goals and aided the development of various new initiatives of the organization. The CTP started a process of redefining how AG as an organization, as well as, its purpose was perceived by the members. "This is what I mean also with the turning point because we decided that the work Ashoka does is actually more than just do a survey at who I elect as social entrepreneurs, but our impact is much bigger if we get an orchestrated something on that ecosystem level." The initial idea came from FO, the co-director of the organization. The members of AG were not satisfied with the pace with which the Fellows were growing, and they believed that they were still missing something that was “relevant to all [the Fellows] and to every social entrepreneur in Germany”. Although Ashoka Fellows are working on very different topics, they were able to identify “some general principles or general needs” to address and support. This “meta-level approach" included areas and common needs, such as funding, connections, or making government funding more effective and impactful. The creation of the study helped AG to “identify the right questions” internally and it also gathered the input of major foundations “who were open to that topic”, the various supporters of the organization and the Fellows. The CTP resulted in identifying “10 hurdles of growth in social entrepreneurship in Germany” that helped to define the direction of AG, and it also helped the organization to “reach out to a much broader network than [they] had done before”. Involving several organizations and individuals in the study not only helped AG to establish new connections but also transformed the way they were relating to the other players of the field, as well as, how social entrepreneurship and its surrounding ecosystem was perceived and approached. The CTP helped to reshape the discourse from how AG as an organization can support social entrepreneurship by attracting the fellows to them, to how social entrepreneurship can be jointly supported and developed in order to benefit the whole society. Redefining the role, place, and purpose of AG in such a powerful way strongly influenced not only the coming years of the life of AG but also that of the German social entrepreneur ecosystem. “You are basically not just working with the social entrepreneurs and their system-changing ideas, but Ashoka Germany itself would like to achieve a system change.
The 50 interview partners involved in the study all contributed to making the CTP happen, and in addition to that, they also organized a conference regarding the topic where 150-180 people participated. Later on, each smaller ecosystem that evolved around one of the main areas that AG had identified thanks to the study was supported by a mixture of “between 10 and 15 influential people” and organizations. Among the supporters that aided the development of the sector and the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship has been families, foundations and government institutions, such as, banks, as well. In addition to the concrete support received, and the various alliances formed, the social transformation that this CTP helped to get in motion was also helped by the continuous work of other players that had been active in the sector not necessarily due to the work of AG. "The movement had grown to a certain visibility, because there were many players on the field, like the Starch Foundation”, venture funds or government programs, and foundations that “had it on the agenda”. “5-6 years later now it wasn’t such a new strange concept, but it was something which would be much more on the general agenda.”
The aim of the CTP, as of creating an ecosystem for social entrepreneurship, was not received well by the head of the network. “It’s like [the founder of Ashoka] says the entrepreneurship is so old and kind of boring, that he wasn’t that much interested in our ecosystem approach” and it was “actually against the global strategy. They struggled a lot initially, as in the global strategy of Ashoka entrepreneurship is only one aspect, and as the focus of the strategy shifted (establishing schools, creating for-profit companies, etc.) it was hard for them to justify still focusing their main efforts on this issue. Their ability to overcome the contestation was partly due to the network structure of the organization and AGs success in fundraising. “We fundraised the money, so they couldn’t tell us that we weren’t allowed to spend it on.” Nevertheless, AG also “needed a bit of creativity” in making the direction they were taking acceptable by Ashoka Global. In addition, they were also aided by the fact that “this was something which was very common for all of [the country offices] in Europe” and finally Ashoka Global accepted the necessity of higher freedom of the local offices. Apart from the contestation between the head office and AG, there were individuals as well, who saw the approach as competition and wanted AG to “rather focus on the individual fellow”.
The CTP was not anticipated and the magnitude of the impact it would have on the life of the organization was not seen and understood at the time of the event. Although it was considered an important and beneficial event to carry out the study, the way it would have changed the perception of AG members regarding the purpose and place of the organization in the field of social entrepreneurship was not foreseen. “I think for me personally it was a turning point in our way to look at the network. It was the overcoming of the competitive view into a network approach. And that, I think it wasn’t that obvious and it wasn’t that, you know, that we actually decided that from now on we want to be different because it was a process.”
The effect of the CTP influences the operations of AG up until today. One of the most important learning points of the CTP was the redefinition of the role of AG. The CTP made them realize the possibility to position themselves in a niche that nobody was occupying at the time. “It was a unique chance to position ourselves … not the king of the globe but the hill. So, we could position ourselves as the hill of social entrepreneurship, and then, you know, all the kings could stand on us.” This led to the shifting the focus from competition to cooperation and enabled the organization to successfully build and shape the ecosystem of social entrepreneurship in the coming years. The CTP made them realize that they "do not marginalize [themselves] if [they] go into this network approach, but actually, it will strengthen [them]”. Clarifying the organization's purpose also enabled them to focus on growing the social entrepreneurship movement rather than growing the organization. Another significant learning point of the CTP was the identification of the various needs of the sector, as well as, that of AGs ability to do something about it. In the years after the CTP, the organization started various initiatives, such as FASE a Talent Agency, or how welfare organizations and social entrepreneurs can work more closely together, all of which were started on the bases of the needs identified due to this critical event. The CTP also introduced difficulties in the life of the organization, as they are trying to juggle too many projects at the same time. While at the time of the CTP they envisioned tackling one issue per year, they “underestimated that the topics never go away, so you know, 3 years and a half so many topics on our plate in a way, that from the resource point of view we are a bit ill about and the exit is pretty difficult.” Since then they have learned to be “more rigorous … in developing tools to decide how [they] go into topics, and more rigorous in planning exits out of topics, but it’s not that easy.” Furthermore, the CTP also helped the organization to open up. “I would think that if you ask people about Ashoka in 2006 and Ashoka in 2011, you could see much opener and much more inviting than before, at least that’s what I hope.”
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