We Partner With Organisations To Accelerate Change.
At Ashoka, we work with businesses, foundations, and individuals to design innovative partnerships to accelerate changemaking, both within and outside of our organisations.
Insights
Staff Members
Nikki Gravning
Country Co-Director, Ashoka UK & Ireland
Nikki Gravning is Country Director of Ashoka UK with a core focus on partnerships to embed radical collaboration and changemaking for a better world into the corporate landscape. Before joining Ashoka, Nikki successfully led the Social Innovation Strategy for New Zealand’s National Innovation Agency to change the funding landscape for social entrepreneurs in the country. She has mentored social enterprises in accelerator programs and helped raise $2 million for New Zealand’s largest social enterprise in 2017. She is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper Alumni and a Centre for Sustainability Leadership Fellow from her days in Sydney, Australia.
Alexandra Pilavachi
Director of Community
Alexandra is the Director of Community, stewarding a thriving network of leading social entrepreneurs, senior business leaders, donors, supporters and partner organisations. Alexandra has a background in marketing and communications having worked in brand management roles at Procter & Gamble before setting up her own coaching and consulting practice. Through that she supported early stage purpose driven ventures with creative problem solving, business strategy and leadership development. She is an On Purpose Fellow and actively involved in numerous organisations as a volunteer.
Anuradha Bhatnagar
Senior Manager Strategic Partnerships
Anu is Senior Manager Strategic Partnerships, catalysing and managing funding and strategic relationships with organisations that support Ashoka’s vision. Anu is a former stockbroker at Morgan Stanley, with several years of experience in sales and relationship management. She is also an On Purpose Fellow with experience and interest in social and impact investment. Her change in career was sparked by experiences with purpose-driven organisations, fighting food waste with FoodCycle, and supporting the opening of the world's first Partition Museum in India.
Richard Johnson
Challenge and Partnership Manager, Ashoka UK & Ireland
Richard Johnson is a Challenge & Partnership Manager at Ashoka, working across the Changemakers and Ashoka UK teams. His work focuses you connecting corporates and social entrepreneurs to create lasting solutions to social and environmental problems. He formerly worked at the think-tank and consultancy Volans, researching and advising on business model innovation and the link between sustainability and entrepreneurship. He advised the corporate members of the UN Global Compact, the UK Government’s Innovation agency and a raft of sustainable startups. In 2015 he worked on launching the B Corp certification in the UK, building the community of the first 50 British B Corps. His thoughts on sustainable business have been published in Fast Company magazine and The Guardian.