WISE - The Women's Initiative for Social Entrepreneurship
A global initiative led from the global South that aims to elevate the number, knowledge, and power of women in social entrepreneurship by redefining success from a gendered lens and celebrating the unique ways in which women successfully lead and make impact.
Ashoka Global
38%
Of the Fellows are Women
1st Global WISE Panel
8
Women Fellows Elected From 7 countries
ChangemakHERS
300
Active Users on the Platform
WISEUp Event
850
Speakers & Partners
Introducing WISE
Led by Ashoka Arab World’s Regional Director and Vice President of Ashoka Global, Iman Bibars, The Women’s Initiative for Social Entrepreneurship is a movement to redefine success and lead a paradigm shift in how the innovative ecosystem defines, recognizes, and funds impact.
Our theory of change at WISE is that there are 3 types of scaling: scaling up (laws and policies), scaling out (large areas or populations), scaling deep (mindsets and cultural norms)
Women have an impact through all three types of scaling, but the ecosystem, especially funders, only recognize scaling out.
If we redefine success to include all three types of scaling, women’s impact will be recognized and celebrated more at every level, which will catalyze more sustainable solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
When we reframe the definition of success in a way that better includes and celebrates women social entrepreneurs, we curate an ecosystem that is more likely to inspire and nurture women changemakers.
Iman Bibars
Founder and Team Leader, Women's Initiative for Social Entrepreneurship (WISE)
Don’t give up when you start young as a woman. You continue, you are persistent, you move toward making that change because there’s always that heat inside your heart that says the gut feeling is that you have to do it. That’s something that comes when you start young.
Hasina Kharbhih
Ashoka Fellow India - Founder, Impulse NGO Network
[Success is] changing someone’s mind, someone who is angry and totally in despair to being someone who wants to change things and who knows she can change things, especially as a girl. It’s so powerful; it’s something that fills your soul.
Greta Ríos
Ashoka Fellow, Mexico -Founder, Ollin, A.C
Beliefs are deeply rooted, it's character deep, impressively deep and profound is what lasts. We all want to have access and time to make a lasting difference.
Elizabeth White
Director British Council Egypt
When I began working on the economic development of the Black population, I understood that it was not enough to work just there - I had to work in the whole environment, the whole ecosystem to make change, influence public policy, create a narrative in media [...]
Adriana Barbosa
Ashoka Fellow, Brazil - Founder of Instituto Feira Preta
I think creative thinking is best served with wisdom.
T. Morgan Dixon
Ashoka Fellow, US - Founder, GirlTrek: Healthy Black Women and Girls
Organised diffusion is a way of scaling, but actually, the scaling is done from within, through the people themselves. That happened because Tostan was able to implement a three-year program. We actually did deep Scaling first.
Molly Melching
Founder of Tostan
How have we learned to do this over time – first and foremost … to listen to groundbreaking work done at grassroots level, listen to the leaders in communities, to bring out the best practices that stem from all of these different contexts, and to try to bridge the good practices between continents and oftentimes to make them understood to donors...
From its headquarters in Liechtenstein, the Hilti Foundation has championed Ashoka’s changemaking vision in the Arab region since our establishment in 2003. From the election of our first group of Fellows through recent initiatives to bolster and scale Fellows’ impact, the Hilti Foundation has stood as one of our central partners, witnessing with us the evolution of our work and growth of a powerful ecosystem of systems-changing individuals. With their partnership, Ashoka has been able to change the lives of millions of individuals through our Fellows and spark immense economic growth across the Arab region.
From its headquarters in Liechtenstein, the Hilti Foundation has championed Ashoka’s changemaking vision in the Arab region since our establishment in 2003. From the election of our first group of Fellows through recent initiatives to bolster and scale Fellows’ impact, the Hilti Foundation has stood as one of our central partners, witnessing with us the evolution of our work and growth of a powerful ecosystem of systems-changing individuals. With their partnership, Ashoka has been able to change the lives of millions of individuals through our Fellows and spark immense economic growth across the Arab region.
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. We invest in efforts that increase financial inclusion, catalyze job opportunities for youth, and reimagine approaches to building economically vibrant communities. The Citi Foundation's "More than Philanthropy" approach leverages the enormous expertise of Citi and its people to fulfill our mission and drive thought leadership and innovation.
The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. We invest in efforts that increase financial inclusion, catalyze job opportunities for youth, and reimagine approaches to building economically vibrant communities. The Citi Foundation's "More than Philanthropy" approach leverages the enormous expertise of Citi and its people to fulfill our mission and drive thought leadership and innovation.
Since 1995, Porticus has coordinated the philanthropic endeavours founded by the Brenninkmeijer family business owners, continuing a tradition of social engagement stretching back as far as 1841. Porticus in the Middle East has been supporting Ashoka Arab World since 2021 in engaging young people to become Changemakers in the region and helping to spread the WISE movement in the region and globally.
Since 1995, Porticus has coordinated the philanthropic endeavours founded by the Brenninkmeijer family business owners, continuing a tradition of social engagement stretching back as far as 1841. Porticus in the Middle East has been supporting Ashoka Arab World since 2021 in engaging young people to become Changemakers in the region and helping to spread the WISE movement in the region and globally.
Our biggest donor to date, Al Waleed Philanthropies is a leading Saudi Arabian NGO with a mission to build the bridges necessary for cultural understanding, community development. Supporting Ashoka in electing new Fellows in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco, they are also championing the movement to create a new generation of Changemakers and Social Entrepreneurs through the Innovation Factory programme in all 3 countries.
Our biggest donor to date, Al Waleed Philanthropies is a leading Saudi Arabian NGO with a mission to build the bridges necessary for cultural understanding, community development. Supporting Ashoka in electing new Fellows in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco, they are also championing the movement to create a new generation of Changemakers and Social Entrepreneurs through the Innovation Factory programme in all 3 countries.
Ashoka
