Social Entrepreneurs Between 12 And 21 Can Apply To Ashoka Arab World's Young Changemakers Programme

For the first time in its Middle Eastern programmes, Ashoka is expanding its attention scope to younger age groups. Ashoka Arab World wants to reach "change-makers" between the age of 12 and 21 who could be potential Ashoka fellows in the future. Ashoka is a Virginia-based international organisation founded in 1980 that promotes social entrepreneurship by affiliating individual social entrepreneurs into the Ashoka organisation.

The young change-makers programme has been on the list of activities of the Western branch of Ashoka, but this year the organisation plans to test the waters in the Middle Eastern communities represented by the most populous country in the region - Egypt. The programme is targeting young candidates who have tackled an issue they care deeply about, changed their schools or communities for the better. 

There's always this misconception that young or old change-makers are only to be found in the developed part of the world, and that we can barely find any change-makers in Egypt," Programme Manager Yara Braidy tells Startup Scene. "We have change-makers from a very young age here in Egypt. We're starting this to delve deep in the change-making skills of young entrepreneurs and change-makers."

This competition is completely led, sponsored, and financed by Ashoka Arab World. "This is our belief that it this is something important to expose and bring to the table," Braidy adds. "We are currently working with our community partners to find more change-makers." Until now they have received an amount of applications that has exceeded their expectations so they have decided to extend the deadline to October 30th to give more space for the candidates to articulate their thoughts. Applicants should write a motivational essay from 200 to 500 words about their impact on their community affiliated with documents that would back up what they mention in the essay. 

Apply before October 30th.