Social Entrepreneurs: Americas
Alejandra González Marin has spent years working with the indigenous communities in Mexico, providing psychological attention to the victims of human rights violations.
Maria Quezada works with Food for the Hungry (FH) in Constanza to provide basic sanitation, educational scholarships, vocational training and spiritual nourishment for children living in poverty.
By developing entrepreneurship and cultivating sound business values, José Santos Chango is empowering Ecuadorian farmers across different ethnic communities in the fight against rural poverty in a globalized world.
Ariel Zylbersztejn had a crazy idea in mind when he screened Cinepop’s first movie a few years back: to confront society’s greatest challenges, by providing free access to family films for the urban and rural poor in Mexico. Little did Ariel realize the impact he was about to make.
Schoolteacher Judith Achar trains needy Mexican families in the ancient Nahua weaving technique - to create colorful bags from recycled materials - so as to combat problems of poverty, unemployment, poor access to education and environmental degradation.
New York-based Green Map System has made online maps of sustainable initiatives accessible to keen environmentally-conscious people everywhere. Its selection of hand-picked mapmakers in 50 countries are responsible for the site's almost 500 maps, facilitating global sustainability from a grassroots level. Ethical stores, green spaces and recycling sites are just some of the sites the maps help people discover.
Geoffrey Cape, Co-founder and Executive Director of Evergreen in Toronto has ushered in the concept of harmonious integration of natural eco-systems into urban spaces in order to create healthy outdoor spaces.
The team at Ashoka Mexico, led by Director Armando Laborde, is breathing new life into Mexico's social economy and inspiring a new generation of changemakers
Andrew Dilts founded the Laurel Centre for Social Entrepreneurship in Waterloo, Canada, to nurture social entrepreneurs to achieve their potential with focused training in professional business skills. This education is achieved through a series of conferences, workshops, boot camps and lectures.
Bill Young created Social Capital Partners to incubate and invest in social enterprises It has developed a transformational system to bridge the gap between private sector corporations and community organizations to create social jobs in Canada