BNP Paribas Assurance and Ashoka launch innovative partnership to develop social entrepreneurship.
- 26/06/2008
Ashoka is an independent global non-profit organization that selects funds and supports innovative Social Entrepreneurs who initiate projects with potential for powerful social impact and large-scale development. Founded 28 years ago, Ashoka is now active in 70 countries and has to date provided support for more than 2,000 Social Entrepreneurs.
BNP Paribas Assurance is the insurance arm of BNP Paribas. With business in 42 countries, the company is intimately involved with the economic and social development of its host countries. This partnership with Ashoka underlines BNP Paribas Assurance’s commitment to sustainable growth and to transforming a world of risks into worlds of opportunity.
During the summer of 2008 BNP Paribas Assurance will select six Ashoka Fellows in six countries where the company operates: Argentina, Chile, Peru, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
This groundbreaking partnership goes beyond simple financial support. In addition to a three-year grant, Ashoka Fellows supported by BNP Paribas Assurance benefit from the company’s expertise and network of business partners, helping them advance their project.
Eric Lombard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BNP Paribas Assurance said: “By supporting innovative small enterprises whose social utility is incontestable we help them grow and make a tangible contribution to the sustainable development of local economies, encouraging a more equitable distribution of wealth. We thus become a changemaker and a source of financing for positive growth.”
This partnership is an integral part of BNP Paribas Assurance’s corporate social responsibility policy and not a corporate philanthropy initiative. Performance will be assessed by an independent organization to measure the concrete social impact in the countries concerned.
A special website presenting the partnership between BNP Paribas Assurance and Ashoka and the initiatives pursued by the Fellows
BNP Paribas Assurance has created the www.angelsandfellows.com website to track the development of projects by Ashoka Fellows, from launch through important milestones.
