Global X is short listed for the 2009 Webby Awards for his series of interviews of social entrepreneurs.

Community Exchange System

Ashoka Fellow 1998

fatou jobeFatou Bin Jobe was elected an Ashoka Fellow in 1998 for her work in Gambia, where she is helping school children bridge the gap between what they need to learn and what they are given at school.

Through A Better Chance (ABC) Learning Center, she provides affordable remedial education to fight against a chronically under-funded public education system and extremely high dropout rates.

In this short interview with Global X

In this fourth (and last) interview with Global X, Bill Drayton addresses a key question: How can one be an effective social entrepreneur?

"First, you have to give yourself permission to be one!" And that may be the biggest barrier. Many people will tell you that this is too hard and that you will fail. "You have to very politely ignore them," recommends the founder of Ashoka.

Then pick a social problem that you really want to solve.

Bill Drayton is angry!

In this two-minute interview, Bill Drayton tells Global X why the largest group of social entrepreneurs who have been selected to become Ashoka Fellows (450 out of 2,400) concentrate on children and young people: "What really matters is whether children master applied empathy, and whether young people (12 to 20) master empathy teamwork leadership and become change makers" through extra-curriculum activities such as tutoring serv

Jody Williams received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

She is now the founder and chair of the Nobel Women's Initiative, where six of the seven women alive today who have received the Nobel Peace Prize together bring change for women around the world.

In this three-minute interview with Global X, she tells of her passion for global affairs.

Kiva's President shares with Global X three pieces of advice for fellow social entrepreneurs.

1. More traction, less projection!
Premal Shah spent two years at PayPal while he was trying to get Kiva's idea off the ground. In retrospect, he thinks that doing "less PowerPoint, less MS Excel" is best. "Showing traction is a lot better than showing projections (even if the traction is a fraction of what the projections are)."

2.

David Roll, a lawyer based in Washington DC, is Managing Director of Lex Mundi Pro Bono Foundation, a network of 160 law firms (with 20,000 lawyers) offering pro bono legal services to social entrepreneurs all over the world.

He remembers being contacted by Kyle Zimmer, the founder of First Book, an organization that has distributed millions of books worldwide.

While in Dakar, Global X had a chance to chat with Pat Pillai, South Africa's suave, urbane e.tv news anchor (as they say in Fairlady).

Pat Pillai was recently elected an Ashoka Fellow for his work on youth social leadership at Life College, the replicable social business he launched to offer character education, real life projects and leadership education to families.

"They leave school with a wider world view, and not a slave mentality, but a champion mentality," says Pat Pillai about the children Life College is helping.

He was inspired by his grand-father, who worked as a w

Isaac Durojaiye, also known as Otunba Gadaffi, is Managing Director of DMT Toilet in Lagos. He is so tall that Global X had to stand on a chair to take a picture of him.

Mr. Durojaiye launched his company after noticing that even though 20 million people lived in Lagos, there were very few public toilets, thus creating a health hazard. His mobile toilets are now built locally with local materials, a first in West Africa.

Besides improving sanitation and public health, Mr.

Maxwell Marshall, a 36-year old Nigerian, launched Green Housing just after being elected an Ashoka Fellow.

His goal: to provide home ownership to low- and medium-income earners, in large part by replacing conventional construction methods with bamboo. Bamboo is less costly and much more environmental-friendly than steel and cement.

Maxwell Marshall had a personal experience with homelessness, as he had to sleep on the reception's couch of his office when he was starting out.

In this short interview, he shares his advice with Global X: "Do something because you believe in it.

Jack Sim founded the World Toilet Organization ("the other WTO!") in 2001 when he realized that 40% of the world population had no toilets: "Sometimes they have TV, but no toilets!"

He later founded the World Toilet College with Singapore Polytechnic and won the Schwab Foundation Award For Social Entrepreneurship in 2006.

In this short interview with Global X, he recalls his youth in poor Singapore of the 60's and makes the unavoidable scatological j

Pierre Tami and his wife Simonetta, two Italian-speaking Swiss, launched Hagar International to help Cambodian women who have been abandoned by society through abuse, war, trafficking or violence.

He tells the story of Hagar and her son, Ishmael, "the story of millions of exploited, trafficked, disabled and abandoned women and children," a story told in the Bible, the Koran and the Torah.

Pierre Tami shares with Global X a piece of advice: "The world is over-managed and under-led. We need vibrant leaders who go out with great passion.

Andreas Heinecke launched Dialogue in the Dark in Hamburg, an exhibition without light to discover the unseen, a "walk in the dark."

He remembers meeting a young girl (she was 17) who was on her way to a hospital to have her eyes extracted. That story had a powerful impact on him and reminded him how important self-esteem is.

In this very short interview (with below average sound), Andreas Heinecke shares with Global X a piece of advice: "Remain humble while you work for the others. It's not about being a star. It's about them!"

Taffy Adler works in Johannesburg, a city often described as one of the most dangerous places to work in the world, but he has been able to get the trust from the community by giving its people the right opportunities to help them grow.

He shares two pieces of advice with Global X: "First, stay focused! Don't get distracted. Second, it's hard to argue with success, so plan to launch a successful organization, and other things will come to you."