Episode 40: Diaspora networking to build an "Everyone a Changemaker World" - Ashoka's story

The Migration & Diaspora Podcast

Hello and welcome to the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, with me your host, Loksan Harley from Homelands Advisory. Today, I'm joined by my friend Asier Ansorena, Senior Change Leader at Ashoka, to talk about diaspora networks and social entrepreneurship.

About Asier

Originally from Spain, Asier completed his studies in Economics and Political Science at the University of Michigan. He then worked at AIESEC on youth empowerment and entrepreneurship projects in Jordan and several Latin American countries.

In 2009, he moved to Brazil to lead the microcredit team of Instituto Banco Palmas, the first community bank in Brazil. A few years later in 2013, he began to shift his focus to developing Palmaslab, a lab of research and innovation from the urban periphery that empowers communities through the development of youth-produced software and research, which gained recognition from the Inter-American Development Bank as one of the "Three Most Innovative Solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean" in its Social Innovation challenge, amongst other accolades - including from the Ashoka Foundation, the organisation he now represents.

What we talk about

In this interview, Asier tells us all about his work with Ashoka to build diaspora networks. We talk about why Ashoka, an organisation that supports social entrepreneurs, is building diaspora networks, how it's building them, and what Asier himself has learned in the process.

I'm excited for you to get into this interview, so I'd like to thank you, as always, for tuning in and please do enjoy the show.

Links

• Ashoka's Changemaker Index: https://www.ashoka.org/el/ashoka-changemaker-index
• Related diaspora engagement episodes: Episode 2 ("doing diaspora"), Episode 38 (Global Diaspora Summit), Episode 23 (The "Who", "What", and "How" of diaspora engagement)
• Ashoka's website: https://www.ashoka.org/
• Connect with Asier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/asier-ansorena/
• Building a community of African diaspora leaders Africa 2.0 España & Ashoka: https://diasporafordevelopment.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Action-Info-Sheet-Africa-2.0-and-Ashoka-v.2.pdf