Local entrepreneur lands global fellowship

CAPETONIAN director and co-founder of The Clothing Bank has been made a lifetime member of one of the oldest and most prestigious global networks.

Tracey Chambers is one of three South Africans, who has been selected as Ashoka Fellows at the Ashoka Impact Summit last month in Johannesburg. Ashoka organisation was established in 1980 and is one of the oldest and most prestigious global networks that identifies and supports the world’s leading social entrepreneurs. The pioneering organisation provides financial, logistical and knowledge support to over 3 000 social entrepreneurs annually.

“It was the biggest gathering of social entrepreneurs I’ve ever been to and it was so wonderful to see such great representation from every country in Africa.

“It was so incredible to meet people from all over the continent who have developed such innovative and inspiring social enterprises. The summit, brought new and old Fellows together to share ideas, synergies and connections within Africa.

“It was an incredible experience. There are so many good things coming out of Africa that we don’t often hear about,” said Chambers.

Chambers said Ashoka provides its Fellows with a stipend, so that they can work on a new idea.

“They also connect Fellows to international consulting companies that help you to imagine your business globally and develop a global business strategy. The Clothing Bank and our other projects… can all be scaled globally, with slightly different angles for the developed world.

“Ashoka provides an incredible support system of knowledge that we can tap into and an opportunity to share the lessons we have learnt over the past eight years with other social entrepreneurs.” – Staff Writer