We proudly offer a special edition of Skoll eNews, the Skoll Foundation's bimonthly update, to highlight some achievements of our awardees and partners.



Father of Microfinance Wins Nobel Prize

Good things come in threes. Soon after two Skoll awardees were named MacArthur (“genius”) Fellows (Victoria Hale of Institute for OneWorld Health and Jim Fruchterman of Benetech), we learned that Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize—a well-deserved and long overdue honor. Like Victoria and Jim, Professor Yunus has engendered new interest in the work of social entrepreneurs. In addition to pioneering the field of microfinance, he is a role model for those who want to dedicate their lives to narrowing the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Since its founding in 1983, the Grameen Bank has loaned more than $5.7 billion to 6.1 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom are poor women, to help them start small businesses. According to a recent BusinessWeek article, approximately 100 million people, 70 million of whom live on less than $1 a day, are expected to participate in the microcredit movement by the end of this year.

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Barefoot College Wins 2006 Alcan Prize for Sustainability

The winner of the 2006 Alcan Prize for Sustainability is Barefoot College, led by Bunker Roy. The $1 million award annually recognizes one nongovernmental organization, not-for-profit or civil society organization working to build a sustainable society. The prize is managed independently by the International Business Leaders Forum. Since 1972, Barefoot College has improved the lives of some of India’s poorest people by training them to become health workers, teachers and engineers.

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2007 Social Capitalist Awards Named

Eleven current Skoll Foundation partners and awardees have been named winners of the 2007 Fast Company Monitor Group Social Capitalist Award, which honors social entrepreneurs who combine creativity and ingenuity with business solutions to address social problems. The organizations and their social entrepreneurs, where applicable, are Calvert Social Investment Foundation; Ceres, Inc. (Mindy Lubber); Citizen Schools (Eric Schwarz); Civic Ventures (Marc Freedman); College Summit (J.B. Schramm); Ecologic Finance (William Foote); KickStart (Martin Fisher and Nick Moon); Room to Read (John Wood); Teach for America (Wendy Kopp); TransFair USA (Paul Rice); and WITNESS (Gillian Caldwell).

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Riders for Health Wins Major Award

Riders for Health, led by Andrea and Barry Coleman, was honored at the national finals of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards. Competing against top entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom, the organization was named “Social Entrepreneur of the Year” at a gala ceremony in London. Riders has developed vehicle maintenance and training systems to ensure that African health workers can reach remote communities on a regular basis.

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Ciudad Saludable Recognized for Best Practices

Ciudad Saludable, founded by Albina Ruiz, is one of 12 winners of the 2006 Dubai International Award for Best Practices to Improve the Living Environment.

The awardees were all deemed to have made outstanding contributions toward improving the quality of life in cities and communities. They were chosen from 690 submissions. Each will receive a trophy, a commemorative certificate and a check for $30,000 at the awards ceremony in Dubai in early 2007. Ciudad Saludable generates employment and facilitates cleaner cities in Peru by creating local enterprises to collect and process garbage.

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CAMFED Director Wins Creativity Award

The Women’s World Summit Foundation in Switzerland has awarded Angeline Mugwendere of the Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) the prize for Women’s Creativity in Rural Life. CAMFED founder Ann Cotton tells us that Angeline was one of the first young women in Africa that her organization helped stay in school. Angeline is now the director of CAMFED Zimbabwe. She will receive $3,000 to invest in her work with girls and young women.

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Jefferson Award Goes to Roots of Peace

Heidi Kühn, founder of Roots of Peace, has won a San Francisco Bay Area Jefferson Award from the American Institute for Public Services, a national foundation that honors individuals who perform community service. In addition to being profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle, she was featured on the CBS5-TV and KCBS-AM radio. Roots of Peace converts minefields to vineyards, agricultural fields and safe migration corridors for wildlife.