I attended last night's Ashoka Changemakers award ceremony for the Social Entrepreneurship & Innovation Competition, which was well-attended by business and non-profit fans of social entrepreneurship alike. The Ashoka speakers were self-effacing and concise; first was Sushmita Ghosh, Chair of Changemakers.net, who talked about Changemakers' 5-step strategy for impact. Bill Drayton, CEO and founder of Ashoka, highlighted the hybrid value chain of impact that Ashoka creates by creating a space where social activism meet business principles, policy, and citizen groups. Third was Valeria Budinich, VP of Full Economic Citizenship, who introduced the 11 finalists (three were absent).

Most of the finalists are probably well known to Nextbillion readers--Rebeca Villalobos and Wayne Farmer on the health care beat with ASEMBIS eyecare and HealthStore; improving farming productivity with Sadangi's International Development Enterprise ; Honeycare Africa employment and guaranteed income; SELCO solar energy for the BOP; sustainably harvested Acai berries to make Sambazon drinks (by "antisocial social entrepreneurs" Black and Baumgardner); "RUGmark" labels to sell products made without child slavery; microbanks to empower rickshaw drivers and women.

Craig Esbeck's story was touching: a high school teacher with an existential crisis, he went to Uganda with the Peace Corps, stayed post-evacuation, and used his Peace Corps "readjustment" money--$2,500--to launch Mango Tree Educational Enterprises.

But by far I was most inspired by the Sulabh project, which provides the unglamorous service of sanitation. This may well pave the way for Quadruple Bottom Line standards: green, profitable, social, and also breaks down class barriers.