At first glance, it is hard to guess that such a soft-spoken, refined, slim gentleman with a serene smile is an energetic and charismatic leader who has given financial and mental support to more than 2,000 "social entrepreneurs" around the world. But once Bill Drayton starts talking, you can immediately sense self-confidence and a strong will that lies deep inside him.
Drayton, 66, is the founder and CEO of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, which calls itself "the world's first global association that supports (the) world's leading social entrepreneurs with system-changing solutions that address the world's most urgent social problems."
Drayton's next mission is to establish a branch of Ashoka in Japan, where he says the concept of social entrepreneurship — a combination of social service and business entrepreneurship — is not publicly recognized.