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After reestablishing New Ventures Mexico as its own independent organization, growing the program to incorporate a broader range of enterprise development services and creating a flashy new site worthy of a Webby (in our opinion), we at New Ventures global would have thought country director Rodrigo Villar could finally rest on his accomplishments. Apparently, we were wrong – building off a highly successful year for the Mexico team, it was announced recently that Rodrigo has been awarded as one of the newest class of Ashoka fellows.

Ashoka describes its fellows as being “social entrepreneurs who we recognize to have innovative solutions to social problems and the potential to change patterns across society. They demonstrate unrivaled commitment to bold new ideas and prove that compassion, creativity, and collaboration are tremendous forces for change.” These words are an apt description for Rodrigo, who has worked relentlessly over the past four years to pioneer a new model of sustainable enterprise development in the region. The project for which Rodrigo was selected is a new “Green Pages,” a sustainable products and services guide that will be a clearinghouse of information for new generations of green consumers in Mexico. Rodrigo noted the crucial timing of this project: “The idea now is to feed growing demand for sustainable lifestyles by providing easy access for consumers to this new class of products in a massive way.”

The five new fellows in Mexico were announced at an induction ceremony last week, and the group had a chance to mingle with other Ashoka members at an event celebrating the organization’s 20 years operating in the country. Congratulations to Rodrigo on this new partnership, it is a major milestone in a career of promoting sustainable enterprise growth in Mexico – just one achievement of many more to come.