Echoing Green are hardly newcomers on the social business scene. Founded more than twenty years ago, their mission is to fund and support social entrepreneurs with some of the world’s boldest ideas for social change.

Echoing Green believe that social entrepreneurs are the catalysts for societal change, and that they with an extremely high level of passion and commitment to their ideas function as extraordinary “bridgers” – with the ability to deeply engage stakeholders in their work, attracting corporate, public, and nonprofit leaders. But they also realise the difficulties that social entrepreneurs face: They need support and a strong network to succeed since their work is often both lonely and arduous, an at the same time, more risk-taking is required in the philanthropic sector to drive true social change. To help them on their way, the Echoing Green Fellowship program has supported and funded nearly 500 entrepreneurs, with the goal to to broaden the impact of great societal leaders and launch groundbreaking organizations around the world.

On the Echoing Green homepage, you can watch a video of President Cheryl Dorsey (who was herself appointed a Fellow in 1992) introducing the Echoing Green Fellows of 2010. These include among others Jamie Yang, who has the idea to offer poor households in Tanzania a battery subscription service, and Becca Heller, who wants to create a system of legal representation for Iraqi refugees.

Watch all of the inspiring ideas presented by the Fellows of 2010 here.

And, if you have a brilliant social business idea that you would like to pursue, why not apply to become a fellow of next year?