While other Childrens10 leaders bring a youthful energy to Hope4Child’s fundraisers, Ashwin says he has been inspired by Hope4Child’s leaders who have had successful professional careers while giving back in this way.
Ashwin’s own career has been influenced both by their example and by his GreenHouse experience.
"GreenHouse helped me identify that it was important to me to have a job that had a tangible effect on society. I had been on a path to end up working at a bank, but at GreenHouse I got put in touch with people who were fully pursuing their passions, building up social ventures. It changed my mindset and made me put more emphasis on opportunities where you see social value rather than simply dollar value.”
Today Ashwin works as an analyst in the financial advisory group of EllisDon Capital.
His social enterprise experience also helped him stand out from the crowd. “There are a lot of cookie-cutter candidates out there. My employer liked that I cared about things outside of work — my passion worked in my favour.”
He encourages other people — including his younger brother — to consider the value of the social enterprise startup world. “You will do things you wouldn’t do in a normal corporate environment. The energy it gives you to be surrounded by people passionate about social issues will influence your career in a positive way regardless of whether you go full-time into a social venture or into a corporate job like I did.”
