We’re thrilled that Echoing Green Fellow Gayatri Datar ‘14, co-founder and CEO of EarthEnable, is a recipient of the 2025 Skoll Award for Social Innovation. This annual award recognizes exemplary social innovators and organizations creating a more sustainable, peaceful, and prosperous world. Gayatri is one of five transformative leaders who will receive $2 million in unrestricted funding and flexible support to scale their work and increase their impact.

“This award comes at a critical moment for us as Africa faces an urgent need for more affordable, healthier, and climate resilient housing,” said Gayatri. “Our model is easily scalable and rooted in community, working closely with locally trained masons—all people need to get started is earth. At EarthEnable, we are building a future where safe, sustainable, and beautiful housing is within everyone’s reach.”

Africa is facing a staggering and growing housing crisis. An estimated 70 percent of the buildings that will exist on the continent by 2040 are yet to be built, including millions of homes. By building healthy homes using sustainable and affordable materials in low-income, rural African communities, EarthEnable is transforming the housing landscape in Africa to be healthy, affordable, resilient, and beneficial to the planet. More than 200,000 people across Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda have benefited from EarthEnable’s innovative approach to affordable and sustainable flooring, which has created or improved more than 1,000 jobs in eastern Africa.