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Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo

There are huge global problems that we hear about on a daily basis, so it’s my goal to explore these with you; to get a deeper understanding of what makes these issues complex, who are the stakeholders involved, and what progress is being made to solve some of these challenges. Together, we’re going to speak with movers and shakers in the business and impact worlds to learn more about their work in creating a better world. We promise to be candid and open to having our views challenged, while learning more about what makes our world tick.
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Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
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Now displaying: 2016
Dec 22, 2016

The silly season is in full swing! And although, I love this time of year because of the special time I get to spend at home with my family and friends, I can't quite wrap my head around the craziness in the shopping malls and supermarkets. Apart from being absolute chaos, are you noticing the consumerism and materialism? #guilty This is a quick episode about how you can do good over the Christmas season with 3 simple and EASY-PEASY tips to make this time of year truly the GIVING time of year. 

 

I really do believe that you can still have a great time celebrating AND if everyone makes small conscious changes, the impact can be huge. 

 

Big impact doesn’t have to be hard. It starts with small changes. I’m not even saying that you have to radically modify your lifestyle. But if everyone makes small conscious changes to their lifestyle, collectively the impact will be huge. These a just a few quick things that I’ve identified, but I’d love to hear from you about what things small things are you doing this year to create social impact? Happy holidays everyone! 

 

People/ items mentioned in this episode:

carbonfootprint.com

B Corporation Certification

Alter Eco

ETSY

Ben & Jerry’s

Tristram Stuart, Founder, Feedback

Feedback

Agenda, World Economic Forum

Tristram Stuart World Economic Forum article on food supply

USDA data on food loss in the American retail food supply chain

USDA data on food loss in American restaurants & kitchens

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

United Nations

Livestock impact on:

 

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Let me know in the comments!

Dec 11, 2016

Episode 9 & 10 of the Doing Good Podcast are interviews with Founder of Chuffed, Prashan Paramanthan. In this episode, Prashan shares a ton of wisdom from his journey raising VC funds, how others can learn from their fundraising process and general advice for social entrepreneurs who are looking at securing investment from other non-traditional sources. Prashan also talks about Chuffed’s company structure and why they made the decisions they did to set it up that way.  If you don’t already know much about Chuffed, I recommend listening to episode 9 before tuning in to episode 10. Looking forward to your thoughts!

 

Favourite quote from episode:

“Start with only enough that you need to figure out what people actually want [24:13]

 

People/ items mentioned in this episode:

Chuffed

Chuffed’s blog

Chuffed’s Public Benefit Structure

Chuffed Seed Funding Round

 

 

Get in contact with Prashan on Twitter

 

Show notes

  • What was the path that Chuffed took to raising venture capital funding as a social enterprise? [2:20]
  • Prashan shares the 3 common responses by commercial investors to social enterprises looking to raise funding [06:10]
  • More on Chuffed’s public benefit company structure [10:00]
  • Prashan shares useful advice he’s been given [20:30]

 

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Let me know in the comments!

Dec 11, 2016

Episode 9 & 10 of the Doing Good Podcast are interviews with Founder of Chuffed, Prashan Paramanthan. In episode 9, we talk all things tech for good, crowdfunding for social good and more. You get a better understand of what exactly crowdfunding is and how it can be used to create huge impact. Chuffed is a unique social enterprise in its structure and is the first of its kind to receive venture capital funding. If you would like to hear more about the business side of things for Chuffed from Prashan, you can check out episode 10 with his advice on getting started, how to fundraise and more. Enjoy!

 

Favourite quote from episode:

“Pitch them the big bold idea of how you’re going to change the world” [24:00]

 

People/ items mentioned in this episode:

Chuffed

Chuffed’s blog

Telstra Foundation

Chuffed Seed Funding Round

 

Get in contact with Prashan on Twitter

 

Show notes

  • What exactly is crowdfunding and how is it transforming the charity sector? [02:30]
  • What makes Chuffed different to other crowdfunding platforms out there? [04:00]
  • Prashan takes us on the journey of how Chuffed started [11:45]
  • How did you come up with the name for your social enterprise? [24:41]
  • How does Chuffed measure impact? [31:38]
  • Prashan gives advice on how to get started/ get involved in creating your own social impact [44:10]
  • Three Things [55:00]

 

What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Let me know in the comments!

Nov 29, 2016

This is an episode that I have been wanting to do for a while. Everyone knows Facebook, but not many people would be aware about the work that Facebook is doing in the community to create social impact.  In this episode, I interview Clair Deevy who is the head of Economic Growth Initiatives for Asia Pacific at Facebook. Clair is someone who really inspires me, and in this episode, we talk about some of the initiatives that she is looking after. One of the programs we talk a lot about is She Means Business - an initiative to support female entrepreneurs. Another one you may have heard of is Safety Check which has been used around the world for natural disasters and human tragedies. Clair is a seasoned professional in terms of executing high impact initiatives that not only create positive social impact in the community, but also are in line with business objectives. Something that is increasingly becoming more important as businesses take on a bigger role in creating impact in their communities and supply chains. We speak about the work that she is doing now, how she got to where she is, and her thoughts on how others can get started. If you are working in any type of business or multinational organisation, I highly recommend this episode as an example of things to consider when thinking about business and social impact. Enjoy!

 

Favourite quote from episode:

“Rather than just trying to inspire people about things that I care about is help people to find what they’re good at and what they care about and then get them to pass that on to the next person. Because I think that’s real inspiration. Inspiration isn’t like, you now think that my topic is the most important thing ever. Inspiration is you feel inspired to go and do something else yourself” – Clair [34:18]

 

People/ items mentioned in this episode:

She Means Business

Safety Check

Think Before You Share - Jakarta Online Safety Project

Infoxchange - Australia

 

Get in contact with Clair on Facebook

 

Show Notes

  • What is economic growth initiatives? Clair explains some of the programs she works on such as Safety Check and She Means Business [03:10]
  • Clair tells us about her career path  [09:45]
  • What kind of partnerships does Facebook have with different organisations to promote social impact? [15:30]
  • How does Facebook think about social impact and measure it? [20:40]
  • Clair’s advice for someone who wants to know how to get started in creating their own social impact [26:08]
  • Three Things [27:52]
  • What’s next for Clair? [30:53]
  • “If you set out to try and inspire someone, you probably won’t. If you can work out what you actually care about, like what gets you excited and passionate about, you will inspire other people without even trying because it’s really infectious.” [34:18]

 

What was your favourite quote or lesson from this episode? Let me know in the comments!

Nov 15, 2016

I was planning on releasing an episode from another amazing guest but given recent events, I think it’s an important time to stop and reflect about a new era that we have well and truly entered. This is an episode about tolerance and finding common ground to overcome some of the biggest problems the world is facing. These thoughts have been weighing heavy on my mind for a few years now, but over the past few months I’ve been putting it altogether. Challenging my beliefs and assumptions. Although many of us are genuinely concerned with the direction the world is heading in, I believe that we can all do more. We can all do better. I was honestly a bit nervous about releasing this episode, because I don’t want to sound like I’m coming to the defence, or attacking any certain type of person. I am not discrediting real experiences or feelings from people either. I also don’t want to come across as preachy. My aim is to open up dialogue and challenge you to think further about your role, whatever your opinion is, and how you can do better. The purpose of this podcast is not only about doing good and hearing about different ways to do good. But it’s also about challenging misconceptions and challenging beliefs, ideas and assumptions. It’s open having open discussion and critique in a supportive community that cares about a sustainable future for every being. The fact that I even feel the need to preface this episode with that little disclaimer means that I am anxious about the response that it’s going to get, even though the whole point is to open dialogue. How ironic is that! Despite my anxiety, I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas, so long as they’re constructive.

Nov 6, 2016

Siddarth Das is the Director of Digital Engagement at WWF International and the Executive Director of WWF’s Earth Hour. Earth Hour is a very interesting campaign in the way that it’s run. Actually, WWF and their online communication in general is quite outstanding. The panda brand is recognized almost everywhere. So, it was interesting when Sid mentioned some common misconceptions about what WWF actually does, but also, how they’re using digital media tools for education and to support their social impact work. There’s a lot to talk about in this interview so I hope you enjoy!

 

Favourite quote from episode:

“It is everyone’s collective problem and it’s everyone’s collective solutions that are going to fix it as well. It’s not a single government or just a few people in the policy or business world that are going to fix this. Climate change is the most universal problem that we have and it’s the most universal issue that we have. And the solution for that is going to come from all of us” – Sid [14:20]

 

People/ items mentioned in this episode:

 

Get in contact with Sid on Twitter, LinkedIn or Email

 

[Download the MP3 here]

 

Show notes

  • “It was always meant to be a six-month gig, and seven and half years, I’m still here” [06:00]
  • How does an initiative like Earth Hour create change? [06:15]
  • Earth Hour and WWF International work with corporations around the world in innovative ways. Sid gives us some examples of these partnerships and what they entailed. (Shoutout to Serena Tan for this question! Have a question that you’d like me to ask in a future interview? Get in touch!) [16:30]
  • Digital engagement at WWF: streamlining, amplifying & localizing global communications [21:25]
  • Sid urges people to think about careers in social impact - “When you balance everything out, the social enterprise world or the NGO world actually offers quite a bit of movement for people to come in to and experience just one different side of it” [33:05]
  • Looking in to the future of WWF: partnerships, technology & innovation [40:27]
  • Sid dishes out some useful advice [45:47]
  • Three Things [49:21]

 

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Let me know in the comments!

Oct 15, 2016
This is a very special episode in partnership with CGIAR and CGIAR Gender and Agriculture Research Network to recognise, International Day of Rural Women (15th October), World Food Day (16th October) and the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17th October). CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services. Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR Centers in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. Now the participation and inclusion of rural women is so important to meet the growing need for food and eradicate poverty. Women are central to many development projects around the world. In this episode, I interview Maria Alejandra Garcia who is an Assistant Researcher at the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Colombia. She works on projects related to rice production in Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia, which is culturally seen as "male crop" in the region. As such, the work that women do in rice production is often not recognized and therefore not supported. Maria Alejandra’s work is to understand how gender plays a role in agriculture and what can be done support rural women in having access to the same resources and opportunities as men. This episode brings to light the importance of good research, how it affects development programs, government policies and business decisions, and what happens when women are left out. 
Oct 8, 2016
William Stubbs who is the cofounder of an organsiation in Australia called Spur Projects. Most Australians would have heard of their Soften the Fuck Up Campaign and their just launched "How is the World Feeling?" campaign.
Sep 12, 2016
In this episode of the Doing Good Podcast, I have a discussion with Zhang Tingjun the Executive Director of Mercy Relief. Ting is the first female to helm Mercy Relief in its 12 year history and was formerly the Co-Founder and Director of The Chain Reaction Project (TCRP), a non-profit organization recognized by the President's Office as one of Singapore's leading social enterprises. We chat about how she transitioned from working at a large bank, to starting up her own social enterprise, to taking charge of one of Singapore's leading independent disaster relief agencies. We speak about what it’s like to work at a humanitarian relief agency, skills-based volunteering, how to best help in the case of a disaster and vent about common misconceptions that donors have about nonprofits. 
Sep 12, 2016
In this episode of the Doing Good Podcast, I’m interviewing David Nosibor. David is the Innovation Evangelist at Mazars, a global audit and accounting firm. David describes himself an intrapreneur, that is, someone within an organisation that is entrepreneurial and is making change from within. We find out what he does to promote innovation within a company that is typically seen as traditional and how he has incorporated social impact as part of his work. We touch on how Mazars, as an auditing company thinks about corporate social responsibility. How involved should a multinational corporation be in social good, social impact and sustainability. Do corporations have a responsibility to social impact? David and Mazars think so. Among the topics we discuss, one that I find most interesting is on Mazars award-winning human rights audit and consultancy service for businesses. They are the only audit and accounting firm to offer this service and are ongoing advocates for businesses to demonstrate respect for human rights.  David is a very familiar face to me. We met about two years ago when Mazars was launching a social entrepreneurship competition called Mazars For Good. We actually then got close over a shared appreciation for soca music from Trinidad and Tobago which we discovered over a Twitter exchange! David is a lot of fun to chat to in this interview so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 
Sep 12, 2016
Chris Annadorai is the Director of Operation Sumatran Rhino which will premiere through Nat Geo Wild’s new series Mission Critical, a new monthly programming initiative featuring powerful stories of the most incredible and endangered animals on our planet.
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