In this episode we meet Sumitra Pasupathy, who is the Global Partnerships Director at Ashoka. Ashoka is absolutely legendary in the world of social entrepreneurship. And it's based on the idea that the most powerful force for good in the world is a social entrepreneur. Sumi is a social entrepreneur and the Co-founder and Director of Playeum, an innovative education content and service provider centered on creativity for children and families based in Singapore. Sumitra was most recently the Program Lead for The Changemaker Journey, a six-month capacity-building pilot program led by Ashoka and funded by Google.org, benefitting 28 non-profit organizations from India, Indonesia and Singapore, aimed at fast-tracking digital adoption and tech-based solutions as they pivot the way they work.
On this episode I’d like to introduce you to Bernhard Kowatsch who is the founder and head of the Innovation Accelerator at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). We find out more about the World Food Program, what the Innovation Accelerator is all about and how Bernhard made the transition from a consultant at Boston Consulting Group to a founder of an app call ShareTheMeal and now, working startups around the world that accelerate innovations to address global hunger.
The World Food Program has recently been awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict. While the WFP Innovation Accelerator was named by Fast Company as one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2017 in Food for its work in identifying, nurturing and scaling disruptive start-ups that accelerate innovations to address global hunger. Innovations include blockchain, agri-tech, supply chain and new businesses to end hunger. Most recently, the Accelerator runs programmes for external partners such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In this interview we speak with Catherine Chen who works in the impact investment space. Now you might have heard about impact investing before, but for many people this is quite a new and up and coming area of investing.
The impact investing space has boomed in popularity over the past decade, with many institutions adapting the idea that you can invest & generate financial returns from assets, ideas and businesses that also generate positive impact. Founded in 2017 by Catherine, Avantfaire is one of the very few signatories of the United Nationals supported Principles of Responsible Investment, are a member of the Global Impact Investing Network, and are a certified B-Corporation.
Prior to Catherine’s entrepreneurship ventures, she worked in real estate development looking after smart city projects in China and Cambodia and spent some time in wealth management, advising ultra-high net worth clients and family offices on investment in public, and private equity and other asset classes.
Imagine living without sight. Now imagine living without sight and that you didn’t have to be. A shocking 75% of all visual impairment can be prevented or treated. Orbis International is an international non-profit that trains medical professionals around the world, rallying world class experts to train local eye care teams. They partner with local hospital and clinics to improve and strengthen services and, though their most iconic tool – the Flying Eye Hospital – they are able to deliver most of their program work in country, on the ground alongside local communities and partners.
Since 1982, Orbis International has conducted training programs in over 92 countries and trained hundreds of thousands of medical professionals
They have over 40 long-term projects around the world across countries including India, Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Vietnam, Ethiopia, South Africa, Ghana, Zambia, Cameroon, Peru, Mongolia and Indonesia. And, as a result have positively impacted the lives of millions of men, women and children by conducting over 5 million screenings and examinations; more than 8 million medical and optical treatments; almost a hundred thousand laser and surgeries; and trained more than 60 thousand doctors, healthcare professionals and community health workers in 2017.
This interview with Bob was recorded in person while Bob was in Singapore for the Orbis International Gala to raise funds for the critically important work that the international non-profit does around the world.
Bob came to Orbis with more than 30 years of experience as strategist, leader, and manager in a career that spans across military, manufacturing and small business sectors. In his most recent appointments prior to joining Orbis, Ranck was Senior Vice President of Government Programs & Sales at Gulfstream Aerospace and Vice President of Business Development at Integrated Systems Solutions (ISS) a service- disabled, veteran-owned small business.
As a military chief executive in the United States Air Force, he led military units in domestic and international flying operations, spearheaded emergency relief in the developing world and the U.S., engaged in public relations/advocacy efforts and championed change management activities.
Ranck is also a pilot and is qualified to fly the KC-10, a variant of the DC-10 aircraft that currently houses the Orbis Flying Eye Hospital. At Orbis Bob provides the vision and leadership that guide operations and ensures the fulfilment of the Orbis mission.
In this interview I chat with Susan Bissell who is the Director at the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children at UNICEF. Although this episode was recorded a few years ago (I know, I’m sorry I’m slow at editing), Susan’s insights on the work to eliminate violence against children is still highly relevant.
According to the Partnership, 1 in 2 children experience violence every year. Every 7 minutes a child dies as a result of violence and 10 million children are subjected to modern slavery. This interview covers how the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children is working with various stakeholders around the world to reduce these numbers, some of the innovation in the space of child protection, resources and how you can get involved.
Susan's career has focused on the rights of children. Having spent over twenty-five years working in various capacities for UNICEF, as of January 2016 she is leading an emerging Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. The primary purpose of the partnership is to "end abuse, exploitation, trafficking and all forms of violence against and torture of children." From 2009 to 2015, Dr. Bissell served as Chief of Child Protection in UNICEF's Programme Division. Author of a number of research studies, she has worked with UNICEF in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Italy (at the Innocenti Research Centre), and New York City, and earned a PhD in public health and medical anthropology from the University of Melbourne in Australia. While completing her doctorate, she joined Trudie Styler and the Bangladeshi film team Catherine and Tareque Masud to produce the documentary "A Kind of Childhood," which has won awards and been screened widely. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Toronto.
On behalf of her UNICEF Child Protection colleagues, Susan Bissell has accepted awards including an honorary professorship at Barnard College/Columbia University, the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship award from Tufts University, the Flambeau D’or from Panathlon International, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.
In this interview I chat with Pete Yao who is the Chief Impact Officer of Thankyou. Now for those who follow me on social media, you’ll probably know that Thank you are one of my all-time favourite social enterprises. I love them because they’ve kind of flipped the whole consumer product FMCG model on its head and as a result are doing incredible work and creating huge impact. In this episode we go into a lot of detail about how they track impact and the custom-made system that they’ve built in order to do that efficiently. We chat about how they’ve managed to effectively combine the business and social elements into a thriving social enterprise that has impacted over 750,000 people in 20 countries.
In this episode I had a chat with Andy Last who is the co-founder of Salt. Recently acquired by MullenLowe, and now known as MullenLowe Salt, the company is a strategic communications agency. As one of the first companies in the UK to be accredited as a B-Corporation, MullenLowe Salt advises organisations on they can use social issues to drive growth, and how communications can effect change to bring about better business results and social progress.
In this episode we chat about how communications can be used as a tool to drive positive social changed. As an example that we discuss in this episode, you’ve likely seen the Lifebuoy soap campaign which Andy has worked on for over a decade - it’s one of the award-winning social campaigns that he’s been behind and an exampled of how change can be effected through communications.
With over 25 years of experience in the industry, Andy has led the development of salt’s Social Mission model to create sustainable, progressive campaigns for brands and businesses, associations and not-for-profits. His book – ‘Business on a Mission: How to Build a Sustainable Brand’ - also goes into more depth about his journey and the use of communications to drive impact within businesses. Being a marketing & communications professional myself, you’ll know from previous episodes that I’m a bit of a skeptic when it comes to the use of marketing & communications to drive social impact because motivations are often not aligned and can result in solutions designed for PR, rather than what’s actually needed and sustainable. I had a really great chat with Andy about this so am keen to hear what you think about what he has to say.
In this episode we chat with Tharani Jegatheeswaran who leads Deloitte Australia’s Social Impact Consulting Practise.
So, if you’ve been listening for a while, you know that I am super passionate about business and impact, in particular seeing the two come together in ways that just make sense. Both for the business in terms of focusing on the core competencies of the business and leveraging that for impact. This is something that is really hard to balance and can often miss the mark with large corporations either taking part in activities that are so far removed from their strengths or it looking like the act of trying to create impact is just for marketing or publicity purposes. So, when I stumbled upon Deloitte and their social impact consulting practice I was extremely intrigued. Why does a Big Four accounting firm like Deloitte do social impact consulting? Is this for CSR purposes? is this for publicity because being involved in impact is ‘cool’? Are there business reasons behind this decision and if so, what were they? Do they charge clients for the consulting they do or is this pro bono?
Enter, Tharani.
Tharani leads Deloitte Australia’s Social Impact Consulting practice, a dedicated practice that works at the intersection of the not-for-profit (NFP) sector, government and business to deliver better outcomes for Australia’s vulnerable communities. Recognising that complex social issues cannot be addressed by any sector in isolation, Deloitte’s Social Impact Consulting practice focuses on being a convenor - facilitating greater cross-sectoral collaboration across the NFP, government and business sectors to design solutions that deliver systemic change and greater social impact. Anyway let’s hear more about Deloitte’s work in this area and let Tharani take it from here. And if you like this episode or know someone that will, please give it a share.
So, I know it’s been a while since I last released an episode. There’s been a lot of changes in my personal life and I just needed some time to refocus. I’m now located back in Singapore and heading up Community and Operations for muru-D which is a Telstra backed accelerator program. I’m excited to begin this new chapter of my journey discovering different ways of creating impact and am really looking forward to working with startups earlier on in their journeys and seeing how impact can be a part of their stories too. So, watch this space, I’ll let you know how it all goes!
Back to this episode... This episode was actually recorded a few weeks ago and it’s been one that I’ve been most excited about. It’s a little bit different because we recorded it at a cafe. It was a little bit of an experiment for me to see how things went with the audio. Anyway, now that you’ve got that background, let’s talk about Rochelle. She started Share the Dignity after reading an article about women and girls in Australia who didn’t have access to sanitary products. She decided to collect pads and tampons, and as a personal trainer, asked her clients to do the same, and so began the incredible movement of Share the Dignity. So I’ve been following the work of Rochelle and Share the Dignity for quite a few years now and honestly after doing this interview, I’m even more of a fan. Rochelle blows me away with her sheer motivation, determination and absolute passion for the work that she’s doing. It’s not often that you meet people like that who are just so passionate about the work that they’re doing that it’s infectious. I think that’s part of the secret to Share the Dignity’s success. In its simplest form, Share the Dignity gives tampons and pads to vulnerable women and girls. You often hear stories about developing countries and how sanitary products are unaffordable and inaccessible that you forget that this is the case in places like Australia too. With pads and tampons generally being quite expensive and with an added luxury tax, which Rochelle and I briefly discuss in this episode, there are women and girls in places like Australia who are using paper towels or newspapers or whatever they can find to create makeshift sanitary pads. What I love so much about Share the Dignity is that they aren’t just another non-profit too. They work with other organisations on plugging in the gaps and not duplicating work or competing for funding, which I’m sure you would have heard me say is one of my pet peeves about non-profits in general.
I know this episode is probably going to be uncomfortable for a lot of people as menstruation is still considered a taboo topic. However, I encourage you to listen to this episode, understand the work that Rochelle is doing and why it’s so important for everyone. And when you’ve done that, I’d love you to share this episode with someone who you think would benefit from hearing these issues. In particular, with men and boys. Because this is something that is a societal issue. Not just a female one. This episode is also more than just about periods and sanitary products. Share the Dignity’s work has expanded to work on issues that are currently underserved in communities. They now look at maternity pads too. Because if you’re mum that’s struggling, let’s inject a bit of dignity back into your life so that you don’t have to go without. They provide incontinence pads. They pay for funerals for low income women who have been murdered by their partners in domestic violence incidents. Because even though it’s too late for these women, at least in death they have some dignity.
I was really deeply impacted by my chat with Rochelle so I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts about her work!
I’m sure you’ve been hearing a lot about asylum seekers and refugees in the news. As a human rights advocate for the past 25 years, a lawyer, social worker, and teacher, Kon Karapanagiotidis, - CEO & Founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre - is the go-to man for everything you want to know about people seeking asylum.
At 28, Kon founded the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC). Established in the space of 8 weeks as a class project while a teacher, the ASRC has now gone on to become Australia’s largest organisation helping people seeking asylum. When I first met Kon, he actually took me over to where ASRC was set up - a cute little converted 20sqm fruit shop. Over 12,000 people have now been helped via a team of over 1200 volunteers and 80 staff who deliver 30 life changing programs, all without a cent of Federal Government funding.
Kon’ holds 6 degrees in the fields of law, social work, psychology, business, education and international development and his work has been recognised with an Order of Australia Medal, a Churchill Fellowship, La Trobe University Young Achiever Award, Victoria University Alumni of the Year, AHEPA Humanitarian Award, Citizen of the Year by the Maribyrnong City Council and recently voted one of Australia’s 25 most influential people in the social sector by Pro Bono Australia.
I had a really great interview with Jon Feinman, who is the Executive Director and CEO of Innercity Weightlifting, a non-profit based in Boston. They own and operate a few gyms around the city and work with young people who have been identified as a high risk for violence. Their programs focus on social inclusion and reducing youth violence by working with these guys (mainly guys) in the gym. They connect these young people with new networks and opportunities, including meaningful career tracks in and beyond personal training. According to them, they use the gym to replace segregation and isolation with economic mobility and social inclusion, disrupting the system that leads to urban street violence. For a little bit of background, in Boston, just 1% of youth between the ages of 15-24, are responsible for over 50% of city-wide shootings. The City of Boston has identified 300 to 400 of the city’s highest risk gang affiliated youth as “most likely to be involved in a violent act.” This is called the “Pact List” and it is this group ICW strives to serve. 97% of their students have done at least 6 months of jail time, prior to enrolling at ICW. And 100% of their enrolled students report being shot, shot at, or stabbed prior to enrolling at ICW.
This interview was recorded while Jon was in one of the gyms so you’ll probably hear a few weights and grunts in the background, don’t mind them, it’s all part of creating the atmosphere! I absolutely love the work that Jon and Innercity Weightlifting are doing. They are completely flipping the typical non-profit model on its head with the way that they are running their programs but not only are they changing the lives of the students they are working with, they are changing the lives of the clients who choose to train at the gym with the students. Jon mentions in this episode that most of the clients that come to the gym have never met someone who has been in jail before. Making this introduction and fostering a connection promotes social inclusion not just for the students, but for the clients too. Excited for you to listen to this episode!
As you may know, I spent a few months in the Philippines last year. And it was amazing. There’s a special place in my heart for that country and the incredible people there. During my time there, I met up with Mark Ruiz. Mark is one of the co-founders of Hapinoy - a social enterprise that work with women or nanays, who run small convenience stores, otherwise known as sari-sari stores in the Philippines. Sari-sari stores typically sell canned goods, rice, noodles, coffee, shampoo and toothpaste. Products are sold to locals from the neighbourhood in small packets or numbers, with very small profit margins. The stores are run informally, within the family and financial mismanagement is common. Hapinoy trains the women running these stores how to improve their business practices, get loans and earn more income. Recently they’ve included a technology piece to their work which you can hear more about in this episode.
I first heard about Hapinoy when I started running Project Inspire in Singapore. They were the first social enterprise to win the US$25,000 grand prize, thanks to Mastercard and undoubtedly are probably one of the most successful social enterprises to win.
I’m really excited to introduce you to Hapinoy and Mark today. I really believe in their work and the impact that they are creating. Now one thing that you should know about the Philippines is that internet connection is notoriously challenging... Mark also has a bit of a cold during this episode so there’s a few unedited sneezes. I’m sure you can also hear my dog bark once or twice in this episode because she was sitting under my desk while I was recording and I felt bad leaving her outside the room…. Anyway, I think all of this adds a bit of character to this episode so I hope you enjoy it! If you do, please show me some love by making sure you subscribe, rate, review and share your favourite episode with your friends.
I’m sure you’re aware that most of the world’s news coverage from developing countries centres around 4 topics: war, poverty, disaster, & disease. That’s where Global Press comes in.
Global Press exists to pave a new way forward for international journalism. Acknowledging the flaws and limitations in both foreign correspondence and citizen journalism, Global Press offers a powerful third way. Global Press Institute (GPI) trains women in developing media markets around the world to be ethical, investigative, feature journalists. After completing the Institute’s 24-module training program, trainees are employed as professional reporters at Global Press Journal. At the Journal, reporters cover the topics of their choice, supported by a sophisticated editorial structure that offers deep insight, extraordinary context and complete accuracy. Once complete, local language and English versions of stories are published on the Journal and distributed via Global Press News Service, the syndication division of Global Press.
Global Press Journal’s coverage takes a much fuller picture of the developing world
In this episode we chat with Cristi Hegranes, Founder of Global Press. I first met her when she came to Singapore as a Finalist for Project Inspire when I was leading the program in 2013 and was immediately blown away by how confident, extremely capable and savvy she was and have followed her journey since. She has received a wide range of prestigious social entrepreneurship and journalism accolades. She is the recipient of the Grinnell College Young Innovator for Social Justice Prize, the Jefferson Award for Public Service, the Society of Professional Journalists Journalism Innovation Prize, a New Media Web Award, a Clarion Award for Investigative Journalism, and a Lifestyle Journalism Prize. She was also recently awarded the 2015 Distinguished Young Alumni of New York University.
In this interview, we’re going to hear about how and why she started, how it works and the impact of Global Press so far. We’ll also hear about how she developed a new business model for international journalism through Global Press News Service, a state-of-the-art syndication service that enables GPI to magnify its social impact and drive revenue from the sale of GPJ news content to media organizations, corporations, and NGOs. GPNS meets a market need by providing professional, diverse, affordable international news content to its partners.
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.
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
QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Let me know in the comments!