social entrepreneurship Archives

Together We Can Make History – Navyn Salem

December 23, 2022December 23, 2022
by Claire

Our guest this week made such a big impression on us and listeners when she was on the show more than 4 years ago that we’re really excited to welcome her back for our last episode of the year.

Navyn Salem is Founder and CEO of a non-profit social enterprise called Edesia. Navyn founded Edesia more than ten years ago to help end global malnutrition and set about building a factory in Rhode Island in the USA to produce lifesaving nutritional products for humanitarian agencies. Edesia has already reached over 17 million children in 62 countries.

An email Navyn sent this past week really caught our attention. Despite outlining the unprecedented food crisis happening around the world, it also was filled with hope and a historic path forward.

Right now, governments have granted more funds to support the many millions facing hunger. Historically the world has the opportunity to move from helping 25% of the world’s malnourished to reaching and supporting 50%. Currently 3 million children under 5 die every year from malnutrition that is completely preventable.

Edesia, as one of the major producers of a lifesaving supplement called Plumpy Nut, has one problem . . . it can’t make their life saving product fast enough to meet the orders of humanitarian agencies tasked with spending the increased funding. So Navyn, in her true entrepreneurial and unstoppable style, is seeking to urgently scale her factory and increase its output dramatically by moving to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week production. To do that she needs help to buy $12 million worth of equipment.

We think you’ll be truly inspired by Navyn as so many others have been before. She’s a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network and was awarded the major global McNulty Prize this year for leadership and vision in addressing some of the world’s toughest problems. Navyn was voted EY Entrepreneur of the year for New England in 2018, and New Englander of the Year in 2017.

Without further ado, to end the year enjoy our hope-filled conversation with the inspiring Navyn Salem.

Useful Links:

Edesia website

Donate on the Edesia website

Interview

Tessa Clarke – The Difference One Person Can Make

November 1, 2021November 2, 2021
by Claire

We’re excited to be bringing you an inspiring and very relevant guest this week given world leaders have been meeting at COP26 in Glasgow for vital climate talks as this episode goes to air.

Tessa Clarke is Co-founder and CEO of the international food sharing and household goods app called OLIO. Her passion for sustainability and for creating simple ways to help all of us to take simple but powerful steps to help the environment is just what we need right now!

Tessa and her Co-founder (whom she met at Stanford doing her MBA) launched OLIO in 2015 and originally focused on food waste in the home, although now you can find new homes for all kinds of other items as well.

OLIO has just successfully closed a Series B fundraising round raising $43 million dollars from top tier VC firms who have described OLIO’s 5-fold growth in the past year as phenomenal. More than 5 million OLIO users in 53 countries are now reducing not only food waste but also preventing more than 3 million household goods going to landfill as well.

In this episode you’ll learn:

How Tessa wished she’d made the time earlier in her career to stop and really reflect about what she was passionate about doing in her career
How Tessa came up with the idea for OLIO;
Her four tips for female founders raising funds;
How food waste globally results in greenhouse gas emissions that would make it the 3rd largest country in emission terms in the world.
And last but not least, Tessa shares how western householders make up for HALF of all that food waste.

So dear fellow citizen of Planet Earth, please make haste and devour this episode with the determined and passionate Tessa Clarke. Enjoy!

Useful Links

OLIO website

OLIO in the App store – Google & Apple

Dana Kanze TED Talk on the real reason female founders get less funding

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me: Key to Fulfilment

October 12, 2021October 12, 2021
by Claire

Welcome to this week’s Future Proof Me mini episode.

For many of us the past few months have shrunk our world to the confines of our homes and our local suburb. What we’ve noticed can sometimes come with that, is a tendency to lose sight of the bigger picture and of others who may be doing it tougher than we are.

It’s why we thought it was really timely for this beautiful reminder from social entrepreneur Ronni Kahn of the value we personally derive from helping others, even now when uncertainty and disruption is still so prevalent in our own lives.

We were really moved by her first hand testimony of how her experience has been that you get so much more than you give, and that time is so precious we all need to think about what we’re doing now, not putting things off for “one day” in future.

This point was brought vividly home to us as we just heard the news that one of our recent guests, artist and muralist Taylor White has been injured in a serious road accident in Iceland. Fortunately she’s confident of making a full, if slow, recovery so we’re sending her love and heartfelt “Get well soon Taylor” wishes.

Seize the day dear friends.

Links

Full interview with Ronni Kahn – The More You Give, the More You Get

Ronni’s Book – A Repurposed Life

OzHarvest website

Future Proof Me Mini Episode

Future Proof Me – Raising Girls

September 14, 2021September 14, 2021
by Claire

This week’s mini episode is a tribute to all parents and everything they do for their children, particularly when they raise their daughters and sons to believe that women can be CEOs, adventurers and innovators.

When we thought of all that parents do, we were reminded of our conversation with the wonderful social entrepreneur Navyn Salem who has 4 daughters. She started a social business called Edesia Nutrition aiming to end malnutrition in the world.

Edesia produces a life saving formulation called Plumpy Nut which is given to very malnourished and unwell children in developing countries. So far this mission-driven business has nourished more than 14 million children in 60 countries to date.

When we spoke to Navyn nearly 3 years ago, we asked her about how she manages the juggle of leading her business and raising 4 daughters. We also asked her about how she thinks about what she’s role modelling for her four young girls, and it’s pretty inspiring.

Enjoy this mini episode – a tribute to all parents everywhere.

Useful Links

Our full interview with Navyn

Edesia Nutrition website

Ronni Kahn – The More You Give, the More…

January 19, 2021
by Claire

Hello, Happy New Year and welcome to our first episode for 2021!

We couldn’t think of a better guest to start the year with than social entrepreneur Ronni Kahn, the Founder and CEO of OzHarvest.

Ronni is a South African who’s lived in Australia for many years. The story of how she founded and then grew OzHarvest is really quite something.

If you’re not familiar with OzHarvest, it’s Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, ensuring that quality, untouched food from supermarkets and big events gets delivered to provide meals for those in need and saving good food going to landfill.

Incredibly OzHarvest has delivered 160 million meals in Australia to date. Plus, it’s expanded overseas as well.

Ronni recently released her memoir, called A Repurposed Life and we explore her fascinating life and career journey in this episode including:

How Ronni’s early life, from growing up in South Africa, to living on a kibbutz in Israel helped shape her ultimate purpose to end food waste
How her earlier entrepreneurial endeavours with florist shops, pyramid-selling skin care, and a flourishing events business, helped her build her self confidence and enabled her to think bigger
How OzHarvest has had to pivot and adapt through COVID, and
Why Ronni advises you not to wait to give more than you get

If you’re looking to find your purpose, get some inspiration or hear how someone else has made career transitions then don’t miss this episode with the focused and impressive Ronni Kahn.

Useful Links

Ronni’s Book – A Repurposed Life

OzHarvest website

Interview

Jacqueline Novogratz – Revolutionary For a Better World

May 19, 2020May 20, 2020
by Claire

We have a real treat in store for you today with a truly remarkable changemaker and NY Times bestselling author as our guest.

Acumen Founder and CEO, Jacqueline Novogratz, has been named one of the 25 Smartest People of the Decade by the Daily Beast, and one of the world’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds by Forbes, amongst numerous other honours.

Jacqueline pioneered the notion of ‘patient capital’, investing in social entrepreneurs around the world. Acumen supports them to establish sustainable businesses that serve some of the world’s poorest people.

What makes this episode a particularly fascinating one is that all this work with entrepreneurs has taught Jacqueline and her team so much about what it takes to succeed when trying to create change. And now she’s also just released a new book sharing what it takes to be a changemaker. It’s called Manifesto for a Moral Revolution (and there’s a free course too if you buy the book).

In this episode you’ll hear:

How her early attempts at social change in Africa seriously failed to impress the locals;
What she learnt about humanity when she became one of the first people to visit in jail someone she’d known well who’d gone on to become a major perpetrator in the Rwandan Genocide;
How Jacqueline sees investment as a means to solving problems rather than making profit as the primary goal; and ….
How she’s seeing women entrepreneurs successfully breaking the rules particularly now during the coronavirus crisis.

Enjoy this episode with the incredibly inspiring Jacqueline Novogratz…

Links of Interest

Acumen Website

Jacqueline’s Books:

Manifesto for a Moral Revolution – Practices to Build a Better World – her latest book. If you buy a copy you can sign up for free to her 11 week course ‘The Path of Moral Leadership’ (usually it’s US$195)

The Blue Sweater