Guest Speakers
In addition to covering the impact of social entrepreneurs, we wanted to give voice to thought leaders, philanthropists, teachers, committed politicians, established change-makers and invite them to share perspectives on the topics of social entrepreneurship, the role of finance in accelerating change, youth and the importance of education, the role of governments.
Guest Speakers of the World Tour of Social Entrepreneurs notably include Magali Silva, former Minister of Trade of Peru, Tariq Fancy (former CIO for Sust. Investing at BlackRock), faculty members of elite Universities such as MIT
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Format: 20-minute in-person or virtual interview, available in podcast and video format.
Luise Ammerschuber
FOUNDER AT YESS IMPACT
🗣”Social Companies need 3 things to be successful: capital, knowledge, and logistic support”
In 2017, Luise Ammerschuber founded Yess Impact (formerly AMCO), a consulting company helping big corporations, international organizations, governments, and NGO’s, to implement the 17 SDGs.
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Yess Impact mainly focuses on scaling social businesses, impact investing, and gender empowerment. Fairly quickly, the organization became a successful go-to contact in Switzerland for organizations aiming to increase their impact through projects and investments around the globe.
In this episode, Luise explains how her passion for social impact has taken her around the world. From working in the slums of South Africa for NGOs, to working with abused women and children and the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect in New York.
Impaakt
Problem
Efficiently monitoring and measuring businesses' overall impact on people and the planet is essential to accelerate change, but it’s complicated. Which metrics to use ? Should we rely on data from the companies themselves or do we make our own assessments? How do we avoid green washing and measure the real impact of a company ?
Solution
In 2018, Impaakt launched a peer-review platform to measure the true level of sustainability of major companies worldwide. Thanks to ratings and analyses made by the +20’000 certified community members, they’re building company scores with the goal to create the ultimate resource of objective, quality impact information for investors and consumers.
Impact
Since 2018, 40’000 people joined the Impaakt community. 400k ratings have been made covering the impact of over 1500 companies.
Be Green
Source: Impaakt.com
Problem
Every year, around 1.7 mio tons of trash is generated in Kyrgyzstan, with plastic accounting for 21% of all waste. Most people aren't educated on the importance of recycling. Consequently, a lot of the trash ends up burning in landfills, polluting the soil and liberating dangerous toxic fumes.
Solution
In December 2021, BeGreen started to manufacture bottle-shaped trash cans at scale to encourage the population to recycle plastic. They later opened their first plastic recycling plant, where the plastic waste they collect is cut into tiny flakes, which are then exported and notably up-cycled into textiles, carpets, and construction straps.
Impact
BeGreen currently produces 10 Mtons of flakes out of recycled plastic bottles every year. Most of it is exported to Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan to be up-cycled into different kinds of products. BeGreen is among the leaders of the Green Revolution slowly gaining traction in the country.
Be Green
Source: Impaakt.com
Problem
Every year, around 1.7 mio tons of trash is generated in Kyrgyzstan, with plastic accounting for 21% of all waste. Most people aren't educated on the importance of recycling. Consequently, a lot of the trash ends up burning in landfills, polluting the soil and liberating dangerous toxic fumes.
Solution
In December 2021, BeGreen started to manufacture bottle-shaped trash cans at scale to encourage the population to recycle plastic. They later opened their first plastic recycling plant, where the plastic waste they collect is cut into tiny flakes, which are then exported and notably up-cycled into textiles, carpets, and construction straps.
Impact
BeGreen currently produces 10 Mtons of flakes out of recycled plastic bottles every year. Most of it is exported to Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan to be up-cycled into different kinds of products. BeGreen is among the leaders of the Green Revolution slowly gaining traction in the country.
XAVIER CAZARD and LOLA KERC
FOUNDER & PROGRAM MANAGER AT LA MAISON DE LA CONVERSATION
🗣“A good conversation doesn’t mean you agree with the other, but it implies you’re able to confront ideas, in order to go forward together”
Change starts with a conversation. This conviction notably led Xavier Cazard to found LMDLC in 2020, a place that aims to rehabilitate conversation as a tool for mindfulness, collaboration, togetherness, and emancipation.
Sadly, you often don’t get the same opportunities depending on which environment you grew up in. However, many individuals and organizations are trying to bridge the gap of inequalities. La Maison De la Conversation is one of them.
Located in the heart of an underprivileged district in the north of Paris, LMDLC is a special place where people from different environments come together to exchange ideas, gain perspective, and re-think the codes of our society
Marc Fournier
CO-FOUNDER OF SERENA CAPITAL & LECTURER AT ESCP BS
🗣A lot of people dream, but very few people do. The ones who do are the ones who take that first step, and let their passion drive them.
At age 14, Marc plunged for the first time into the world of entrepreneurship, as he started to collect and sell chestnuts door-to-door, and fixing objects he’d find in a rubbish bin.
Marc Fournier is now the Co-Founder of Serena, one of the references in the European Venture Capital ecosystem, and also serves as an Entrepreneurship Affiliate Professor at ESCP, one of the leading European Business Schools.
To all aspiring entrepreneurs, here’s some advice from Marc:
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Absorb and listen as much as possible. Understanding the problem is key when you start a business.
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Be passionate about what you do. If you don’t, no problem, just quit and do something that drives you.
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Know your why, and just do it.
Robert J Rubinstein
CHAIRMAN AND FOUNDING PARTNER AT TBLI
🗣This is not about proof, this is about belief
Robert J. Rubinstein is a renowned social entrepreneur and the Chairman and Founding Partner of the Triple Bottom Line (TBLI), an organisation based in Amsterdam, dedicated to raise awareness & educating financial professionals on the benefits of impact Investing.
In Feb 2022, we had the opportunity to sit with Robert and get perspective on the world of Impact Investing.
We notably discussed:
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The assumption that you can’t make good money by investing in impact-driven companies
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The lack of knowledge regarding social and environmental impact in the Finance World
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All the opportunities that exist to drive change AND be profitable
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Inidira Shah
CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF IMPACT HUB ALMATY
Indira Shah is the co-founder and CEO of Impact Hub Almaty in Kazakhstan, which is part of the global Impact Hub Network. With more than a decade of expertise in the social entrepreneurship sector, she has played a pivotal role in guiding numerous founders in shaping their social and environmental initiatives across Central Asia.
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In addition to her leadership role, Indira has curated and facilitated enriching learning experiences for individuals of diverse backgrounds. Notably, she serves as the coordinator of the Azamat 3.0 program, dedicated to empowering youth in Kazakhstan.
In this interview which officially marked the end of the SDG World Tour, Indira and Shaan discussed:
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Stories from top social entrepreneurs in Central Asia
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The evolution of the impact space in the region
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Living your life with purpose
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Tariq Fancy
FOUNDER AT RUMIE; FORMER CIO FOR SUST. INVESTING AT BLACKROCK
🗣ESG saintly narratives distract the public from seeing the need for aggressive, systemic reforms that only governments have the ability and legitimacy to pursue.
Tariq Fancy is the Founder of Rumie, a digital education non-profit whose free micro-learning tools make building skills fun and easy across over 190 countries. He was previously BlackRock's first-ever Chief Investment Officer of Sustainable Investing, from 2018 to 2019.
In this episode, Tariq and Shaan talked about:
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The failure of green investing
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The role of governments to change economic incentives to drive social and environmental impact
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Solutions to provide access to quality education for all
Valeria Bundinich
SCHOLAR-IN-RESIDENCE AT MIT
🗣System changers believe that anyone can contribute to society when empowered to do so
Valeria Budinich is an established social entrepreneur, with 30 years of global experience in scaling social innovations. She currently is a Scholar in Residence at MIT.
At the Legatum Center at MIT Sloan, Valeria is focused on research on innovation ecosystems to support system-change entrepreneurs and increase their chances of solving complex social issues.
Our trio had the chance to interview Valeria on the MIT campus in Cambridge, Boston. We talked about:
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The approach of system-change entrepreneurs to tackling global challenges
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The role of governments and educational institutions
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How young people can start an impact-driven career
Mauricio Rodas Espinel
FORMER MAYOR OF QUITO
Mauricio R. Espinel is a politician and lawyer. He founded the SUMA party, and became the youngest person to ever be elected as Mayor of Quito, serving from 2014 to 2019.
Mr. Rodas has been associated with various political and civic initiatives, advocating for urban development and social issues in Ecuador.
As part of the tour, Shaan and Mr. Rodas discussed:
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The most pressing social and environmental challenges in Ecuador and in the world
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Ecuador’s commitment to sustainable development
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The importance of collaboration at all levels to achieve significant change
Adam El Rafey
CHANGE ADVOCATE
🗣 Ability, not age
Adam El Rafey is a 13-year-old change advocate, public speaker, and innovator. In October 2022, he became the youngest university student in UAE.
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At the age of 8, he became one of the youngest TEDx speakers. At 9, he co-founded Astron, a prototype idea for purifying water on Mars.
In December 2022, he was named one of the world's top 25 young pioneers and innovators by the Future Minds Network, an Australian organization.
In this episode, Shaan and Adam discuss:
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The obsolescence of current education systems
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How to develop your potential
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The future of Education
Anil Chitrakar
CO-FOUNDER OF THE HIMALAYAN CLIMATE INITIATIVE
🗣 Nepal takes the lead in tackling climate change, because its people are already a paying high price
Adam El Rafey is a 13-year-old change advocate, public speaker, and innovator. In October 2022, he became the youngest university student in UAE.
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At the age of 8, he became one of the youngest TEDx speakers. At 9, he co-founded Astron, a prototype idea for purifying water on Mars.
In December 2022, he was named one of the world's top 25 young pioneers and innovators by the Future Minds Network, an Australian organization.
In this episode, Shaan and Adam discuss:
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The obsolescence of current education systems
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How to develop your potential
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The future of Education
Naila Moloo
INNOVATOR & BEST-SELLING AUTHOR
🗣Solar energy only accounts for 3% of the global electricity production
Meet Naila Moloo, a 17-year-old modern hero, who’s currently building transparent and flexible solar panels and developing a new kind of bioplastic using duckwee.
But that’s not it, Naila is also co-hosting a youth empowerment Podcast (@thecuriosity podcast), has already released 2 best-selling novels, and has been speaking on some of the world’s biggest stages (Web Summit, TEDx).
In March 2022, we met Naila in Ottawa and notably discussed about:
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The potential of youth to tackle global challenges
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Using emerging technology to solve complex problems
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Transitioning away from fossil fuels
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Finding the right life balance for yourself