Nedjip shares key decisions that enabled d.light’s growth, the challenges of distribution and financing, and the trade-offs required to balance efficiency with mission alignment. This conversation offers valuable insights for social entrepreneurs aiming to scale sustainably.

As co-founder of d.light, Nedjip has led the company’s expansion into a global provider of affordable solar home systems, lanterns, and appliances. d.light’s vertically integrated model combines product innovation, consumer financing, and last-mile distribution, making renewable energy accessible and improving livelihoods.

A recognized thought leader in the  social enterprise space, Nedjip continues to champion technology-driven solutions, mission-aligned growth, and financial sustainability in expanding global energy access. In November 2024, Nedjip Tozun, co-founder and CEO of d.light, was honored on the TIME100 Climate list, recognizing his transformative impact on clean energy access.

Kevin introduces Mulago’s distinctive approach to scaling, including their “Doer and Payer at Scale” framework, and discusses the rigorous standards they use to identify ideas with the potential for transformative impact. He emphasizes the vital role of a clear, focused mission in avoiding the common risk of “mission drift.”

Through real-world examples—such as the evolution of community health workers in Mali—Kevin illustrates how deliberate partnerships, data-driven strategies, and an unwavering focus on outcomes can help organizations turn ambitious visions into lasting impact. He also challenges funders to play a stronger role, advocating for greater accountability and alignment with measurable goals. This episode is essential for anyone passionate about driving social change, offering practical insights into how to scale promising ideas into global solutions.

Since 1993, Kevin has been at the helm of the Mulago Foundation, supporting early-stage social entrepreneurs committed to achieving maximum impact in the world’s poorest communities. In 2003, he launched the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program to apply Mulago’s principles and tools, helping social entrepreneurs transform great ideas into sustainable solutions at scale. In 2016, he expanded this vision with the Henry Arnhold Fellows Program, focusing on environmental challenges.

Odin explores the huge potential of AI to revolutionize social initiatives—ranging from detecting illegal deforestation through satellite imagery to creating chatbots that provide legal and social service information to underserved communities. He provides valuable insights on how Ashoka’s “conscious tinkering” approach helps organizations start small and scale responsibly. By addressing common AI integration pitfalls and sharing Ashoka’s strategic “five pillars of AI readiness,” Odin offers practical steps for nonprofits looking to embrace AI effectively, even on limited budgets.

Tune in to hear about Ashoka’s innovative prototypes and Odin’s call to action for funders to invest in the AI infrastructure nonprofits need to multiply their impact. This is a very practical episode and a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, ethics, and social change.

Odin Mühlenbein is a social innovation enthusiast with a passion for AI. He co-leads the AI Lab at Ashoka, the world's largest network of social entrepreneurs. Odin create applications that make Ashoka more efficient and unlock new capabilities for its global network and also works as an independent advisor and AI tinkerer. 

A fascinating, wide-ranging, and spirited discussion about the state of social entrepreneurship and innovation today, touching on key questions including how to effectively measure impact, the true availability of impact investment, how to manage hybrid social businesses –as well as the challenges social entrepreneurs face keeping focussed on the mission while generating cash flow and profit. Professor Malhotra also discusses some of the  research and insights from his recent book Frontiers in Social Innovation-and reflects on some of the key trends that will impact future social innovation. 

Neil Malhotra is the Edith M. Cornell Professor of Political Economy at Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Louise and Claude N. Rosenberg, Jr. Director of the Center for Social Innovation, where he has developed a curriculum focused on social issues, impact measurement, and mission-driven business, amongst other topics.  Neil recently edited Frontiers in Social Innovation: The Essential Handbook for Creating, Deploying, and Sustaining Creative Solutions to Systemic Problems

Tom Chi is founder At One Ventures a climate-focused VC fund investing in companies creating environmentally positive technology.  At One Ventures, a climate-focused VC fund investing in companies creating environmentally positive technology.  Before founding At One Ventures, Tom was Head of Experience and founding member of Google X who helped scale the company from six people to 600. His engineering and business background coupled with a passion for environmental sustainability inspired him to start a VC fund dedicated to improving planetary health.

Kevin is the founder of the Mulago Foundation, which funds early stage social entrepreneurs devoted to maximum impact at scale in developing countries. Kevin set up the Reiner Arnhold Fellows Program in 2003 to apply Mulago’s principles and tools to help social entrepreneurs turn good ideas into lasting change at scale-- and in 2016, the Henry Arnhold Fellows Program to add a focus on environmental solutions.  Kevin was the primary instigator of Big Bang Philanthropy, a group of funders that work together to direct more money to those best at fighting poverty, Over the years, Kevin’s taught hundreds of social entrepreneurs 

Jagdeesh has overseen the growth of FES over 20 years--his work has been widely recognized and he has received the Times of India Social Impact award, the Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom Award on Commons, UN’s Land for Life award, and the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship. 

In this inspiring episode, Jagdeesh discusses FES' vital ecological restoration and conservation work in land and water resources in ecologically fragile, degraded regions of India, highlighting the distinctive way FES works with local communities, and its philosophy and approach to restoration. He also looks forward to his new role as Curator of the Promise of Commons Initiative in India.

Austin explains how Climate Neutral aims to inspire consumers to factor a brand’s climate impact into their buying decisions.  Climate Neutral software enables organizations to have a verifiable carbon footprint-and it also enables Climate Neutral-certified brands to buy carbon offsets that deliver carbon mitigation. He explains the operations of the carbon-offset market, the company’s approach to building a brand, and some of the challenges of building up the company.

Austin has worked in technology, climate and clean energy finance for two decades with many small and early stage organizations. He also earned an MBA from Yale. Before launching Climate Neutral he was Vice President at a customer intelligence software platform for utilities and energy service providers.

Kate holds a BA in International Relations (honors, Phi Beta Kappa) from Brown University, and both an MPhil in International Development Studies (distinction) and DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford. She has taught both undergraduate Empirical Politics and Management Studies at the University of Oxford, and she continues to teach both at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and on IIPP's flagship MPA in Innovation at University College London.

Her multi-disciplinary work brings a focus politics and power to questions such as 'who gets what after war?' and 'how should corporations work with those in poverty?' Committed to grounded research, she has conducted fieldwork in Timor-Leste, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Kenya. She currently leads research at IIPP focusing on the sustainable development goals (SDGs), with a particular interest in issues of financing and conflict (SDG16).

Drawing from her hard earned experiences pioneering ARMMAN, Aparna discusses the impressive partnership ARMMAN has built with the Indian government. Aparna also details a key factor contributing to the growth of ARMMAN: deploying technology to meet women where they are. Driven by her passion to empower underserved Indian women through public health, Aparna's vision for ARMMAN is unshakeable.

Aparna is TED Fellow 2020 and was awarded USAID ‘Social Entrepreneur’ award (2018), ‘Woman ChangeMaker’ award (Womanity Foundation, Geneva, 2017), Woman Icon Award in Asia by Nanyung University, Singapore (2016), ‘People’s Choice Award’ at Saving Lives at Birth event (Washington DC, 2011), among other awards. She has been featured as one of the five global women leaders in the Voice of America documentary, ‘A Single Step: Journeys of Women Leaders’ (2015). ARMMAN was awarded the British Medical Journal South Asia Award for ‘Maternal & Child Health Team’ (2018), WHO Public Health Champion Award (2017) & is the only Indian NGO to have ever won the ‘GSK-Save the Children International’ grant.

Glasswing is a non-profit which aims to address the root causes and consequences of violence and poverty, by building partnerships across public, private, and civil society sectors to implement public education, health, and community development programs. Set up in El Salvador,  Glasswing has expanded Glasswing to eight other countries in Central and South America. In their thirteen years of operation Glasswing has impacted 1.1 million people and mobilized over 120,000 volunteers.

Celina de Sola has more than 20 years of experience in international development and social change. She’s worked as a consultant for organizations like the Population Council and family foundations. Celina was also a crisis interventionist for Latino immigrants in the US, and subsequently spent over five years as Director of Emergency Response for AmeriCares, leading responses to complex humanitarian crises. Celina is a Fellow of the Obama Foundation, Ashoka, LEGO ReImagine Learning, Penn Social Impact, is a Skoll Foundation Awardee and a Tallberg Global Leader. Celina holds a Masters degree in Public Health from Harvard University and Masters in Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice.

In this interview Kendis talks about the origins of TAT and the process of building the organization into a non-profit that has trained 845,000 people including truckers and law enforcement officers in how to spot and take action to aid a potentially trafficked victim. Kendis shares the motivations of the truckers she has encountered through TAT, sharing that truckers have expressed to her, “I have a daughter, I have granddaughters, how can I be a trucker against trafficking?”

Drawing from her systems change perspective, Kendis reveals the ways in which law enforcement and state agencies are involved in fighting human trafficking. Kendis explores the impact measurements that TAT tracks and her experience with creating policy change to further impact on state and federal levels. Finally, Kendis details the next steps to re-scale and recover from the effects of the pandemic.

EcoHimal’s mission is a prosperous, empowered and self-sustained Nepali society free of poverty, injustice and social discrimination. It works to achieve sustainable development through community empowerment in Nepal’s mountain areas by improving local livelihoods ensuring management and access to natural resources by local communities, and reducing vulnerabilities of mountain communities to environmental disasters. In this inspiring interview, Narayan discusses the growth and evolution of EcoHimal and the organization’s current scope and focus. He discusses the roots of the environmental problems in rural areas in Nepal and EcoHimal’s distinctive, community-led approach to dealing with these issues—with a specific focus on education—and its work to enhance livelihoods of mountain communities. Narayan also talks about EcoHimal’s recent approach to funding and partnerships –including the success they’ve had with The Glacier Trust (UK) in enabling farmers to produce, roast and sell coffee as a climate change adaptation strategy.

Nadina Galle is an ecologist whose practice spans the fields of sustainability, technology, and urbanism. She is CEO & Co-Founder at Green City Watch in Amsterdam, a global, award-winning geospatial AI company focused on renaturing cities and development of urban forests. Nadina holds degrees in ecology, evolutionary biology and earth sciences from the universities of Toronto, Singapore, and Amsterdam. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Ecological Engineering, at University College Dublin Spatial Dynamics Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Senseable City Lab, and Trinity College Dublin.

In this interview, Morgan discusses the important work that Glacier Trust is doing in Nepal, focusing in particular on the Trust’s agricultural and education projects. Morgan shares his first hand experience of the impact receding glaciers in the Himalayas-often called the third pole, the largest concentration of ice after the South and North Poles-and the desperate impacts on farming and local communities. Helping farmers adapt to climate change is at the heart of the work that the Glacier Trust undertakes, largely working with a number of local NGOs in Nepal. Morgan talks about the increasing awareness of the threat and impact of climate change within local farming communities—and some of the successes that local NGOs have had helping farmers their farming practices –and how these practices are shared across different communities. Morgan also talks about the neglected problem posed by glacier lakes in the Himalayas and the threat of flooding.

Jordan Kassalow is the founder of VisionSpring, a successful social entreprise that works to ensure affordable access to eyewear, everywhere, as well as co-founding EYElliance, a multi-stakeholder coalition driving global strategy to increase access to eyeglasses at scale. Jordan also launched the Global Health Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, Jordan served as director of the River Blindness Division at Helen Keller International.  He is a fellow at Draper Richards Kaplan, Skoll, Ashoka, and the Aspen Institute. Jennifer Krause is a rabbi and author who weaves together an innovative mix of sacred text, contemporary experience, and popular culture in her work. She is the author of The Answer: Making Sense of Life, One Question at a Time and her writing and commentary have been featured in Newsweek, The New York Times, and, Time.com

Ms. Masisak holds an M.B.A. from the Columbia University Business School. In 2017, she was honored as one of the nonprofit sector’s “top 50 most influential leaders” by the Nonprofit Times and named one of the “most influential women of the Bay Area” by the San Francisco Business Times. She co-leads the Bay Area Social Enterprise Leadership Forum.

In this insightful interview, Rebecca talks about the tech challenges that NGOs and social benefit organisations face, the importance of technology within the sector and TechSoup’s growth and evolution. She highlights the key role of tech donors supporting the sector and the way that TechSoup works with a growing number of corporate donors to deliver services around the world. Rebecca also identifies some of the distinct problems that NGOs face trying to fund technology development in the current business climate. She also discusses how the organisation has dealt with scaling, collectively growing the tech resources devoted to expanding the capacity of the global social sector and how the organisation has achieved its hugely impressive impact.

TechSoup has recently launched a $11.5 million growth capital campaign, an ambitious initiative to nearly double the number of nonprofit organizations it serves. The campaign includes opportunities to invest in TechSoup’s growth through a Direct Public Offering (DPO). With investment minimums as low as $50, the DPO is uniquely structured to engage with TechSoup’s community, including the nonprofits they serve and the technology companies they partner with. The DPO is gathering grassroots support and attracting the interest of major impact investors, including Microsoft Philanthropies, which recently made a $1 million impact investment into the DPO. The investment will enable TechSoup to develop new offerings to help nonprofits utilize technology to amplify their mission and impact. The investment it will also encourage investors of all stripes to support TechSoup’s growth initiative and catalyze the impact to the sector.

Jed Emerson is strategic advisor to family offices and wealth management firms executing diverse approaches to investing for financial returns with social and environmental impact. Co-author of the first book on impact investing, as well as six other books on impact investing and social entrepreneurship, he has been active in both fields for nearly thirty years. He has served as founding director and board member of diverse social enterprises and impact investment groups. Emerson is a Senior Research Fellow at University of Heidelberg’s Center on Social Investing and has held faculty appointments at Harvard, Stanford and Oxford business schools. He has taught social entrepreneurship at Kellogg Business School and NYU-Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E. In the late 90s, Emerson coined the concept of Blended Value to describe the reality that the value we create in our lives and through our investing is a blend of social, environmental and economic elements. While the value we create is whole, we are asked to choose between doing well or doing good, making money or engaging in philanthropy and working in nonprofit or for-profit organizations.

In this interview, Randy outlines the initial challenges he faced while raising money to start Care2, and his sincere belief in creating an “engine for good” business model where good actions generate revenues that will help fuel more good actions. He discusses the concept that positive feedback through donation helps drive personal motivations to do more, and offers some examples of the types of hyper local or hyper specific campaigns that work well. Randy describes how big changes with the internet, primarily through the growth of Facebook and Google, has shifted the way we engage with various causes and non-profits by generating “interruptions” on social media. This may play an important role in the general increase seen in activism. As the spotlight grows on the transparency and accountability of businesses and governments, Randy mentions how these organizations will need to embrace more socially and environmentally sustainable practices.

In this wide ranging and fascinating interview, Harish discusses the underlying myths that SELCO was set up to disprove: 1) Poor people cannot afford sustainable technologies;  2) Poor people cannot maintain sustainable technologies;  3) Social ventures cannot be run as commercial entities. Harish is outspoken about the possibilities for poor people to rise from poverty and shares his vision for helping alleviate poverty in India. He identifies the flaws at the heart of “Bottom of the pyramid” thinking—the poor as consumers-rather than also as possible innovators and entrepreneurs — and also criticises traditional thinking about “frugal innovation.” This is an hugely inspiring interview full of powerful ideas and insights based on Harish’ experience working with poorest people in India.

 In this interview, Odin talks the growth and importance of systems entrepreneurs — and the ways in which Ashoka Globalizer promotes insights and learnings about social system change, gleaned across the Ashoka network. Odin discusses the distinct role that system change entrepreneurs can play and how social entrepreneurs more generally can embrace the power of systems thinking-and discusses the importance of “tipping points’ in systems at a global level. Odin identifies the qualities a social entrepreneur needs to cultivate in order to become a successful systems entrepreneur. Finally, he discusses the perennial challenge of funding these ventures.

In this extended and wide-ranging interview, Charly paints an exciting picture of the state of impact investment today, talks about the importance of “deep impact investing”-and shares his abiding belief in the potential of changing the financial system to build a better world. Charly talks about his experience at TONIIC and the 100% impact network and highlights the results that have been achieved at the KL Felicitas Foundation (that impact investors can construct a 100% impact portfolio and achieve competitive financial returns in all asset classes while making a big impact). Charly highlights some of the important work the Foundation is doing supporting the impact investment ecosystem. Finally, he discusses how modern portfolio theory should be re-conceptualized to integrate positive impact. (This is an edited version of an interview posted on the Financing Social Entrepreneurs podcast.)

In this interview, Tim gives us an overview of ImpactAssets activities and the role of donor advised funds, philanthropic donations that are responsibly managed to maximise their long-term impact, allowing any individual donor in effect to be like the Gates Foundation. Tim discusses challenges and opportunities for financing small-scale social entrepreneurs and talks about different forms of impact investments, distinguishing between those that are “gap driven” and others that are “opportunity driven.” Tim is optimistic with regard to the millennial generation’s overwhelming support for purpose-driven business models. Given millennials are due to inherit the greatest generational wealth transfer in history this provides substantial opportunities for expanding such financial models. Finally, Tim stresses how impact investments’ rapid growth and proven track-record is changing finance and bringing impact led investing into the mainstream

(This is an edited version of the original podcast episode from the Financing Social Entrepreneurs podcast series.)

In this interview, Harvey discusses FSG’s recent report Shaping Inclusive Markets: How Funders and Intermediaries can Help Markets Move Towards Greater Economic Inclusion. The report analyses historical cases where inclusive markets lead to expanded opportunities for a broadly shared prosperity and seeks to understand the ways in which they were achieved. Harvey stresses the importance of reimagining markets to produce inclusion. He underlines their importance in creating inclusive societies, as the poor are already participants in markets for basic services. He discusses some of the key findings from the report, particularly the importance of producer ownership in creating equitable livelihoods for poor and marginalised groups. He also addresses the importance of changing ownership structures in corporations, particularly the primacy of maximising shareholder return, in order to help businesses achieve long-term social goals. Finally, he briefly touches on the juncture between inclusive markets and sustainability issues.

Anh is a seasoned nonprofit leader with expertise building scalable software for social good solutions through ecosystem engagement. At Benetech, Anh is responsible for leading Benetech Labs’ R&D work, engaging with communities, other technologists, and other non-profits around critical social issues to prototype new software solutions. Prior to Benetech, Anh led the development of a digital publishing platform for leading scientific and research publishers.

In this interview, Joel shares his perspective on the evolution of impact investing in the US, after years at the forefront front of social investment, and his experience building the Endswell Foundation. Joel discusses Renewal Funds investment strategy, what they are looking for in investee companies, and how they go about building a portfolio. He also provides advice for entrepreneurs that are looking to raise money for their business. Finally, Joel outlines some of the key ideas in his new book. Clean Money Revolution, and looks to the future of finance where profit & purpose are aligned.

In this inspiring interview, Ned talks about his ongoing journey as a social entrepreneur, the challenges and motivation of working in the child welfare sector, after 30 years working in water and sanitation. Ned talks about how Tennyson is re-envisioning provision of child welfare, how he has approached fundraising, and the real meaning of advocacy. Ned also touches on important trends within the social sectors including growing interest in hyper-local social innovation. This is a powerful interview where Ned shares the fruit of a long and committed career at the forefront of social innovation.

 In this interview, Ron talks about how he got started in philanthropy and talks about the work of the Cordes Foundation, highlighting the Foundation’s long-standing focus on providing economic opportunities for women and girls, and its growing interest in ethical fashion. Ron discusses the recent growth in impact investing and shares his views on the importance of generating market related returns within the sector. He discusses the Foundation’s pioneering move toward aligning 100% of assets to mission and some of the big changes taking place in philanthropy today. Finally, he talks about Opportunity Collaboration, an annual global poverty business retreat he co-chairs, and the Cordes Fellowships provided to emerging global social entrepreneurs.

Medic Mobile started small, but found ways to expand access to medical care by equipping over 18,000 healthcare workers providing healthcare for over 8 million people in rural communities. The company realised that smartphones were not always easily available, but that basic mobile phones and could be used to deliver health information. Thanks to Medic Mobile, healthcare workers in over 20 countries are now more easily able to contact each other, remind patients of appointments, collect information from patients in hard to access locations, do basic diagnosing of potentially fatal illnesses, and more.

In this interview, Isaac Holeman talks about Medic Mobile’s pioneering work and identifies some of the biggest decisions he has made on his journey as a social entrepreneur. He highlights the crucial importance of human centered design at the centre of Medic Mobile’s technology solution, and the time the team spent at the outset to understand the community healthcare worker ecosystem. Isaac talks about different approaches to scaling technology solutions and how identifying your likely scaling strategy will help to determine the best approach you take. This is an insightful interview with a leading mHealth company.

In this revealing interview, Kevin talks about the Mulago Foundation’s investment philosophy and the different ways it supports social entrepreneurs. He presents a simple model of sources of finance for social entrepreneurs-and advises as to the appropriateness of each– and he shares his thoughts on how social impact can best be scaled. Kevin gives a frank assessment of the state of impact investing today, warns of the dangers of investors prioritising business models over impact models, and cautions social entrepreneurs about over-reliance on for-profit business models when working on solutions for the very poor. (A version of this interview has previously been posted on the Financing Social Entrepreneurs site).

In this interview, Toby sets the scene explaining about the identity challenges faced by poor people around the world and the disastrous impact on their lives, particularly when it comes to healthcare. He talks about the company’s journey from initial idea to set up and growth and the scale of the different challenges that they have faced at different stages of the journey. Toby explains the thinking behind setting up as a tech non-profit and identifies the different skills that they have needed to develop to succeed. He talks about the invaluable support that Simprints has received on this journey, and the different partnerships it has developed. This is a inspiring-interview, rich in insights, with lots of hard won advice for social entrepreneurs in all sectors.

KJ has won many awards include the Skoll Scholarship for Social Entrepreneurship, the Do Something Award for public service, and the Stanford Haas Public Service Fellowship.

In 2014, KJ was a Skoll Scholar at Oxford’s Saïd Business School where she completed her MBA. In this interview, KJ talks about the roots of the Simbi idea, how it works, and common misconceptions. She talks about her experience as a social innovator and some of the challenges they have faced building the business. KJ gives a candid explanation why she thinks professional investors like FundersClub, Y Combinator & Greylock Partners invested in Simbi –and talks about her future aspirations for the business.

In this interview, Eric gives a fascinating overview of the state of social innovation today — and talks about some of the most exciting trends that he sees. From his unique vantage point at the intersection of the government, non-profit, and business sectors, Eric talks about evolving models of social innovation –and identifies some of the most interesting cross-sector initiatives in recent years. He also explores the rise of impact investing and talks about some trends in support for social innovation within Silicon Valley.

Chuck has extensive experience as a businessman. He founded TravelSmith and grew it to over two million customers and $100 million in sales. After selling TravelSmith in 2004, Chuck devoted his entrepreneurial instincts to building vibrant enterprises in both the private and social sectors. Chuck currently serves on the boards of The Initiative for Global Development, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Three Day Blinds, and Living Goods, and is a former board member of Spiegel Brands. He is a recipient of the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and is a Draper Richards Fellow.

In this interview, posted jointly with Financing Social Entrepreneurs (www.financingsocialentrepreneurs.com) Cheryl takes us back in time to the foundation of the organisation and highlights the central and on-going importance of its fellowship program, providing grant money for social entrepreneurs, and the strength of this community. She also highlights Echoing Green’s work supporting the evolving social entrepreneurship ecosystem and how it has been responding to the changes taking place in the field of social entrepreneurship. Cheryl gives her views on the key trends she sees in social entrepreneurship and impact investing today, and, looking to the future, shares her vision for the future of this unique organisation.

The World Health Organization estimates that more than 600 million people could have their vision restored with access to eyeglasses. With the goal of increasing impact, Jordan recently set up EYElliance–a multi-stakeholder initiative to radically scale provision of eyeglasses to people with refractive error who do not have access to eyeglasses.

Willy studied anthropology and religion as an undergraduate and went on to earn his doctorate in Education from Oxford University. He continues to lead Omprakash and its newest initiative, Omprakash EdGE, which is an online training and mentorship program intended to help university students enrich their international learning and impact. 

Marc is involved with initiatives at Oxford and elsewhere. He is Academic Lead for ‘Ideas to Impact’ (I2I) initiative, a collaboration with the Oxford Sciences and Engineering Division in support of innovation and enterprise.  He is founding convenor of the research seminar series ‘Strategies, Institutions and Practices at Saïd’.  Marc also acts as an advisor to several technology and social innovation start-ups founded by recent Oxford alumni including Pivotus Ventures and Global Thinkers Forum.  He serves in advisory roles for UK Participatory City and for the Banff Centre #AltNow entrepreneurial initiatives to address economic inequality in Canada.

In this interview, Marc shares his views on the role of social entrepreneurs as system builders, working to overcome various kinds of inertia and to mobilize and combine resources across broad social expanses. Marc highlights the importance of  social change in systems terms and the work of social innovators in the idiom of systems change.

To date, Noora has trained and certified more than 25,000 caregivers representing over 18,000 patients—and has demonstrated dramatic improvement in patient health outcomes. Outcomes recorded include a 36% decrease in 30-day complication rates and a 23% decrease in 30-day readmission rates, in the hospitals where the programme is implemented. The team recently completed Y Combinator, in the first ever batch of social ventures.

In this interview, the team talks about:

• The surprisingly powerful impact of post-hospital health support services
• How Noora Health turns hospital hallways and waiting rooms into classrooms
• How the team developed-and refined –the original idea for Noora Health
• Noora’s distinct –and highly successful–approach to funding their venture
• Noora Health’s aspiration for the future

 Since the company was set up in 2003 it has grown into a global company serving over five million people, with over a dozen products and regional headquarters in East Africa, West Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

 In this interview, Ron talks about:  

• how a clean technology cookstove can be a life changing event
• The power of execution
• Bill’s philosophy of getting and staying close to users, using focus groups and other communications to develop “products that users have a passion to own.”
• How Envirofit was set up from the outset to manufacture at scale

Taylor also set up OpenFn.org, a platform that helps organizations connect their technologies to create complete information systems, from program monitoring and evaluation to community health worker tools in the field. OpenFn automates the flow of data between existing tools to save time, save money, and prevent human error in data processing. In the end, he hopes that decision makers, from the board to the front-lines, will get better data, faster.

The SEIF Awards for Social Entrepreneurship is the largest business plan competition in German-speaking Europe. SEIF has also recently developed the Impact Investors Circle comprising business angels, family offices and other investors interested in funding social businesses to deliver a financial return and social impact in Switzerland and across German speaking Europe.

Ten years ago John began working full time on setting up PEAS –the aim was to create a sustainable and self-sufficient network of schools, which can thrive with government support. The charity now has a network of 28 schools in Uganda and 2 in Zambia.

PEAS students tend to come from poorer backgrounds than government or private schools in Uganda. Even though many of the schools are in hard to reach rural areas, PEAS students are achieving exam results that are above the national average. Three
PEAS schools have recently been recognised by the Ministry of Education in Uganda as being amongst the top performing secondary schools in the country. PEAS’s ambition is now to lead a charter school movement by helping Africa governments create enabling education ecosystems that get millions more kids through quality secondary school.

John has gone on to become a member of the Courvoisier Future 500, the Rockefeller Top One Hundred Next Century Innovators and the Charity Times Awards Rising CEO star.  In 2013, PEAS won the UK Charity Awards and the WISE Global Innovation Awards.  

PRADAN is involved in building self-help groups, developing land and water resource, natural resource management, forest-based livelihood, horticulture and agriculture.

Deep was awarded the 2009 Magsaysay award for Community Leadership for his work for “development of rural communities.” He is also a recipient of the civilian honour of Padma Shri.

In this interview, Deep discusses: 

• PRADAN’s growth and success
• PRADAN’s vision to improve productivity of natural resources
• Insights from PRADAN’s pioneering apprenticeship programme
• The impact of India’s falling levels of rural life
• What it means for India to be a developed economy

Myagro’s helps farmers move out of poverty and has led a doubling of farm income. It has grown almost five fold the last year, and aims to grow to 75,000 farmers over the next five years.

Anushka was an early employee at both One Acre Fund, where she served as the Director of Innovation and Core Programs, and Kiva.org, where she created the Kiva Fellows Program. 

In this interview, Anushka discusses:

• The vital role small holders play in developing countries
• The power of the layaway model
• The MyAgro business model
• How MyAgro works with “champion farmers” to spread the word about their services
• How MyAgro helps farmers double their income

James is currently Chief Executive of Panahpur, where he has led the transition from  a traditional grant making charitable trust into a sustainable social impact investor.

James chaired the UK Mission Alignment Working Group for the UK Advisory Board of the G8 Social Impact Investment Taskforce and has been Deputy Chairman of the Social Stock Exchange.

In this interview, James discusses:  

• What is means to be a B Corporation
• The growth of B Corps in the UK
• Why B Corporations access great talent
• Purpose and B Corporations
• Why investors like B Corporations

Michael also co-founded the International Centre for Social Franchising and is also co-founder of Buzzbnk, an internet platform to enable the crowd-funding of social ventures. He is currently establishing a social investment find in the UK to invest at an early stage in emerging social ventures and he is encouraging and supporting social enterprise and better Corporate Social Responsibility in China, where he holds a Professorship at the China Global Philanthropy Institute.

In this interview, Michael talks about: 

• The exciting role that foundations can play in funding social innovation
• His plans for a new trust-based approach to social investment
• The funding gap – and how to fill it
• The right reason to measure impact
• How social enterprises can enhance their impact

Rodney held senior management posts at Lehman Brothers and Paribas, before founding the fintech venture capital firm Catalyst. A pioneer in this impact investment marketplace Rodney teaches impact investment at the Said Business School (Oxford) to MBAs and in the Executive Education programme.  He is a former Board Chair of Shelter, JustGiving and Spacehive, and holds an MBA and BA from the University of Rochester.

In this interview, Rod discusses: 

• How ClearlySo funds social innovation
• The funding landscape for social innovation in the UK
• The role of foundations in funding social innovation
• The funding gap for high impact low return organisations
• The crucial role of teams in raising funds for social innovation

Stephen was a co-founder of Impetus Trust- now Impetus-PEF- the first British venture philanthropy organisation, investing in charities and social enterprises that fight economic disadvantage; he was also a founder trustee of the European Venture Philanthropy Association (EVPA). 

Stephen was co-founder and chairman of Jacana Partners which was established to tackle poverty in Africa by helping build a venture capital industry.  He has received many awards for his work including an OBE for services to the voluntary sector in 2011.

In this interview, Stephen talks about: 

• The rise of venture philanthropy in the UK
• How venture philanthropy works
• The growth and success of IntoUniversity
• The importance of building a broad funding base
•  The pain –and value- of the venture philanthropy due diligence process

Nexleaf’s is current focussing on key projects in supporting vaccine delivery in developing countries (ColdTrace) and evaluating the impact of improved cookstoves (StoveTrace).

In this interview, Nithya talks about: 

• Nexleaf’s work helping customers deliver impact
• The big, neglected, question in social innovation: how do you fix things?
• The importance of developing standard operating procedures for maintenance
• Building win-win partnerships
• Nexleaf’s approach to scaling

d.light has developed a wide range of solar lighting products at different prices, from desk lights and portable solar lanterns to solar home systems that power radios and mobile phones; the d.light A1 is the world’s most affordable high-quality solar light.

To date, d.light has sold 13 million solar light and power products in nearly 60 countries, improving the lives of nearly 60 million people. According to the World Bank’s Programme ‘Lighting Global’, d.light has been listed as the leading solar lantern manufacturer.

In this interview, Ned talks about

• How d.light got started
• The potential of solar energy in emerging markets throughout the world
• How to think about scaling-from the very beginning
• When  and how to look for venture capital
• Where d.light has focussed its innovation efforts
• Ned’s vision for the future

Blue Ventures work with some of the the world’s poorest coastal communities, developing transformational approaches to marine protection by creating incentives for small-scale fishing communities to support fisheries management and marine conservation efforts. Among other successes, Blue Ventures’ models have inspired the largest locally-managed marine protected areas in the Indian Ocean and been replicated in coastal states in Africa, the Indian Ocean and southeast Asia.

Over the last decade, Blue Ventures’ innovative approach has inspired communities, NGOs, businesses, and government agencies to support grassroots marine conservation efforts at scale, having a transformational impact on national fisheries and marine conservation policy. Its work has led to new approaches to community-led fisheries management and to financing and incentivising marine conservation.

Al has won many awards for his work. Al is a TED Fellow, an Ashoka Fellow, and 2015 winner of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and the WWF Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Award.

In this interview, Alasdair talks about: 

• The critical need for innovation in the environmental conservation sector
• The tremendous opportunity and potential of working through local communities
• Why being a social enterprise is crucial to Blue Venture’s success
• The potential of viral social innovation in the conservation space
• Why being able to say ‘no’ to funders matters

Marc is also the founder of the SafePoint charity -which educates people on the dangers of reusing syringes. Marc has been intensely involved in advocacy –including years of lobbying the World Health Organisation (WHO) to introduce guidelines promoting single use syringes. (The WHO began a global campaign warning of the dangers of reusable needles in 2015).

In this interview, Marc talks about: 

• How Marc began his journey
• The problem with syringes
• How Marc spent 3 years trying to understand the problem –before beginning to try to find a solution
• Marc’s approach to advocacy
• Marc’s vision for the future

BOMA’s Rural Entrepreneur Access Project helps women to “graduate” from extreme poverty through a sequence of interventions that include a cash grant to start a business, financial and life skills training, mentoring, and the formation of formal savings accounts so that mothers can feed their families, pay for school fees and medical care and accumulate savings so they can survive shocks like drought.

BOMA’s goal is to change the lives of 100,000 women and children by 2018, and 1 million women and children by 2021. Earlier this year, BOMA was among a select group of 19 winners, chosen from over 1,700 applicants worldwide, for a prestigious grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Kathleen graduated from St. Lawrence University with a B.A. in government.

In this interview, Kathleen talks about:

• Why poverty graduation programmes are so important as a tool to reach the Sustainable Development Goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030
• The challenge of getting a social innovation organisation off the ground
• The importance of “evidence of impact” to raise funds
• How BOMA won a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• BOMA’s scaling options

Off.Grid:Electric radically reduces the cost and risk of adopting solar energy for off-grid households worldwide, allowing them to replace kerosene with solar for as little as $2.50 per month.

Xavier is a serial social entrepreneur. Prior to setting up Off.Grid:Electric he co- founded Better World Books, a $60 Million triple bottom line online bookstore that has raised over $11 Million for literacy around the world.

In this interview, Xavier discusses: 

• The potential pitfalls of setting up a for profit company with impact
• The critical importance of getting the business model right
• Brutal realistic about cost base
• The critical importance of getting the pilot stage right
• Why Off.Grid electric is increasing the pace of experimentation
• The importance of doing research on the ground

Pascal now heads up the startup initiatives at Singularity University- whose aim is to grow startups solving the most intractable problems in the world, Pascal is the entrepreneurship chair and responsible for the Startup Accelerator and Venture Fund.

Pascal publishes his opinionated newsletter, ‘The Heretic’, which is read by tens of thousands of entrepreneurs around the globe.

In this interview, Pascal discusses: 

• The most important skill, often overlooked, required to succeed as a social entrepreneur
• How to build a social support network
• Keys to funding success
• How to find leverage to succeed
• Some exciting high-potential startups at Singularity University

STIR aims to build a movement of teachers, motivated to improve their teaching quality and influence the system. The aim is to reignite the spark in teachers and empower them to become committed, skilled and influential teachers.

STIR is currently working with about 12,000 teachers in India and Uganda with an impact on 500,000 children. STIR’s ultimate goal is improve learning levels for 40 million children in developing countries.

Prior to founding STIR in early 2012, Sharath founded Teaching Leaders, an innovative UK education non-profit

In this interview, Sharath shares discusses:

• How STIR identifies, tests and scales promising school and teacher ‘micro-innovations’
• STIR’s approach to people centred change
• How STIR creates positive networks of peers to support teacher growth and development
• STIR’s striking improvements in teacher motivation and student learning outcomes
• Getting to the tipping point

FES works with almost 9,000 village communities across eight Indian states, helping protect more than 4 million acres of common lands. FES helps villagers secure community rights to publicly-owned land and support regulations tomanage it in a more sustainable and productive way.

In this interview, Jagdeesh discusses: 

• How FES works to reduce rural inequalities
• The vital importance of decentralized governance of natural resources
• How FES balances short and longer term ecosystem regeneration
• How ecosystem regeneration, even in the short term, generates economic benefits
• The surprisingly long term perspective taken by village communities

In this interview Kate discusses: 

• What it means to be an “everyday ambassador”
• How to create “person to person change in the world
• How simple things like paying attention to others in our day-to-day lives
• can help change the world
• What young people can do to step up to the next level and contribute to building a better world”

Polak was born in the Czech Republic and raised in Canada. He holds an M.D. degree from the University of Western Ontario.In addition to his social ventures, he has practiced psychiatry in Colorado for 23 years. Paul is also the author of“Out of Poverty.”

In this interview, Paul discusses: 

• Why improving livelihoods is so important to lift people out of poverty
• The only way to reach scale as a social venture
• Why social entrepreneurs need to continually ask questions
• Why impact investors need to take bigger risks
• The importance of big goals

In this interview, Paul discusses: 

• The three “wicked problems” facing the food and agricultural sector
• The importance of a centralised information portal for the food industry
• Why Paul believes in companies with “double sustainability”
• The promise of “precision agriculture”
• Paul’s vision for Feeding 10 Billion

Eric serves on the advisory board of a number of technology start-ups, is currently an IDEO Fellow and entrepreneur in residence at Harvard Business School. He writes the popular entrepreneurship blog Startup Lessons Learned.

In this interview, Eric discusses: 

• The crucial importance of experimentation
• Why social entrepreneurs should build organisations for continued learning
• How failure vitalises success
• The importance of rewarding productive failure
• How the growth trap can lead social entrepreneurs losing focus on impact

Pamela’s work at Skoll is focused on advancing social entrepreneurship byleveraging top academic research, developing leadership talent and engaging with social innovators around the world to drive large scale impact on the world’s most pressing problems.

Pamela is also is the founding partner of Volans Ventures an organisation she co-founded in 2008, focused on scaling entrepreneurial solutions to the world’s biggest problems.

In this interview, Pamela talks shares her views on: 

• What social entrepreneurship means today
• Why more people are looking at the world through the lens of impact
• The rise and growing success of the B Corporation
• The time frame required for economic development
• The investors that social entrepreneurs need

Suzi started Verb  to serve foundations, Fortune 500 companies, and governments. Verb’s clients include Dell Inc., The Livestrong Foundation, IBM, and MetLife Foundation.

Sosa has been a social entrepreneur for 12 years. She studied economic development at Harvard University. Prior to starting Verb, Sosa created and led the social entrepreneurship program at the University of Texas at Austin.

In this interview, Suzi talks about:

• How Verb connects thousands of social entrepreneurs
• The role that prizes play in drawing resources to social innovation
• The long term support social entrepreneurs need
• How Verb raised $2.3 million to build the business
• Lessons from Verb’s successful fundraising

Together with Professor Yves Pigneur, Alex co-authored Business Model Generation, a global bestseller on the topic of business model innovation that has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

Alex’ current business, Strategyzer, is building strategic tools for innovators.  Alex is also a founding member of The Constellation, a global not-for- profit organization aiming to make HIV/AIDS and Malaria history.

In this interview, Alex talks about:

• The 9 building blocks of the Business Model Canvas
• How to use the business model canvas to deal with social issues
• How to map impact onto your business model
• The importance of business models that harmonise profit and social impact
• Why entrepreneurs should push harder to find scalable profitable high-impact business models

Jason leads farmland management for Farmland LP, including crop rotation planning, organic certification, sustainability planning, operations management, and working with farmer tenant/partners.

He is a highly-regarded scientist and expert in sustainability who applied his understanding of ecology to become an organic farmer and then the integrated pastured-livestock and crop rotation model used on land managed by Farmland

In this interview, Jason talks about:

• Farmland’s approach to sustainability
• The pressures on conventional farming
• How Farmland’s closed-loop system increases efficiency, reduces expenses and is more productive.
• Farmland’s distinct approach to crop rotation
•  How financial investors view organic farming

Jonah has helped hundreds of social brands and causes break through the media din with campaigns built on sound storytelling strategies. Jonah’s book Winning the Story Wars uses case studies to show values-driven stories that Jonah believes is changing the face of marketing.

In this interview, Jonah talks about: 

• Inadequacy marketing” and its shortcomings
• The importance of speaking to your customers’ hearts
• How empowerment marketing reaches out to individuals’ highest aspirations
• How to create experiences for your audience that are truly engaging

Rides for Lives has developed many mobile health innovations including mobile hospitals- solar-powered buses, converted into hospitals on wheels, and motorized scooter wheelchairs: an adaptive motorcycle geared towards giving the disabled their mobility, dignity, freedom back by providing a means to support themselves through entrepreneurship.

Rides for Lives beneficiaries are pregnant mothers, children, HIV patients, cancer patients, and malaria patients – all in need of preventative care and treatment. Rides for Lives has developed an approach that is highly duplicable and scalable – and has plans to scale across Africa.

Chris has been awarded several awards for his work at Rides for Lives: he is one of the Forbes 30Under30, an Echoing Green fellow and Ashoka fellow.

In this interview, Chris discusses: 

• His extraordinary life experience that led him to start Rides for Lives
• Rides for Lives innovative approach to building distinctive health transportation
• How Rides for Lives works with local communities to understand their needs
• What Chris has learnt about fundraising
• The limits of commercialisation for social impact organisations working at the bottom of the pyramid

Previously Sean was the CEO for FXB International (2011-2013) and before that was also the Chief Operating Officer for VisionSpring (2009-2011), a social enterprise which provides affordable eyeglasses to low-income populations.

In this interview Sean talks about:

• Strong Minds innovative approach to improving mental health in Africa
• How Strong Minds aims to grow through viral self replication
• Harsh fundraising lessons
• Strong Minds vision to end the depression epidemic in Africa
• The power of partnerships

Wavelength brings together leaders from a wide range of sectors and industries and his clients, members and partners include Rolls Royce, the BBC, Dyson, Lego, IKEA as well a global range of social businesses including Grameen, Aravind, and many community based organisations engaged in finding solutions to some of our societies toughest problems.

Liam has helped create and led a dozen social businesses including  Fifteen, which, with Jamie Oliver, he grew into a global brand. He also helped create and advises two investment funds: Impact Ventures UK and Ignite (created by energy giant Centrica) which between them are investing £50 million in social innovation.

Liam is the author of There’s No Business Like Social Business (2004) and in November 2014 published The Social Entrepreneur’s A to Z: On Anxiety, Leadership and Getting Enough Sleep which draws together the advice he gives the many young entrepreneurs with whom he engages around the world.

In this interview, Liam talks about:

• What it means to be a social entrepreneur
• The reality –and challenges-of fundraising for social good
• Lessons from the private sector
• The current state of the social entrepreneurship in the UK
• The importance of transferring knowledge across social businesses

Reall focusses on building organisations that build houses. It identifies and partners with existing organisations that are focussed on providing land, securing tenure, housing and basic services for the urban poor. The aim is to equip partner organisations with the political, technical and financial tools necessary to delivery housing and services at scale and in perpetuity.

Since 2010, Reall’s annual budget to accelerate sustainable housing development in Africa and Asia has increased tenfold to £20 million (approx) and they have increased the number of households helped 20 fold over this time-from 1,000 in 2010 to 20,000 last year. Today Reall operates in 20 countries through 26 entrepreneurial and inspiring community organisations.

In this interview, Larry talks about: 

• Reall’s community building vision
• Differing worldviews of aid and social enterprise
• Why Reall needed a new funding model
• The arduous journey to become a social enterprise
• How Reall has built a sustainable organization

Joe is the author several books on content marketing including Epic Content Marketing: How To Tell a Different Story, Break Through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less.

In this interview, Joe discusses:
The origins of the term content marketing

• How content marketing is different from traditional marketing
• How content marketing can help social entrepreneurs
• How to identify your target audience
• How to build trust and credibility with your audience

June also developed the Vodafone Americas Foundation Wireless Innovation Project, a competition designed to seek the best wireless technology solutions to address critical social issues around the world.

Over the last 7 years, the Wireless Innovation Project has awarded nearly $3 million to not-for-profit, non-governmental organizations and universities supporting  a spectrum of high potential mobile and wireless technology solutions.

In this interview, June discusses: 

• The growing role of foundations in financing social good
• How the Wireless Innovation Project works and funding criteria
• Different projects that the Vodafone Foundation has supported
• How social entrepreneurs are using hybrid for-profit and not-for-profit structures to finance their projects

charity: water has raised over $170 million and funded over 13,000 water projects in 22 countries ; it has more than 700,000 donors worldwide. It has pioneered new standards of transparency and has developed a funding model where 100% of “public donations” goes directly to programs on the ground.

In this interview, Scott talks about: 

• What donors want
• How charity: water uses technology to assure transparency
• Charity:water’s 100% funding model-is this a model for other charities?
• Managing communications and relationships with different funders
• The power of visual storytelling
• charity: water’s birthday fundraising project

In 1999, Honest Tea introduced the world’s first organic bottled tea, First Nation Peppermint, and later was the first company to introduce a Fair Trade Certified bottled tea. It soon become the best-selling bottled tea brand in the natural foods industry in the US and, reportedly, Barack Obama’s favourite tea.

In 2008, Coca Cola bought 40% stake of Honest Tea, and, in 2011, it acquired the company. Seth has remained with Honest Tea since the acquisition as President and TeaEO. Today, Honest Tea is the top selling organic bottled tea in the US, and offers a range of lower-sugar drinks, sold in more than 100,000 outlets across the US.

In this interview, Seth talks about: 

• How Honest Tea thinks about impact
• When no means ‘not yet’
• Why brands should never leave people wondering
• How to make partnerships work
• How Honest Tea kept its mission intact after acquisition

In this interview, Sophi talks about: 

• Divine’s ambition to change the way the chocolate market works
• Why you need a great product to succeed
• The importance of passion and persistence
• Divine’s goal to inspire consumers as well as producers
• How Divine builds partnerships

In this interview, Mark talks about: 

• The current climate for funding for social entrepreneurs in the US
• The pros and cons of using a hybrid structure for your social business
• How to use networks to solve problems and build your business
• UnLtd’s work in the US
• Purpose as a source of competitive advantage for social entrepreneurs

Huggy has worked as a consultant for many large US companies and he also worked with nonprofit organizations such as the American Cancer Society.

Together with Robert Sutton, Huggy is co-author of Scaling Up Excellence: Getting to More Without Settling for Less, which was published earlier this year.

In this interview, Huggy talks about:

• The importance of testing-and being willing to change -your hypothesis about your business
• Why social entrepreneurs who want to grow need to be willing to let go of tools and processes and that have helped them succeed
• The particular challenges social entrepreneurs have ‘pivoting’
• Scaling philosophies: Catholicism vs Buddhism
• How to scale scale

In this interview, Aishwarya discusses:

• The importance of households savings for the poor
• The scale of the challenge and key pain points
• The barriers for the poor to access the formal financial sector
• Progress that has been made dealing with behavioural barriers

• Avanti’s approach to collaborative learning
• Why collaborative learning works so well
• How Avanti’s approach to innovation was driven by necessity
• What keeps Akshay motivated
• The importance of setting boundaries
• Avanti’s goal to teach a million children

Michael was a Skoll Scholar for Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Oxford where he recently graduated

In this interview, Michael discusses:  

• The competitive advantage social businesses have compared to traditional businesses
• The value of doing an MBA for a social entrepreneur
• Why companies offering environmental services also need to be able to improve their clients’ bottom line
• How to raise money through grants and competitions

Sandra has recently turned her focus to the needs of the social sector and founded The Innovation Partners, a group focused on generating social impact through innovation. Her book The Social Innovation Imperative provides social entrepreneurs with a step–by-step approach to developing breakthrough products, programs, and services to meet society’s needs.

In this interview, Sandra discusses:

• Sandra’s framework for social innovation
• The Plumpy’Nut story
• The challenge of dealing with big wicked problems
• The importance of assessing unmet needs
• The difference between synergistic needs and conflicting needs

It all began in 1991 when Mike and some friends set off in an RV to interview leaders across America and learn how they found their roads in life. To date, in partnership with the California Department of Education, the curriculum has guided over 80,000 low-income students in building their own Roadtrip Projects

In this interview, Mike talks about: 

• The power of persistence
• How Road Trip Nation grew in its early days
• Why you should treat everyone with respect
• The power of magnifying what you believe in
• The power of apprenticeship

KickStart believes that self-motivated private entrepreneurs managing small-scale enterprises play a key role in poverty alleviation. Since 1991, 160,000 successful new businesses have been started in Africa using their tools – with more than 800 new businesses are being created each month. In addition, KickStart’s technologies and expertise are used throughout Africa to support programs in agriculture, shelter, water, sanitation, health, and relief.

In this interview, Martin talks about:  

• What the poor need
• Why individual ownership is the key to sustainable economic development
• Why aid programs that give things away rarely lead to long-term poverty alleviation
• How the “tragedy of the commons” reduces the impact of poverty alleviation programmes
• Key lessons about scaling social businesses

Fundación Capital is committed to working to end poverty by playing a central role in the drive to achieve full financial inclusion of the poor, and by supporting families in lifting themselves out of extreme poverty. It currently reaches three million people, and aims to reach an additional 10 million families by 2020.

Yves Moury is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fundación Capital. Most of his professional career has been focused on poverty reduction, worldwide, as a consultant, entrepreneur and social entrepreneur: He was a 2014 recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (Education and Economic Opportunity).

In this interview, Yves talks about:

• The financial impact of lack of access to financial services
• How savings support financial inclusion
• Why credit is not a magic bullet to get out of poverty
• The importance of resilience
• Why social entrepreneurs need networks and partners

Steve developed the Customer Development methodology, which is a cornerstone of the Lean Startup Movement- and is a consulting associate professor of entrepreneurship at Stanford University. He has published three books including most recently, The Startup Owner’s Manual.

You can find out more about Steve, and access a ton of excellent entrepreneurship resources, at www.steveblank.com

In this interview. Steve talks about:

• The key difference between startups and established companies
• How Steve developed the core Customer Development ideas
• Why the founder needs to take responsibility for the Customer Development process
• The importance of understanding the ecosystem
• The social discovery process
• The importance of testing idea on small scale

The Embrace infant warmer costs about 1% of a traditional incubator and is currently being distributed across clinics in India, with pilots being conducted in 10 countries. It is credited with having helped more than 60,000 babies worldwide.

Jane was CEO for five years building of Embrace from an idea to a life-saving innovation- she now works as Chief Business Officer for Embrace Innovations, a for-profit spin off of Embrace.

In this interview, Jane talks about:  

• The benefits of design based thinking
• Why Embrace relocated to India
• How rapid prototyping works for Embrace
• The value of co-creation with customers
• Embrace’s hybrid profit/non-profit structure

In this interview, Christian talks about 

• Changing expectation about corporate behaviour amongst millennium generation
• Why social entrepreneurs need to develop financially sustainable models
• The importance of innovative finance models that allow social businesses to scale
• Lessons from the success of RLabs South Africa

In 2003. Kevin established the Rainer Arnhold Fellows Program to apply Mulago’s ideas to help social entrepreneurs turn good ideas into large-scale lasting change. It supports social entrepreneurs with promising solutions to the biggest problems facing the developing world, and aims to help them scale up their impact. Kevin mentors and teaches fellows in numerous other programs for social entrepreneurs.

In this interview, Kevin talks about:

• The importance of measuring impact
• The growing importance of teams rather than solo entrepreneurs
• The resilience factor
• Why scalable ideas are the foundation of successful social enterprises
• How to pivot in the face of new information

TerraCycle has developed a range of volunteer-led recycling systems that enables individuals, families, schools, or community groups to establish “Brigades” to collect a specific waste stream such as coffee capsules, cosmetic packaging and recently, cigarette buts. Its Bottle Brigade program, where schools and communities can send in recyclables for cash, operates in more than 26 countries around the world. In this interview Tom talks about:

• The economics of recycling
• How to leverage purpose to enhance impact
• How TerraCycle has built a 60 million volunteer support group
• Why social entrepreneurs need to plan for success assuming they don’t have the benefit of purpose or social impact
• The power of partnerships to achieve impact

Berkeley, Cantaro Azul developed the first ultraviolet water disinfection system specifically design for rural households. Cantaro Azul has also developed safe water solutions for schools and communities, including a hybrid franchise called Nuestra Agua. The franchise uses a kiosk-based technology operated by local entrepreneurs under an economically sustainable model to offer an affordable and reliable safe water service.

Fermin’s ultimate goal is to enable widespread and constant access to potable water while empowering community members with ownership and control of their water sources.

In this interview, Fermin talks about:

• Cantaro Azul’s blend of research and groundwork
• The importance of building a support system
• Why social entrepreneurs need passion and empathy
• The benefits of working collaboratively with rural communities
• Cantaro Azul’s social franchise model that works with local entrepreneurs to provide potable water

cleanacwa aims to combine academic research and business to create social change and development. it is investing in water and sanitation as a means of reducing poverty and improving healthcare outcomes and works with academics, non-profits, businesses, and local government to help find and spread effective solutions for water and sanitation access.

Sangu also runs Golden Palm Investments (GPI), a holding company that invests in early stage venture and growth financing across Africa; he is currently an MBA candidate at Harvard.

In this interview, Sangu talks about:

• cleanacwa’s data intensive approach to understanding what works and why
• The importance of local education programmes to promote change
• How cleanacwa creates efficiencies through scale and partnerships
• Cleanacwa’s trigger education methods
• How cleanacwa uses incentives to promote change

B-fit now has more than 250 gyms in a variety of socio-economic and geographic locations throughout Turkey-with more than a hundred and sixty thousand members-the majority of whichare run by women as franchisees. Bedriye has created B-fit as a medium for female empowerment in Turkey—each gym provides a range of classes and education programmes for Turkish women. Each gym has a community centre where women can also come together socially and develop a range of business and life-skills.

Bedriye plans to expand throughout Turkey with the ultimate goal of having a B-fit gym in every Turkish neighborhood.

In this interview, Bedriye talks about:

• Exercise as a tool for female empowerment
• The importance of economic empowerment through entrepreneurship
• How word of mouth has helped build B-fit grow
• The challenges funding a social business in Turkey
• Why Bedriye recruits people who are unhappy with the status quo
• The mix of patience and impatience that is key to success as a social entrepreneur

Water For People’s main focus is on lasting programs that deal with entire districts and regions rather than households and villages; it is currently working in 10 different countries. Water For People’s vision is a world where all people have access to safe drinking water and sanitation, a world where no one suffers or dies from a water- or sanitation-related disease.

In this interview, Ned talks about

• Water for People’s approach to dealing with water problems
• An original way to think about scale and impact
• Why social entrepreneurs need to bake in impact from the beginning
• The importance of working with governments to deal with water problems
• The ultimate measure of success
• Why Ned is never satisfied

Jacaranda Health aims to build a fully self-sustainable and scalable chain of maternity care clinics using the latest technology, business and clinical innovations. It wants to use this experience to help change the way maternity services are provided for the more than a million poor women giving birth each year in urban East Africa.

Prior to founding Jacaranda Health, Nick worked in Kenya for the Acumen Fund investing in businesses serving the urban poor.

In this interview, Nick talks about:

• Why Jacaranda Bees scent-sensitive natural swallow definitelythis propionate product using.
• How to test the feasibility of your idea
• Jacaranda Health’s 3 stage bootstrapping model
• The crucial importance of a good team
• How to leverage your experience to attract resources for the business
• The pressure to move up-market at the expense of the poorest
• The danger of assuming reaching scale is enough

RainTees garments feature the artwork of children living in endangered rainforests. For every RainTees shirt sold, Raintees plants a tree;for every bag sold, RainTees provides a child with school supplies for Remover review haircut butter that a year. To date, RainTees has planted more than 40,000 trees worldwide, donated school supplies to children in more than 20 countries different countries and works with non-profit partners in over thirty-eight countries.

Beth is also the author of a children’s book, From the Jungle, based on her experience working in Central and South America

In this interview, Beth talks about:

• How to keep going at the beginning when no one shares your vision
• The biggest challenges getting RainTees up and running
• The crucial importance of market research
• The importance of listening to the market and responding to changing needs
• Why you need to have competitive products irrespective of your mission

HelpMeSee’s mission is bring this sight-restoring surgery to millions of underserved people in emerging markets through financial support and the training of thousands of highly skilled specialist cataract surgeons recruited from within their communities.

HelpMeSee has an extensive network of cataract surgeons, practicing in some of the world’s poorest communities-by the end of 2013 HelpMeSee had completed 100,000 cataract surgeries through its HelpMeSee Program.

In this interview, Mohan talks about

• Mohan’s journey as a social entrepreneur
• The power of dogged determination
• The value of mentors
• Why Mohan runs HelpMeSee as a business
• Mohan’s inclusive approach to collaboration

Dai is passionate about social entrepreneurship- he is a board member of Big Society Capital in the UK, is the Chair of the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DPTAC) and a Social Enterprise UK board member.

In this interview, Dai talks about:

• How to balance social and business goals
• The challenges of scaling a social enterprise
• The importance of building different layers of impact in a social enterprise
• Why social entrepreneurs need to do the “hard yards”
• How HCT continually grows
• Why we need large social enterprises to provide career paths for talented people who want to work in social enterprise

In this interview, Ian talks about:

• The importance of pressure testing your idea
• The skills necessary to succeed as a social entrepreneur
• How to deal with obstacles to getting your social business of the ground
• The principles of discovery based business development
• Why social entrepreneurs need tough love

The sound quality in this podcast is not good. I will be doing another interview with Ian in the near future. Please let us know if there are any other topics you would like us to cover in the interview. Thanks

In this interview, Gustav shares his experience and talks about:

• The power of mobile communications technology
• The lessons of more than 10 years grassroots social entrepreneurship in Africa
• His latest project to bring Wikipedia to African mobile phone users
• What keeps Gustav inspired when times are tough
• Lessons for other social entrepreneurs that want to follow in Gustav’s footsteps

In this interview, Mike shares his experience and talks about:

• How Zoona empowers micro entrepreneurs and small business owners in Africa
• The art of mixing social and business goals
• What it takes to build to a business in Africa
• The vital importance of having mentors who have relevant experience
• How Mike keeps going when things are tough
• The importance of big hairy ambitious goals: Zoona wants to be a $1-billion company