ImpACTivist

In this episode, we speak to Jean Philippe Courtois (JP) who is one of Microsoft's top executives. His focus is on transforming national economies, helping to create sustainable and inclusive economic growth through digital transformation.  He was key in the creation of Microsoft's social entrepreneur program. He also co-founded Live for good with his family in 2015 after a tragic event. Live for good aims to unlock the potential of young people from all walks of life through social entrepreneurship. JP is also passionate about promoting the concept of Positive Leadership: how purpose-led leaders can generate positive energy that achieves greater commercial success, individual happiness, team wellbeing, and positive social impact. He is the host of the podcast Positive Leadership. JP is one of those leaders that stays coherent and focused on his purpose. In every identity he has: as a top executive, as a co-founder, as a podcast host, he empowers to advance our social issues.Please enjoy!Here you will find the content we spoke about: https://live-for-good.org/frhttps://podcasts.apple.com/mk/podcast/the-positive-leadership-podcast/id1574911588https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/02/21/creating-a-world-of-good-microsoft-launches-the-global-social-entrepreneurship-program/Continue sending us your comments and input to connect@impactivist.global

Today we speak to Julien Lescs, co-founder of Kimpa, the first family office in Europe dedicated to impact investing. Julien and his team are actively helping wealthy families and family businesses align their family values with their impact investment Strategy in order to invest for good, innovate to keep their family quest alive and win with the next generation on board.He recently published a clinical perspective on ‘how the environmental urgency affects the psychodynamics between family members and within family businesses’. Julien is a Fellow member of the Family Firm Institute, father of 2 and fan of ultra trail. We speak about how Julien got to this strong and courageous mission, the current fear of the traditional banking sector when it comes to impact investing, we speak about responsible & sustainable finance- , ESG, impact investing, philanthropy...Julien explained so many crucial aspects to impact Investing,  the importance of the 3 pillars of his impact strategy for example:Intentionality/ Additionality/ MeasurabilityWe really liked Julien’s  deep reflections on family business using Carl Jung’s Term : the collective unconscious.“I truly believe that future generations of family business entrepreneurs will make successful transitions by focusing on the love they have for their family, their shared history and the future of the planet” JLResourceshttps://www.kimpa.co/EMCC- Executive Master in Coaching & Consulting for changehttps://www.insead.edu/master-programmes/mp/emc?CampaignId=GGL_Search_EMEA&SiteId=DP_GGL&marketingSource=EMC_01&CampaignName=EMEA-FR[EN]_Brand[GEN]-DP-EMC_MT-Exact&AdId=LandingPage&device=c&term=insead%20executive%20master%20in%20change_(e)&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_smX04vR8wIVxLKGCh2uLQhoEAAYASAAEgKZ8vD_BwEPublications: https://flora.insead.edu/fichiersti_wp/InseadEMCCCtheseswave29/90138.pdfCollective unconscious : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious

Today we speak to Manuella Cunha Brito, the co-founder of CLIMATESCAPE, the go to platform for the low carbon economy: https://climatescape.org/about Manella’s mission is  reversing climate change and reducing inequalities. She co-founded Good Tech Lab and co-authored “The frontiers of impact tech”: https://edgeryders.eu/uploads/default/original/2X/5/5ebc463e30e8bd69378b5c117cf5d677ad8a2efc.pdfWe speak about her initial path towards a diplomacy career, her journey to becoming a researcher, then consultant, co-founder and now author. We speak about how her platform is contributing to enhance the SDG’s, how vital it is to educate investors on impact, why we should focus on zebras and less on unicorns, the people that have inspired her: https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/muhammad-yunus/198251/, and much more.  You can contact Manu here: team@climatescape.org. Thank you for all the great feedback and questions you have sent us. We look forward to bringing you more courageous leadership examples. 

Today we speak to Yessica Flores, Founder of Kantaya. In this episode, Yessica shares her corporate journey, why she chose this cause and how it has brought meaning and purpose to her life.Kantaya brings education to rural areas in Peru. 5 and 15 years old receive a holistic curriculum  that allows them to keep being children in a safe space. The results have been astonishing and this in part to the focus on social-emotional skills.You can be part of this cause in many ways:https://kantayaperu.com/en/team/video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S8NXPwixQQThe content from UNICEF can be found here:https://www.unicef.org/education

Andres and Maria have a conversation about their most important takeaways to finish the season. They speak about values, reconnection, rethinking, awareness, developing the left hemisphere of your brain, a new version of capitalism and much more. All this was inspired by the impACTivists that have been in the show.The impACTivist podcast crew will take a break and come back in September. Thank you for listening."So who are we? We are the life-force power of the universe, with manual dexterity and two cognitive minds. And we have the power to choose, moment by moment, who and how we want to be in the world. Right here, right now, I can step into the consciousness of my right hemisphere, where we are. I am the life-force power of the universe. I am the life-force power of the 50 trillion beautiful molecular geniuses that make up my form, at one with all that is. Or, I can choose to step into the consciousness of my left hemisphere, where I become a single individual, a solid. Separate from the flow, separate from you. I am Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor: an intellectual, neuroanatomist. These are the "we" inside of me. Which would you choose? Which do you choose? And when? I believe that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner-peace circuitry of our right hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world, and the more peaceful our planet will be. And I thought that was an idea worth spreading. "Dr. Jill Bolte Taylorhttps://www.ted.com/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_my_stroke_of_insight

Today we speak to a young leader who started to fight for sanitation as a universal right at 17 years old. We speak about how people like Marie Curie and books inspired her to be a scientist. We also speak about her experience as a young woman entrepreneur with investors, gaining credibility as a young innovator, how she decided to unfocus from her set of solutions to help society during the COVID pandemic, her new blockchain project and much more.Anna has won numerous awards like the UN Young Champions of the Earth Award, the main United Nations Environmental program award for young people. Today, her solutions are bringing a tremendous impact for example Safe Drinking Water for all (SDW) impacts more than 1,500 people in Brazil.If you want to follow Anna and safe drinking water for all you can find them in https://www.sdwforall.com/ as well as in Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn.We would love to hear you. Send us your questions and feedback to connect@impactivist.global

In this episode Laura Mendoza, Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of UNIMA  tells us her rich story experimenting with her identity without being afraid of “ridicule”, what she translates as not being afraid to fail. The value of family, how science, medicine, chemical engineering and  marketing shaped her and a lot about entrepreneurship and how she is contributing to making the world a better place.UNIMA is a combination of vision, passion, purpose, and science. UNIMA is a biotechnology company focused on developing fast and low-cost diagnostic devices to control human diseases as tuberculosis and COVID-19. https://www.unimadx.com/To the biotechnology community don’t be afraid of being rich and to investors don’t be afraid to invest in this promising space. Laura explains why…Enjoy! 

One billion people that is 15% of the world’s population, experience some form of disability, and disability prevalence is higher for developing countries. Between 110 million and 190 million people, experience significant disabilities.People with disabilities are more likely to experience adverse socioeconomic outcomes such as less education, poorer health outcomes, lower levels of employment, and higher poverty rates.Xoan Fernandez explains why supporting minority disability groups is important and how leading organizations are doing it today. Unless the majority of society changes, the world will never change and business is what leads that change. The disability market, which is an eight trillion-dollar market, still remains largely untapped. We all have a role to play to change mindsets and promote disability inclusion throughout society.About: https://specialisterne.com/Specialisterne, which translates from Danish as “The Specialists”, is a socially innovative company where the majority of employees have a diagnosis on the autism spectrum. Employees work as business consultants on tasks such as software testing, programming and data entry for the public and private sectors.We harness the special characteristics and talents of people with autism and use them as a competitive advantage, and as a means to help people with autism secure meaningful employment. Specialisterne has operations in numerous locations around the world.Contact us : connect@impactivist.global 

Enrique Lomnitz merged the technical skills and soft skills to provide a practical solution to solve water scarcity in Mexico City. Enrique comes from a family of migrants and refugees. His childhood was surrounded by art, and his parents cultivated his social awareness.  He migrated to the United States with his family when he was 5 years old. During the time he lived in the United States, he graduated from Industrial Design, and after the completion of his studies, he returned to Mexico with the desire of addressing a solution to the water scarcity in the marginalized communities of Mexico City. Adopting the role of “social scientist,” Enrique went to the marginalized communities of Mexico City to understand the problem of scarcity of water. By combining industrial design, art, and emotional intelligence, Enrique designed a system for harvesting rainwater. This is the origin of Islaurbana. Enrique and his team are part of several programs for sustainable entrepreneurs, and Islaurbana is escalating its technology to many places in México. The next step is to escalate the system to more countries in Latinamerica. If you want to explore more on Islaurbana, you can join them at www.islaurbana.org.Did you know? Globally, more than 1.42 billion people, including 450 million children, live in areas of high, or extremely high, water vulnerability, according to a new analysis released by UNICEF. This means that 1 in 5 children worldwide does not have enough water to meet their everyday needs.https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/one-five-children-globally-does-not-have-enough-water-meet-their-everyday-needs

Carolina Meza tells us why and how she collected stories about sustainability initiatives while travelling the world, why we need to reconnect to the basics of life, to nature and how she is bringing all her learnings and knowledge to her municipality as an elected representative. Carolina is also speaker's curator and cities program lead for the largest impact event in the world. The world’s largest event for the planet is on the 27,28, 29 May. Check out the amazing line of speakers. We totally recommend you register here: changenow.world This year it will be totally digital. If you like our episodes, please share it with your friends and rate us. People will be able to find us easier. These positive stories of hope are contagious.You can connect with us at connect@impactivist.global. Send us your questions and ideas. 

Felipe incarnates what moral leadership is all about: humility, feminine leadership values, courage, managing incertitude and much more.He recently was appointed as Solunas- General Manager. Soluna brings electricity to the Non-connected-zones in rural regions in Colombia.According to the World Bank, 940 million people do not have access to electricity, and 3 billion (approximately 40% of the world population) do not have access to clean energy sources. This problem comes at a high health cost for indoor pollution. This is especially true for women and children, who are typically the primary users of household energy.According to the United Nations, The solution lies in transitioning to cleaner fuels and technologies, like gas and electricity, and improvements in stove efficiency. Granting access to electricity through clean and cheaper alternative sources is a crucial issue for addressing this problem.Soluna is more than providing electricity. Soluna is innovation, creativity, technology... Soluna is inclusion through the next-gen solar utility for off-grid communities.Links to the content we mentioned in this episode:https://www.linkedin.com/company/soluna-energ%C3%ADa/https://bcorporation.net/about-b-corpshttps://ilumexico.mx/home/https://hybrytec.com/https://acumen.org/moralrevolution/If you learned something valuable. Please share it with your friend and family and help us let their stories be heard. 

 Interview with Julio Andres Rozo- Amazonia Emprende  More than 1 million acres of forests have been lost since 1990, leaving the global stock at near 10 million acres, according to a July 2020 report by the United Nations (FAO) Julio Andrés Rozo  believes in green business as an instrument for the conservation of ecosystems. He has worked with social entrepreneurs in Asia and Latin America since 2008. He is an advisor to government and international cooperation entities such as the UN-Environment, GIZ and the European Commission. He has a particular purpose for the conservation of the Amazon and that is why he founded Amazonía Emprende, the Forest School for Green Business. He was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Cross for Environmental Merit in 2020 by the German Government. Thank you for your precious time and we hope you enjoy this story. You can join this cause here: www.amazoniaemprende.com.  You can also find them in Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and you Tube. Andres book: https://amazoniaemprende.com/tu-regalo-por-apoyar-2 Resources: http://www.fao.org/state-of-forests/en/

The impactivist podcast brings you the stories of social innovators who are solving market failures and have demonstrated more sustainable models to build inclusive economies. They walk us through how they started, what helped them succeed, their key learnings, how to raise funds, why sticking to their purpose and values is fundamental and much more. Our hope is that these individual stories will provide you a better understanding of how we can solve our collective problems from the perspective of pragmatism and hard-earned experience. Join us on this journey.