Inspiring Social Entrepreneurs Podcast

In this fascinating episode, Fergal Byrne sits down with Odin Mühlenbein, co-leader of Ashoka’s AI Lab, for a deep dive into the transformative role and potential of AI for social entrepreneurs. With a background spanning philosophy, social venture development, and an early passion for programming, Odin brings a unique perspective to the possibilities AI offers for social impact, deepened by his experience at Ashoka’s AI lab. Here he discusses the journey from experimenting with machine learning to building meaningful AI applications tailored for nonprofits and social enterprises.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    

Deep dive on the role of technology in helping to solve the world’s greatest environmental questions-and a passionate argument for the impact of social entrepreneurship. Tom gives an overview of At One Ventures investments and key technologies that the fund has supported, with a particular focus on tree planting technologies. As well as discussing specific technologies and market applications, Tom shares his views on the dangers of increasing penetration of technologies in our lives and reflects on techno utopian approach to the environment associated with Silicon Valley. Tom also shares his concerns how we as a society have prioritized economy over society and environment: A fascinating, spirited discussion. 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.

In this episode, we welcome back Kevin Starr back to the podcast to update us on the work of the Mulago Foundation. Kevin explains how Mulago’s focus has inevitably extended over time to take into account climate and the environment--the focus of Mulago's Henry Arnhold Fellows Program. Kevin’s main focus at Mulago is lasting change at scale and he explains how he thinks about scaling-- and the importance of structuring investments to make sure that profit and impact are aligned.  In this wide ranging and stimulating interview, Kevin shares his perspective on the state of social entrepreneurship today, the reality of impact investment, and his evolving thoughts on measuring impact.  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 

The Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) works on the ecological restoration and conservation of land and water resources in ecologically fragile, degraded regions of India, primarily through the collective efforts of village communities.  FES is currently working with more than 20,000 village communities on more than 6 s million acres of common lands across 10 states of India. 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.  

Today's interview features Dr. Kate Roll an Assistant Professor and Head of Teaching at UCL’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). Kate is a political scientist interested in how business, technology, and the state interact to improve the lives of the most vulnerable. Bringing her background in international development, Kate discusses inclusive business and the concept of bottom of the pyramid development and it's consequences for corporations and impoverished populations. Kate also shares her insights on what makes NGO and corporate partnerships succeed- and perhaps more interestingly, what makes them fail. 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).

In this interview, Dr. Aparna Hegde, an internationally renowned Urogynecologist and the founder of the NGO, ARMMAN (Advancing Reduction in Mortality and Morbidity of Mothers, Children and Neonates) shares her insights behind building scalable programs using technology and partnerships to innovatively impact maternal and child health. ARMMAN leverages technology to design & implement sustainable interventions to reduce maternal, neonatal, child mortality and morbidity in underserved communities. Working in 16 states in India, ARMMAN's five programs have reached more than 18 million women and their children.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.

In this episode, Celina De Sola talks about the growth and development of Glasswing International, a non-profit which aims to address the root causes and consequences of violence and poverty in communities in El Salvador, and other Latin American countries. Celina talks about the importance at the outset of understanding the roots of violence, rather than the symptoms. She highlights the critical importance of applying rigorous tests to measure social impact. She shares her experience on how to find funding, form strategic partnerships and highlights the importance of establishing honest partnerships between donors and communities. Celina also discusses the strategy behind creating a robust program that involves multi-sector partnerships between the private and public sectors. Finally, she touches on the challenges of maintaining sustainable growth as a multi-regional social enterprise.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.

Kendis Paris is the founder of Truckers Against Trafficking, (TAT) founded in 2011. Beginning with the trucking industry, Kendis is building an anti-human trafficking movement model that could be applied across every mode of transportation in the US and beyond. Through TAT, Kendis is creating an entirely new role for truckers by targeting them in awareness-building campaigns about the issue; building a clear, safe pathway for them to act when they detect abuse; and using the trucking industry infrastructure as a strategic platform for the movement.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 Nepal is non-government organization (NGO) founded in 2009 with the goal of achieving sustainable development through community empowerment in Nepal’s mountain areas.  It has almost two decades of experience in livelihoods enhancement through sustainable development and community capacity-building, having worked in the region since 1992 as the Asian Regional Office of Eco Himal, an international non-government organization (INGO) based in Salzburg, Austria.  As a national NGO, EcoHimal Nepal will support the Nepal Government’s policy and work as a development partner in building the nation.  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.

Sue is Founder of Bioregional, a UK social entreprise that, works with partners to create better, more sustainable places to live, work and do business. Bioregional developed BedZED eco-village the first of its kind in the UK and out of this the One Planet Living approach, ten interconnected and holistic principles to show people how to make sustainable living actionable and desirable. Sue was also instrumental in designing SDG12, focused on sustainable consumption and production – essential to One Planet Living. Sue is an Ashoka fellow.

In this inspiring interview, Nadina Galle, CEO & Co-Founder at Green City Watch, speaks to the growing trend of urbanization, and the key role that that urban forests play in greening cities. She explains how Green City Watch uses powerful AI and machine learning technologies to provide a cost-effective solution to oversee and manage urban green spaces and talks about the company’s first product focused on urban forests.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.

Dr Morgan Phillips joined The Glacier Trust in December 2016. He is responsible for the day-to-day running of the charity, with specific focus on project development, partnerships, strategy and fundraising. Morgan holds a BSc in Geography, an MSc in Environmental Science, Policy and Planning and a PhD in Environmental Education. He worked at Keep Britain Tidy for five years, spending two years as a Team Leader in Community Engagement and three years as Education Manager. Previously, Morgan ran a small intercultural understanding charity, Global Footsteps and lectured on the politics of climate change at Brunel University. Alongside his role as Co-Director for The Glacier Trust, Morgan also works freelance in sustainability education.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.

In this interview, social entrepreneur Jordan Kassalow, and rabbi and author, Jennifer Krausediscuss Dare to Matter, their inspiring new bookwhich brings together Jordan’s experience as a successful social entrepreneur and Jennifer’s deep insights into inherited Jewish traditions. They set the context clearly from the outset—an economic model that does not work for many, and intense and growing societal pressure on young people and people in the workplace. Against this background, a growing number of individuals are yearning to find a deep meaning in life beyond the material –Jordan cites recent research on the limited impact that material wealth has on happiness, beyond a certain level. Both Jordan and Jennifer are passionate about the potential for every individual to make a difference in the world—and they share their thoughts on how to integrate what you do to earn a paycheck with your desire to build a better world. While recognising that not everyone will live a life like Mother Theresa, Jennifer believes “there is something in the world that calls on, that needs each and every one of us” –and they highlight the central importance of “Discover the Need that Needs you Most.” This is hugely inspiring interview that will help those that want to make a difference in the world live a life with purpose by using their unique gifts.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

Rebecca Masisak is CEO of TechSoup–she sets the strategic direction and provides executive oversight of all aspects of the organization and its global operations. Ms. Masisak joined TechSoup in 2001 to launch its e-commerce donation platform, moving the organization from a local San Francisco Bay Area focus to a national reach. In 2006, she founded the TechSoup Global Network to scale the program’s impact globally. Ms. Masisak became CEO of the organization in 2012, after having served the prior six years as co-CEO. She previously worked as a strategy consultant with Coopers & Lybrand and in leadership roles at several Internet businesses.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.

In this inspiring and thought-provoking interview, Jed describes his decades long work in the field of impact investment and the motivation behind his most recent book The Purpose of Capital: Elements of Impact, Financial Flows, and Natural Being. Jed explores the historic roots of our understanding of capital—and goes on to suggest that the idea that there is this gap between philanthropic capital and market rate capital is not correct-that all investments should be considered impactful. Rather than seeing progress as linear, Jed argues we should consider it as a spiral, where we can search for both a deeper and higher understanding. He also asks us to stop seeing ourselves and our successes as separate, but rather to see how we are all connected—and he challenges each of us to pause and reflect on what our fundamental intent is – to be successful, or to have a positive impact—and inspires us to transform financial and investment models to optimize the legacy we leave on society and the environment. This is a fascinating discussion questions the idea that financial returns re the main driver for creating impact in the world and offers the prospect of healing the long standing separation between economic/financial value and social/environmental value.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.

As the former Chief Innovation Officer at USAID, Ann Mei served as the first Executive Director of the US Global Development Lab.  In this role, Ann Mei was responsible for identifying breakthrough innovations and transforming the way development was done in order to accelerate our pace of progress.  Her firsthand knowledge in both tech and nonprofit startups have provided her with keen insight into the many challenges inhibiting the growth of new ideas.  Ann Mei describes in this interview the difference between the traditional Lean Startup Model and the Lean Impact model she proposes in her new book, Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good.  She explores with us some unique ways to consider scalability from the beginning, workarounds for handling limitations and/or restrictions to funding and donor relationships, and dares us to think BIGGER by focusing on the needs of the world rather than the constraints that can hinder our creativity.  Ann Mei encourages all businesses to adopt a Lean Model as a standard best practice as so understanding and adaptation can be applied as quickly as possible for optimal performance solutions.

With a natural philanthropic spirit, Randy Paynter founded the online advocacy website, Care2, in 1998 with the hope of making the world a kinder, more inclusive, and sustainable space. The business works by focusing on two aspects in which to generate support for social and environmental causes around the world. First, they empower individuals to take collective action through the petition of their own campaigns. Second, they work directly with non-profits to craft campaigns in an effort to generate/ recruit more donor prospects. Their scale and expertise allows them to effectively navigate shifts in the online market to maximize connections between activists and individuals, organizations, and responsible businesses trying to make positive impacts. Since it’s creation, Care2 has recruited over 90 million donor prospects for non-profits making them a leader in online advocacy.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.

Harish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur who co-founded SELCO India in 1995 to eradicate poverty by promoting sustainable technologies in rural India. SELCO India is a social enterprise that provides sustainable energy services to the poor in India, sustainable energy solutions and services to under-served households and businesses. SELCO empowers its customer by providing a complete package of product, service and consumer financing through grameena banks, cooperative societies, commercial banks and micro-finance institutions.  Harish has won numerous award including the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, for “his pragmatic efforts to put solar power technology in the hands of the poor.” Hande was also named the Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2007 by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship and the Nand & Jeet Khemka Foundation.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.