New Ventures Podcast

What is the problem ?The El Nino has affected pineapple production in Thailand.What is the solution ?Some companies are quitting the industry altogether. Ourguest – who has literally grown up in the pineapple industry- is “doubling down”but diversifyingWhat is the evidence? Pineapple leaves which would have wasted can be used tomake sustainable textiles.What is the caveat? Demand for these textiles is lower than expected.What should organisations do ? They should diversify to manage risks, not give in.Easier said that done, of course.Sections Section 1: First 8 minutes : Introduction to Jinny (Ghanyapad) Tantipipatpong and her family businessSection 2: Next 22 minutes: The impact of the El Nino on the pineapple industry in ThailandSection 3: Next 23 minutes: The plans of converting pineapple waste leaves to sustainable textile fibresHost:Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradisewww.regainparadise.orgGuest:Jinny (Ghanyapad) TantipipatpongExecutive Director of the Siam Agro-Food Industry and the Director of the ThaiDesignation Pineapple Canning Industry Corporationhttps://www.saico.co.th/home/jinny@tpc-canning.comWA: +66(0)81 813 6288

What is the problem ? Business models to deploy AI solutions for small holder farmers do not exist.What is the solution ? Bring down costs and develop use cases in partnership.What is the evidence? Several cost reduction technologies and several real lifeapplications are being developed.What is the caveat? We are just scratching the surface.What should organisations do? Companies should partner to test and deploy solutions.Sections Section 1: First 10 minutes : Getting to know Ranveer Chandra.Section 2: Next 40 minutes: Microsoft’s strategy in AI for agriculture.Host:Sanjoy SanyalFounder Regain Paradisewww.regainparadise.orgGuest : Ranveer ChandraVice President and CTO Agri-food, Microsofthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ranveer-chandra-79bb9b/Date : 31st July 2025

What is the problem ? Coffee production and exports have boomed in Vietnam . The issue is to keep the boom going.What is the solution ? Doing much the same things that contributed to the boomin the first place. Organising farmers, supporting them with information and working with buyersWhat is the evidence? In Vietnam farmers have options to hold on to their cropsWhat is the caveat? The futures market could increase price volatilityWhat should organisations do ? Companies should secure supplies from farmersSectionsSection 1: First 10 minutes : Getting to know Apurva.Section 2: Next 35 minutes: about coffee industry in Vietnam, how it has grown and how it is managing.Host: Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise, New Ventureswww.regainparadise.orgwww.regainparadise.orgGuest: Apurva ManekVeteran coffee trader from Southeast Asiahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/apurva-manek-44774b52/apurvamanek1407@gmail.com21st July, 2025

What is the problem ? Coffee production in Peru has improved significantly. It is now being affected by climate change.What is the solution ?A cooperative with research and training focus to help farmers improve quality and adopt appropriate seeds.What is the evidence? Peru coffee which used to sell at a discount is now sold as a premiumWhat is the caveat? Would cooperatives have the ability to invest and hire in an era of climate change?What should organisations do ? Cooperatives can help small holder farmers.Sections Section 1: First 15 minutes : Getting to know our guests.Section 2: Next 45 minutes: How Centrocafe works with farmers in Peru and plans to address climate changeHost: Sanjoy SanyalFounder Regain ParadiseNew Ventureswww.regainparadise.orgGuests: Jaime Cueva RamosHead of Productive and Associative Sustainability Managementhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-cueva-ramos-23340b129/ https://cenfrocafe.com.pe/Juan Pablo TorresSupply Chain Experthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-pablo-170785/Date : 17th July 2025

What is the problem? Nigeria is importing meat even as its potential to produce domestically is untapped.What is the solution ? Create linkages between small holder farmers and meat companies.What is the evidence? Farmers in Nigeria are already benefiting..What is the caveat? Farmers need training and services (inputs, purchase agreements, insurance)What should organisations do? Non-profits and companies should work together to create these marketsSections Section 1: First 10 minutes : Getting to know Kachi and Heifer’s work in Nigeria.Section 2: Next 45 minutes: about the Sustainable Market Access for smallholder Poultry Farmers.Section 3: Last 10 minutes about broader lessons.Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradisewww.regainparadise.orgGuest : Onyekachi AyevbuomwanProgram Lead for the Livestock sector for Heifer International Nigeriahttps://www.linkedin.com/in/onyekachi-ayevbuomwan-5666a66b/?originalSubdomain=ngDate 30th June 2025

What is the problem ? Markets need to be found: for imperfect and traditional vegetables, for cellular agriculture outputs.What is the solution ? Products that meet needs: nutritious and tasty snacks, substitutes for in-demand products.What is the evidence? Customers are accepting new products.What is the caveat? It takes time to build products and markets.What should organisations do ? Scale through niche markets and conserve capital.Sections Section 1: First 10 minutes : Getting to know how Andre’s life has changed in the last three yearsSection 2: Next 25 minutes: about the three companies Andre is working with now.Section 3: Last 10 minutes about plant based industry and capital conservancy.Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise New Ventures www.regainparadise.orgGuest : Andre Menezes Founder . Investor https://www.linkedin.com/in/andre-menezes/Date : June 5th, 2025

What is the problem ? In poor counties farmers are producing too little food. Productivity levels are very low.What is the solution ? Help companies sell inputs to farmers, help farmers sell and save moneyWhat is the evidence? In Mozambique the seed market has expanded by 6 times and now there are local entrepreneurs working with small holder farmers.What is the caveat? It takes time. Public sector, NGOs and donors may disrupt the market.What should organisations do ? Provide information bring buyers and sellers together.Sections Section 1: First 15 minutes : Getting to know William and the concept of market systems development.Section 2: Next 25 minutes: about the experience in Mozambique.Section 3: Last 20 minutes about how the approach can be replicated in an age of funding reduction.Host: Sanjoy SanyalFounder Regain Paradisewww.regainparadise.orgGuest : William GrantMarket Systems Developmenthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/william-grant-9879723/

What is the problem?  Animal protein contributes to disproportionately large amount of emissions.    What is the solution? Insect feed can be solution. They can be a nutritional additive for the food we eat. They can also be a substitute for animal feed.    What is the evidence? Insect feed has got to the point where it has moved to commercial production. Insect feed can be produced using waste from breweries and markets which is an added advantage. Yet another advantage is that the byproduct is organic fertilisers.    What is the caveat? However costs are still high.     What should organisations do? Animal feed and food supplement companies should partner with start ups to be able to generate economies of scale. Organisations producing waste should consider using the waste as feed to this innovative industry.                SectionsSection 1: First 15 minutes : Getting to know Vasco.Section 2: Next 20 minutes: about the applications of insect food.Section 3: Last 15 minutes about Tecmafood’s business model.             Host: Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise www.regainparadise.orgGuest : Vasco Teixeira EstevesCEO Tecmafoods President, Portugal Insecthttps://pt.linkedin.com/in/vascosteixeiraestevesgeral@tecmafoods.com22nd April 2025

What is the problem ? We have to increase food production in the face of climate change , we have to make vulnerable communities resilient and we have to do all this without increasing emissions.What is the solution ? There are numerous climate smart technologies and practices.What is the evidence? There are several examples in the ASEAN region where food production is increasing in the face of climate change even as producers adopt sustainable practices.What is the caveat? People need to be convinced about the economic benefits of sustainable solutionsWhat should organisations do ? Banks should discuss sustainability with their clients, Companies need to work on sustainable supply chains and NGOs need to support small producers to make more money through sustainable practices.Sections Section 1: First 10 minutes : Getting to know Srinivasan.Section 2: Next 20 minutes: about the impacts of ADB’s projects.Section 3: Last 30 minutes about the lessons from ADB’s projects.Host: Sanjoy SanyalFounder Regain Paradisewww.regainparadise.orgCo-Host : Jaideep Prabhu Professor of Business, University of CambridgeGuest : Srinivasan AnchaPrincipal Climate Change Specialist of the Asian Development Bank.https://www.linkedin.com/in/srinivasan-ancha-44941211/asrinivasan2009@gmail.comDate : 13/03/2025

What is the problem ? The amount of water available for irrigation and livestock is reducing. Safe drinking water is also not available in many parts of the world.What is the solution ? Getting to the root of the problem, identifying the causes, adopting locally specific interventions and involving the community.What is the evidence? Even in the areas of Bangladesh where saline water from the sea is creeping in it is possible to have enough fresh water and grow more food. What is the caveat? There is a propensity on the part of governments to deploy large infrastructural projects which add to the problem.What should organisations do ? Deploy appropriate solutions and keep vigil. Its easy to slip back. Think processes not projects.Sections Section 1: First 9 minutes : Getting to know Andrew and learning about his work.Section 2: Next 9 minutes: About the problemSection 3: Last 35minutes : About the lessons from Andrew’s projects.Host: Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain ParadiseNew Ventures www.regainparadise.orgGuest : Andrew JenkinsInternational Water Experthttps://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-jenkins-16553814/andrew@jenkins.associatesDate: February 14, 2025.

What is the problem ? Agricultural practices is depleting the soil fertility and making farming unproductive. What is the solution ? Regenerative farming , integrating trees and livestock in farming operations. Integrating trees is called agro forestry. What is the evidence? Agroforestry has worked in Africa (Niger, Zambia), Asia (China and India), South America (Argentina) and Western nations as well. What is the caveat? There is no one “miracle tree” and “no one miracle practice”. It all depends on the context. Top down approaches don’t help. What should organisations do ? NGOs and agricultural support organisations should help farmers adopt these practices. Sections Section 1: First 14 minutes : Getting to know Patrick and understanding all the terms. Section 2: Next 35 minutes: about the why and the how of agro forestry. Section 3: Last five minutes about what is not broken about the world food system Host: Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise www.regainparadise.org Guest: Patrick Worms, Senior Science Policy Adviser for the World Agroforestry Centre https://www.linkedin.com/in/pworms/ https://www.cifor-icraf.org/

Diageo is reducing its emissions by innovating in its packaging. It is trying to introduce circular economy in the traditional glass bottles. The company is also trying to use new types of material: aluminum and paper. At the same time, Diageo faces climate risks. Agricultural commodities and water are the inputs to manufacturing your favour beverages. In response, Diageo is supporting regenerative agriculture and water conservation projects. Innovation involves working thoughtfully with partners (start-ups and non-profits). It also involves crucially a high tolerance of failure. Mark Sandys is the Chief Innovation Officer at Diageo, the British multinational alcohol beverage company. Sections Section 1: First 18 minutes : Getting to know Mark and understand Diageo’s approach to innovation. Section 2: Next 31 minutes about Diageo’s innovations in packaging. Section 3: Last six minutes about climate risks and Diageo’s response. Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise www.regainparadise.org Guest : Mark Sandys Chief Innovation Officer, Diageo https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-sandys-b629b6b8/ https://www.diageo.com/en

Digital innovation in agriculture is already bringing solutions to farmers that helps them use their mobile phones to obtain a range of useful services. They can get information about product prices and advice on pest control. They can also buy farm inputs as well sell their products. Almost always underbanked, they can also get credit. Is AI adding an extra fizz to these solutions? We discussed with Daniele Tricarico about the GSMA report AI for Africa: Use cases delivering impact. We learnt that AI is adding an extra layer of additional benefits to these existing solutions and also helping develop some new solutions (such as better weather predictions and tracking food security). Both machine learning and generative AI are being used in these applications. Grant capital is available to develop initial pilots. Local talent who knows the agricultural landscape and brainy young people who work on the data and the programming are there as well. Companies are working around the problem of lack of data. Partnerships of start-ups with large IT companies and with mobile networks is critical to deployment of solutions. Sections Section 1: First 5 minutes : introduction Section 2: Next 54 minutes the AI use cases in food and agriculture Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise New Ventures www.regainparadise.org Guest : Daniele Tricarico Senior Director, Central Insights & Monitoring & Evaluation, Mobile for Development https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieletricarico/ https://www.gsma.com/solutions-and-impact/connectivity-for-good/mobile-for-development/gsma_people/daniele-tricarico/

Too much food is wasted by consumers. Reducing this wastage is important. It is good for the climate and for one’s own wallet, not to mention the conscience. Everybody agrees that it is important and yet reducing food waste is hard. People waste food not because they don’t care but often they do not know better ways to buy, store, cook and eat. Luckily, there are a whole set of tools from the discipline of psychology to help people become aware and have the right skills and behaviour. Dr. Sophie Attwood behavioural scientist and a thought leader on sustainable food and heath choices. She holds a doctorate degree from the University of Cambridge and has worked with the global think tank WRI. In the podcast she also touches upon how companies who are developing solutions for the problem of food waste and selling plant based meats could market their products. Sections Section 1: First 8 minutes : introduction Section 2: Next 34 minutes about food waste: how much, why and how to solve the problem? Section 3 : Last 6 minutes about plant based meats. Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise www.regainparadise.org Guest : Dr. Sophie Attwood Behavioural Science Consultant https://www.behaviorglobal.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sophie-attwood/

The World Fair Trade Organisation certifies small and medium enterprises which practice fair trade principles. Chief among them is that 50% of their profits are contributed towards a cause. The objective of WFTO is to prove that innovation and entrepreneurship is consistent with stakeholder capitalism. Innovation – the process of increasing productivity – is not just restricted to a shareholder capitalist system. WFTO members include food processing enterprises both in the Global North and Global South. Leida Rijnhout, based in the Netherlands, is the Chief Executive of the World Fair Trade Organisation. She has extensive experience in Netherlands and in the world of non-profits before finding her entrepreneurial calling at WFTO. Sections Section 1: First 25 minutes about WFTO certification Section 2: Next 25 minutes about WFTO enterprises in practice Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise www.regainparadise.org Guest : Leida Rijnhout Chief Executive World Fair Trade Organisation https://wfto.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/leida-rijnhout-b5258a5/ info@wfto.com

Rabindranath Tagore, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 was also a leading thinker on education.  The central tenets of his thoughts on education were learning among nature, striking a balance of the arts and science in the curriculum and internalising  a spirit of internationalism. Tagore was also a practical man and he put his ideas in action by setting up a school for children and an University.              His ideas on education are key to creating the consciousness that is needed for to solve the climate crisis and (if we ever get out of this mess) avoid creating a similar crisis again. AI may help in reviving Tagore’s thoughts in the 21st century.         Section Section 1: First 20 minutes about Tagore’s thoughts on education.   Section 2: Next 20 minutes about how Tagore implemented his ideas on education. Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise www.regainparadise.org Guest : Dr. Tom Kane Programme Director MSc: Business Analytics  https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1376839 https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-kane-4010066/ t.b.kane@stir.ac.uk

In Kenya there has been droughts for the last four out of 5 seasons. Most farmers depend only rains and are very vulnerable to changing weather. SunCulture provides irrigation solution to small holder farmers. The challenge is to make the product affordable to farmers. This means right sizing the pumps, working with suppliers to reduce costs and providing financing solutions. It also means using subsidies such as results based financing and carbon credits efficiently. Hack Stiernblad is the Chief Growth Officer of SunCulture responsible for market expansion and raising donor funds. SunCulture provides solar irrigation solutions to farmers in Kenya and is now expanding to Uganda and Côte d'Ivoire. Sections Section 1: First 7 minutes about Hack and SunCulture.     Section 2: Next 40 minutes about SunCulture’s product and business. Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise New Ventures ⁠www.regainparadise.org⁠ Guest : Hack Stiernblad Chief Growth Officer ⁠hack.stiernblad@sunculture.com⁠ ⁠https://sunculture.io/https://www.linkedin.com/in/hack-stiernblad-8276819a/?originalSubdomain=se⁠  

Financial institutions have to take into both short term and long term horizons in assessing climate risks. This is not easy for banks in the emerging world. It requires expertise, access to data and new management processes. In this podcast, Rutang and myself explain the types of climate risks and we demystify climate risk scenarios which help financial institutions straddle these time horizons. Then we apply the concepts to banks in four emerging countries.      Dr. Rutang Thanawalla is a risk assessment expert for financial institutions with experience across global commercial banks, credit rating agencies and consultancies. He now focuses on climate risks and sustainability finance.            Sections     Section 1: First 10 minutes introductions and climate risks.   Section 2: Next 13 minutes about climate risk scenarios. Section 3: Next 22 minutes about applying the concepts.     Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise www.regainparadise.org Guest : Rutang Thanawalla Risk Management: Strategy Adviser on Climate Risk Assessment https://www.linkedin.com/in/rutang/

With climate change El Nino droughts will become more frequent and more intense. To be fore warned is to be fore armed. Warnings will have to be taken seriously and farmers should not plant their seeds hoping that rains will come only to face a total crop failure. Kvuno, a social enterprise spun out of Solidaridad, the international NGO, is developing a digital database of farmers in Southern Africa. This digital platform can be used to provide inform and help farmers learn how to adapt to the changing weather patterns. It can also be used to provide farm inputs and finance products such as loans and insurance. Both non-profits and commercial organisations can reach small holder farmers using the digital platform. Sections Section 1: First 20 minutes introductions and the drought in Southern Africa. Section 2: Next 20 minutes about what Kvuno does and how it will help. Host: Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise www.regainparadise.org Guest : Joshua Chela Business Development Lead Kvuno https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-chileshe-chela-00623369/ https://kvuno.io/

A child substantially shorter than their age in the first three years often fails to reach their full potential. It is often caused by poor nutrition. Save the Children, an international NGO with roots in the UK, has been implementing a three year project in Bangladesh with support from the European Union and UK AID to reduce stunting. Reducing stunting involves household members changing their behaviour. Unfortunately, climate change is making it harder. Sections Section 1: First 20 minutes about the context and how the project was structured Section 2: Next 40 minutes about the project lessons and results Host : Sanjoy Sanyal, Founder Regain Paradise www.regainparadise.org Guest: Sheikh Shahed Rahman Ex Chief of Party, Suchana pogram, Save the Children in Bangladesh https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheikh-shahed-rahman-4a036635/?originalSubdomain=bd Rubaiyath Sarwar Managing Director, Innovision Consulting https://innovision-bd.com/team/md-rubaiyath-sarwar/