Impact at Scale

The Social Innovation Podcast had the pleasure of speaking with Lin Hwang , a co-Founder and the CEO of DamoGo , a platform that helps reduce food waste by helping retailers and farms sell their unsold food and produce at a discount before it gets thrown away.  Lin is an extremely experienced food-tech entrepreneur dedicated to making a positive impact through reducing food waste. Lin and I d...

The Social Innovation Podcast had the pleasure of speaking with Yuha Jin , the CEO and co-Founder of Tella . According to Yuha, "Tella is short for "TellAfreeca"; a team that started out with the social mission of creating knowledge-based jobs in East African countries for university-educated youth. When my co-founder and I visited some East African countries, we experienced a totally different Af...

The Social Innovation Podcast had an incredible conversation with Chris Fong , a co-Founder, and Chief Innovation and Strategic Growth Officer at FeFiFo .  At FeFiFo, Chris is spearheading co-farming as a new model to disrupt and democratize the US$159b contract farming industry with a mission to make sustainable, profitable, smallholder farming commonplace. Chris is passionate about affectin...

I had the pleasure of speaking with R. Scott Salandy-Defour , a co-Founder of Liquidstar . Liquidstar offers a new category of energy distribution, utilizing Waypoint charge stations to deploy smart batteries for beyond-the-grid electrical power distribution. Liquidstar’s vision is to leapfrog off-grid markets to the ‘wireless’ battery-powered sustainable ecosystems of the future - solving energy...

The Social Innovation Podcast spoke to Hannah Thinyane , a Principal Research Fellow at the United Nations University Institute in Macau. Hannah leads the Migrant Tech Research Project. Since 2016 she has led a multi-disciplinary team, innovating and inventing ICTs to support proactive and consistent screening of workers in situations of labour exploitation and human trafficking. She has over 15 y...

The Social Innovation Podcast had a fabulous conversation with Bethany Jinks , the Founder of Zoobie .   Bethany was raised in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Australia in the state of Victoria.  In her own words, she has always been obsessed with animals which she says comes straight from her parents.  You can hear the passion in her voice when she talks and when she says her...

In this episode of the Social Innovation Podcast, Michael Waitze was joined by the esteemed Anne-Marie Brook, a co-Founder of the Human Rights Measurement Initiative .  Anne-Marie is a trained economist and holds a Masters Degree in Economics from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs.   She spent the better part of 20 years working as an economist including a...

The Social Innovation Podcast had a fabulous conversation with Azalea Ayuningtyas , the co-Founder and CEO of Du Anyam .  Du Anyam is the leading ethical craft brand in Indonesia with a vision is "to empower women, promote culture, and improve livelihood."  Azalea originally intended to be an academic after receiving a BS in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Michigan and...

Quote: "Being In This Skin Is the Only Way to Really Experience It" You simply have to listen to the conversation I had with Troy Prince .  Troy is the Founder of Wall Street Bound , an education and training organization focused on the recruitment, exposure, licensing, and placement of inner-city youth into front office intern positions on Wall Street.  Troy is also a graduate of the pr...

I was joined by the esteemed Michelle Jamieson , Communications and Change Consultant at Green Door Solutions .  Michelle has traveled the world and is currently based in Toronto, Canada.  Apparently, Canadians love to talk about the weather, which I did not know.  Hockey, I knew...but the weather was new to me. Although born in Calgary, Michelle is definitely a third-culture kid......

The Social Innovation Podcast had the pleasure of speaking with Jessica Camus and Mark Blick of Diginex Solutions .  Mark and I had a conversation about a year ago.  Jessica also has an incredibly strong background and a deep interest in development issues.  Jessica is originally from Haiti and grew up in Switzerland where she studied International Relations.  She has advised I...

I had a great conversation with Adrian Tan and Greg Tan Tze Kai to start SG Assist.   These are two guys that quit good-paying jobs to build SG Assist in response to a family medical problem that Adian Tan experienced.  Greg comes from an Oil and Gas background while Adrian is a supply chain expert.  Although neither of them had any medical experience, after long chats in the cantee...

Anthony Moorhouse, a co-Founder of EarthTech Ventures, started his career in the Special Forces of the Australian Army as a counter-terrorism commando.  A frequent traveler, Anthony found himself at an airport and picked up a book by Richard Branson that talked about entrepreneurship...a word with which Anthony was unfamiliar at the time. Anthony became obsessed with the idea that you could l...

I had the opportunity to speak with Nick Kengmana in the studio at True Digital Park.  Nick is a co-Founder of Go Beyond and is committed to building a community of purpose-driven entrepreneurs and helping them change the world. We had a pretty amazing conversation ranging from the impact of mechanized farming on society to the evolution of capitalism, with a bit of religion sprinkled in. We...

Often the best articulation of the future is presented as a continuation of the past… I had a great conversation with Mark Blick , the Head of Government, Blockchain Technology at Diginex . Diginex is a global blockchain solutions company based in Hong Kong. They really focus on two broad themes, Financial Services and a Solutions and Advisory Business. Mark focuses on the intersection of where re...

Jeppe Mariager-Lam is originally from Denmark. He is currently the Technology and Innovations Manager at People in Need in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He first came to Cambodia after his wife got her Master's degree in International Development and got an internship with an NGO in Phnom Penh. This was actually Jeppe’s first time out of Europe. His first job in Cambodia was working in a project managemen...

Sovan Srun and Maes Sak Pheng join the series on social innovation in Cambodia to discuss Edemy , their award-winning social enterprise. The Tesdopi learning app developed by Edemy recently won the Cambodia Total Startupper  of the Year award and Sovan Srun won the Top Female Entrepreneur Award. After returning from the USA where they were Fullbright scholars, they turned to develop Edemy , w...

As part of our series on social innovation in Cambodia, we talk to Channé Suy Lan the Managing Director of InSTEDD's Southeast Asia iLab in Phnom Penh. InSTEDD stands for Innovative Support to Emergency Diseases and Disasters. It was founded by Larry Brilliant , who while working with a team to eliminate smallpox in India envisioned how technology could play a vital role in early disease detection...

In this episode, we are joined by Thavry Thon for an inspiring talk about education, literature, and social change in Cambodia. Thavry is the author of several children's books and a Proper Woman. She is also the co-Founder of the Seavphovjivet , a publishing house dedicated to supporting Cambodian authors and inspiring young people through literature. Thavry also tours the country speaking to you...

Michael Waitze spoke to Tara Dermott about how IOM X is using media to support safe migration experiences and stop trafficking and the exploitation of the vulnerable. Originally from the USA, Tara Dermott moved to Thailand as a Peace Corps volunteer 14 years ago. Stationed in the Northeast of Thailand near the Cambodian border, Tara learned about issues related to migration, leading her to work at...

In this episode, Michael Waitze  and Daniel McFarlane talk to  Aung Thura  about Myanmar’s rapidly changing mobile media landscape. Aung is the Chief Strategist at  Ignite Marketing Communications  and, with a team of researchers around the country, he is in an ideal position to provide insight into the rapidly changing media landscape. The pivotal year was 2013...

Michael Waitze and Daniel McFarlane visited FHI 360 ’s regional Bangkok office to talk with Josh Woodard , who is the organization’s Regional ICT & Digital Finance Advisor. In an insightful discussion covering many issues, Josh highlights the role of technology in creating resilient communities and the value of thoughtful planning. Josh’s first experience with Thailand came as a Peace Corps vo...

In this episode, Michael Waitze talks with Allison Sanders , the Director of Strategy and Partnerships at Baan Dek Foundation (BDF) about the Foundation’s work supporting the lives of vulnerable migrant children growing up in construction workers' campsites in Thailand. The Baan Dek Foundation (BDF) was established in 2002 in Chiang Mai by Nicola Crosta, Magali du Parc, and Acha Sripaurya. After s...

What can a picture of eggs reveal about Indonesian beauty? What can an image of megaphone diplomacy tell you about family relationships? In this episode, Michael Waitze and Daniel McFarlane talk with Neil Gains , who is the owner of TapestryWorks and helps clients decode people and culture to help them better connect with the emotions that drive behavior. He brings a breadth and depth of experienc...

'Inspirational' is a good way to describe Rithy Thul, but it also captures what he wants Koompi to be for young Cambodians. Koompi is Cambodia's first locally designed laptop and Rithy Thul's latest venture. He discusses it, his company SmallWorld Cambodia and his dream for education in Cambodia with Michael Waitze on our first podcast on innovation in Cambodia. An important part of Rithy's journe...