Mission Driven Podcast

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Rahat Hossain about the importance of choosing the right co-founder, building founder alignment, and the lessons learned through navigating one of the most difficult parts of entrepreneurship: evolving partnerships. The conversation explores the realities of building a mission-driven business in an underdeveloped market, learning the sect...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, Rich Brubaker sits down with Apols Garmay to explore her journey building Hidden Manna Farms and her mission of Empowering rural farmers through inclusive agriculture. Key Takeaway: 1. Entrepreneurship Often Begins With Proximity to the Problem 2. Trust Is Infrastructure 3. Scale Is About Predictability, Not Just Volume 4. Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Rogerine Miguel-Irvine, former Chief for Strategic Policy and Innovations at the National Economic and Development Authority , about her work to build a national framework for innovation and entrepreneurship. Rogerine shares her journey from building a social enterprise supporting indigenous weaving communities to helping shape national i...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, Rich speaks with David Lynn, co-founder and CEO of Mission Driven Finance, about the ambitious vision to move trillions of dollars into communities and build a financial system designed around impact. Inspired by the rise of firms like Blackstone and Brookfield, David shares why he believes the next trillion-dollar investment platform could — and shou...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Uli Grabenwarter, Deputy Chief Investment Officer and Director of Equity Investments at the European Investment Fund, about one of the most uncomfortable questions in impact finance: Why impact investing does not work. Uli brings a rare perspective to this conversation. Over the course of his career, he has moved from derivatives and trad...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, Damien Masselis reflects on one of the most important lessons behind building Pai Seedlings Foundation: that solving complex social and environmental problems is not just about having the right technical solutions — it’s about trust, listening, and understanding the fears that prevent change from happening. After years of trying to help farming commun...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Aarti Kapoor, founder of Embode, about what it really takes to protect human rights inside complex global supply chains—and why good intentions, good laws, and good reports are often not enough. Aarti shares how early experiences with injustice led her to study law before unexpectedly finding herself in Cambodia working on issues of child...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Pinky Poe about Bringing Business Rigor to Social Enterprise — and why compassion and creativity alone are not enough to build lasting impact. After a successful global corporate career, Pinky returned home to the Philippines and was struck by the immense talent, resilience, and heart she saw in underserved communities. But she also recog...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Cheryl Jacob, Founder and Chief of Growth and Impact at Resonate & Co, about her work helping mission-driven entrepreneurs scale. We begin with a direct challenge to investors: their responsibility isn’t to personally deliver every layer of support, but to find and fund the people who know how to provide it—whether that’s operational...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Dr. Legena Henry, Founder and CEO of Rum and Sargassum about when an unexpected result sparked the innovation that lead to the development of a local biofuel. It was a moment that came during student-led summer research project in Barbados, and it was “lucky mistake” became the foundation for a venture working to transform a regional envi...

In this episode of Mission Driven, I’m joined by two members of Mayani's Mission Driven Dream Team, JT Solis and Oochie San Juan. Part of a seven-person founding team behind Mayani, a Philippines-based agritech working to rebuild smallholder value chains from the ground up, and through our conversation, we speak about how this incredible team think about “mission DNA” across a seven-founder team,...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, Theresa Carrington, Founder of Ten by Three, shares her 20+ year journey building a model to end extreme poverty through entrepreneurship. She discusses the origins of the organization, the deep impact created through artisan partnerships across seven countries, and the importance of quality, data, and story in scaling sustainable change. Theresa also...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Erika Sinner, who recently took over TinySuperheroes (TSH) from its founders, and is looking to take Tinysuperheoes mission forward to support 5 million beneficiaries. What began as a heartfelt initiative to empower children facing illness and disability is now undergoing a powerful transformation under Erika’s leadership. Erika shares ho...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, Tiffany Yeh maps out an early-stage founder’s roadmap to scale as she brings a novel, electricity-free cooling material from lab gel to real-world impact. It's an incredible discussion that speaks to how she has learned to lean into trust —of customers, teammates, and herself— to power fast learning: sees co-designing with early adopters as the key pa...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Max Nelen, founder and CEO of Agros, a climate-smart agritech startup scaling solar irrigation systems for smallholder farmers across Southeast Asia. While we explore Agros' origin story and pilot in Myanmar, the highlight of our conversation is Max’s deep dive into the real, gritty work of scaling. From adapting the product based on farm...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak down with Ralph Becker, founder of Urban Greens, a Manila-based vertical farming startup about coming to accept that pivoting is part of the process. Through our conversation. Ralph opens up about launching one of the Philippines’ earliest urban farming businesses, the steep learning curve of building in an emerging market, and the difficult d...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Alasdair Pocock, founder of Socially Responsible, about his a new platform focused on increasing charitable donations across Hong Kong and his view that the key to scaling the right way is not the fast way. Drawing from his personal experience with disability support and his desire to create scalable impact, Alasdair shares the journey of...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Sam Lee, founder of Good Bricks about pivoting his business from CSR consulting to commercializing green technologies. Through our conversation, Sam shares his transition journey, the importance of letting go, and the lessons learned from building scalable environmental solutions that address one of Asia’s most polluting industries — trad...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, we speak with Teresa Chahine, Senior Lecturer at Yale School of Management and Faculty Director of the Social Innovation Initiative, about the power of social entrepreneurs to disrupt the status quo. Through our conversation, Teresa shares her journey into social entrepreneurship and her perspective on what it takes to drive lasting social change. Dra...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Dr. Jason Blackstock, founder and CEO of How To Change The World, a social enterprise dedicated to empower tomorrow's changemaker to address complex sustainability challenges through experiential learning. Through our conversation, Jason explains how his personal journey—from quantum physicist to climate negotiator to professor—revealed a...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Reece Tisdale—founder of Bluefield Research—about global water challenges and he is building a water advisory business to help his clients better understand, and invest in, the challenges they face.. Through our conversation, we speak about the importance of disciplined product development, aligning that to the business model, the importa...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, David Guendelman, a seasoned veteran in social entrepreneurship and co-founder of Do Good CFO, shares his extensive experience as a fractional CFO helping mission-driven entrepreneurs scale. David delves into the vital role of fractional CFOs, highlighting their strategic importance in scaling organizations, guiding financial decision-making, and secu...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speaks with Giva Kuppusamy, founder and CEO of GK Aqua, about his journey to revolutionize aquaculture in Malaysia. Through our discussion, Giva shares how he built a biotechnology-driven model for monosex freshwater prawn production, the challenges of scaling a capital-intensive business, and his approach to building an ecosystem for sustainable aq...

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I'm joined by Carl Eneroth, a documentary filmmaker and the founder of the Stockholm Social Innovation Lab to speak about his path to becoming a mission driven filmmaker. Carl's work focuses on sustainability, democracy, and climate solutions, as he strives to capture the stories of changemakers who embody the positive transformation they wish to see...

In this episode of the Mission Driven podcast, I speak with Fernando Casado, co-founder and general partner of Incremental Climate Tech Fund about his journey into climate investing and the unique challenges of balancing financial returns and impact. With a background in sustainability, Fernando highlights the need for patience, resilience, and clear metrics in the climate tech space and how the f...