Seeds

Earlier this week (actually, last night!) I presented to around 50 people on Social Enterprise in Auckland and this is just a few short minutes extract of that more than hour long session.  I was reflecting on what we are actually talking about when we think about social enterprise and the paradigm shift that is occurring as we move away from the binary conception of charity on the one side (mainl...

Mike was appointed earlier this year to be 'Wikipedian at Large' and has been travelling the country in that role.  In this interview we talk about his childhood, his PHD in giant flightless birds and their egg sizes, his work in museums over the years and his role now promoting Wikipedia and running seminars across the country on that.  http://www.giantflightlessbirds.com/about/ @adzebill "New Ze...

Rowan is a lecturer in the History Department at Canterbury University who has done years of research into ANZAC history. In this interview (released in the month that is the centenary of World War I ending) we talk about his early childhood in Auckland, what led him to study history, and why it is that we celebrate a defeat in WW1 rather than the end of the war or a victory.  This is one of those...

Louise Aitken is the CEO of Ākina Foundation which is growing social enterprise in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this interview (the longest so far!) we talk about her childhood, what it was like growing up with her twin sister Natalie, moving to Brazil age 17 and how that shaped her identity, taking care of her father who passed away from cancer in her 20s, her career working in London, how she made t...

On this episode we discuss dyslexia as a form of Superpower.  Why might that be?  After our full interview Geoff Bone contacted me to say he wanted to talk about Dyslexia.  While it is hinted at in the full interview he asked if he could come back and share more about his experience.  We thought it would be a 2 minute insert into the interview but then it became more - this episode.  I readily agr...

Geoff is the event director for the New Zealand Agricultural Show (formerly the Canterbury A&P Show).  In this interview we talk about Geoff's childhood and years overseas in Australia and London, what it is that makes a great event, cultural differences between New Zealand and overseas, how to succeed while dealing with rejection, the history and what goes on at the New Zealand Agricultural Show...

Holly is one of the four co-founders of Collaborate which connects people with volunteering opportunities.  In this interview we discuss her early childhood in the UK, the implications of moving to New Zealand at a young age, her interest and love of theatre and what that has meant for other initiatives, how she started on the journey of co-founding Collaborate, how it works, the ups and downs of...

Anthony is a co-founder (with his Father) of Mars Bioimaging Limited which produces 3D colour x-rays (spectral molecular imaging).  This involves the intersection of high energy physics with clinical medicine.  In this interview we talk his childhood and background and what led him to work in this area.  We also talk about the technology itself and how it works and then dive down a rabbit hole to...

"What does Social Enterprise mean to us as Tangata Whenua?"  This question was explored during this participative session 2 at the Aotearoa Social Enterprise Forum held on 19 October 2018.   We heard from Kaye Maree Dunn (Chair) along with Cain Kerehoma, and Chanelle Armstrong.  Their bios are below. The point when each speaker spoke during the session: 3:02 - Kay Maree Dunn introduction and overv...

Samantha Jones gave the last word at the Aotearoa Social Enterprise Forum held on 19 October 2018 in Wellington.  The full transcript is typed below.  She brought some truths to the table that deserve to be heard such as " Leave ego behind.  If you really want to influence people let your actions speak for themselves."   This is a challenge for change and action over complacency and not focussing...

Dr Pleayo Tovaranonte explains the social enterprise Beyond the Stethoscope that he co-founded sending Doctors to other parts of the world.  We also discuss his many other entrepreneurial adventures, such as his work with REV3 Tech on new technology to sell apartments with Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality for construction projects.    We also talk about his childhood in Thailand and what it w...

Two former podcast guests have become great friends in the last year and as I respect each of them so highly I invited them to come back and chat about whatever they wanted - I knew the quality would be superb and so on this episode they offer their unique perspectives on the West, the future, holding hands, cultures, colonisation, people, dog walking, spirituality, purpose, driving culture, socia...

This is a short talk given to about 50 people who were all involved as board members and so was sharing a list of top 10 tips for good governance.  Thought some of you would be interested in these as well.  My voice barely made it through!   Here is the actual more detailed content and list that is discussed (with thanks to Grant Adams for his input also): 1. Govern don't manage: Avoid getting int...

Cheryl is a leadership futurist and expert in education and in this interview we combine the two into a far reaching discussion about what is to come in relation to the future of learning.  We also talked about her background as a school principal, the impact of a child dying of abuse on an entire school community, the recent Future of Learning conference she co-organised with Hamish Duff (from Re...

Simon fled Rwanda aged 16 in 1994 and never saw his home again.  This is one of those really deep episodes where we really explore what it even means to be human and reflect on what is important in life.  In this interview we talk about his experience of being a refugee, what it is like to have your identity stripped from you, key points that he has learned from his journey and how he survived.  W...

Dr Sharon McIver founded social enterprise 'Our Daily Waste' and in this conversation we talk about her entrepreneurial journey.  Before getting to that though we discuss her childhood as well as work as a music journalist that meant she reviewed hundreds of albums and interviewed many musicians such as Radiohead and Ben Harper.  We also talk about her doctoral thesis on outdoor dance culture whic...

Reuben is a co-founder and Managing Director of Smudge which has been developing apps since the iPhone first came out.  In this interview we start with a discussion about his love of music before we turn to his early experiences developing apps.  We then discuss some of the work they do today including with the New Zealand Police to save thousands of hours of time and reduce the paperwork involved...

To celebrate getting to 15,000 listens this " Legal Mashup " is a bonus episode recorded at XCHC recently.  In this I presented along with Kris Morrison about key start-up issues including what a social enterprise is, best legal structure options for them, the charitable option, governance, board size, liability, intellectual property, overseas considerations, employment, and other start-up issues...

Dave Lane is an advocate for open source software and is the President of the NZ Open Source Society.  In this interview we talk about his early years (including his Quaker roots) and growing up in a multilingual home.  We also discuss his studies and what led him to New Zealand and his experiences as an entrepreneur.   You can access a lot of information at  https://davelane.nz This particular ep...

Philipp is researching fuel use in rockets at the University of Canterbury looking in particular at rocket flight mechanics and control in collaboration with Rocket Lab.  In this interview we talk about his childhood in Germany, what he learned from his Father who got cancer and passed away and how it prepared him for his own battle and surviving cancer.  We then get pretty deep about what that ex...

Professor Julia Rucklidge has been researching the link between diet, nutrients and mental health and in this interview we talk about that work.  We also discuss her childhood and background growing up in Canada, how she got into this field, what the research is actually showing and what it was like to give a TEDx talk that has almost a million views.   To learn more visit:  https://www.facebook.c...

Zoë Hector (nee Haws) founded social enterprise 'Talk Town' after she had worked as a teacher aide and saw deaf children left out of games on the playground.  In this interview we talk about her own background and journey that has led to this initiative, what it was like to win the Entre start-up challenge in 2017 and her plans for the future.  Zoe has a crowdfunding campaign at the moment - check...

This is a bonus compilation episode to celebrate getting to 52 interviews looking back through some of the conversations to pull out short extracts of "the moment" when something changed for the people I was interviewing.  I hope you enjoy it!   The people I talked to on this episode are: - John Hammond - Kit Hindin - Michelle Sharp - Dr Jarrod Gilbert - Tim Jones - Dr James Austin - Michael Mayel...

Only a few social enterprises that I meet are focused on the digital and online world - so it was refreshing to talk with Stuart Dillon-Roberts who founded social enterprise Digital Journey .  The aim is to 'deliver digital projects and initiatives to support our goal of creating an environment where everyone has the opportunity to use, understand and benefit from digital services.'  In this inter...

Angela Sothern has an idea for a new charity fundraising loyalty programme which is intended to to help towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.  We discuss Angela's background and history as well as her new initiative.  In this interview we disagree a bit about the steps to implement the idea and have global impact.  Angela has also provided the update below as well on positi...