Social Impact Pioneers

Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are vital to inclusive growth. Bur what does inclusive growth really mean and how can supporting micro and small enterprises (MSEs) help achieve this? These are just some of the questions my guests in this podcast are dedicating their work to. Meet Payal Dalal, Senior Vice President for Social Impact of International Markets at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive...

This podcast is stuffed with data and information on the impact climate change will and is having on children. This is because UNICEF has recently compiled The Children’s Climate Risk Index. The Index provides the first comprehensive view of children’s exposure and vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. It ranks countries based on children’s exposure to climate and environmental shocks, s...

Gender Based Violence, or GBV as you will hear it referred to during this podcast, is something that according to the UN affects an estimated 736 million women worldwide. That’s almost one in three. Shabnam Hameed is the Global Lead for Workplace Responses to Gender-Based Violence with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group. She has dedicated more than a decade o...

Meet Zubair Junjunia, he is an educational activist, social entrepreneur, and founder of ZNotes – the online learning platform which shares revision notes democratically for students by students. During our conversation Zubair talks with us about why he is so passionate about education equality and how he is on a mission to create access to high quality learning for young people around the world....

What is invisible labour and why should businesses care about it? Meet Pins Brown, Head of Responsible Procurement at Natura &Co – the parent company which includes the brands Avon, Natura Cosmeticos, The Body Shop and Aesop. Pins and her team work to address global inequalities through trade and employment. During our conversation Pins talks about work and opportunities for women. In partnership...

The global COVID-19 pandemic has many down sides. One is the elimination of opportunities for young people to get work experience, learn skills on the job and build important relationships with potential and existing work colleagues. The knock-on effects to the cohort of young people early on in their work journeys won’t be known for many years to come. However, Joseph Kolapudi – my guest today ha...

If you are interested in understanding more on women’s empowerment; sustainable coffee or what it takes to lead impact in business this podcast is for you. Melanie Landthaler has over a decade of experience working on coffee sustainability. She has worked on global standards in the sector and joined the UN International Trade Centre to support small and medium sized enterprise competitiveness in d...

E-commerce growth in Africa has consistently been 50 per cent above global averages in recent years. This is anticipated to continue over the next decade despite the region’s connectivity, payments, and logistics challenges. During our conversation, Charlotte Ntim, Disruptive Technology Officer with IFC’s Gender and Economic Inclusion Group, shares with us how the pandemic has disproportionately i...

“In a recent survey by YouGov more men between the ages of 18 and 24 viewed masculinity in a negative light than those who viewed it positively.” – meet Craig Wilkinson. Bestselling South African author, award winning social entrepreneur and Dad Coach, Craig is on a mission to amplify the importance of positive masculinity, to champion men and fathers. This podcast isn’t some vague, highbrow obser...

Zahid Torres-Rahman is the co-Founder and CEO of Business Fights Poverty. This conversation looks at ways that we can harness the power of collaboration to drive social impact. During this podcast you hear the very personal journey of Zahid – why being born in Pakistan, growing up in the UK and now living in Spain with mixed heritage drives him to create connections as part of his core purpose. Yo...

Antony Karanja is part of pan-African organisation The Youth Café. Listen in to hear him passionately share why helping young people from across Africa is important to him, as he champions a vision of creating your own positive future. Antony is 24. He has grown up and lives in Kenya. In 2016, because of the leadership he showed in his High School, he was selected to attend the World Bank’s Youth...

During this conversation – I talk with Sophie Faujour as she demystifies what corporate social investment is, why it provides significant opportunities for businesses to try and test new ideas, ways of working and deliver long term social impact. Depending when and how you have engaged with the idea of business doing good for society – you may have come across the idea of corporate giving under a...

This podcast talks with Dr Tara Shine. Tara was formerly an international climate change negotiator and adviser to governments & world leaders on environment & development policy. During our conversation, Tara shares how business can ensure people are at the centre of climate action. Tara was a Special Adviser to the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice and Climate Adviser to The Elders. Tara...

What would you do if your entire role, for one of the globe’s most prestigious organisations – the UN - was dedicated to supporting and encouraging gender equality? “COVID-19 is predicted to push 47 million more women and children into poverty” – explains Blerta Cela, the Deputy Regional Director of UN Women’s Regional Office in Istanbul, Turkey and this podcast’s thought leading interviewee. A na...

Elizabeth Vazquez is a world leader in women’s economic empowerment. Through her role as CEO and Co-Founder of WEConnect International she is on a global mission to increase supplier diversity and inclusion. To say that Elizabeth is well connected and influential is an understatement. She advises the likes of Walmart, Proctor and Gamble and the UN – including being part of the Secretary-General’s...

“Excellence knows no gender.” This quote from Rupa Dash’s most recent passion project: World Woman Hour #SheSMyHero sums her up. Rupa Dash is the UN Award-Winning media entrepreneur turned philanthropist, whose sixty, 60-secs films highlight the power of women, first-hand. During our conversation, Rupa shares why she and her World Woman Foundation are on a mission to unlock the power of women and...

From industrial engineering in Colombia to communication director, sustainability leader and corporate foundation creator – our guest today is Cata Garcia. Cata, who is now based in New York, is the Global Director of Corporate Affairs with brewing giant AB InBev, and the Board Director of their Foundation. Cata is a leader who gets things done. She not only led the formation of this global Founda...

What does it take to scale and grow social innovations? And how does a mobile phone company come to be leading the way business can tackle gender-based violence. Andrew Dunnett, the Group Director of SDGs and Sustainable Business at Vodafone and the Director of their Vodafone Foundation explains all. Vodafone is the largest mobile and network operator in Europe, and the world’s largest Internet of...

How do you develop a social impact strategy for business? If you’re working on delivering social impact within any organisation, you need two things over and above anything else. A deep understanding of the trends and a good plan. Lisa Manley, Global Vice President of Sustainability from Mars is our podcast guest. She gives us a masterclass in both of these. Lisa then zooms in on her really practi...

How do you predict, plan for and make the future you want become reality? Ask Cat Tully. Cat is the founder of the School of International Futures. During our podcast Cat explores with us what the future will be and how we can get there, providing practical guidance so that we can all get ready for the future we want. Cat’s day job is to quite literally to get governments, civil society and busine...

If you are wondering why risk getting the COVID-19 vaccine; how to decipher the fake news on the immunizations; or curious why businesses should be thinking about COVID-19 vaccines…this podcast is for you. Prof Scott Ratzan and Prof Heidi Larson are two of the most experienced thinkers on the topic of vaccines that the world has. Their entire careers have arguably been leading up to this point. Sc...

During our conversation, Daniella Foster, VP & Global Head of Public Affairs, science and sustainability, at Bayer’s Consumer Health organisation, examines how self-care can do so much more than just make us feel a little better. This podcast will help you understand better what self-care for your own personal benefit is and why creating self-care systems for public and private sectors is vital in...

Unilever have been named number one sustainability company worldwide for eight years straight. They manage to balance being one of the globe’s largest consumer goods companies, with products sold in around 190 counties, alongside being regularly called leader and pioneer. So what is the secret sauce that makes this really work and keep working? Meet Hanneke Faber – Unilever’s President of Foods &...

Supporting farmers and producers at the base of supply chains in emerging markets can be challenging. With many farmers leaving for cities, the effects of climate change building and the global pandemic – the challenges are deepening. And often the ones that suffer most are women. Listen to this podcast for first hand experiences and ideas that you can take into your companies so that you can bett...

Whether you have been working on the topic of gender investing deeply for years or you are new to the idea. Whether you are an investor, entrepreneur, development finance institution or corporate – take a listen to Jessica Espinoza Trujano. Jessica has a decade of experience in banking, with a particular focus on emerging and frontier markets. Now she part of the German international development i...