#12 – Elijah Johnston – Fostering Social Innovation & Hackathons for Social Impact
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
Release Date: 01/08/2017
Sumitra Pasupathy, Global Partnerships Director, Ashoka
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
In this episode we meet Sumitra Pasupathy, who is the Global Partnerships Director at Ashoka. Ashoka is absolutely legendary in the world of social entrepreneurship. And it's based on the idea that the most powerful force for good in the world is a social entrepreneur.
info_outline
Cynthia Cheung, Incubation Program Lead at UNDP and Citi Foundation's Youth Co:Lab
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
In this episode we meet Cynthia Cheung, who leads the incubation programs for young entrepreneurs in over 24 countries at the Youth Co:Lab, an initiative co-led by the UNDP Asia-Pacific and Citi Foundation to economically empower the next generation in the region, through youth entrepreneurship and government innovation.
info_outline
Kevin Moon, Head of Impact Investments at Lonsdale Capital on Finding and Scaling Startups that Change the World
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
Now you might have heard about impact investing before, but for many people this is quite a new and up and coming area of investing. So, we’re going to find out more about what exactly it’s all about.
info_outline
Bernhard Kowatsch, Head of the United Nations World Food Program Innovation Accelerator; Accelerating Solutions to End World Hunger
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
On this episode we meet Bernhard Kowatsch who is the founder and head of the Innovation Accelerator at the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The WFP Innovation Accelerator was named by Fast Company as one of the 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2017 in Food for its work in identifying, nurturing and scaling disruptive start-ups that accelerate innovations to address global hunger. Innovations include blockchain, agri-tech, supply chain and new businesses to end hunger.
info_outline
Catherine Chen, Founder of AvantFaire Investment Management on Impact Investing
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
The impact investing space has boomed in popularity over the past decade, with many institutions adapting the idea that you can invest & generate financial returns from assets, ideas and businesses that also generate positive impact. Founded in 2017 by Catherine Chen, Avantfaire is one of the very few signatories of the United Nationals supported Principles of Responsible Investment, are a member of the Global Impact Investing Network, and are a certified B-Corporation.
info_outline
John 'Bob' Ranck, CEO of Orbis International; Home of the Flying Eye Hospital
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
Imagine living without sight. A shocking 75% of all visual impairment can be prevented or treated. Orbis International is an international non-profit that trains medical professionals around the world, rallying world class experts to train local eye care teams. They partner with local hospital and clinics to improve and strengthen services and, though their most iconic tool – the Flying Eye Hospital – they deliver most of their program work in country, on the ground alongside local communities and partn
info_outline
Susan Bissell: Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
In this interview I chat with Susan Bissell who is the Director at the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children at UNICEF. Although this episode was recorded a few years ago (I know, I’m sorry I’m slow at editing), Susan’s insights on the work to eliminate violence against children is still highly relevant with 1 in 2 children experiencing violence every year.
info_outline
Pete Yao; Chief Impact Officer at Thankyou
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
In this interview I chat with Pete Yao who is the Chief Impact Officer of Thankyou. I love Thankyou because they’ve flipped the whole FMCG model on its head and as a result are doing incredible work and creating huge impact. In this episode we go into detail about how they track impact with a custom-made system that they’ve built. We chat about how they’ve managed to effectively combine the business and social elements into a thriving social enterprise that has impacted over 750,000 people in 20 count
info_outline
Andy Last: Leveraging Authentic Communications for Social Impact
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
In this episode I had a chat with Andy Last who is the co-founder of Salt. Recently acquired by MullenLowe, and now known as MullenLowe Salt, the company is a strategic communications agency. As one of the first companies in the UK to be accredited as a B-Corporation, MullenLowe Salt advises organisations on they can use social issues to drive growth, and how communications can effect change to bring about better business results and social progress.
info_outline
Tharani Jegatheeswaran: Intrapraneurship, Career Changes and Social Impact Consulting at Deloitte
Doing Good Podcast by Amra Naidoo
Why does a Big Four accounting firm like Deloitte do social impact consulting? Is this for CSR purposes? is this for publicity because being involved in impact is 'cool'? Are there business reasons behind this decision and if so, what were they? Do they charge clients for the consulting they do or is this pro bono? In this episode we hear from Tharani how she made a successful career change into social impact and built Deloitte's social impact consultancy from nothing.
info_outlineI am excited to introduce to you one of my very good friends and someone who I find extremely inspiring. In this episode, I interview Eli Johnston who does a lot of very interesting work bringing together corporations and entrepreneurs to accelerate social innovation. He does this through his work as the head of corporate innovation at the Impact Hub in Singapore which is a co-working space and community for social entrepreneurs. If that’s not enough, he is also the co-founder of Own Your Brilliance that brings students together from around the world and gives them to tools to get started on their journey to becoming social entrepreneurs. In this spare time, for the next 9 months Eli is also teaching a class of 10 women from all over South East Asia. They are house helpers also known as foreign domestic workers in Singapore. And he is going to be running a Venture Club through an organisation called Aidha which teaches financial literacy, business and entrepreneurship to these incredible hardworking women on their days off. Eli will be working with the women to build their business plans for a venture in their home countries and for the first time in Aidha’s history, these businesses will be designed as social enterprises. Honestly don’t know how he does this all! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this episode, it was definitely one of the more fun ones for me to record, especially as I find that Eli is someone who can be a lot of fun but also very deep in his thoughts and motivation to change the world. I’m keen to hear what your thoughts are after you’ve had a listen!
Favorite quote from episode:
“We are here to discover who we are, not who we think we need to be” – Eli [58:20]
People/ items mentioned in this episode:
P&G Disrupt the Laundry Experience
Get in contact with Eli on LinkedIn, Email (The Hub), Email (Own Your Brilliance)
Show notes
- “We call it a social enterprise launch pad for university students” [04:30]
- How do you support ideas after ‘Impactathons’? [10:45]
- Shout out to David Nosibor from Mazars [13:30]
- Eli chats about his work at the Impact Hub in Singapore fostering social innovation [22:00]
- Disrupting the laundry experience using hardware and software [24:00]
- “Innovation is what makes us human” [32:00]
- Eli and I rant about words that grind our gears [32:30]
- Eli explains how he got started with his career [34:30]
- What are some common misconceptions about the work that you do or the industry that you’re in? [42:00]
- What is something that you love about what you do? [44:00]
- Eli is in a unique position working on both top-down and bottom-up approaches to creating social impact through innovation. He shares his predictions for the future of the space [46:50]
- Future of Own Your Brilliance and the Impact Hub Singapore [53:15]
- “We are here to discover who we are, not who we think we need to be” [58:20]
- “I think not enough people are curious! Reading is such a beautiful gateway to learning new things and exploring the depths of that curiosity” [59:33]
- “I think people fight intuition too much. I often tell friends, don’t fight intuition, there’s truth to that. Sometimes there’s more truth than you sitting down and trying to map out a decision” [1:00:00]
- “Do shit. Do things … The most helpful thing in [finding your purpose] is doing things. Because even if you don’t like something, finding out what you don’t like is just as useful as finding out what you do like. Everything in life is either a lesson or a blessing. You’ll grow from it either way. I always encourage people to just do things” [1:00:55]
- Eli chats about the things that he needs help with [1:02:00]
- Three Things [1:03:30]
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Let me know in the comments!