THE IMPACT INTERVIEW: Recent Episodes
Matt Venning
Inspiring conversations with Impact Entrepreneurs, the founders and leaders of game-changing, technology-driven businesses and social enterprises who are making a positive difference to global society and driving towards the achievement of the UN’s SDGs.
Welcome to Episode 17 of Series 4!
We talked a bit about Energy Storage in frontier markets in the last episode, and that’s also a major part of the theme here. While there is huge potential for solar power in hot countries, the key is to ensure that the power is available where and when you need it.
At the same time, there is growing global dependency on Lithium-ion batteries, despite being a less than perfect solution, not least because of the lack of sustainable lithium supply.
My guest this week is Will Tope, Chief Commercial Officer of LiNa Energy, who have developed and patented an alternative based on sodium. The business was set up within Lancaster University, and Will Tope joined a couple of years ago to drive the commercialisation of the product.
He talks about the origins of lithium-ion as an energy source, the huge uptick in demand, particularly from electric vehicles and the limitations of reliance on lithium. He explains the need for constant focus on the problem and not the solutions, and ensuring product/market fit.
I also ask him about his transition to a startup from the ‘comfy couch’ of the oil & gas industry, and the appetite for renewables in India, one of LiNa’s core markets.
Will Tope is passionate about the mission and is a very engaging podcast guest. I really enjoyed the chat and I’m sure you will too.
LEARN MORE ABOUT LINA ENERGY
- Website: https://www.lina.energy/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lina-energy/
CONNECT WITH WIL TOPE
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamtope/
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 16 of Series 4!
Plenty of startup business challenges can be daunting, not least in the Clean Energy space. If anything, the urgent global need to transition to renewable energy, and the consequences of not doing so, add another level of pressure. Even if more people now understand what is at stake and what is required.
The challenge of replacing fossil fuels with renewable supply is pretty serious in any market. But I’ll bet that it’s tougher in emerging markets like Sub Saharan Africa.
But at the same time, the potential for solar power in Africa is vast. For anyone with the drive and acumen to overcome the complexities of these emerging markets, it’s a huge opportunity for impact.
My guest this week is Mike Rosenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Circadian, an IoT and SaaS platform that catayzes renewable energy adoption in frontier markets. Their technology empowers solar developers in West, East and Southern Africa so that they can drive the mass adoption of decentralised energy - moving from ubiquitous diesel generators to efficient solar & storage installations.
This is such an interesting business, with an enormous opportunity to facilitate energy transition where it is desperately needed.
Mike’s own journey is remarkable and his clarity of purpose and motivation are impressively evident in this conversation. I urge you to keep listening and be inspired by Circadian’s ambitious mission.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CIRCADIAN
- Website: https://circadian.io/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/circadiantech/
CONNECT WITH MIKE ROSENBURG
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikerosenberg/?originalSubdomain=uk
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 15 of Series 4!
One of the things I find most interesting about developments in the climate tech space is that they usually depend on serious, fundamental behaviour change. To make real progress towards net zero and genuine sustainability, every aspect of our way of lives has to change.
On a corporate level, a lot of the transformation has to be pretty comprehensive, and is inevitably being driven by employees.
My guest this week is Tim Riedel, a successful Human Resources Business Leader and Entrepreneur based in Berlin. Having sold his business a few years ago, he was looking for his next challenge and decided he wanted to be part of the solution in fighting climate change. So, he began building a business that could leverage his skills in HR and organisational change.
Tim is Founder and CEO of planetgroups, an HR consulting firm whose goal is to bring about change in companies by enhancing and supporting climate and planet action from their employees. He believes this will create more successful companies, more fulfilled employees, and of course a sustainable economy.
Tim believes that HR leaders have to play a more important role in directing this corporate change, and focusing on the customer and their journey to sustainability is also key to success.
Keep listening to learn about how they work with their clients, about how they begin with the climate solution game, the impact of green teams and much more. Tim articulates the mission extremely well and it’s great to hear about the impact they are having.
LEARN MORE ABOUT PLANETGROUPS
- Website: https://planetgroups.net/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/planetgroups/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_planetgroups_/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2iHWVFqJf2PLEAPG2gswyw
CONNECT WITH TIM RIEDEL
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/planetgroupstimriedel/
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 14 of Series 4!
After last episode's Foray into Hydrogen Technologies, I’m back in my comfort zone this week, or at least closer to it. The World of Recruitment. Recruitment in terms of the urgent need to train and place people for the millions of green jobs that are required if we are going to come close to meeting our net zero goals. Cars, homes and commercial buildings have to become more energy efficient but the UK market is woefully short of the skills required to help people and companies make the transition.
My guest is Mat Ilic, Co-Founder and CEO of Greenworkx, an EdTech Startup with a Sustainability Mission. Mat Ilic is a Public Policy Expert and Former Special Advisor to the Prime Minister who describes their mission with far more eloquence - so I’ll leave that to him. But essentially they are building an app and talent portal that will match people from all backgrounds to appropriate green jobs and guide them through the whole training and placement process.
What I particularly like is their ability to target groups who are typically under-represented in technical industries, and those who might find the traditional job market hard to access and navigate, as well as those whose job in the fossil fuel industry may soon disappear.
Greenworkx is barely 12 months old but they’ve achieved great momentum already, including funding from leading VCs/growth and impact investors and support from an array of successful and high profile business leaders.
Mat Ilic and Co-Founder Richard Ng are also another example of one of these serendipitous Co-Founding Partnerships, where skills and values seem to be perfectly aligned - which has to be a solid foundation for success.
The challenge is huge and incredibly important. And Mat Ilic articulates the vision superbly so keep listening to find out more - and of course subscribe to the podcast if you like it.
LEARN MORE ABOUT GREENWORKX
- Website: https://www.greenworkx.org/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/joingreenworkx/
CONNECT WITH MAT ILIC
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mat-ilic/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/IlicMat
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 13 of Series 4!
This episode is all about fuel cell innovation and the UK hydrogen economy. It’s a subject about which I knew next to nothing before my conversation with Dr. Michaela Kendall, Co-Founder and CEO of Adelan, one of the pioneers in the sector who are based in the manufacturing heartlands of Birmingham.
Adelan develops low carbon products for the clean energy market and are on a mission to develop the hydrogen economy and deliver clean air.
Michaela is passionate about the development of a sovereign capability in hydrogen technology in the UK, and believes that our innovation ecosystem and manufacturing capability make us well-equipped to be a global leader.
Adelan was founded by Michaela and her father Professor Kevin Kendall after they invented the core microtubular solid oxide fuel cell (mSOFC) technology back in 1992.
For the unacquainted, Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are a highly efficient, stable and flexible technology that generates electricity from eco-friendly fuel sources via an electrochemical reaction. They have huge potential for success in clean energy generation.
So keep listening for a great introduction to this extremely important and growing industry.
LEARN MORE ABOUT ADELAN:
- Website: https://adelan.co.uk/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adelan/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdelanLtd
CONNECT WITH DR. MICHAELA KENDALL
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-michaela-kendall-58b35a3/?originalSubdomain=uk
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelaKenda17
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 12 of Series 4!
This episode is all about Natural Capital, which I confess was a slightly unfamiliar concept to me. So I thought I’d kick off by defining what it is - with thanks to Wikipedia.
Natural capital is a way of thinking about nature as a stock that provides a flow of benefits to people and the economy. It consists of natural capital assets – such as water, forests and clean air, many of which provide us with free goods and services, which underpin our economy and society, and so make human life possible
My guest is Sebastien Leape, CEO of NatCap, a nature intelligence company that helps companies to measure and monitor their nature-related impact, risks and dependencies. He joined the business as CEO last year, 4 years after it was founded at Oxford University, and they are building real momentum after a recent successful fundraise.
It’s very much a data-driven mission to allow companies and organisations to fully understand their interaction with nature and develop more sustainable practices.
It’s an extremely topical and important space, and a really enlightening conversation. Please keep listening, let me know what you think and, of course, subscribe to the podcast!
LEARN MORE ABOUT NATCAP
- Website:https://natcapresearch.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/natcapresearch/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/natcapresearch?lang=en
CONNECT WITH SEB LEAPE
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-leape-5a342264/
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 11 of Series 4!
My guest is Dan Yates, Co-founder and CEO of Greener, who has built a technology platform for match-making sustainable businesses in the Agrifood Sector. They want to make it as simple as possible for small businesses (and some larger ones) to succeed and grow, by supporting their sustainability journey.
It’s a young business but they are already getting great traction. Dan tells me their story so far, he talks about his job as a startup CEO, and the balance of strengths in the co-founding team.. He talks about their progress so far, and the challenge of having to pause and pivot midway through their recent seed funding round.
Greener has fantastic potential and I’m sure they’ll go far. Check them out on www.greener.io, including some really interesting sustainability articles on their “knowledge hub”.
Please keep listening, get in touch and, of course, subscribe to the podcast!
LEARN MORE ABOUT GREENER
- Website: https://www.greener.io/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenerio/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Greener_io
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greener_io/
CONNECT WITH DAN YATES
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-m-yates/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dan.m.yates/?hl=en
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 10 of Series 4!
I learned so much in this conversation. Starting with the massive reliance that modern humankind has on ammonia, and the huge amount of fossil fuel energy that is currently required to manufacture it. The potential for Green Ammonia, with a much more sustainable manufacturing process, is enormous - and there’s probably no other industrial innovation that alone could lead to a reduction in global carbon emissions of over 4%.
My guest is Lewis Jenkins, CEO and Co-Founder (with Dr Yubiao Niu and Phil Hunter) of Nium, a startup manufacturing Green Ammonia on Demand. He’s spent the last year understanding the problem of ammonia production and together they’re now building a business to solve it. In this episode, he takes the time to educate me in chemistry, physics, history and geography as well as a spot of geopolitics and psychology.
Nium has come a long way already and, with its first funding round in the pipeline, they are set to scale up and transform an outdated industrial process. It’s going to be exciting to see what impact they can have.
Thanks to Lewis for a very interesting chat - make sure you keep listening to hear the full story.
LEARN MORE ABOUT NIUM
- Website: www.wearenium.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/we-are-nium/
CONNECT WITH LEWIS JENKINS
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lewisjenkins
- Secret Diary of a Cleantech CEO: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/planet-work-6890218292355637248/
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@hrinvent.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 9 of Series 4!
My guest is Ofer Becker, Co-Founder and CTO of Solight Energy, an Israeli Startup that I was very kindly introduced to by Climate KIC, Europe’s largest public private initiative focused on climate change innovation. Solight has designed and developed a highly efficient solar collector that delivers healthy, energy saving sunlight indoors; with unparalleled flexibility and performance.
Ofer and I talk about the myriad health benefits of exposure to natural light and he goes on to describe the product and its success across Israel so far. He talks about their origins and early funding, and plans to expand into Europe, where there should be a very receptive market.
Given the massive amount of tech-based entrepreneurs coming out of Israel, I’m delighted to finally welcome one onto the podcast. I hope you find the conversation really interesting, about a solution to another modern world problem that affects our wellbeing and our environment.
LEARN MORE ABOUT SOLIGHT ENERGY
- Website: https://www.solight-energy.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/solight-ltd/
CONNECT WITH OFER BECKER
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ofer-becker-0481407
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 8 of Series 4!
My guest has been at the forefront of Sustainability and Clean energy solutions for over 25 years, accelerating the impact of a vast number of cleantech businesses since she co-founded Shell Technology Ventures in the late 1990s and went on to found Carbon Limiting Technologies in 2006.
Beverley Gower-Jones is the Founder, Managing Partner and driving force behind Clean Growth Fund, which in just a couple of years has become one of the leading dedicated UK funds in the sector.
She talks me through everything from her passion for the environment as a geologist and avid scuba diver, to her long held objective to launch an early stage cleantech fund, and the enthusiasm she still feels for helping a startup sort out its sales strategy. She talks about the fund's many successes to date and plans for the future.
Beverley’s leadership in helping to fight climate change was deservedly recognised with the award of an OBE in the 2023 King’s New Year’s honours list. Which underlines what a privilege it is to speak to her on the podcast. I hope you’ll listen in and be inspired!
LEARN MORE ABOUT CLEAN GROWTH FUND
- Website: https://www.cleangrowthfund.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clean-growth-fund/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/cleangrowthfund/
CONNECT WITH BEVERLEY GOWER-JONES
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beverley-gower-jones-obe-fei-a800032/
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 7 of Series 4!
This is another inspiring conversation with a sustainability entrepreneur based in Germany who is having an impact far beyond his country’s immediate borders. His ambitions also go well beyond environmental impact, with the aim of contributing to every one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
My guest is Chris Kaiser, Founder & CEO of Click A Tree, a company focused on “holistic sustainability” through their impact on the environment, on wildlife and on local communities in developing countries starting with reforestation.
In their words: By planting trees, we actively fight climate change, build habitat for endangered animal species, and create jobs with full-time income for local communities.
It’s a classic example of a local passion project that unexpectedly took off into something with true global potential. Chris talks about how it all started among the wild elephants of Thailand and the boost he got from an early appearance on Germany’s version of Dragon’s Den.
Whether you’re a company or an individual looking to improve your impact, make a positive contribution to the planet or just reduce your carbon footprint, you should definitely listen in and go to www.clickatree.com to find out more.
LEARN MORE ABOUT CLICK A TREE
- Website: https://clickatree.com/en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clickatreedotcom/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clickatree/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/clickatree/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVsTYwIF8h1mfX5Wn9GB6iA
CONNECT WITH CHRIS KAISER
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriskaisergermany/
- Email: chris@clickatree.com
CONNECT WITH MATT VENNING
- Website: https://www.theimpactinterview.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheImpactInterview/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/theimpactinter1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-venning/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theimpactinterview1346
- Email: matt@impactexecs.com
Check out all other episodes of The Impact Interview at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to Episode 6.
This week’s guest is Toby Chan, co-founder and Partner at early stage sustainability investor Audacy Ventures who are based out of Hong Kong. I first met Toby in Hong Kong about 10 years ago when he was investing in the Asian Oil & Gas sector and I was recruiting in private equity. I caught up with him just before Christmas just as he was beginning his family vacation in the mountains.
Having helped to grow Kerogen Capital from the start, to become one of Asia’s first and largest energy-focused funds, he co-founded Audacy in 2017 and since then they’ve been able to build a diverse portfolio of early stage investments with Decarbonisation as the main theme.
He talks about how the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011 was a key factor in stimulating the renewable energy sector in Asia, eventually leading to Audacy’s first investment in Japanese solar in 2018. He describes the evolution of sustainable technologies and the impact of next generation investors in Asia in driving growth in the space.
For me, it was a really interesting conversation combining Sustainability themes with some Asia perspective and strong flavour of Entrepreneurship as Toby tells his story and future plans.
Thanks for listening!
Welcome to series 4 Episode 5!
My guest this week is Jakub Dziwisz, CEO of Orbify – a startup founded less than two years ago in Poland that is already having an impact in helping to drive the Sustainability agenda. Very briefly, Orbify provides anyone who is interested with easy access to data on the impact of human activity on our planet. And crucially, they also help to interpret and visualise that data. Which has numerous use cases across the Sustainability ecosystem.
Jakub’s background is in computer science and software development, and he held CTO roles in Traveltech and Ecommerce before co-founding Orbify in 2021. He’s really passionate about Sustainability and limiting climate change and it’s a really interesting conversation. I was a bit worried I might be overstretched by technical jargon here, but he explains the concepts very well.
The potential use cases and impact range from deforestation and agriculture to illegal fishing and drug trafficking, so I hope you’ll be inspired to listen to the end and find out more.
Check them out further at www.orbify.com or connect to Jakub at linkedin.com/in/dziwisz
My guest this week is Carsten Brinkschulte, founder and CEO of wildfire detection startup Dryad Networks. He’s a serial entrepreneur in Telecoms and launched Dryad in 2018, having recently sold his last business and was wondering what to do with his life. Fortunately, the stars aligned and he decided to use his background in Telecoms to create a connected network of smoke sensors in the forest that will send an alert as soon as the early smouldering of a forest fire is detected.
Having recently closed a successful Series A fundraise, they have been piloting the technology internationally and they are gearing up for larger scale distribution very soon.
I came across Dryad, which means “tree spirit” in Greek mythology, at the Climate Tech Show in London and immediately saw it as tackling a massive global problem in a very straightforward, practical way. Wildfires are one of the main causes of CO2 emissions, and numbers are continuing to increase as the earth gets warmer. Not to mention the devastating consequences on forestry and biodiversity. Dryad is on a mission to ultimately prevent them.
For more information, you can check out www.dryad.net and follow Carsten at linkedin.com/in/brinkschulte
Welcome to Episode 3.
My guest this week is Jim Totty, one of the most experienced sustainability investors in the UK, with over 25 years in the sector, mostly in private equity. He started out as a scientist, gaining a PhD from Imperial College in the 1990s and most recently led the Investment strategy as Managing Partner at Earth Capital for over a decade. He’s as well-qualified as anyone to help us understand the evolution of sustainable investing, where we are now and how the sector is likely to develop in the immediate future.
This is a really educational overview of the sustainability market from an investor’s perspective, with a positive message on investment opportunities and the potential outperformance of sustainable business models, driven largely by LPs. He talks about the UK as a leading hub of innovation in a range of cleantech sectors.
He sounds a note of caution on hydrogen while seeing huge potential for wind (floating offshore wind in particular). He talks about the vital importance of renewable energy storage and the potential (in food and agri) of industrializing biological processes.
Jim identifies what he sees as the investment sweet spot, and is excited about massive renewable opportunities in Africa.
This is a great guide to the market for a relative newcomer like me, with plenty of takeaways for seasoned investors too.
You can contact Jim via Linkedin at linkedin.com/in/jtotty
Thanks for listening!
This week, my guest is Tracy Barba, who is at the forefront of ESG in the venture capital industry – hence the name of her business, ESG 4VC. She is one of the leading experts in the field, with nearly 20 years’ experience in impact investing and ESG globally, particularly in Europe and the US. Her career really follows the evolution of ESG in the startup landscape since her first move into impact investment in the early 2000s.
As the former head of ESG at early stage investor 500 Global, few people have a better insight into the state of ESG in the start up sector. She talks about the successes and challenges in getting wider adoption, the gap between Europe and the US and how progress in VC compares to Private Equity.
Such an interesting topic and a key part of the drive towards positive impact.
Tracy can be contacted at tracybarba@ecg4vc.com or via Linkedin.
Check out further episodes at www.theimpactinterview.com
Welcome to a new series of the Impact Interview, hosted by Matt Venning. I chat to impact entrepreneurs and business leaders about their mission and ambitions to help create a better future.
In this series, I want to build a bigger picture of the whole impact ecosystem, including both impact entrepreneurs and the investors who support and influence impact businesses throughout every stage of their life cycle.
Responsible Investing is a really key part of this. Funds are having an impact by encouraging their portfolio companies to meet higher standards of ESG and, increasingly, putting purpose over profit. But they’re also showing that profit and positive impact can go hand in hand.
Which is why this conversation with Johan at Bintang Capital Partners is so enlightening. Having moved back to Asia from London a few years ago, he set out to establish a fund with responsible investing and sustainability at its core. He talks in detail about their extended due diligence process and using the B Corp scoring system as a fundamental framework and benchmark for investment. Bintang is pioneering the approach not just in Malaysia, but across the South East Asia region. It’s great to see the traction and success they’ve achieved in a relatively short space of time, because of – not despite – their very principled approach.
Thanks for listening – and don’t forget to like and subscribe!
Episode website:
Useful links
Www.theimpactinterview.com
linkedin.com/in/johanrw
www.bintangcapitalpartners.com
https://www.bcorporation.net/
So the overall theme of this series is Neurodiversity at Work, and how technology can help employers be more inclusive in their hiring.
This week’s guest, Professor Amanda Kirby, has literally written the book on the subject. Neurodiversity at Work, co-authored with Theo Smith and recently published in the UK and the US, is a comprehensive guide to help employers “Drive Innovation, performance and productivity with a neurodiverse workforce”.
It covers everything from why neurodiversity at work is important, to the workplace adjustments that might be required and what the future of hiring and workspaces might look like.
Amanda's expertise comes from a unique array of personal and professional perspectives: She is a medical doctor with a phd in adult education; she has experienced neurodiversity first hand in her family, as well as having many traits of ADHD herself. She is a champion of the government’s Disability Confident campaign and has delivered extensive training and consultancy to help support organizations to implement and embed change.
She has lectured across the world, is a trustee, patron and medical advisor of various foundations and organisations in the space.
And, above all, from my perspective at least, she is an impact entrepreneur, on a mission to improve the lives of people who are neurodivergent- in all settings.
She is the CEO of Do-IT Solutions, a fast-expanding profiling company which has developed an innovative computerized assessment platform which is increasingly used in numerous different contexts, from schools, colleges and prisons, to high growth SMEs and corporates.
The goal is to ensure that individuals in the workplace who are neurodivergent can maximise their talents while getting appropriate support.
So to begin the series, I’ve managed to lure onto the show a very successful impact entrepreneur who has built, run and sold a social impact technology business, which very actively promotes neurodiverse employment and has a particular focus on the health sector.
Rachel Murphy is the inspiring founder and CEO of award-winning digital services company Difrent.
The social impact mission of the team at Difrent is to ensure that public services truly meet the needs of the people they are intended to serve. Difrent has a diverse workforce and diversity is baked into all that they do. The array of national projects that they deliver includes the NHS jobs platform and a platform to help former prisoners with reintegration into society.
Rachel’s career has always been in technology, much of it in the public sector and latterly as Digital Delivery Director for the NHS. As such, she is very involved in health tech and is an advisor and non-exec director to some exciting healthtech startups.
She has very recently been named in the Inspiring Fifty – a group of female role models who are increasing diversity in the technology sector.
Disability in the workplace seems to have massively lagged behind other aspects of Diversity, but it is definitely getting wider recognition and plenty of employers seem to be taking it seriously. But it’s open to debate how many of the initiatives and programs are driven by corporate virtue-signalling, without really building inclusion into the corporate DNA. I’m still not sure that there’s a widely-accepted realization that people with disabilities can actually make a contribution that more than justifies the adjustments that may need to be made for them to be hired and retained.
But perceptions are definitely changing. Young people starting employment today are far more conscious of diversity and inclusion and want to be part of an organization that reflects society and puts social responsibility at its core. And of course the increase in remote work, driven by technology and by the pandemic, has been a potential game-changer for many disabled employees. They are disabled by their environment, by the physical, social and mental barriers that the world puts in their way. Overcoming these barriers breeds creativity, determination and resilience – who doesn’t want these qualities in an employee?
Companies have cottoned on to the fact that Diversity is great for business. Bringing different perspectives produces better results. And of course people perform better in a working environment that is inclusive, where they can be themselves.
Neurodiversity is deservedly getting much more recognition these days, really almost as a skillset that needs to be harnessed for maximum benefit, not just managed or ignored. From the countless business leaders with dyslexia, ADHD and aspects of autism, to the stereotypical autistic techie, to the everyday individual on the spectrum who just loves their routine, repetitive job because it gives them a huge sense of purpose and accomplishment. Neurodiverse talent has a lot to offer.
I want to open the door on a series of conversations with technology entrepreneurs and corporate leaders who are pushing the Neurodiverse agenda forwards. Often because of their own unique backgrounds, they have decided to build or change something – a business, a technology, a movement – that removes the barriers for neurodiverse employees.
I’m putting together my list of guests as I go, but hopefully I’ll attract enough experts to justify calling this a Series. It would be fantastic to get a range of different perspectives so that anyone exploring the space can get some really interesting insights – from those creating the changes to those incorporating them in their own business.
So if you are active in the space, promoting Neurodiversity at Work, and have something to say, please get in touch by email at mattv@hrinvent.com !
This is the last of my conversations with the 2021 cohort of the AI for Social Impact Program run by Microsoft for Startups and the Social Tech Trust. I’ve been looking forward to speaking to these guys for quite a few weeks, but we’ve held off until now to coincide with their official launch – which just happens to be taking place at 10 Downing Street shortly before the interview gets aired.
That recognition from the Government is a hint at the importance of what they are doing. We are talking about a game-changing, science and data-driven approach to Safety in Sport, which is going to have a major impact on our long term enjoyment of all types of sports from childhood to old age and across the spectrum from schools to elite level clubs.
So there’s a very obvious positive impact on our physical and mental health and wellbeing, but the social and economic implications go far beyond that.
It’s a real privilege for me to be meeting these guys at this exciting early stage – it seems like I’m in the right place at the right time. They’ve already put a super-strong, highly experienced team together, including big names from the sporting world, and have very significant momentum.
My guests are Andy Hunt and Damian Smith, respectively CEO and CTO of Podium Analytics, an NGO that seeks to significantly reduce the incidence and long-term impact of injury in sport. Their very straightforward objective is to help ensure that more people can participate in sport for a lifetime. So this is social impact on a potentially massive scale.
The organisation was founded by Ron Dennis, founder and former CEO and Chairman of McLaren, who has been at ther forefront of safety in sport for many years. He is still very much involved as Chairman.
Andy came on board as CEO 18 months ago, from his previous role as CEO of World Sailing. Prior to that, he has CEO of the British Olympic Association for 5 years, including leadership of TeamGB at the London 2012 Olympics. He’s also a non-exec on the boards of both England hockey and Gloucester rugby.
Damian joined Podium last year, having previously been head of Information Technology at the England & Wales Cricket Board for a number of years.
This is the last conversation in Series 2, the latest chat with a business in the 2021 cohort of the AI for Social Impact Programme, a partnership between Social Tech Trust and Microsoft for Startups, who are supporting purpose-driven ventures are using technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
This week the focus is on AI in healthcare, and specifically the use of AI in the management of chronic disease. 15 million people in the UK suffer from chronic illness. Chronic diseases are the world’s biggest killers, with 7 out of 10 premature deaths globally resulting from preventable chronic illnesses. Chronic care is complex, time-intensive and expensive, with healthcare for long term conditions accounting for almost 70% of NHS England’s budget. Globally, trillions of pounds are spent every year on chronic health.
My guest is Janu Shan, co-founder and CEO of CareIQ, an AI-driven health analytics platform that dramatically enhances chronic disease management. He graduated from the University of Southampton last year with a degree in computer science and already has a track record in tech startups, having been very heavily involved in software engineering, design and entrepreneurship for several years.
Janu is passionate about improving people's lives through technology, and has an ambitious vision for the future of healthcare and the impact of AI. He’s also driven by his own personal experience with chronic illness, which we talk about early in the chat.
This is conversation number 9 with a business in the 2021 cohort of the ‘AI for Social Impact Programme’ – a partnership between Social Tech Trust and Microsoft for Startups. who are supporting purpose driven ventures using technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
This week, the focus is on Personalised Medicine – recognizing that all human beings are different, and that we respond in very different ways to complex diseases, which themselves are also extremely diverse in their nature. So a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment is very inefficient, and of course this also applies to the drug development process.
By accurately stratifying patients taking part in clinical trials, the trials can be run far more quickly and cheaply, with more precise results..
My guest business this week is ILoF, which stands for Intelligent Lab on Fiber, who are accelerating a new era of personalized therapies by building an intelligent platform for precise, patient-centric drug development.
iLoF is using AI and photonics to build a cloud-based library of disease biomarkers and biological profiles, and provide screening and stratification tools in an affordable, fast, portable way.
The company has already won numerous industry awards, and is considered one of the most disruptive companies in Europe using Photonics and AI to solve the biggest healthcare challenges of our time
My guest is Mehek Mumtaz, co-founder and COO of ILoF, who met her co-founders on an EIT accelerator program in 2019 while she was working in life sciences strategy with EY-Parthenon. Building on her background in Biochemistry, her PhD in Pathology & Oncology and previous experience with an Oxford university spin-out, she joined Portuguese entrepreneurs Luis and Joana to launch the business just a few months before the pandemic took hold.
Data-driven and AI technology solutions are at the forefront of social and environmental impact. But ideating and implementing them is often complex and takes time. So T-DAB has evolved a "pre-packed solution" model where they can offer customers 'off the shelf AI' which cuts a lot of pain out of the development process. The potential to fast track technological advancement is huge, and T-DAB is especially successful withinh the healthcare environment.
This is conversation number 8 with a business in the 2021 cohort of the ‘AI for Social Impact Programme’ – which is a partnership between Social Tech Trust and Microsoft for Startups. who are supporting purpose driven ventures using technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
This week the theme is Data, and how data science and machine learning are being harnessed by innovators to make a massive positive impact. The effective collection and use of data is at the heart of so much technology-driven enterprise that is transforming our lives for the better in numerous sectors. None more so than in healthcare and life sciences, and in sustainability and cleantech.
My guest is Eric Topham, CEO of The Data Analysis Bureau (T-DAB?), which was launched in 2017 to help maximise the impact of data science by making it far more accessible to disruptive, forward-looking businesses that recognise the potential value of data and AI-driven solutions. Eric and his co-founders have built a team of data specialists who will fast track the delivery of data and AI solutions for customers – with a particular emphasis on manufacturing & sustainability and social & health care. And they are also developing and supporting a growing community and network of data scientists to further advance the field and maximise the collective impact.
Eric studied at Cambridge and Imperial College before gaining a phD in Zoology from Oxford University and starting out his career as a data scientist in public health in 2015.
This is conversation number 7 with a business in the 2021 cohort of the ‘AI for Social Impact Programme’ – which is a partnership between Social Tech Trust and Microsoft for Startups. who are supporting purpose driven ventures using technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives.
A major theme of the programme is helping the healthcare industry bounce back faster and stronger post Covid, and my guest business this week will be playing a key part in that.
We hear a lot about the huge backlog of patients whose treatments have been postponed by the pandemic, but there are also likely to be large numbers of patients with undiagnosed conditions because they haven’t been able to see the necessary specialists. And the consequences for those at risk of cancer are potentially the most serious.
CanSense is an early stage healthtech business that is developing a non-invasive, blood diagnostic for the early detection of Cancer using Spectroscopy and AI-based technologies.
The focus is on bowel cancer, which is the second most common cancer globally and the leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world.
It’s a single blood test that is fast, accurate and inexpensive, and uses data analytics and machine learning to maximise results.
I’m delighted to be speaking to CEO Adam Bryant, who teamed up with scientists Peter Dunstan and Dean Harris back in 2018 after a twenty year career in investment banking with Credit Suisse and UBS. Adam has a phD in Theoretical Physics, which he studied for alongside Peter before he was drawn into the finance world.
Sometimes a technology takes time to commercialise, because the industry and the broader climate aren't ready for it. So with SateftyNet Technologies and their innovative solutions to improve fishing practices both for the benefit of people and the oceans. Having nurtured trust with fishing companies, and demonstrated their impact on efficiency and sustainability of fishing practices, they are now leading the way in bringing tech and data solutions together for massive potential impact.
I’m back in the Sustainability zone this week, with my guest business impacting no less than 5 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The focus is on Precision Fishing, which uses technology and data to target the right fish and encourage a far more sustainable commercial fishing ecosystem. Catching too many fish and the wrong fish, as well as other marine life, has massively depleted fish stocks and ultimately given the global fishing industry something of a bad name. But given that 20% of the world population relies on fish as its primary protein source, the lack of sustainability is a problem that really needs to be fixed.
My guest today is Nadia Laabs, co-founder and COO of SafetyNet Technologies, a London-based impact venture which designs and builds devices to increase the selectivity of commercial fishing practices, making the industry more sustainable. Their solutions are trusted and valued within the fishing industry and play a key role in enabling Precision Fishing.
They are using a data-driven approach to help the fishing industry fish responsibly whilst reducing waste across the supply chain.
Nadia is a mechanical engineer by background, who has been involved in social impact initiatives throughout her career. She started out with Proctor & Gamble in the US before coming to Europe to study for an MBA at Insead in 2013. She joined SafetyNet in their very early days five years ago, and has been COO for the last two years alongside CEO Dan and CTO Aran.
This is my latest conversation with a business in the 2021 cohort of the ‘AI for Social Impact Programme’ – which is a partnership between Social Tech Trust and Microsoft for Startups. who are supporting purpose driven ventures using technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives – hence why they are ideal partners for this podcast series.
This week the focus is on efficient service delivery in hospitals and the practical logistics behind it. How to ensure that the myriad of moving parts that allow hospitals and clinicians to function effectively are maintained and optimized without causing delay and distraction to patient care.
Now I’ve never worked in a hospital, but I know that they are busy often chaotic environments, and it’s very easy to imagine how issues likebroken IT, faulty equipment, and facilities issues can cause major problems – from delays and cancellations, to inadequate service and, inevitably, wasted money.
Personal experience and frustration led to the founding of Medishout, the first app in healthcare to combine all operational departments into a one-stop shop; it’s used in NHS hospitals to connect staff, equipment suppliers and service maintenance teams. So frontline staff are now able to report and resolve operational issues directly and easily using the app. By using data and AI, Medishout predicts and prioritises issues in the hospital’s facilities and equipment to ensure that patients can receive the best possible care.
My guests this week are Ash Kalraiya, CEO and founder of Medishout and Ali Nemmy Bahsoun, Chief Product Officer and late co-founder, having come on board early last year.
Ash is an orthopaedic surgeon by trade, having qualified with Imperial College, and founded Medishout back in 2013.
Ali is also a doctor-turned-entrepreneur who trained with Kings College and previously led product at Touch Surgery, a VC-backed healthtech business acquired by Medtronic last year.
This is my latest conversation with a business in the 2021 cohort of the ‘AI for Social Impact Programme’ – which is a partnership between Social Tech Trust and Microsoft for Startups. who are supporting purpose driven ventures using technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives – hence why they are ideal partners for this podcast series.
We’re continuing with the Sustainability theme this week – specifically helping companies and organisations to reduce their carbon footprint by simplifying and streamlining their net zero journey.
The drive towards net zero carbon emissions has gained a lot of momentum – with the pressure on governments and organisations to achieve ambitious targets, with companies under pressure from stakeholders, especially customers and prospective employees, not to mention from environmental regulation and taxes – there’s a massive cumulative incentive for business to have a strategy in place for removing as much carbon from the atmosphere as their activities are responsible for adding.
But the transition to renewable energy and the whole process of CO2 mitigation and removal in every area touched by a business seems anything but straightforward. That’s where technology comes in.
My guest is Muhammed Malik, founder and CEO of NeuerEnergy, a sustainable technology company whose exact mission is to simplify and streamline the net zero journey using their SaaS technology applications and platform.
Muhammad founded NeuerEnergy in 2019, as a spin off from Aqovia, a successful digital solutions business that he established in 2008. His background is in telecoms infrastructure, having grown up and studied in the US and moved to the UK with US telecoms company Sprint as their head of Network Engineering for the EMEA region.
This is my third conversation with a business in the 2021 cohort of the ‘AI for Social Impact Programme’ – which is a partnership between Social Tech Trust and Microsoft for Startups. who are supporting purpose driven ventures using technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives – hence why they are ideal partners for this podcast series.
The theme this week is Sustainability, and - specifically - minimising the carbon footprint of the Built Environment – which currently accounts for almost 40% of global carbon emissions. Which, to put it in context, is almost double the carbon emissions of all forms of global transport.
So any progress towards making buildings more efficient in terms of energy and resources, in terms of waste, has to be an important step in protecting our environment. And inevitably, the impact entrepreneur community are finding ways to do this through technology.
My guest today is Colin Ma, CEO of FABRIQ, a software platform for sustainable and high performance buildings.
Fabriq has designed a technology for anyone who wants to improve sustainability performance within the built environment and maximise the value that buildings can offer to those who own, operate, or occupy and use them. It is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering that enables a data-driven and comprehensive approach for identifying opportunities to run and use buildings in smarter, greener, and even net-zero carbon ways.
Colin has worked in technology for the last 20 years, since graduating from Berkeley in California and joining Accenture in San Francisco 2001. He later came to the UK to study his MBA at London Business School, focused on Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship. He’s since worked in sales, marketing and product strategy, before joining the leadership team at Fabriq 4 years ago,. And then stepping up to become CEO in January last year.
This is my second conversation with a startup that is part of the 2021 cohort of the ‘AI for Social Impact Programme’ – which is a partnership between Social Tech Trust, Microsoft and Microsoft for Startups. Social Tech Trust is a UK charity that supports purpose driven ventures using technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives – which is exactly the focus of this podcast, so I’m delighted that we’ve teamed up for this latest series.
My guest today is Dr Bhavagaya Bakshi, co-founder and CEO of C The Signs
C the Signs is a multi platform digital tool primarily for doctors to support early identification of patients at risk of cancer.
Now it almost goes without saying the huge problem this technology is addressing, but it’s worth emphasising nonetheless:
Today, it’s a fact that 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives. The rate of Survival depends enormously on the stage of the disease when it’s diagnosed. At stages 1 or 2 when the cancer is still confined, over 80% of patients will survive to 10 years. But in the later stages of the disease, stages 3 or 4, the chances of the patient surviving fall to less than 20% at 5 years.
Diagnosing cancer is extremely difficult. Unlike other conditions, there is no single symptom or even a test that points towards a potential cancer diagnosis. Cancer is a collection of over 200 different diseases, each with their own signs, symptoms and risk factors, which are really hard to identify at the first GP appointment.
C The Signs uses AI and advanced algorithms to translate complex research and guidelines into a simple and intuitive journey for the user. Covering the entire spectrum of cancer and cross-referencing multiple diagnostic pathways, C the Signs can identify which cancer or cancers a patient is at risk of and the most appropriate next step – all in less than 30 seconds.
Which all sounds pretty amazing.
Bea is a qualified GP, having trained at Imperial and King’s College London and also worked in health policy and Health IT policy for a number of years, working on shaping the digital transformation within the NHS. She launched the business in 2017 with her co-founder Miles Grayling, who she met when both junior doctors.
My next group of guests are all in the 2021 cohort of the ‘AI for Social Impact Programme’ – which is a partnership between Social Tech Trust, Microsoft and Microsoft for Startups. Social Tech Trust is a UK charity that supports purpose driven ventures using technology to make a positive impact on people’s lives – which is a great fit for The Impact Interview and why it’s awesome to have them in my corner helping to showcase some fantastic businesses.
First up is David Holmes, founder and CEO of FollowApp.Care, a business with the potential to really drive better health outcomes globally by bringing dentists and patients together through personalised digital care journeys.
Dental health is a hugely neglected part of our personal health. Most people view a trip to the dentist as a very occasional, necessary evil, and many will only bother going when they have a painful reason to do so. As a result, global state of oral health is pretty problematic , whether you’re in the UK or in a far less advantaged country. And oral health is largely ignored as a precursor or predictor of overall health and wellbeing.
FollowApp.care’s smart technology products aim to increase engagement between patient and dentist by managing the entire patient journey outside of the medical practice.
David studied dentistry in his native Australia and then in the US before coming to the UK, where he still practises part-time in central London. He launched FollowApp.care in 2014
We’re back in Healthtech and Medtech this week with a really interesting and innovative business that has taken off in the last 12 months. The focus is breathing, that all-important facet of everyday health and wellbeing, but also a critical indicator of medical problems, not to mention a key factor in athletic performance. Specifically, we are talking about the monitoring of your breathing in real-time and receiving actionable insights into your respiratory health. Using a smart mask and, of course, your smartphone.
My guest is George Winfield, CEO and Co-founder of SPYRAS a healthtech start up launched in 2018 to develop innovative respiratory technologies and analytics. George studied Product design engineering at Loughborough University and went on to complete his Masters of Research in Medical Device Design and Entrepreneurship at Imperial College - incidentally alongside two Impact Entrepreneurs who I’ve recently interviewed on the podcast. So the program is clearly fulfilling its brief and helping to launch some exciting Impact businesses.
George and Spryras have also been supported by several leading accelerator programs, including being part of the first cohort of MedTech Superconnector.
Given the respiratory impact of Covid-19 and the sudden adoption of mask-wearing last year, the timing and demand for their smart technologies could not be better.
Taking a different tack this week, my guest business is founded on design innovation rather than new technology, and is destined to have a major social impact in terms of gender equality, as well as having clear benefits for health, safety and sustainability.
Peequal is a long-awaited and much needed design innovation in the femtech space that, simply put, gives women the freedom to pee. My guests Amber Probyn and her co-founder Hazel McShane have designed the UK’s first standalone women’s urinal.
The original motivation is to solve the issue of long queues for ladies toilets at festivals and other public events, but the potential goes far beyond that. Amber and Hazel are both recent graduates from Bristol University – completing Master’s degrees with Innovation in Anthropology and Physics respectively, and I discovered them via the Aspect Accelerator program.
As a startup entrepeneur living thousands of miles from home, Ben Lakey experienced first hand the lack of mental health support available to those in need in the UK. Long waiting lists to see a specialist, combined with a confusing array of digital apps with mixed clinical validity. So he joined Entrepreneur First, met his co-founder Jorge, and launched his second startup - Syndi Health - a digital mental health recommendation platform to support people on their mental health pathway.
Introduction
This week, I’m continuing my conversations with early stage startups that are coming through London’s healthtech accelerator ecosystem, which it turns out is pretty extensive. Most of my guests in this series have been part of the Aspect or Sim DH accelerator programs, respectively run by LSE and South Bank university.
My guest, Ben Lakey co-founder and CEO of Syndi Health, has recently been on the SimDH program, having met Jorge his co-founder at Entrepreneur First. Syndi is his second health-focused startup, having also launched a direct-to-consumer prosthetic limb business - and I’m very grateful to him for his introductions to some great entrepreneurs in the medtech space who will hopefully appear on the podcast in the near future.
So we all know that digital health is a huge growth market at the moment, and the range of digital health solutions available through your smartphone is literally mind-boggling. In the mental health space alone, there are apparently about 20,000 apps available, and even those with proven clinical validity are too numerous to really comprehend. For the increasing numbers of people seeking mental health support, even with direction from a clinician, the chances of them finding the solution that best fits their particular needs, without a lengthy and stressful trial and error process, are pretty slim.
That is where Syndi Health and their digital health recommendation platform comes in.
Syndi has created the world’s most accessible and personalised digital mental health recommendation system to enable people to measure and self-manage their health - without asking for overwhelming amounts of information.
Ben graduated in mechanical engineering in Canada, and then came to London to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions. He completed a Masters of Research in Medical Device Design and Entrepreneurship at Imperial College in 2018, and has been awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering 1851 Enterprise Fellowship.
This week we’re in Medtech and, as with a lot of medical devices, there’s a major impact on Inclusion – allowing people with a disability to lead a more normal life. We’re talking about a technology that can transform the lives of people living with amputations of their lower limbs, which is a much larger number than you might think, and worryingly trending upwards.
My guest is Ugur Tanriverdi, co-founder and CEO of Unhindr, an adaptive robotics startup that is creating comfortable prosthetics that can be controlled and adapted with your mobile phone.
He and his team have designed a wearable robotic liner that uses Artificial Intelligence to learn your comfort settings and adapts to them automatically throughout the day.
Ugur is a Bioengineering Scientist, with a Masters in Research in Medical Device Design and Entrepreneurship from Imperial College London, following a Masters from Brunel and a first degree in Biomedical engineering from Ye-di-te-pay university in Istanbul. He also seems to be finding time to complete his phD at Imperial, and has been selected as the London Mayor’s entrepreneur for 2020 by Sadiq Khan.
Among many other awards, last year, Unhindr was named one of the 15 most innovative start-ups in Europe by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology in partnership with GE Healthcare, Cap Digital and Imperial College.
And they are continuing this great momentum in 2021, having just raised £half a million pounds in funding from Innovate UK.
2020 was the year of the nurse and the midwife, even before the pandemic. Their work is essential, but inefficiencies and understaffing stretch their capacity to the limit. Sam Mugisha, an engineer and social entrepreneur, saw the acute problem in Uganda and decided to design a digital solution.
This episode is about the impact of digital health and entrepreneurship in resource-poor settings – in this case in East Africa. It's inspiring to me to find out how big problems get solved in countries where financial support – for healthcare, for innovation and often for basic essentials is in really short supply.
My guest is multi-award winning social tech entrepreneur Samuel Mugisha of Uganda-based social enterprise Tatu Nurse.
Sam graduated from the University of Manchester in 2018 with a MSc. Advanced Computer Science. He also has an MBA, and 8 years’ experience building e-health applications for resource poor settings. He is cofounder at Stre@mline; an Electronic Medical Records platform, where he led product design, development and strategy. Over half a million Ugandans are now on the platform, which is used in 21 hospitals in rural Uganda.
Tatu nurse is a mobile phone application that enables nurses to work smarter by providing them with the right information at the right time, hence improving the efficiency of bed side monitoring.
Tatu is a Swahili word that means three. Their mission is to boost the performance and efficiency of nurses by at least 3 times. They recognise the heroic role played by nurses and that they need better support to do their work better.
Tatu nurse fits in the daily routine of nurses enabling them to manage the many patients under their care efficiently. Tatu nurse is tailored to the specific context and needs of low-resource hospitals, has local technical support available and is economically sustainable. They have a patient-centered, practical and integrated approach focused on improving the quality of nursing care.
So I started the series with two episodes focused on digital therapeutics, and the use of technology in enhancing cognitive function. The next two episodes take one step back from the patient and the treatment, and look at ways that technology can support medical professionals to perform their jobs more effectively, so that they can help more people and inevitably save more lives. Next week’s episode is about helping nurses – to be more efficient, more effective and ultimately happier and more fulfilled in their work.
This week’s episode is about dramatically improving the work load of doctors – and other clinical professionals -, reducing their stress levels and clearing the way to a much better doctor/ patient relationship.
My guest is Mohamed Alibashe, CEO and co-founder of HealthMe.
Mohamed is a medical doctor with extensive clinical research and managerial experience. He is also a phD and studied for his MBA at Imperial College London, where he met his co-founders and launched the business in 2019
Imagine if you could have a consultation with your doctor and not only did he or she have all of your records at their fingertips, but they could spend the time during the appointment actually focusing on you and your medical condition, without the constant need to type up notes and update your records. At the end of your consultation, the report is automatically generated and can be shared with you and anyone else you want to share it with.
As a doctor, you have a much higher quality patient interaction, and don’t waste vast amounts of time on patient admin.
That is the purpose of HealthMe, a healthtech start up that is developing an AI-powered platform that automatically generates medical reports.
I found the business through the Simulation for Digital Health accelerator at London’s South Bank University and it’s also supported by several other accelerators including Imperial College, Panaceas Stars and P4 Precision Medicine.
Knowledge is power - especially when it comes to understanding your own medical future.
My guest is Sylvain Piquet, COO of Sharp Therapeutics – aka SharpTx - a digital therapeutics business that he co-founded in 2019 with CEO Xavier Louis. The team at Sharptx is building engaging and accessible digital tools for the tracking and improvement of cognitive health. They want to help prevent and detect dementia years earlier and at a fraction of the cost of current methods, extending quality of life for millions of people through personalised lifestyle improvements.
Dementia is a condition that is massively on the rise - particularly in lower and middle income countries – and the World Health Organisation has recognised it as a public health priority. It is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide. It has a physical, psychological, social, and economic impact, not only on people with dementia, but also everyone close to them and society at large.
It’s still relatively little understood condition and there’s no cure available or even a treatment that can alter its progressive course, although plenty of new treatments are being investigated in clinical trials. But it’s not an inevitable consequence of ageing and we do now know that people can do a lot themselves to reduce the risk of developing it in later life. That is where SharpTx comes in - listen in to find out more!
For more inforamtion, you can visit www.sharptx.life and connect with Sylvain on Linkedin.
This episode is about the economics of Impact – and how measuring Impact can enable the best use of capital and so accelerate positive change globally. As you'd expect, technology has a huge role to play, and my guest is the epitome of an impact tech entrepreneur.
I start with a quote for Sir Ronald Cohen's book "Impact":
“Impact, he says, needs to be brought to the heart of our society and take its place at the centre of our economic system. …We need to shift to a system that encourages making as much money as possible but in a way that is consistent with achieving the highest impact and with the lowest level of risk. Impact must become ingrained in our society’s DNA, part of a triple helix of risk-return-impact that influences every decision we make regarding consumption, employment, business and investment. It needs to become a driving force of our economy.
He goes on to say that: if we regard impact investing as our rocket ship to social change, impact measurement is our navigation system. It will lead to change and the establishment of new norms.”
Darshita Gillies, founder and CEO of MAANCH, is building that navigation system.
Maanch is a multi-award winning global impact platform - it unifies the impact of institutional funders, companies, investors and social enterprises. They inspire and enable participants of the impact ecosystem to re-allocate capital and resources towards achieving the UN SDGs - through data, intelligence, dashboards and networks.
My first guest of Series 2 is a great example of a mission-driven Impact Entrepreneur. Ellis Parry is co-founder and CEO of an exciting healthtech startup that he was driven to build as a result of a personal tragedy back in 2012. He managed to complete his engineering degree and phd at Oxford before the business could properly launch in 2019, but he and his team have achieved an enormous amount since then.
Neumind is a digital therapeutic that is focused on the alarmingly-high number of people who suffer cognitive impairment due to brain injuries that are caused by trauma or result from a stroke. Ellis and his team have developed an app called Alfred that has been shown to dramatically improve the quality of life and independence of users as they go through long term neurorehabilitation.
He talks about the whole journey, from the traumatic, life-changing event that gave rise to the idea, how winning a university competition was a defining moment, how he bonded with his brand new co-founder on an accelerator program in the Baltic Sea, and the importance of grant funding for impact-driven start-ups, particularly in healthcare.
Some of the statistics he mentions are disturbing: both the numbers of people affected and the small proportion who receive any formal clinical neurorehabilitation. Neumind’s solution goes well-beyond the limitations of brain training apps, and involves taking the idea of cognitive training and puts it into the context of a person’s everyday life.
Thanks to the Aspect Student Accelerator Programme (hosed by LSE) for bringing Ellis and Neumind to my attention. If you’d like to find out more and follow their progress, you can sign up on www.neumind.co.uk
Definitely a contender for coolest enterprise on the podcast so far, despite its non-profit status. Not because it’s particularly high tech, and not because of the numbers of people impacted, even though the potential is huge. I like it for it’s philosophy and, on one level, simplicity. Here’s a problem causing a lot of unnecessary suffering, and here’s a solution. But Virtual Doctors’ ultimate aim is to pass on the expertise and knowhow of (currently) UK doctors to clinicians in remote parts of Africa, so that they become self-sufficient. So the impact is contagious and enduring.
Huw Jones and I went to school together way back in the day, and I’m delighted to have reconnected for this interview.. It’s reawakened my love of Africa while also reminding us all of the serious problems much of the continent faces. Huw has had an enviably-interesting career to date, but of course not without its challenges. He’s done a phenomenal job of building a meaningful and sustainable social platform by inspiring people in both the UK and Africa into action, with the support of the board of trustees.
Virtual Doctors is a UK charity whose mission has been focused on Zambia and is now being recognised or piloted in other countries in sub Saharan Africa. And there’s even interest in deploying the tech in the UK - which would be a real breakthrough. What the business really needs is substantial and regular funding from benefactors who really want to help Virtual Doctors achieve its full potential. I’d love to facilitate that by bringing this fantastic charity to wider attention, so please share this episode as far as you can! Thanks!
www.virtualdoctors.org
www.theimpactinterview.com
In this episode, we’re focusing on the preventive impact of really personalised healthcare delivery, and the important role of health tech at the moment in helping people cope with Quarantine Fatigue. My guest is Dr Dilraj Kalsi , a medic, academic and entrepreneur who through his company Kalsi & Kalsi, is piloting a number of e-learning programs with employers to improve the resilience and wellbeing of their staff. The goal is both to pre-empt some of the negative health consequences resulting from the stresses of the pandemic, and show that employee health and good business outcomes go hand in hand.
He talks about his career journey to entrepreneurship, guided by the core philosophy of how patient empowerment can drive positive behaviour change. Of how shared decision-making and understanding a patient’s “why” can make the major difference in speeding up their recovery..
Dilraj has put a lot of thought behind his vision, and he’s passionate about getting the message out there. And now with the delivery of the e-learning program to forward-thinking employers, he has the opportunity to scale the impact and reach many more people that might be feeling the strain of life in 2020.
www.kalsiandkalsi.com
Also at www.theimpactinterview.com
This episode is going out on Purple Tuesday, which is aimed at raising awareness of the value and needs of disabled customers, and making the customer experience more accessible.
In the UK alone, the Purple Pound – the spending power of disabled people and their families – is worth a staggering £274 billion and is estimated to be rising by 14% per year. But very few organisations know how to cater for the disability market, which is a huge frustration for disabled people, and a huge missed opportunity for organisations who could be benefiting both socially and commercially by accessing the disability market.
My guest this week is Gavin Neate, a social entrepreneur on a mission to improve access and accessibility for disabled customers and consumers. After a career as a police dog handler in the RAF, he worked for 18 years as a mobility instructor for Guide Dogs for the Blind. That experience working with disabled people - and seeing the challenges they face firsthand - led him to launch Neatebox in 2015.
Neatebox’s mission is to create solutions using smart technology that solve some of the everyday challenges faced by disabled people. They have built two smartphone products that have been really well-received and will hopefully be widely adopted not just in the UK but in the US and globally. So after years of being ignored or mishandled by councils and customer-facing businesses, inclusion of the disabled community is finally firmly on the agenda.
www.neatebox.com
Australia doesn’t yet have a burgeoning social business sector, but businesses like Kinela are changing that. A great example of a ‘profit with purpose’ enterprise, one of the first with B corp status, Kinela is making a big difference in the lives of disabled Australians.
Providing first rate online health expertise to patients in remote areas, and those less able to travel, is particularly necessary service in such a vast coutry, but the model will no doubt grow beyond its borders. At the moment, the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) that launched in Australia back in 2015 is having a hugely positive impact on provision for disabled people - it would be great to see equivalent programs in other countries in the near future.
My guest is Karn Ghosh, founder and CEO of Kinela, who has built a fantastic business in just a few short years, having realised the need for the service while working as a physiotherapist. Demand has increased during the pandemic and he has now built a strong team around him.
Karn describes the challenge of fundraising as a social business; he talks about what inspires him, where they are now and what comes next on their social mission.,
www.kinela.com
www.theimpactinterview.com
Yet another sector that has been pushed to the fore and accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic - remote monitoring of vulnerable patients and early detection of changes to their vital signs has never been more important. My guest this episode followed his belief in the future of healthcare in 2015 when he founded Medibiosense after a successful corproate career in tech and mobile applications. Five years later, his business is flat out creating a range of wearable solutions that are being snapped out by clinical organisations globally.
Simon Beniston, founder CEO of Medibiosense, talks about his path and his conviction that the future of healthcare lies in 24/7 patient monitoring - and the impact that their products are having. We discuss the evolution of the wearables sector, what the future holds and his approach to entrepreneurship. It’s an exciting space to watch as more products come on line, especially those addressing Covid-related problems.
www.medibiosense.com
My guest this week has been solving problems in the NHS for the best part of a decade. Having seen the lack of good technology supporting physicians and patients while on a consulting project in 2012, he and his co-founders resolved to do something about it. Fast forward eight years, with a shift towards digital health accelerated by Covid-19, their company DrDoctor is now arguably the leading provider of digital solutions in the NHS, delivering a much enhanced experience to over 10 million patients of hospitals throughout the UK.
Tom’s passion for the business and the impact they are having is very evident, and he articulates his approach to leadership in a very engaging way - whether it be his personal growth journey, the development of the exec team or the approach to building the business so successfully since the start of lockdown. His relaxed style belies real focus and ambition to maximise the potential of the DrDoctor platform both within the NHS and internationally. The successful series A fundraise just closed with Ananda Impact Ventures and 24Haymarket will undoubtedly propel them on that journey.
Check out www.drdoctor.co.uk for more information.
Much of the theme of The Impact Interview is about the profit potential of creating businesses that do good, how benefiting society can also generate strong investor returns. But inevitably some social entrepreneurs want to build something that is free to all who use it, and so look for launch funding from other sources. This was Mark Esho’s view when he and his co-founder Richard Hopson decided to build Access Rating last year, as a social enterprise.
Access Rating is an app that will allow anyone with a visible or invisible disability to find out about accessible venues and public places before they get there. It will remove the anxiety and uncertainty of going somewhere new with a real probability that there won’t be proper access, or other suitable accommodation for their needs. Many families with children - especially if still in buggies - face this type of challenge all the time. But imagine facing it alone, or as an older child or young person who craves greater independence without having to be constantly assisted.
Access Rating’s primary focus is the physical accessility of venues, but there is potential and ambition to encompass the whole sphere of public life. But they need funding and publicity to generate the momentum and coverage that they need to rerally make an impact. Mark has had a fascinating and inspiring journey since he began his career as a disabled black guy in the 1980s. He’s founded successful businesses, won a list of awards and now he and Richard are determined to build a game-changing app to transform the lives of millions of disabled people in the UK.
If there is a contender for a business that was best positioned to take off during the pandemic, it would be a pioneering virtual psychology clinic with fresh investment capital in the bank. The sudden need for remote access to mental therapy, combined with the mentally-testing environment of lockdown and the pandemic, have seen demand surge for My Online Therapy, which was founded in London in 2018 and is attracting hundreds of new patients to the platform every week..
My guest this week is Vasileios Touronis, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of the company. Fresh from a post-lockdown working holiday in Greece, he tells me how the business got started and describes the fantastic momentum they now have, including newly-announced corporate partnerships.. He talks about the underlying technology and high quality approach which sets them apart, which they hope will help to drive their expansion into the huge US market, as well as other areas of therapy from developmental psychology and psychiatry to providing support for children.
Having studied electrical engineering, and an MBA at Columbia, and a successful career in broadcast media, he runs the entire ‘non-clinical’ operation, as well as leading much of the business development. His co-founders are co-CEOs Elettra Bianchi Dennerlein and Dr Elena Touroni, with Chief Medical Officer Dr Tom Pennybacker.
www.myonlinetherapy.com
Our first departure from the Health space this week - or at least from Human health. Technology is, of course, also starting to have a major positive impact on the goal of Sustainability and the future health of the planet. My guest this week is a great example of a young entrepreneur who, while still studying, brought a fresh perspective and curiosity to a major problem, and has made rapid progress towards a sustainable solution.
Victor Dewulf is on a mission to show that “there is no such thing as waste” provided it can be commoditised and valued effectively. HIs company Recycleye, founded in 2019, uses AI-based computer vision that can sort and label millions of different items of recyclable waste. He talks about the impact this can have on the ‘waste removal’ chain - including much lower costs - and how identification of big brands such as Coca-Cola will ensure that plastic waste producers are held to account.
Ocean plastic is a horror story close to my heart, but Victor correctly surmises that “turning the tap off” at source and blocking rivers is a far more effective approach to the issue. It’s relatively early days but Recycleye seems to be well on the way to making a real difference. With big thanks to Chris Smith at Playfair Capital for bringing the company to my attention.
www.recycleye.com
My guest this week is 'human technologist' Pete Trainor, who brought 20+ years of experience in design, digital and AI to his role when he joined Vala as CEO last year. He’s at the forefront of innovation and ethics when it comes to AI and is very driven by social impact.
We cover plenty of ground in our conversation as Pete talks about ‘salutogenesis’ and Vala’s holistic focus on patient lifestlye and ‘sniffing out’ the root cause of health problems. He explains how demand for online consultations has taken off during the pandemic, how they have made the service available to vulnerable communities free of charge, and building relationships with patients is key - which is why he says that Vala has no interest in codifying care.
Vala is growing fast and they currently have an open investment round - including a crowdsourcing process to be run imminently by Crowdcube. Please listen in and connect with Pete at pete@valahealth.com if you’d like to know more.
Another truly mission-driven business in this week’s episode, solving a big problem that’s very close to my heart, as well as that of my guest, Naveed Parvaz. Thousands of children in the UK rely on orthoses to maintain posture and enable the optimal use of their limbs, and the fitting and daily wearing of their orthosis is invariably an emotionally draining and painful experience for children and parents alike. Andiamo is dedicated to creating a family-centred treatment system that goes way beyond current orthotic practices and which will greatly improve outcomes for these determined kids and their families..
Naveed is a passionate entrepreneur and a deep thinker, seeing the need for a fundamental change to health systems, and the huge potential of a tailore-made wearable device, created with 3D printing technology and digital simulation. He talks about how it all started, as well as the challenges they are navigating - from identifying the best market to launch the product to the attitudes of investors when it comes to impact-driven investments.
Andiamo has covered a lot of the hard yards on its ambitious journey, and is now set for imminent scale and commercialisation. So reach out to Naveed directly at naveed@andiamo.io if you’re a fund with available capital, a clinician with relevant expertise or a family facing some of the issues discussed.
The Impact Interview takes its first foray into wearable technology, exploring the achievements and ambitions of Tim Brownstone, founder and CEO of Kymira. Kymira describes itself as a “life-conscious technology company” and the impact and potential of their ‘smart garment’ products is far-reaching.
Tim has been studying the impact of infrared light on tissue repair since he was an injured athlete at school,, and his team has successfully developed a commercial product line that has taken off in the high performance arena. Kymira is also making serious progress in the medical field, proving the benefit of the same infrared technology in pain relief and other areas.
The company’s mission now encompasses both enhancing lives and saving them, with the current flagship product being a cardiac device which will monitor and diagnose in real-time, offering predictive diagnostics to the precursors of acute cardiac events such as heart attacks.
As usual, I talk to Tim about his entrepreneurial journey and his vision for the business, motivated by moving personal stories of those who have benefited. One of their key next steps is to partner with a global medical device business that can fast track product marketing and distribution in new markets - so please reach out to Tim at tim@kymira.co.uk if this is your field.
Tim’s a thoroughly down-to-earth guy who seems to be equally at home as a scientist, entrepreneur and visionary, and it’s going to be exciting to see how much he and Kymira can achieve.
Listen in here or on any major podcast platform.
And you can find out more at www.kymira.co.uk, and check out the full range of products on www.kymiramedical.com and www.kymirasport.com.
TALi is pioneering the development of gaming technology that addresses the most common neurological disorder in young children - inattention. The experience of lockdown in recent months has really highlighted this issue to many parents and schools, and is propelling TALI’s growth throughout Australia - and towards their ambitious goal of improving the lives of one million children globally in three years. Even this is just a tiny percentage of the children worldwide who suffer from inattention issues, with the consequential impact on their education, their social inclusion and their general wellbeing. This is a really interesting space, with potential for creating lasting social impact.
TALi’s software solution TALi TRAIN is registered as a medical device in Australia, the US and Europe and the emphasis on clinical validation of their products sets them apart from many technology startups in the mental fitness sector. Beyond this, Pete also talks about how the amazing, positive feedback they receive from parents as a big motivating factor.
Pete himself trained in design and visual communications before becoming an entrepreneur in digital health and social impact. His passion for the business and its potential is very evident and it was a pleasure speaking to him.
Check out www.talihealth.com.au to find out more - there are some great resources for parents as well as information for schools and healthcare providers.
Cancer remains one of the world’s biggest killers. Lung cancer alone is responsible for 1.7 miliion deaths globally every year, and prevalence in developing markets is very much on the rise. Irrespective of geography, most cases are identified when they are already at a late stage, and the chances of beating the cancer are much slimmer.
Oncimmune’s EarlyCDT Lung blood test, first patented nearly 20 years ago, is clinically proven to detect lung cancer on average 4 years before a standard clinical diagnosis. It is a simple, non-invasive finger prick test that has been shown to save lives, as depicted in their moving “Extra Time” campaign on www.extratime.gallery.
My guest in this episode is Adam Hill, CEO of Oncimmune, who took the helm in 2018 and led the company into its current strong position, with global partnerships in place and a number of other cancer testing products soon to be announced. This is a relatively rare example of a biotech business with a product that is already saving lives.
Adam talks about the significant shift in the oncology community in recent years, to recognise the importance of the immune system in policing cancerous cells. Oncimmune’s ImmunoINSIGHTS platform supports pharma companies by working to predict immune related adverse events in patients by profiling autoantibodies and predicting the immune response. They use advanced data science to stratify or triage patients, enhancing drug development and allowing a more personalised and effective treatment.
So please listen in to this eye-opening conversation, and contact Oncimmune via the website at www.oncimmune.com - particularly If you are a clinician or a patient wanting to find out more about Oncimmune’s Early CDT test, or a pharma company and would like to know more about how Oncimmune’s ImmunoINSIGHTS platform can support your drug development.
www.theimpactinterview.com
My guest in this episode presents a very clear case that the current model of drug discovery is unsustainable. It is a long, expensive and laborious process, and there is growing lack of trust in the quality of the biomedical data being produced. Pharmaceutical R and D has been declining at the same time as the industry recognises the need for a more personalised approach to disease treatment, which will rely on a much greater number of more bepoke drugs reaching the market. Martin-Immanuel Bittner of Arctoris goes on to describe how his company, the world’s first automated drug discovery platform, is pioneering the most viable solution.
Martin discusses the business and the problem they are solving, with exceptional clarity, and it should be a very interesting conversation for anyone concerned with the future of drug discovery. It is a classic example of the impact of AI, and how it enables the transformation of traditional practices. It will be very exciting to see how this develops and the potential impact Arctoris and this ‘reimagined’ approach can have on the treatment of rare diseases.
Martin also talks about the success of Biotarget (www.biotarget.org), a nonprofit initiative “directed at identifying and supporting emerging biotech companies dedicated to innovation within drug discovery.” Launched last year by Arctoris, with Cancer Research UK and other leading industry players, they are excited to invite applications for 2020 (deadline 14 September).
www.arctoris.com
martin-immanuel.bittner@arctoris.com
www.theimpactinterview.com
In this episode, I am speaking with Giles Tongue, an entrepreneurial leader in consumer-focused products and design, who joined ChatableApps as CEO last year. Chatable has developed a revolutionary hearing assistance app that has been described as ‘life-changing’ by many of its users. Using neuroscience-led AI to create an auditory cortex on a smartphone, founder Dr Andy Simpson has designed a technology that could transform the lives of the 466 million people globally who have disabling and moderate hearing loss. With the founding team, and early investment from US entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban, Giles led the launch of the app on Apple iOS and it has received immediate recognition and positive feedback.
It’s a really thought-provoking conversation about helping people to regain one of our most fundamental senses. Giles speaks openly about their journey and their mission to transform the "“conversational hearing” experience of millions - from the UK (despite free hearing aids being available on the NHS), to the US (where a hearing aid can frequently cost over $10000) to the massively underserved markets of India and China.
This is Healthtech which really enhances lives and promotes social inclusion and equality, regardless of financial circumstances.
After a successful launch, Giles is now engaging with partners who can help to further validate the technology and allow more people to experience the benefits. He is also very open to conversations with potential investors who recognise the enormous opportunity that the tech presents. Please contact him on giles@chatableapps.com.
www.theimpactinterview.com
In this episode, I speak to Arjun Ananth about his career journey and his mission to build a broad, inclusive healthcare services platform across southern India. Arjun is CEO of diagnostic services company Medall (www.medall.in), having stepped in to the role in November 2019, just three months before India was hit by Covid-19. With serendipitous timing, Medall had already begun to develop and expand serrvices that have been key to their growth during the pandemic.
We discuss his very varied career, from technology investment banking in Silicon Valley during the dotcom boom (incidentally, a similar path to Babylon founder Ali Parsa), to setting up Nike’s first office in India, running heavy industrials businesses and working in private equity.
Medall was set up by Peepul Capital, the private equity buyout firm that Arjun joined in 2016. We discuss the changes he has implemented in a very short period, including redefining the customer focus and, with perfect timing, developing both a home collections business and a teleconsulting service immediately before Covid-19 arrived and the country went into lockdown.
Inevitably, technology is driving innovation -Arjun is ambitious for growth in the Wellness space and sees the secure use of data as key.
Arjun gives great insights into the Indian market - both in terms of the diet and lifestlye of the general population, and the price point for healthcare compared to other countries. “In many ways, India’s biggest opportunity lies at the bottom of the pyramid”. He talks about specific programs they have initiated to assist those in poverty, and the satisfaction he derives from making an impact.
He also shares a few thoughts on effective leadership and lessons he has learned.
If you are interested in connecting with him regarding collaboration and partnership opportunities, then please feel free to email him on arjun@medall.in
www.theimpactinterview.com
In the first episode of The Impact Interview, I talk to Jose Bastos, co-founder and CEO of Knok Healthcare, a dynamic telehealth business based in Porto, Portugal. Founded in 2015, Knok has recently successfully closed a new round of funding, led by impact investors Mustard Seed, and the current health crisis has undoubtedly helped to accelerate their growth. He tells me about the pros and cons of launching a tech start up in Portugal, how they successfully pivoted early in the journey and how they have positioned the business for international growth. He explains his focus on a simple user experience as key to growing market share, and the importance to Knok of creating a very customisable product that can be “adjusted to the reality” of diverse international customers. Jose’s warm personality and people-oriented style are very evident, and it is clear that his family and the wider social impact of the business have been major motivating factors from the outset. Many thanks to Alex Pitt, co-founder of Mustard Seed for making this great introduction. Jose can be contacted at ze@knokcare.com Links: www.knokcare.com www.mustardseed.vc