The Finding Impact Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of the Finding Impact Podcast I talk to Juliana Proserpio, Co-founder and Chief Design Officer of Echos Innovation Lab, on using Design Thinking in the needfinding process. Juliana talks about her work at Echos Innovation Lab and how it supports organizations and entrepreneurs to use the design thinking mindset for accelerating cultural change and creating new services and business models to create desirable futures.

On this podcast you will learn:

• How Echos Innovation Lab has built a for-profit business that works with organizations to create and foster innovation initiatives, as well as building the design capability of individuals and organizations to create better and human-centered services through its School of Design Thinking. (01:30)
• Design thinking is a way to understand people and people's needs that helps develop solutions which address these needs better. The design thinking mindset is thus based on empathy, collaboration and experimentation. (02:37)
• The double-diamond methodology of design thinking that focusses on using divergence and convergence methods for expanding knowledge of user needs (also called "discovery process" or "empathetic research") and then converging ("synthesis") upon real needs and specific ideas or insights that create value for the user. (04:15)
• Tools for synthesizing, such as systems map, personas, etc., that can help in developing insights by understanding information patterns and interconnections. (11:30)
• Key suggestions on how to manage the ideation stage of design thinking by thinking about quantity and not necessarily only quality (“you can only get to an amazing idea once you get some absurd ideas”). (15:36)
• That design thinking is an iterative process where you ideate, prototype and test, while iterating and going back and forth between the various phases. (19:27)
• Why social entrepreneurs need to have creative confidence for re-imagining how the world can be, and how design thinking aids in developing creative confidence. (23:21)
• Advice for students and young founders looking to develop social ventures on how they can use design thinking to identify challenges within their communities ("near their doors") - acting locally, starting small, and helping create value within the community first, and then aim at creating bigger impact ("dream big and start small"). (24:55)
• About the School of Design Thinking at the Echos Innovation Lab, that helps individuals and organizations become better innovators through classroom programs and online courses on various design thinking topics. (26:30)
• Examples of participants in the design thinking courses (such as Insecta Shoes) who have applied design thinking to their needfinding process and how it has helped them deliver the desired outcomes. (28:44)
• Advice for first-time founders and social entrepreneurs to navigate the lockdown and the post COVID-19 situation - it is an opportunity for each one of us to re-design our world, where every assumption is being challenged, and the need for businesses to pivot their product or service in order to remain relevant. (30:52)

Resources from this episode:

• Echos Innovation Lab website 
• Echos School of Design Thinking
• Insecta Shoes

Connect with Juliana:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

I'm very honoured to speak to Jack Lowe this week. He's come on share lessons learnt throughout his 40 year career in microfinance and the startup world.

Jack was asked to become CEO of BlueOrchard Investments in 2004 -- a microfinance fund that he grew from $40 million to close to $1 billion, stretching to 45 countries. It became the largest private microfinance lender in the world. Jack graduated from Stanford in 1965, joined McKinsey in 1969, and went on to grow a string of successful startups, from oil and gas to food distribution and restaurants. Jack is currently building another startup, Fit for Life Foundation, helping people stay active and age well.

On this show you'll learn:

• The fundamental difference between the business and non-profit sector (2.24)
• The experience of pitching the microfinance fund to pension funds, family offices and institutional investors (4.57)
• The two basic principles of fundraising (7.41)
• How to know when something's not working and to try something else (11.19)
• Professional intimacy and other insights from building teams (14.12)
• Using a network and calling on people for help and advice (18.45)
• Getting out of a tough spot and avoiding depression (24.15)
• Advice to his younger self (31.54)
• Why exercise and ageing well is the feature of Jack's next startup (36.31)
• 3 quick fire questions (44.08)

Links from this episode

• Mckinsey
• Stanford University
• BlueOrchard

Get in touch with Jack

• Jack Lowe on LinkedIn

This week on the Finding Impact Podcast, we’ve got Lemia Makkar and we're going to talk about Lamia's experience as a young founder, with the hope of inspiring and helping other young founders succeed at what they're doing. Lemia started her first non-profit Haiti: Hands On, at the age of 13, when at times she had to skip school to present to CEOs in Boardrooms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where she lived. Fast forward 8 years later, to today, and Lamia has kindly come on to share her experience.

On this podcast, you will learn:

• Why she started a non-profit at 13 years old
• Challenges she had to overcome because of her age:
• • Basic infrastructure to run an organization: couldn’t open a bank account or register as a 501c3 in the US until she was 18 years old.
  • Getting people to take you seriously: validity of being recognized as a serious stakeholder while still not being able to register with proper documentation; fundraising; buy-in from Haitians.
  • Opposition from parents: stigma surrounding Haiti; safety, etc.

• Advantages, because of her age: 
• • Able to answer questions about their doubt, ie. at their age, there was no social stigma around saying, “I don’t know.” Very easy for us to ask other organizations questions and interview them before building anything. 
  • High level contacts sharing information with us since they didn’t see us as a competitor nor us just trying to build our careers. 
• How to ask the right questions and who to reach out to:
• • Researching education nonprofits in Haiti and throughout the world

1. Sending out cold emails to ask how do you do what you do
   1. Practicing a phone script and writing a business plan and proposal 
   2. Getting people to understand your why, and understand that you’re serious, before they have time to ask your age.
   3. In the UAE and other fundraising markets, getting people to understand that this is something that is already happening; proof and a track record. 
2. Looking for potential partners in Haiti, and donors in the UAE

• Could not solicit donations online since they were not registered, but raised their first $100,000 over two years only from babysitting, tutoring, running events at school, bake sales, etc.
• Used that money to start building, then recorded a lot of pictures and interviews of the construction so they could then go back to some of the same corporations and funders to show that they are actually doing something. 
• • Raised $35,000 from that second round

• How they hired older team members:
• • First team member to help with operations and logistics was in his mid 20’s and someone Lemia had met during her first trip to Haiti and was involved since the very beginning. 
  • Others included construction workers who reported directly to the local coordinators. 
• Their balance and mix between cold calling, googling information, and having regular advisors.
• Lemia’s advice for other young people who have an idea for service to their community or other communities

Links to Resources:

• Haiti: Hands On

Connect with Lemia:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter