Explore every episode of the podcast The Impact Equation

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Chief Executive of Yorkshire Housing, Nick Atkin leads the region’s largest provider of affordable, eco-friendly homes. He also chairs major regional partnerships and is pushing the government to treat housebuilding as a national priority. His team is at the vanguard of using data, sensors and AI to make housing services work better for the people living in those homes. In this episode of The Impact Equation, Nick joins Adam and Rafi to talk about why housing matters so much to health, dignity and life chances, and why leaders in the sector cannot afford to get stuck in spreadsheets and slide decks.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the first episode in our second series, Scaling Tomorrow's Social Unicorns, with 100x Impact. Rhea Yadav leads impact and strategy at Wysa, the AI-led mental health platform that has supported more than 7 million people across 95 countries. She founded the organisation’s impact business and now works across governments, health systems, NGOs and employers to take evidence-based mental health support into places where care is scarce.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does it really take to deliver humanitarian aid in the world’s most fragile places? In this episode of The Impact Equation, we sit down with Madlin Sadler, Chief Operating Officer at the International Rescue Committee - an organisation working at the sharpest edge of conflict, disaster and displacement.

Madlin offers a rare, inside view of what it means to operate in over 40 of the world’s most crisis-affected countries; where systems have broken down, need is accelerating, and resources are shrinking. Madlin shares what it looks like to deliver vaccines to children in remote conflict zones; how humanitarian organisations make impossible decisions when funding is cut; why evidence, cost-effectiveness, and scale matter when lives are at stake; and why, despite everything, she still feels lucky to do this work.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Edward Timpson is the former Children’s Minister, part of the family behind Timpson, and brother of Lord James Timpson, now a Labour prisons minister. In this conversation with Rafi’s former Ministerial boss, Edward reflects on growing up in a family that fostered more than 80 children, alongside one of the UK’s best-known family businesses, recognised for both its high street services and a culture built on trust, kindness and second chances. That experience shaped everything that followed: family law, politics, reform in government, and his work today across children’s services and family care. Edward’s life and career show what stability, love and belief can do in a child’s life. This is an episode about childhood, public service, fostering, politics, and the decisions that can alter a life’s direction.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke Leslie is the co-founder and CEO of Key Carbon, investing directly into businesses generating high integrity carbon credits, from clean cooking stoves in sub-Saharan Africa to regenerative agriculture in Europe and mangrove restoration in Myanmar. Luke explains how Key Carbon has borrowed from royalty and streaming models used in mining, then adapted them for carbon markets. The result is a more hands-on and structured approach that is attracting hundreds of millions of dollars of institutional finance into nature investment.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Rafi sits down with Claudine Blamey, Chief Sustainability Officer at Aviva. Claudine’s story starts far from the boardrooms of British business. She arrived in London from Tehran as a child, speaking no English. That experience shaped a mindset that has stayed with her throughout her career: nothing is forever, and even the most complex situations can be navigated. Three decades later, Claudine has helped shape sustainability strategy across sectors – from sustainable buildings at British Land to aviation’s first net-zero strategy at easyJet, and now climate and nature strategy at Aviva. In this conversation, she reflects on how her early experiences of migration shaped her resilience and leadership; why insurers have a unique role in managing and pricing climate risk; the growing reality that parts of the UK could become uninsurable due to climate impacts; Why nature restoration could become a major global asset class; And, how sustainability leaders are shifting from ambition-setting to systemic change.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we're joined by Summer Kennedy for a special episode looking back at our first series with Fast Forward. In this series, we’ve featured three amazing entrepreneurs backed by Fast Forward, a trailblazing accelerator backing tech nonprofits solving urgent, global problems at scale. Summer quite literally drives Fast Forward forward; shaping the strategic vision and building the systems that get the organisation there. Her path to leadership has been anything but linear: from teaching first grade in Oakland to spearheading tech-for-good initiatives, Summer’s career proves that the most impactful journeys don’t follow a straight line. We reflect on three conversations with Fast Forward investments - Sunny Patel of Vector Cam, Alysia Garmulewicz of Materiom and Michelle Brown of CommonLit.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we're not joined by Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, but a pioneer on forests, agriculture and food security who has worked all over the world, from Tibet to Yemen and Colombia. With roots in social justice and anti-poverty campaigning, Ed cut his teeth in efforts around debt, poverty, and development with organisations like Oxfam and the wider Make Poverty History movement before joining the then Prince of Wales – now King – to drive high-level work on forests, sustainable agriculture, and climate through his International Sustainability Unit. Since then, Ed has become a driving force in the world of sustainable food, nature and climate, helping drive the work of the World Resources Institute and advising the Food and Land Use Coalition and its push to transform how the world grows and eats. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lord Simon Case served four British Prime Ministers as head of the UK's civil service from Boris Johnson in 2020, to Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer. Lord Case held the most senior civil service role just as the government hit a run of shocks: Brexit implementation, Covid, war in Europe, economic turbulence, and rapid technological change. In this episode, he’s candid about what it feels like at the centre of crisis decision-making, and why government too often drifts into a self-obsessed “bubble” that’s disconnected from daily life. He also shares what gave him hope: meeting frontline civil servants, and seeing what changes when power and money are tied to real places. We talk about Barrow Rising; a place-based partnership bringing central government, local government, industry and community together around the long-term transformation of Barrow-in-Furness. What does it take to turn billions of public spend next door into better health, education, and opportunity? And can Barrow become a blueprint others can borrow from?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alyssa Gilbert sits in a rare seat in UK climate innovation: translating world-class science into ventures that can survive the messy reality of markets, regulation, pilots, and procurement. In this episode, Alyssa shares what Undaunted at Imperial College London looks for at the earliest stages, why credibility and communication matter as much as the tech, and what actually helps founders move from “tested in a lab” to “traction in the market”. We also get into the built environment: waste-to-materials, energy management, and the very real barrier of being “the first” in a traditional sector.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is the first in our series with Save the Children Global Ventures, the impact investment arm of Save the Children, backing bold entrepreneurs tackling some of the world’s toughest challenges. In the first episode of the series, we’re joined by Fred Carpinteiro, Founder and CEO of Amparo Prosthetics, a company reimagining prosthetic care for people with limb loss across the world. Amparo is delivering lifetime prosthetic care across 6 continents, using smart technologies to dramatically improve comfort, fit, and user experience for lower-limb prosthetic users. With over 6,000 patients fitted in more than 45 countries, and products now used in 250+ clinics worldwide, Amparo is quietly building one of the most globally distributed prosthetic care platforms. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our latest episode of The Impact Equation, we’re joined by Dominic Hofstetter and Ivana Gazibara from the Transcap Initiative, an NGO focused on developing and scaling systemic investing. Most of us start with a pool of capital and ask: what can this money do? Dominic and Ivana flip it: start with the challenge, diagnose the system, then “reprogramme” how money flows to multiple initiatives at once, so capital can actually shift outcomes, not just fund isolated projects. We talk about why “single-asset” investing struggles to deliver systems change, why place-based investing is close (but not always transformative), and their big idea: the “financial backbone”; an actor designed to orchestrate coalitions across philanthropy, public finance, investment capital, insurance and corporate commitments.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we go deep into chemistry and mining with Paul Needham, CEO of ARCA, a company using carbon mineralisation to turn mine waste into giant, permanent carbon sponges. In 2025, Arca signed a 10-year deal with Microsoft to remove 300,000 tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere. Certain rocks naturally react with CO₂, pulling it out of the air and locking it away forever as stone. ARCA has found a way to massively accelerate that natural process, transforming mining tailings from an environmental liability into a climate solution. Paul's no stranger to scaling impact: he previously built Simpa Networks, bringing pay-as-you-go solar to hundreds of thousands of people in rural India. In this episode we learn about scaling pay-as-you go solar in India and how carbon mineralisation turns mining waste into carbon removal at scale.  

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Carbon markets tend to trigger strong reactions. For some, they’re a vital bridge - a way to fund climate action at scale while the harder work of reducing emissions catches up. For others, they feel like a distraction, or worse, a way of outsourcing responsibility. So rather than arguing for or against them, we wanted to ask a different question: What would it take for carbon markets to actually work - with credibility and scale? In our latest Impact Equation roundtable, we brought together three people working on different parts of the system: Alastair is focused on data and transparency, Shannon is building projects on the ground, and Erika is making the sector investable for serious capital.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if the way we think about money is fundamentally wrong? In our latest episode of The Impact Equation, Rafi and Adam sit down with Hans Stegeman, Chief Economist at Triodos Bank - one of the few banks where sustainability isn’t a bolt-on, but the organising principle. Hans’s central critique is this: we haven’t just chosen economic growth - we’ve hard-wired it into everything. Our markets, financial returns, debt system, pensions, and public budgets all depend on the assumption that the economy must keep expanding. The problem is that this version of growth is material by design, and material growth always comes with ecological and social costs. His argument isn’t that progress is bad - it’s that we’ve confused progress with GDP. No amount of “green” investing can fix a system that structurally requires ever-greater extraction, consumption, and future growth just to stay standing. So what does he want to change? Hans calls for an economy, and a financial system, that is less dependent on growth, and that fundamentally success ought to be measured in wellbeing, resilience, and social outcomes, not just economic output. In this episode, Hans challenges us to question our assumptions and what we’ve accepted as “just how the world works”.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, GSG Impact CEO Elizabeth Boggs Davidsen joins the show to share her journey from being mentored by Madeleine Albright to leading global efforts in impact investing. Drawing on her formative years working in conflict zones like Sudan and Afghanistan, Elizabeth explains how those experiences shaped her belief that traditional aid isn't enough and that we need new models to drive change. She dives into her work pioneering a $1 billion "blended finance" fund in Latin America and her time in the Biden administration, before looking ahead to the 2026 launch of the "Impact Economy Index"—a new tool designed to spark a "race to the top" for countries prioritizing people and the planet. It’s a fascinating look at how capital can be a force for good, wrapped in some great advice for anyone starting a career in social justice.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast episode features Gaia Vince, a trailblazing journalist, broadcaster, and award-winning author, discussing the profound intersections of climate change and human migration. In this episode, Rafi explores Vince’s career shift from science journalism to documenting the "front lines" of our changing planet, culminating in the urgent thesis of her latest book, Nomad Century.

You can buy her book here: https://amzn.to/49b8ltk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Rafi is joined by Tiffany Yu—a fierce disability advocate, entrepreneur, and changemaker whose work is reshaping how the world understands disability. As the founder and CEO of Diversability, Tiffany has built a thriving global community empowering disabled voices and fostering real inclusion. From a life-changing injury in her childhood to becoming a powerful force on the global stage, including speaking at the World Economic Forum and authoring the groundbreaking book "The Anti-Ableist Manifesto," Tiffany’s journey is one of resilience, vision, and transformative impact. In this episode, we’ll hear how she’s smashing stereotypes, forging change, and challenging us all to build a disability-inclusive world.

Check out her book here: https://amzn.to/4qeCFKi

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode on The Impact Equation, we dive into one of the biggest tensions of the clean energy transition: the world wants an affordable, renewable future - yet achieving it requires a massive increase in critical minerals like copper, lithium, nickel and cobalt. So how do we mine what we need responsibly, safely and sustainably?

To explore this, we bring together Ro Dhawan (CEO, ICMM), Kirsten Hund (Director of Climate & Nature, Vale Base Metals), and Professor Tim Biggs (Camborne School of Mines). We discuss why the energy transition is impossible without new mines, the trade-offs around coal and critical minerals, the innovations reshaping the sector, the rise of nature-based and “circular” mining, and why trust and social licence will ultimately decide the industry's future. A challenging, timely, and essential conversation for anyone who cares about climate, energy or the materials that underpin modern life.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lord John Browne was born just after the war in Hamburg to a Hungarian mother who survived Auschwitz and a British father who was a professional soldier. His parents met because his father needed an interpreter; she spoke six languages because, as she said, “in Hungary no one spoke your language, so you learned many.” From that unlikely beginning came a child who travelled the world, was pushed into self-sufficiency, and absorbed the lessons of survival, resilience, and ambition. From that childhood, he rose from a university apprentice at BP to its Chief Executive - leading the mega-mergers that turned it into a global super-major. And in a defining moment, he became one of the very first oil CEOs to say publicly that climate change was real, urgent, and demanded action from his own industry.

Long before “net zero” entered the mainstream, he acknowledged the scientific risks, committed BP to measuring and reducing its emissions, and put Beyond Petroleum on the map - a deeply controversial move at the time that forced competitors, regulators, and investors to rethink the role of big energy in the transition.

Since leaving BP, Lord Browne has shifted from running hydrocarbons to funding the transition beyond them, co-founding BeyondNetZero to back high-growth companies in decarbonisation, efficiency, advanced materials, and climate technology.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is our second live podcast at EdCity, with our friends at Ark. Stephen Cowan, Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, has been a force in local public service since 1998, when he was first elected as councillor for Grove Ward. Since becoming Leader in 2014, he’s driven some of the most ambitious, people-centred policies anywhere in the UK - from free adult social care, to free breakfasts for every primary school child, to an industrial strategy that’s brought billions in investment into the borough. And where better to have this conversation than at EdCity - the £150 million regeneration project jointly shaped by Ark and H&F Council. EdCity blends new schools, affordable homes, community spaces and innovation hubs, standing as a living example of what bold public-third sector partnership can achieve. This is a fascinating, live, and candid conversation with a leader determined to change the world - starting with a small bit of West London.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first of two podcasts recorded live at EdCity. We kicked it off with an amazing guest, Lucy Heller, CEO of Ark and the architect behind one of the most influential education transformations in the UK. Ark began in 2002 with a bold ambition: change life chances for children who need it most. Under Lucy’s leadership, that ambition has become a movement — growing from a single turnaround school to 39 schools, 30,000+ pupils, and a network of 20+ ventures reshaping the wider education system.

In this live conversation, we go into: Lucy’s unexpected path into education, the original spark behind Ark, what really drives school improvement, how Ark scaled impact across communities without losing its soul, and what the future of education looks like.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we speak to Nick Wise, Founder & CEO of OceanMind, an organisation using AI and satellite analytics to protect our oceans. Nick is a pioneer in applying advanced technology to build more sustainable food systems, tackle illegal fishing, and bring transparency to some of the world’s most complex supply chains.

Before founding OceanMind, Nick spent his career at the intersection of internet security, satellites, and data, and it was during his time at the UK’s Satellite Applications Catapult that a partnership with leading NGOs opened his eyes to the scale of illegal fishing - and the potential of AI to fight it. OceanMind now works with governments, industry, and NGOs globally, bringing visibility to an often hidden world. In this episode, we dive into: How AI and satellite data can protect vulnerable marine ecosystems; The hidden risks inside global seafood supply chains; What it takes to deliver measurable impact where sustainability, technology and international policy collide. Listen in for a fascinating, urgent conversation about the future of our oceans.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this conversation, Rafi sits down with Charlotte O’Leary, CEO of Pensions for Purpose; the collaborative network helping pension funds become a real force for good.

Charlotte’s vision is bold: a world where pensions drive a fairer, more sustainable economy. In this episode, she unpacks how psychology, governance and finance intersect - from fiduciary duty and systemic incentives to the need for new narratives around value, care and human motivation. Their conversation explores how we can shift from being consumers to citizens, and why aligning money with meaning might just be the key to fixing capitalism.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ANNOUNCEMENT: Join our live Impact Equation podcast with Ark, exploring their journey, impact on education and social innovation and the vision behind the exciting EdCity project in West London. Thurs Nov 13th 2025, sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/tieark

This episode features Dame Ann Limb, a powerhouse in education, philanthropy, and regional growth. From becoming the UK's youngest college principal at 34 to chairing prestigious organizations like the Lloyd's Bank Foundation and City & Guilds, Dame Ann shares insights on purpose-led living, leadership, and inclusion. Discover what drives her extraordinary capacity for service and her vision for the future of philanthropy and technology.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phill Burton is Co-CEO of Otto Car, a company quietly reshaping how London moves. Otto is now Europe’s largest provider of electric vehicles to private-hire drivers, helping over 20,000 drivers get on the road and accelerating the city’s transition to clean transport. Before Otto, Phil helped scale one of the UK’s great consumer success stories - Bloom & Wild - from £2m to £100m+ in revenue, leading across eight countries and every major function from Operations to Marketing. Today, he’s combining that experience with purpose, investing in ventures like Lune, Maeving, Climate X, and Shellworks, mentoring founders through Seedcamp, Tech Nation, and Carbon13, and proving that climate innovation and commercial success can go hand in hand. In this conversation, we dive into: What it takes to scale responsibly; How to build ventures that make systems better; Why purpose and profit don’t need to be opposites.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alex Stephany is rethinking welfare for the 21st century. As Founder & CEO of Beam, Alex has built a platform that partners with 100+ government bodies to help thousands of people experiencing homelessness and long-term unemployment into stable homes and jobs. Combining expert caseworkers with smart AI software, Beam’s Magic Notes, is cutting admin for frontline staff and freeing them to do what they do best: supporting people. It’s why Beam has been named one of LinkedIn’s Top 15 UK Startups, with backing from the Mayor of London and some of the UK’s leading tech entrepreneurs. Now, Alex is scaling Magic Notes across the UK and US. Before Beam, Alex scaled JustPark as CEO, raising investment from Index Ventures and closing what was then the UK’s largest equity crowdfunding round. He’s also the author of The Business of Sharing and a mentor to the next wave of social entrepreneurs. His insights have been featured on the BBC, Bloomberg, The Guardian, and NPR, shaping the conversation on tech, homelessness, and social impact. This episode is about leadership, talent, and how to build companies that matter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're joined by Michelle Brown, a former teacher who has built one of the most impactful literacy platforms in the world. Michelle is the Founder & CEO of CommonLit, a free online reading program now reaching 30 million+ students across the U.S. and Latin America. Her journey began in the classroom, where she saw first-hand the barriers to literacy. What started as a small library of curated reading material has since grown into a global movement for open education.

Since founding CommonLit in 2014, Michelle has raised over $40 million from leading philanthropists and education innovators, been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic, and become a mentor to the next generation of edtech founders

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re joined by Sunny Patel, biomedical engineer, co-founder of VectorCam, and one of the driving forces behind a breakthrough that’s turning heads across global health and even on Bill Gates’s personal blog. Developed at Johns Hopkins, VectorCam is an AI-powered mosquito identification tool that works straight from a smartphone. It can tell you a mosquito’s species, sex, and even where it is in its reproductive cycle - vital intel for tackling diseases like malaria, dengue, and Zika. Before VectorCam, this kind of surveillance needed a microscope and years of training. Now, thanks to Sunny and his team, tens of thousands of community health workers can do it in real time, helping health systems act faster and smarter. This conversation is the next in our series with our friends at Fast Forward.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we’re joined by Sayyeda Salam, a remarkable leader whose career has spanned humanitarian aid, international development, and philanthropy.

In September 2024, Sayyeda became Executive Director of Concern Worldwide (UK), bringing her wealth of experience to the fight against extreme poverty. Previously, as Director of Partnerships and Philanthropy at Save the Children, she secured £300m+ for children’s rights, building transformative collaborations with philanthropists, foundations, and the private sector. Her journey has taken her from Jordan and Lebanon to Egypt, Tanzania, and the Gulf; always with a focus on empowering local operations and partners across Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Beyond her executive leadership, she also serves as a Trustee of the Refugee Council, underscoring her lifelong commitment to supporting marginalised communities. This episode is a powerful conversation about leadership, global development, and what it really takes to create systemic change for the world’s most vulnerable.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nick Temple OBE is at the forefront of the UK’s social economy as CEO of the Social Investment Business. Nick leads an organisation backing charities and social enterprises with the capital and support they need to grow and thrive. His contributions were recognised last year when he was awarded an OBE for services to social enterprise. In this conversation, Nick shares his journey, his philosophy on what makes social investment work, and his vision for the future of the sector. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we’re joined by Paul Ronalds - lawyer, founder, policymaker, NGO leader, and now CEO of Save the Children Global Ventures. Paul’s career has been anything but conventional: Advising on M&A at a top-tier law firm, Co-founding one of Australia’s first e-commerce start-ups, Serving two Australian Prime Ministers at the highest level of government, Leading Save the Children Australia for nearly a decade. Now, at Save the Children Global Ventures, he’s on a mission to rewire how the world funds and scales solutions for children. From edtech and e-health to impact investing and innovative finance, Paul is bringing entrepreneurial energy to one of the world’s oldest NGOs. This is a conversation about how to build systems that last, and what it takes to marry innovation with impact at global scale.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mikela Druckman is the visionary Co-Founder and CEO of Greyparrot - a groundbreaking company transforming waste management through cutting-edge AI and waste analytics. Under Mikela’s leadership, Greyparrot has earned global accolades, making the World Economic Forum’s “Tech Pioneer” list, the Global Cleantech 100, and Fast Company's "Most Innovative Companies" of 2025 all while accelerating progress toward a more sustainable and circular future. Mikela has roots in both business and technology. She was a founding leader at Blippar where she shaped the landscape of computer vision and augmented reality. Named among the UK’s top women digital leaders Mikela has consistently championed diversity, mentorship, and the possibilities of ethical tech. Fluent in multiple languages and a dedicated mentor to emerging startups, Mikela proves that entrepreneurship can be a force for environmental good. Join us as we explore her journey; from building bridges between technology and sustainability to inspiring the next generation of changemakers.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Matt Hyde OBE started out as a young Scout and went on to lead the student movement as Chief Executive of NUS. He then returned to his roots by taking the helm of The Scout Association. Under his stewardship, Scouting grew to record numbers, reached into new communities through the pioneering Squirrel Scouts programme, and placed inclusion and civic duty at the heart of youth engagement. From co-founding The Big Help Out, which mobilised millions into volunteering, to now leading the Lloyds Bank Foundation in support of small and local charities, Matt’s career is a masterclass in creating and growing people-powered movements. He also serves as a trustee at Comic Relief and a patron of UNLOCK, helping people with convictions move forward with dignity and hope.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we’re wrapping up our Scaling Social Unicorns series with a special episode alongside the brilliant team at 100x Impact Accelerator - Fan, Chief Investment Officer, Amelia who leads 100x’s partnerships and Shanzeh who heads up strategy. 100X exists to back ventures that can change the world, and to learn and share what it really takes to scale. From Uganda to India to Pakistan, we’ve heard from founders reshaping health, education, finance, and justice.

We met Labhya’s cofounder Richa, scaling social-emotional learning across Indian public schools; Batya from Chancen International, pioneering income-linked education finance for underserved students in Africa; Taleemabad’s Haroon, making quality education accessible to millions in Pakistan through EdTech; Intelehealth co-founder Neha, delivering AI-powered healthcare where doctors are scarce; and Nick from One Day Health, launching ultra-low-cost rural clinics in Uganda and beyond. In this episode, we reflect on the breakthroughs, trade-offs, and bold bets it takes to reach millions. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we are joined by four of the most insightful voices shaping the future of nature: Tony Juniper CBE – Chair of Natural England, veteran campaigner, and author of Just Earth, shares his views on nature recovery and economic reform. Eva Zabey – CEO of Business for Nature, outlines how leading companies are embedding nature into their strategies, and why policy ambition is essential. Merlin Hanbury-Tenison – Founder of The Thousand Year Trust and author of Our Oaken Bones, speaks from the frontlines of Britain’s rainforest restoration efforts. Jessica Smith – Head of Nature at UNEP FI, explains why finance is the hidden lever and how Earth observation, insurance, and regulation can shift global capital. #TheImpactEquation #NatureRecovery #Biodiversity #BusinessForNature #ClimateAction #Sustainability #Leadership #PodcastDrop

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're joined by Sam Freedman - writer, policy advisor, education reformer, and the writer of the UK’s most popular politics Substack. Sam’s career spans the frontline and the engine room of public policy. From lobbying on education reform to advising Michael Gove at the Department for Education, to senior roles at Teach First and Ark, he’s always been focused on making systems work better, especially for those with the least power. Now, as a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government and co-author of the brilliant Comment is Freed newsletter with his father Lawrence Freedman, Sam brings clarity, honesty, and pragmatism to a political climate that too often lacks all three. This is a conversation about influence, impact, and what it takes to drive change that actually sticks. Sam doesn’t pull punches. 

#ImpactEquation #Leadership #PublicPolicy #Education #Podcast #SystemChange #SamFreedman #Politics #CommentIsFreed

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special edition of The Impact Equation, we hear from three insiders turned truth-tellers: Rizwan Naveed, former McKinsey energy strategist, who helped advise the world's biggest companies, and challenged McKinsey’s climate position. Holly Alpine, former sustainability lead at Microsoft, who built global green programmes while grappling with how tech services were being used in the fossil fuel sector. Jo Alexander, former BP executive, who believed in the energy transition, but witnessed the company adjust its boldest climate commitments. These three leaders have left the corporate world behind but not quietly. Now they’re shaping a different kind of change, from the outside in. #TheImpactEquation #CorporateSustainability #ClimateAction #Leadership #ImpactPodcast #Greenwashing #EnergyTransition

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.