Inspiring Social Entrepreneurs Podcast

With a natural philanthropic spirit, Randy Paynter founded the online advocacy website, Care2, in 1998 with the hope of making the world a kinder, more inclusive, and sustainable space. The business works by focusing on two aspects in which to generate support for social and environmental causes around the world. First, they empower...

Harish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur who co-founded SELCO India in 1995 to eradicate poverty by promoting sustainable technologies in rural India. SELCO India is a social enterprise that provides sustainable energy services to the poor in India, sustainable energy solutions and services to under-served households and businesses. SELCO empowers its customer by providing...

Odin Mühlenbein is Partner at Ashoka Germany and Lead of Advisory at Ashoka Globalizer–an accelerator program that helps advanced social entrepreneurs from around the world develop strategies for social system change. Odin takes the learnings from Ashoka Globalizer to spread the word about system change and systems thinking, both within Ashoka and the field of...

Dr. Charly Kleissner is a pioneer in the field of impact investment. He believes that the deeper meaning of wealth is to make a positive contribution to humanity and the planet. Dr. Kleissner co-founded KL Felicitas Foundation (www.klfelicitasfoundation.org), and Social-Impact International (www.social-impact.org), which help social entrepreneurs worldwide to accelerate and increase their impact.  Dr. Kleissner co-founded...

Jonah Sachs is an internationally recognized storyteller, author, and designer. He is the co-founder and chief storytelling officer of Free Range Studios, an advertising and marketing firm that specializes in nonprofits and socially responsible businesses. Jonah has helped hundreds of social brands and causes break through the media din with campaigns built on sound storytelling...

Tim Freundlich is President of ImpactAssets, a boutique donor advised fund that specialises in socially responsible and impact investment options to mobilise human and financial capital towards a sustainable world. Tim is a long-term innovator in new financial instruments in the social enterprise sectors and was instrumental in establishing the precursor to ImpactAssets, the Calvert...

Harvey Koh is Managing Director at the global social change consulting firm FSG. Based in FSG’s Mumbai, India office, Harvey directs research and advocacy in the area of Inclusive Markets, advancing thinking about inclusive business and market-based solutions in development, with a global perspective. His primary focus is working with donors and companies to develop and...

Benetech Labs is the innovation engine of Benetech, a leading nonprofit that empowers communities through software for social good with a focus on education, human rights, poverty, and the environment. Benetech Labs works with communities and partners to identify needs and prototype software for social solutions and support solutions that deliver the greatest impact in...

Joel Solomon is a highly experience social investor who has invested in over 100 early-growth stage companies in North America. Joel was instrumental in the development the Endswell Foundation, the largest, BC-based, charitable foundation in British Columbia funding environmental issues in the 1990s. Joel is currently Chair of Renewal Funds, Canada’s largest mission venture capital...

Kevin Barenblat is a highly experienced software entrepreneur with a passion for applying technology for good. He is a big believer that talented people can leverage technology to create scalable solutions to some of the world’s toughest problems. Kevin is the founder of the Fast Forward accelerator that helps tech nonprofits by investing money, providing...

Ned Breslin is the CEO at the Tennyson Center for Children, a 112 year non-profit based in Denver, Colorado, dedicated to helping children who have experienced severe abuse, neglect and/or trauma so they can bravely, and safely, change their life’s story. Ned previously worked in international water and sanitation for close to 30 years and...

Jonathan Lewis has had a long and varied career and vocation as a social justice activist and social entrepreneur. He is Founder of MCE Social Capital, an innovative social venture that finances small business loans to deeply impoverished people in 33 countries around the world. He is also Founder and President of the Opportunity Collaboration,...

Ron Cordes is a veteran of more than 30 years in the investment industry – he co-founded and then sold AssetMark Investment Services. In 2006, together with his wife Marty, Ron set up the Cordes Foundation — a family foundation focused on social entrepreneurship, impact investing and creating economic opportunities for women, later broadening its focus...

Isaac is a designer-researcher focused on global health equity and creating complex health systems that are beneficial to healthcare staff working with poor and marginalised patient populations. He is the cofounder of Medic Mobile, a non-profit technology company specializing in mHealth. Medic Mobile is guided by a mission to support community health workers and families...

Kevin Starr has been supporting social entrepreneurs since before we used the term. He built the current incarnation of Mulago Foundation, a private foundation that funds early-stage social entrepreneurs devoted to maximum impact at scale in the lives of the poorest people in developing countries. In 2003, Kevin set up Rainer Arnhold Fellows Programme to apply...

Simprints is a nonprofit tech company from the University of Cambridge that is building an affordable, secure, rugged, open-source fingerprint system that works in the world’s toughest settings. According to the World Bank, an estimated 1.1 billion people, the majority of them living in Asia and Africa, struggle to access basic services and rights due...

KJ Erickson is Founder and CEO of Simbi, an innovative technology platform that allows people around the world to exchange or barter services. Users can do exchanges directly, or for credits that can be spent in the Simbi network. Prior to Simbi, KJ spent 9 years as the Founder and Executive Director of FORGE, a...

Biplab Ketan Paul is founder of Naireeta Services, an Indian social enterprise that has developed an innovative water management solution, the Bhungroo system, a unique irrigation system based on rainwater harvesting for farmers facing both drought and flooding situations  Paul, together with his wife Trupti Jain, has spent some 17 years developing and improving the...

Gregg is founder of Adventure Scientists, a US non profit that partners with various conservation groups around the world to collect data from the outdoors that are crucial to unlocking solutions to the world’s environmental challenges. Since its founding in 2011, it has sent thousands of volunteers on missions to collect data from remote, difficult-to-access...

Eric Nee is managing editor of Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), which has been serving global leaders of social change for almost 15 years- via its quarterly magazine, online articles, podcasts, videos, webinars, and conferences. Eric has some 30 years experience in the publishing industry; before joining Fortune, Eric launched Forbes’s Silicon Valley bureau, where...