Episodes
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Patrick Scheurle is a Managing Partner for the Sub-national Climate Fund at Pegasus Capital. After starting his professional career in banking and asset management as a strategy consultant and portfolio manager, Patrick pioneered Impact Investing as a major investor and CEO of BlueOrchard Finance Ltd. Under Patrick’s leadership, BlueOrchard grew to more than $4 billion in assets under management, and created one of the industry’s leading impact management and measurement frameworks. BlueOrchard was acquired by Schroders plc in October 2019. Patrick’s investment experience includes private equity, sustainable infrastructure, and private debt. Patrick holds a PhD in Finance from the University of St. Gallen and is a published author of several books and academic articles.
BlueOrchard was founded in 2001, through an initiative of the UN, as the first commercial manager of microfinance debt investments worldwide. The company has evolved into a leading global impact investment manager, connecting millions of entrepreneurs in emerging and frontier markets with investors. BlueOrchard is a member of the Schroders Group.
Episode Links
www.impactcareers.ch
www.impactuntangled.com
Patrick Scheurle LinkedIn
Blue Orchard Website
Blue Orchard Publications
Pegasus Capital Website
Book - Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and the World
Book - Big Debt Crises by Ray Dalio
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Marion Höchli is Planted’s Country Manager Germany & CO-Managing Director as well as VP of Planted’s European Business Development. Marion leads Planted’s expansion in Europe. Having been a part of the company’s story since the beginning, she joined the Planted team to expand the business across Europe.
Marion Höchli graduated from the University of St. Gallen (HSG) and the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) in 2016, with a double master’s degree in International Management and Marketing. Having worked at renowned multinational firms before, she brings in a comprehensive understanding of the business value chain, the ability to adapt to new markets quickly, and she has vast experience managing international projects.
Planted is actually a spinout from the ETH Zurich and made its debut in 2019. Now it is available for consumption in Switzerland, Germany, Austria with a presence in more than 3000 locations. Planted is probably one of the more delicious meat substitute alternatives out there in Switzerland right now and Planted’s chicken is unique in that it is pea-protein and pea-fiber based rather than soy-based.
Episode Links
www.impactcareers.ch
www.impactuntangled.com
Marion Höchli LinkedIn
Planted Website
No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Unlocking Us Podcast
How I Built This with Guy Raz
Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brené Brown
Kickstart Innovation
Venture Kick
MassChallenge
ETH Pioneer Fellowships
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Missing episodes?
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Arman Anatürk is the cofounder of FoodHack, a community driven media and events platform for the food and foodtech industry. A university drop out at the age of of 18, Arman went on to launch multiple ventures including a coding school in London, and a communications and strategy agency for the food and science fields before getting to his current startup, FoodHack. Today, Arman's role has him overseeing the growth of the meetups which is now active in 18 cities across the globe and building new products for their community of 10k food entrepreneurs, innovators and investors across the globe.
FoodHack highlights breaking trends in the food industry for hungry entrepreneurs to get inspired, scouts emerging startups from across the globe and provides a platform to launch their products. FoodHack is a community-driven platform that inspires, highlights and connects food entrepreneurs and innovators. FoodHack provides weekly articles, along with podcasts and newsletters - finding the stories and news that entrepreneurs need to know, and always delivered in a personal and easy-to-digest format.
Episode Links
www.impactcareers.ch
www.impactuntangled.com
Arman Anatürk LinkedIn
FoodHack Website
Baze - Personalized Supplements
Mixfit: Personal Nutrition Journey
MassChallenge Switzerland
Kickstart Switzerland
Founder Institute in Zurich
Clubhouse
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Pierre Monnin is a Senior Fellow with CEP where he focuses on the environmental and social effects of monetary policy. Prior to that he has been with the Swiss National Bank (SNB) in various roles for a total of ten years – counseling SNB’s Board Members on issues concerning financial markets and monetary policy as well as developing measures of financial stability and integrating them into the bank’s monetary policy framework. He also worked at Man Investments as a Quantitative Analyst, developing asset allocation strategies for alternative investments. Pierre holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Zurich, a MSc in Economics from Queen Mary, University of London, as well as a MSc in Statistics and a BA in Economics from the University of Neuchatel.
Council on Economic Policies (CEP): CEP is an international nonprofit nonpartisan economic policy think tank for sustainability. They formulate and promote economic policy solutions that strengthen individual opportunity, social cohesion and environmental stability.
Episode Links
www.impactcareers.ch
www.impactuntangled.com
Pierre Monnin LinkedIn
Council on Economic Policies (CEP) Website
Book: Pierre-Noël Giraud, Le Commerces des Promesses
Book: Michael Walzer, Spheres of Justice
Book: Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
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Nancy Saddington is the CEO and co-founder of Organic Mondays -- A Swiss Brand of Period products. Nancy was born in the UK but lived all over the world. She has lived in Canada, Eswatini (previously known as - Swaziland), Zambia, the UK and Yemen. She studied Geochemistry at Manchester University and previously worked as a Chartered Accountant at the KPMG London Office. She is passionate about period products, especially plastic-free period products that support global sustainability and women’s health. Nancy has called Zurich home since 2005, and she is now a Swiss citizen. Nancy enjoys skiing, tea drinking and swimming in the lake.
About Organic Mondays: Mondays is a Swiss brand that strives to make plastic free periods easy, benefiting the environment and women’s health. For listeners that would like to try Organic Mondays Period products, Mondays makes it easy through a subscription service.
Go to organicmondays.com and select the period products you want. There are over 25,000 possible variations on how to fill your box! So if you’re overwhelmed just take the 15 second quiz and Mondays will suggest a mix of period products personalised for you.Register and check out. Mondays takes care of the rest.Mondays delivers free of charge and you can cancel at any time.In This Episode
Introduction of Nancy SaddingtonAbout MondaysWhat led Nancy to co-found MondaysThe goals of Organic MondaysNancy’s advice on choosing a co-founderNancy’s view on a successful careerEpisode Links
www.impactcareers.ch
www.impactuntangled.com
Nancy Saddington LinkedIn
Mondays Website
https://smartemma.sbb.ch
Period Equity Website
Book: Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Book: Diversify by June Sarpong
Book: The Forever Transaction: How to Build a Subscription Model So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave by Robbie Kellman Baxter
Book: Period. It’s about Bloody Time by Emma Barnett
How I Built This Podcast with Guy Raz - NPR
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Danielle Cotten, 33, turned vegan 5 years ago after being vegetarian for nearly 15 years. She is passionate about driving the vegan movement forward as the communications and campaign manager of Swissveg - Switzerland's largest and oldest lobby for vegetarians and vegans as well as the founder of the V-label. Before her time at SwissVeg, she received a master's degree in Organizational Sociology, lived abroad for a few years and gained working experience in various fields, including event management and audit. Danielle is happiest trail running with her mountain dog up in the Swiss alps, lifting weights or enjoying delicious plant-based food with friends.
About SwissVeg from the official website: Since 1993, Swissveg is the largest representation of vegetarians and vegans in Switzerland as a politically independent organization. SwissVeg works to permanently reduce meat consumption and make a plant-based, responsible lifestyle an attractive and healthy alternative accessible to everyone. Swissveg is characterized by in-depth information and a wide range of events. For experts and consumers, the organization has established itself as a leading point of contact in all aspects of vegetarian-vegan lifestyle.
Ongoing projects:
Swissveg successfully introduced the first Vegi Day in Switzerland.Swissveg advises the food industry and major distributors, holds lectures and publishes the magazine "Veg-Info".Since 1996 SwissVeg controls the products which are labeled vegetarian / vegan with the V-Label.SwissVeg organizes the largest vegan street festival in Switzerland, the Veganmania.In This Episode
Introduction of Danielle CottenAbout SwissVegWhat led Danielle to becoming vegan and benefits of being veganMembership at SwissVegProjects at SwissVeg and the political impact How Veganism is a global movementDanielle’s view on a successful careerThe book that changed Danielle’s lifestyleEpisode Links
www.impactcareers.ch
www.impactuntangled.com
Danielle Cotten LinkedIn
SwissVeg Home Page
History of the V-Label
Book: Veganize Your Life! By Renato Pichler
YouTube Channel: Vegan ist Ungesund
Movie: Cowspiracy
Movie: Forks Over Knives
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Today our guest is Patrick Elmer. Patrick works at the intersection of finance and global development, focusing on innovative solutions and partnerships that create opportunities for underprivileged people.. He founded iGravity in March 2017 to support disruptive ideas, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and institutions in their impact investment ventures. Previously he worked as Head of Business Development at BlueOrchard, leading the sales strategy across multiple markets and developing new partnerships and structures. He was also Head of Philanthropy Services and Responsible Investments at Credit Suisse, advising clients on investment solutions and leading the bank’s efforts in creating novel partnerships and products in areas like microfinance, education, agriculture and conservation finance. Before that, Patrick worked for many years in Mozambique, Tanzania and Madagascar, first managing the private sector development portfolio of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs and later establishing and managing microfinance banks on behalf of public and private investors.
In This Episode
Introduction of iGravity founder Patrick ElmerWhat led Patrick to starting iGravityAbout iGravityiGravity’s clients and what clients are looking for with impact investmentsControversial issues in the impact investment industryPatrick’s view on a successful careerPatrick’s recommended booksEpisode Links
www.impactcareers.ch
www.impactuntangled.com
iGravity Website
Patrick Elmer LinkedIn
Book: Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus
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New Roots is an innovative Swiss-based vegan cheese start-up. On this episode, inspiring CEO and Founder, Freddy Hunziker, talks about how he switched from being a semi-professional athlete as a mountain biker to founding New Roots in 2015, a dairy alternative vegan cheese start-up, with his partner at the age of 22. Tune in for this inspiring story!
New Roots has also won awards for their vegan cheese products.
2019 - Swiss Economic Forum Award in the category Production/Trade & Industry
2018 - New Roots’s Free-the-Goat Cheese was the proud winner of the Peta Vegan Food Awards
In This Episode
Introduction of New Roots CEO and founder Freddy HunzikerThe innovative vegan cheese production processThe Swiss Dairy industryFreddy’s view on a successful careerFreddy’s recommended resourcesEpisode Links
www.impactcareers.ch
www.impactuntangled.com
Innosuisse
New Roots Website
Rich Roll Podcast
Rich Roll Zach Bush Podcast Episode
The World Peace Diet by Will Tuttle
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Today on the podcast we have Pedro Fernandez. Pedro leads the evaluation and monitoring of ESG factors at responsAbility, which are an integral component of the investment team’s decision-making process alongside financial factors.He joined the company in 2017, bringing over 15 years of experience in managing environmental and social risks and opportunities across a broad range of industries. He’s also worked as a consultant across other industries and across a broad range of issues from energy and mining to climate change, community engagement, health & safety and labour conditions. His work has taken him extensively to developing countries and to environmental hotspots, where he has managed numerous projects. Originally from Spain but in Switzerland since 2011, Pedro has a Bachelor in Environmental Sciences, a Master in Health & Safety and is a certified auditor of the SA8000 standard on social issues.
In This Episode
Introduction of Pedro FernandezWhat is ESG, anyway?Why is ESG important in Impact Investing?ResponsAbility on their ESG processPedro’s journey to getting into ESG and his advice for someone to enter the ESG fieldPedro’s recommended ESG resourcesEpisode Links
www.impactcareers.ch
www.impactuntangled.com
Pedro Fernandez LinkedIn
European Commission Website
ResponsAbility Company Website
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Today on the podcast we have Fabian Weinländer. Fabian currently works as an ecosystem manager at RethinkResource. Fabian has a fascinating background. Not only has he lived all over the world in countries such as Cameroon, Madagascar, Canada, Austria and now Switzerland, he also obtained his bachelor degree at the University of Life Sciences in Vienna in Environment and Bio resource management. Fabian has experience in circular agriculture systems, in particular aquaponics. He worked at a Swiss Startup called Urban Farmers which worked on building and operating rooftop aquaponic farms. Now Fabian works at Rethink Resource, the innovation agency that works on creative ways to re-use industrial scale resources that would otherwise go to waste. Stay tuned to hear about Fabian talk about aquaponics, and his experience at RethinkResource.
Rethink Resource was founded in 2016 with the mission to support the producing industry in the transition to a closed loop economy. Specifically, they focus on working with clients to turn industrial side streams into sustainable and profitable business opportunities. What are side-streams? Side-streams are basically materials that are continuously lost from a production process. RethinkResource identifies valuable components within a side-stream that can find new applications and be turned into profits instead of causing disposal costs. Industrial side streams are therefore viewed as strategic assets – with long-term competitive advantages and RethinkResource focuses on extracting the value in these stranded assets within the constraints of a modern production system.
In This Episode
Introduction of Fabian and RethinkResource [0:55] Fabian introduces himself [3:24] What is aquaponics? [5:19] What does RethinkResource do? [10:27] The customers of RethinkResource [16:15] Fabian's advice on how to get started in your career [22:24] Contact Information [24:43]Episode Links
RethinkResource Website
Fabian’s LinkedIn
www.impactuntangled.com
www.impactcareers.ch
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Renat Heuberger has been engaged as a social entrepreneur in the fields of sustainability, climate change and renewable energies since 1999. He is the CEO and co-founder of South Pole, a leading provider of global sustainability solutions. South Pole helps realise deep decarbonisation pathways across industries, based on a thorough understanding of climate risks and opportunities in specific sectors, as well as the highest emission reduction standards. Their scope includes developing carbon offset projects and building partnerships with business, governments and civil society,The vision of South Pole is climate action for all and accelerating the transition to a climate smart society. South Pole was founded in 2006 in Zurich. Today it has 18 global offices and clients in over 20 countries. To date, South Pole has mobilised climate-finance for over 700 projects in emission reductions, renewable energy, energy efficiency and sustainable land-use.
In This Episode
Introduction [1:40] South Pole’s Mission [2:50] Current Projects at South Pole [4:45] Key learnings as a founder [10:20] A glimpse into a day as a CEO [13:00] Renat’s advice for getting into the climate action space [15:15] Renat’s favorite resources [17:50] Renat’s advice for those looking to switch careers [20:50] Other projects Renat would work on if he could clone himself [21:50]Episode Links
South Pole Website
Renat Heuberger - LinkedIn
Renat Heuberger - Twitter
IPCC: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Project Drawdown
Global Footprint Network
2-Degrees Investing Initiative: Aligning financial markets with climate goals
Al Gore’s Website
Bertrand Piccard & 1000 Profitable Solutions to Solve Climate Change
Definition of Blue Economy
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Today on the podcast we have the CEO and co-founder of Yova, Tillmann Lang. Yova is a leading impact investing platform that enables individuals to invest their money into companies and industries that have a positive impact. Yova exists to create a better Planet Earth through sustainable investments. Yova recognizes that capital allocation is a key way to make a difference in the world, and the platform has appealed to many individuals, even people completely new to investing, who want to make a positive impact with their investments without compromising their investment returns. Investing with Yova goes hand in hand with supporting clean energy and equal rights. Yova appeals to many customers because it is also actively excluding investments in companies that fuel worsening climate change or the weapons industry.
Stay tuned to hear about Tillmann talk about how Yova works for the average person, how he co-founded Yova after first gaining experience in management consulting, and the books that most shaped his thinking. Tillmann also talks about what he would recommend people do with their personal finances during the current Covid-19 crisis period.
In This Episode
Introduction of Yova [0:38] Introduction of Tillmann Lang [01:37] What is an impact investment? [04:40] How does Yova work for the average retail customer? [08:28] Personal Finances during the Covid-19 Crisis [13:45] What is next for Yova [17:39] Start career in a startup role vs traditional career path [18:35] What Tillmann wishes he had known when he started in the start-up space [21:15] An alternative impact project Tillmann would explore if he had time [22:19] Tillmann’s favorite resources that shaped his thinking [23:00]Episode Links
Yova Website
What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture
The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience
Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't
Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies
Masters of Scale Podcast
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
23 Things They Don’t Tell you about Capitalism
www.impactuntangled.com
www.impactcareers.ch
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This episode explores edible insects! You may have heard of the Swiss company Essento. Essento is the Swiss-based pioneer in foods based on edible insects. Through Essento, you can find insect snacks, insect protein bars, insect flour and more. As crazy it might sound to some, their vision is to establish insects as normal foods on European plates. Edible insects have the potential to make your diet more diverse, sustainable and nutritious. Therefore, Essento establishes insects as an alternative protein source with a positive impact on you, your health, and our planet.
Melchior Füglistaller, Head of Marketing & Sales for Essento, joins the Impact Untangled show today. Melchior is committed to pushing forward the sustainable food revolution in order to create value for people and the planet. Being part of the board at Essento and having studied Business Management with a strong focus on Entrepreneurship/organizational design and sustainability, he is eager to have a real impact at Essento.
Melchior talks about Essento’s most successful products. People are slowly starting to get over their fear of eating bugs. It actually wasn’t hard to convince Swiss supermarkets to carry their products; Essento accomplished bringing an extremely innovative product into stores. Melchior says it is difficult for your food product to have a real impact in Switzerland unless you make it into a large supermarket.
Melchior also speaks about Essento’s partnership with a famous German burger company. The burger will be launching in sixty restaurants in Germany. Melchior says to understand what your partner wants and how you can add value, you need to make sure you know how you are going to fit into the partnership. Are you going to be able to meet their expectations?
Essento likes to learn by trial and error. They try this in terms of performance marketing and digital marketing. Each time they try something new, they are getting closer to understanding their customers. Stay tuned to hear Melchior talk about recruiting for talent at Essento, lobbying for insect consumption in Switzerland, and providing advice for people who are interested in entering startups in the impact space.
In This Episode
What inspired the creation of Essento [2:30] Essento’s most successful products [6:30] Partnering with a burger company [8:40] Building partnerships [9:50] Creating a tasty insect burger with a partner [11:05] Essento’s approach of learning by trial and error [13:10] Essento’s ideal job candidate [15:15] Lobbying parliament to sell insects as food in Switzerland [16:50] Should you go straight into a startup role? [18:30] Melchior’s favorite resources [21:00]Episode Links
Email: [email protected]
Essento Website
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Melchior Füglistaller LinkedIn
Coop Supermarket Products
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Julia Devecchi is the founder of Happy Bites in Switzerland. [Mid-Feb 2020 UPDATE: Happy Bites has changed its name to Naanu. https://mynaanu.com/about]
Julia founded Happy Bites at only 24 years old in April 2019. Happy Bites believes in empowering vegans. How? Well, vegans often suffer from nutritional deficiencies. Happy Bites helps alleviate this problem by providing nutritional supplements. These supplements come in the form of delicious gluten free cookies. The cookies contain sufficient daily amounts of many vitamins - like Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Omega 3 and these cookies are also a high source of Calcium, Iron and Zinc.You can find her cookies on https://happybites.co/
or https://mynaanu.com/
On this episode, Julia talks about her journey from her studies at university, living abroad, working at Tesla, attending start-up events in Switzerland, to eventually creating and founding her own food start-up.
Julia is driven to ensure that vegans like herself get enough nutrition in the form of delicious cookies, “My vision to save those who save our planet began and I believe it has guided all decisions so far. I formed a diverse and inclusive team with people from all sorts of backgrounds and think of our customers in every step of the way. We want natural ingredients, sustainable packaging, integrating otherwise wasted food sources, no animal products or products that could affect animals in any way. We want a low carbon footprint and essentially to save the planet.” Julia also talks about the start-up scene in Switzerland and states, “We are at a very good place to be very entrepreneurial in Switzerland.”
I hope you enjoy this episode!
In This EpisodeIntroduction [0:55] - Julia Introduces herself [1:23] - Julia talks about the inspiration behind Happy Bites in Switzerland [2:00] - The Decision to Go Vegan [3:00] - A Day in the Life of a Founder [5:23 ]- Finding Customers [7:52] - Founder Institute: World’s Largest pre-seed startup accelerator [11:15] - Regulations to Sell Food in Switzerland [12:03] - Finding a food advisor [15:26] - Finding the right team [18:39] - Reaching out to new contacts [19:21] - Working at Tesla [22:44] - Experience at University and why she would study something different [23:28] - Start-up weekend [25:54] - Experience Living Abroad [30:21] - Other Impact Ideas to Work on [33:23] - Recommendations of books and podcasts [34:34] - Impact Events in Switzerland [37:49] - Favorite Swiss Products [40:05] - DasProvisorium in Zurich - Coworking Foodspace Accelerator [40:28] - What does a successful career mean to you [41:09]
Episode LinksHappy Bites
Naanu
Founder Institute: World’s Largest Pre-seed startup Accelerator
Venture Kick
Startup Weekend in Switzerland
Emerge Conference at Oxford University
Guilty Feminists - Comedy Podcast
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong about the World - and Why Things are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling
The Lean Canvas by Eric Ries
Blitzscaling: The Lightning - Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies by Reid Hoffman
Enactus Organization
DasProvisorium Zurich - Coworking Foodspace Accelerator
FoodHack.ch
Julia Devecchi LinkedIn
www.impactuntangled.com
www.impactcareers.ch
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Our guest on this episode is Patrick Stadler. Patrick is the definition of a social and charity entrepreneur. Currently, Patrick is the co-founder and the board chair of the Give-Well-incubated charity New Incentives. New Incentives is a nonprofit dedicated to conditional cash transfers. Conditional cash transfers or CCTs are small amounts of money that is given to those in need if they meet certain benchmarks related to education and health. In addition, Patrick mentors startups incubated by Charity Entrepreneurship, as well as develops the curriculum and content of their upcoming incubation program and publishes articles on starting organizations from scratch. On the side, Patrick is also working on a Swiss platform called MindfulMoney.ch, which offers free advice on how to invest responsibly. This is really a great resource for regular people in Switzerland who want to invest their money responsibly into impact related investments. Before all this, he was a political advisor for Switzerland’s economic development agency where he participated in the negotiations on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. He also worked on strategic communications in the context of peacebuilding and mediation at the United Nations Department of Political Affairs in New York.
Patrick was not always a risk-taker and still found himself working as a charity entrepreneur. He shares how he is actually an extremely risk-averse individual:
“I'm quite risk averse personally, so I slowly got into this like a frog in boiling water...If you think about it...the risks are not that high….financial risk, you can get another job if your charity fails, you have your safety network through friends and family, you have your safety network if you're living in Switzerland by the state. There's various options that you have so you can take some justified risks. Basically you overrate it psychologically, but the actual risk is much lower.”
In This EpisodeIntroduction [0:38]Patrick introduces himself [2:11]Patrick’s responsibilities in his previous role at the UN [3:01]Takeaways from work experience at the UN [3:40]What inspired New Incentives [5:30]Microloans and their effectiveness [6:05]High potential in Conditional cash transfers [6:30]How New Incentives started [7:19]How Nigeria was chosen as the location for New Incentives [8:53]Type of Vaccinations New Incentives provides [10:05]The average number of children per woman in Nigeria [10:48]Evidence based development - Measuring the impact in Nigeria [10:57]Experience at Y combinator [12:20]Cultural difference in the US vs Switzerland [14:48]Patrick’s current projects / Charity Entrepreneurship [15:32]How to apply to Charity Entrepreneurship Accelerator [16:10]What is means to be a charity entrepreneur - Impact and Meaning [16:40]Making the biggest difference possible - Effective Altruism [17:35]Effective charities - Givewell.org [18:30]Picking a cause as a social entrepreneur [19:30]Convincing people to care about these problems[20:20]Another impact idea Patrick would work on [22:20]How to get into careers in the impact space [23:20]Valuable resources that Patrick recommends [24:00]Patrick’s decisions leading to a career in development [24:50]What Patrick studied and the impact on his career [25:30]Advantages of coming from a different field [26:40]Advantages to working in social or charity entrepreneurship [27:50]Learning how to manage people and being careful with hiring [29:00]Funding from Gates Foundation and support from GiveWell [30:49]Experiences living in Nigeria and recommendations for people who would like to move abroad [31:40]Trends in social entrepreneurship today [34:25]Memorable experiences in Patrick’s Career [35:23]What Patrick wishes he knew starting out [37:40]Patrick says we overestimate the risk of doing a start-up - Safety networks in Switzerland [38:12]Mindfulmoney.ch platform in Switzerland [40:00]Patrick’s Favorite Charities / Givewell.org [41:45]Feeling overwhelmed and dealing with that feeling [42:42]Donating Money for the most Impact [43:39]Where to reach Patrick on Twitter [46:30]Episode Links
The United NationsMindfulmoney.chYcombinator.comGivewell.orgPeter SingerThe Life You Can Save, How to Do Your Part to End World PovertyPractical Ethics by Peter Singer80,000 Hours80,000 Hours PodcastEffective AltruismPoor EconomicsTamTamYovawww.impactuntangled.comwww.impactcareers.ch@patstadler on Twitter -
Today we are joined by Alexandra Pastollnigg, the founder of Fair Voyage. Fair Voyage makes sustainable travel easy. Originally from Austria, Alex lives in Switzerland and travels extensively in Africa both in her capacity as the founder of Fair Voyage and for pleasure. She is a Board member of the International Mountain Explorers Connection, a non-profit organization committed to improving the working conditions of the porters on Mount Kilimanjaro through the Kilimanjaro Porters Assistance Project (KPAP). Prior to venturing into social entrepreneurship, Alexandra gained over 12 years of experience in the banking industry, most recently as Director of Mergers & Acquisitions. In between, she also cycled from Cairo to Cape Town, all the way through Africa. Alex started off in banking and was called to the social entrepreneur world by chance. As Alex considered a career change that would make her work more meaningful, she experienced firsthand the exploitation that local people often face in the tourism industry. While climbing Kilimanjaro, Alex realized that organizations that claimed to be sustainable or ethical were simply "green-washing" their practices. Frustratingly, it isn't very easy for travelers to discern what companies are legitimately sustainable in the tourism industry and which simply market themselves as such. Alex saw an opportunity. She wanted to ensure that travelers could be sure they are putting their money into sustainable practices, and Fair Voyage was born.
Alex explains that her journey was not simple; in her first start-up year, it was challenging to find the right people to work with, and she faced burnout. This taught Alex valuable lessons. In the start-up space, you have to be very mindful of who you fill your team with and understand that they are many soft skills that go into the work. Things like communication and working with people are just as important as being financially savvy.
For recent graduates and others interested in the impact start-up space, Alex offered some advice. If you have already found your purpose or the issues that you are going to try and solve, you don't have to waste time in another career. If you aren't sure initially what your mission will be, look for a good company with mentors and coaches who you can learn from. Join a team that is already working on something aligned with your mission. If you can't find a company that is doing what you are interested in, start one! Alex, however, cautions against being an entrepreneur for the sake of being an entrepreneur, unless you are incredibly mission-driven, you may not find the work sustainable.
Last, Alex offers up a few more nuggets of wisdom and information about what her next project may be. She reminds us that we need more than just understanding of sustainable practices in this work, we also need engineers, software developers and folks with other skills that may not initially seem transferable but are essential to making change happen.
In This EpisodeAlex’s Introduction [1:42]Alex’s career in banking and career change [2:10]What led Alex to create Fair Voyage [3:40]First experience climbing Kilimanjaro [4:00]Idea to write a book about climbing Kilimanjaro [4:50]Exploitation of Porters [4:50]Companies “greenwashing” [7:30]Online social entrepreneurship course [7:50]Fair Voyage Mission [10:00]Sustainability audit organizations [10:30]Fair Voyage platform with sustainable operators [13:00]Role as Founder of Fair Voyage [13:40]Experience of burnout [14:30]Reset point [15:40]Finding the right team [16:15]Advice for recent university graduates [18:30]Not a believer in becoming an entrepreneur without mission [19:00]Look for the right companies and right mentors and skill-set [19:50]Tangible steps for those in the impact space [20:50]Other Future projects if Alex had time [22:45]Change in Sustainable Finance [22:58]Different kind of start-up support system [24:15]Start-up Resources in Switzerland [25:30] What does a successful career mean to you [27:58] Episode LinksFair Voyage Alexandra Pastollnigg on LinkedInAlex's Comprehensive Kilimanjaro Book - Kilimanjaro UncoveredStartup GrindImpact HubMindValley80,000 Hourswww.impactuntangled.comwww.impactcareers.ch -
You are listening to the Impact Untangled Podcast where we make it easy to understand Impact Careers. The Impact Untangled Podcast is brought to you by www.impactcareers.ch
We interview remarkable individuals in Switzerland making a positive impact on communities through their careers whether it be in combating climate change, fostering local community development, enabling sustainable investing, encouraging sustainable travel, or even just working for companies whose vision it is to create a better and more sustainable world for everyone to live in. There are really limitless ways to make an impact with one’s career today.
