Narratives of Purpose
Dec 5, 2020
On Funding African Female Entrepreneurs and Innovators - A Conversation with Pauline Koelbl
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On this first episode, I speak with Pauline Koelbl about what motivated the creation of her new ventures: AfriProspect and ShEquity. Pauline is an innovation expert in developing and emerging markets. She invests in African impactful innovative startups with a special focus on female-led businesses. In our discussion, Pauline also shares what future trends she is looking out for post-COVID-19. AfriProspect website: https://afriprospect.com ShEquity website: https://shequity.com More links from our conversation available on the podcast website: https://narratives-of-purpose.podcastpage.io/episode/on-female-empowerment-and-innovation-in-africa-a-conversation-with-pauline-koelbl-efha
More episodes from Narratives of Purpose
Nov 21, 2023
On Eradicating Period Poverty - A Conversation with Ira Guha
In today’s episode, I have a fascinating conversation with Ira Guha who is the founder of Asan. Asan is a social venture with a mission to eradicate period poverty, which prevents women and girls across the world from participating in essential daily activities (Including going to school and work).
In our conversation, we talk about the impact of period poverty and how Asan cup’s accessibility has the ability to impact the lives and empower the women who use them. We also discuss the seemingly taboo subject of women’s health, especially relating to periods, and how the social shifts we have made towards sustainability globally have made an impact on the future of menstrual products.
Show notes:
To find out more about Asan, head over to their website and Instagram page. To connect with Ira and find out about the impact that Asan is making within the many communities that they have partnered with, connect with her on LinkedIn.
Be sure to visit our podcast website for the full episode transcript, and connect with us: narrativespodcast@gmail.com.
** UNLOCK EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND ACCESS TO OUR PODCAST while supporting our team’s efforts to continue producing the best quality content we possibly can! Check out our membership community at https://www.patreon.com/noppodcast and become a patron. **
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Episode timestamps
00:26 - Episode introduction
02:32 - Asan's mission and Ira's motivations to create the start-up
06:39 - Asan cup's one-for-one donation and cost-saving model
07:58 - Designing and developing the Asan cup
12:12 - Asan's impact in rural India and beyond
14:28 - Breaking the taboos around periods
17:46 - Asan's partnerships and behavioural change framework
24:45 - Ira's entrepreneurial journey
26:36 - The evolving market for reusable period products
31:34 - How to connect with Ira and learn more about Asan
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Nov 7, 2023
On Empowering Action Through Innovative Technologies - A NEW Conversation with Rhiana Spring
Join me for today’s episode where I will be catching up with Rhiana Spring, the founder and executive director of Spring ACT. Spring ACT is an organisation connecting human rights and technology to empower people to take action and eliminate global social injustices.
Their flagship product is called Sophia, the world's first chatbot empowering survivors of domestic violence to gather potential evidence and seek help wherever they are in the world.
I highly encourage you to listen back to the conversation from Episode 37 to be reminded of Spring ACT’s mission and listen to today's episode to hear how Rhiana’s journey has evolved over the past 18 months.
Show notes:
To find out more about Spring ACT, head over to their website and be sure to connect with them on Instagram or LinkedIn.
Check out the Social Innovation Tournament finalists that Rhiana mentioned in this episode.
Be sure to visit our podcast website for the full episode transcript, and connect with us: narrativespodcast@gmail.com.
** UNLOCK EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND ACCESS TO OUR PODCAST while supporting our team’s efforts to continue producing the best quality content we possibly can! Check out our membership community at https://www.patreon.com/noppodcast and become a patron. **
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Episode timestamps
00:26 - Episode introduction
01:43 - Highlight of Rhiana's first interview on the podcast
04:32 - Spring ACT's vision and the story behind the organisation's name
06:00 - Launching Sophia in Peru
08:16 - Developing partnerships with global organisations, including UN Women
11:25 - Team work: making space for fun and celebrating the wins
14:05 - Growing the Spring ACT team with a Tech Lead
17:30 - Impact of international prizes and recognition for Sophia
23:00 - Dots: the second Spring ACT product
24:37 - Sophia's digital safe
26:31 - Spring ACT's new business model
29:27 - Rhiana's personal journey as a founder
32:23 - Rhiana's advice to aspiring entrepreneurs
36:32 - How to connect with Rhiana and learn more about Spring ACT
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Oct 23, 2023
On Making Medical AI a Common Good - A NEW Conversation with Bart De Witte
In this episode I will be welcoming back another previous guest of Narratives of Purpose, Bart De Witte, to hear more about his journey of making medical AI accessible.
Bart is the founder of the Hippo AI Foundation, which is designed to develop medical AI for the common good by liberating all future medical knowledge by making it open to everyone.
We spoke in November 2022, and before you tune into today’s episode, I highly encourage you to listen back to the conversation from Episode 41 to be reminded of Hippo AI’s mission and listen to today's episode to hear how Bart's work has evolved since our last conversation.
Show notes:
To find out more about the Hippo AI Foundation be sure to head over to their website and read the newsletter edition I refered to here.
Following the recording of this episode, you will find information from Bart’s keynote speech at the WHO Europe Conference here.
Be sure to visit our podcast website for the full episode transcript.
** UNLOCK EXCLUSIVE CONTENT AND ACCESS TO OUR PODCAST while supporting our team’s efforts to continue producing the best quality content we possibly can! Check out our membership community at https://www.patreon.com/noppodcast and become a patron. **
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Episode timestamps
00:26 - Episode introduction
02:05 - Highlight of Bart's first interview on the podcast
04:55 - Hippo AI's mission
06:47 - Ask Paper: the community and collaboration platform for AI researchers
12:18 - Hippo AI's new finance model
19:17 - Influence of capital and industrial interests on research
21:15 - Open source AI myths and reality in healthcare
28:41 - Disrupting healthcare through technology?
33:12 - Bart's advice to aspiring social entrepreneurs
35:58 - Being provocative to spark conversations
37:31 - How to connect with Bart and learn more about the Hippo AI Foundation
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