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

Get in touch with Jack

• Jack Lowe on LinkedIn

This episode is about the one thing that changes everything -- mindset. Or attitude. We're living in tough times, and often, our mindset, our attitude, our outlook, can hold us back. With fear, worry, panic, stress, all these different emotions entering our day at some point. All these things hold us back. But, with the understanding of how our minds work, and with the tools to shift our attitude, we can accept this new reality and choose to take action.

I'm joined by Scott Roy, CEO of Whitten Roy Partnership. Scott is an expert in the art of selling and sales management. And since attitude is the most important component of successful selling, they are experts in attitude and how people can change their mindset to generate optimal results for their organisation.

Listen to this episode to learn:

• About the process you can take to shift your own attitude and the eBooklet that WRP are offering free to download on their website.
• Understand the different forms of attitude, from overwhelm to possibility, so you can recognise which you're in and then what you can do with it.
• We talk about for the four states of overwhelm, which are compulsion, obligation, survival and impossibility.
  • Compulsion: Panic buying is a form of compulsion. It's the feeling that you have to do things to fix this, to get ahead, to make it go away. It's an obsession. It saps alot of your energy. An example is having to watch the news, to not miss anything - to see how many people had died and what was happening next.
  • The next state is obligation. This is where you're so overwhelmed and exhausted, that you give up on trying to change things, you just put up with it. Like you're now in quarantine, you complain about it, you moan about it to your friends, etc. There's not very much you can actually do, other than muddle your way through it
  • Next is a state of survival, which is like running around like a headless chicken
  • Next is a state of impossibility, when you think there's nothing you can do, you're frozen, and you hold up your hands in resignation.
• To understand these states of overwhelm is to know how our mind works. It makes conclusions, demands and predictions, and we can interpret our thoughts through these lenses.
  • Conclusions: this is the worse crisis the world has ever known...
  • Demands: this has to stop, things have to get back to normal, someone has to do something, I have to do something...
  • Predictions: things will never be the same again, we will never recover from this, my business will never recover, things will be much harder...
• Then, once you've understood these states of overwhelm, take some deep breaths, in through your nose for 4 seconds and out 4 seconds. Do this 3-4 times. Feel yourself settled. Then say out loud "This is really happening, we're in a pandemic, this is real. And I accept it."
• The next step is deciding what you're going to do about this. It's about choosing your response to those things you care about, rather than being led or blindly following an automatic response from your brain.
• And finally, the last step is aiming. Say "I want this because.... And I want that because I want..." and keep repeating this, and find what's possible.
• So in summary:
  • First step: Recognise youre in overwhelm. That you have to be transparent, not just show the brave face, but share your nervousness, that you're not feeling confident about the future.
  • Second step: inquiry -- to understand why you're in overwhelm. What conclusions-demands-predictions am I making?
  • Third step: generating brilliance -- to boldly and confidently choose what you're going to do about the situation, which is within your control.
• WRP are offering free live public experiences throughout May. You can book or download the eBooklet by visiting the link below. Or you can get in touch and request a lead consultant lead your company through this free of charge.

"We can't make PPE. But we are experts on attitude and we know how people can change their mindset."

Resources from this episode:

• Download the eBooklet and book a live public experience: wrpartnership.com/booklet

Connect with Scott:

• connect@wrpartnership.com

James Mwangi of Dalberg Group on the podcast today. He's representing Safe Hands Kenya, a coalition of Kenyan businesses who've come together to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. They're distributing free hand sanitiser, soap, face masks and surface disinfectants to all Kenyans, as a first line of defence against COVID-19.

Resources:

• SafeHandsKenya.com
• @SafeHandsKenya on Twitter
• Safe Hands Kenya on YouTube

Today's challenge is for those businesses who're seeing a temporary loss of revenue due to the COVID-19 crisis, but also anyone in the business of raising capital, and interested in different funding instruments.

We've got Amanda Cotterman on the show, and we're talking about the fund she's raising, Equalife Capital's Africa Venture Debt COVID Recovery Fund. We help you understand whether this funding instrument is right for your enterprise or if you're a donor or investor, whether you might want to put some capital towards this fund. 

What you'll learn on this episode:

• Amanda works for Equalife Group. They're raising a $20M venture debt fund. It's for businesses that are revenue generating and cashflow positive, and have a specific revenue stream or they want to prove out a revenue stream to get a better valuation. The debt would need to be serviced.
• Examples of appropriate businesses include:-
  • Agriculture businesses e.g. a milk distribution business that pays farmers up front, before going to market
  • A wholesale distributor in Rwanda, who buys from farmers, adds value to veg by cleaning and packaging, and sells to hospitality market.A
  • FinTech factoring business, that pays against invoices.
• Businesses that have a genuine liquidity issue are most suited to this fund, so there's good product market fit, there's a demand for their product, but it's just a matter of sourcing sufficient working capital to cover purchases in the short term.
• How the fund could be used to weather the COVID-19 storm:
  • Businesses might have seen a drop in revenue and need cash to weather the storm. They don't want to take on more equity.
• Amanda has been an entrepreneur in Kenya for 9 years , working in an operational role with several ventures. She moved to Kenya after working in Asian markets with Morgan Stanley. With a deep understanding of financial instruments and the needs of African ventures, she saw the gap for debt to come in alongside venture capital. The debt can be useful where the venture has a profitable revenue stream and wants to demonstrate the potential to gain a higher valuation, but is struggling with cashflow. Shareholders don't want to dilute their shareholding by using equity to support with cashflow needs.
• The venture fund prices for the risk, so interest in the range of 5-10%. 

Links to useful resources:

• Check out: http://www.equalifegroup.com/ and click on Equalife Capital in the menu.
• Check out their LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/equalifecapital/

Connect with Amanda:

• On LinkedIn

On this podcast you will learn:

• How Andy and Elizabeth are dealing with the new world of COVID 19 - structured journaling with pen and paper. (3:55)
• What is needfind and why is it important? (4:30)
• • It’s important because it’s a shift in terms of how we think about entrepreneurship and creating value as an entrepreneur; building a business or enterprise around a need (real problem) rather than a singular idea gives greater scope to produce value and to solve a problem in a sustainable way; it’s about core needs and what people are willing to pay for.

• If you take away the beginning pressure of having to come up with a business model that’s going to be profitable but focus on finding a real need that people are experiencing then you get to know that problem in a lot more intimate way and the more you become the expert on that problem the better; potential profitable is short-term thinking nowadays. (7:05)
• If we’re designing solutions for lower income people in informal settlements (11:03)
• • Design thinking gives you a tool / framework to explore that problem in more detail. 
• How design thinking has helped Elizabeth. (13:57)
• • Helpful for simplifying her problem down into its core essence which helped in communicating to other people; but also challenged her biases, assumptions, etc. 
• When does she know that enough is enough and when to move on? (20:20)
• • There is a tipping point where you’ve done so much validation that it can become confusing; when you get to that point that is when strategic thinking is important particularly for early stage founders.
• Tools that people can use in this process: (25:52)
• • Lean canvas - essentially a one page business plan which captures your assumptions, the problem you're trying to solve, your solution, your customers, revenue stream, unique value, etc. all on one page; does not account for the role of the individual and does not allow you to explore what you’re passionate about and your strengths.
  • Empathy - not a bad thing to overcompensate; always put yourself back into your customers shoes. 

Resources from this episode:

• Company website: https://www.purposeful.org.au/
• TEDxUWA https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_knight_generation_z_this_one_is_for_you

Connect with Elizabeth:

• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-knight-009757149/

This week on the Finding Impact Podcast, we find out out how a young founder bootstrapped his startup and the lessons he learnt in wannapreneurship. We talk with Cyril Michino, co-founder of Chaptr Global and hear about his entrepreneurial journey having founded 2 startups by the age of 21 and learn that capital is not a barrier for starting up. Cyril shares his experiences around the challenges faced by young founders and how he’s innovating around such challenges by adopting innovative revenue-sharing business models.

On this podcast you will learn:

• How Cyril started his first business – Deliverus, an e-commerce platform in Nairobi, quite accidentally when he was just 17, based on an idea that he and his friends came up with for a high school business plan competition. (03:38)
• Cyril shares how he overcame the challenge of lack of experience, being a young founder, and used tools such as YouTube videos for creating pitch decks, learning marketing techniques, etc. He also shares how he kept his curiosity levels high by reading blogs and articles to learn how things work out in a business and trying to find answers though online resources as much as possible. (09:47)
• About what went wrong with Cyril’s first startup as they set out to focus on things such as getting the infrastructure ready, building the best mobile application, planning a big launch, etc., - things that Cyril calls “entrepreneurial naivety”, irrelevant from an entrepreneurship point of view and leads to wannapreneurship. Cyril also shares these, and many more insights based on this experience on what’s stopping entrepreneurs from actually starting up and also what’s holding back entrepreneurship in Africa in his TEDx talk (check resources below for the link to the talk). (13:26)
• One of the critical things about being a young founder is to invest time in building a team with skills who solve the gaps that the founder personally has, like for example in Cyril’s case, he learnt that they needed people with real experience in managing deliveries, logistics, order fulfilment, things that cannot be learnt online but comes only with experience. (16:13)
• Cyril then shares his journey of starting up his new blended learning edtech platform – Chaptr Global, that helps teach emerging technologies, such as AI, data science, blockchain to people in emerging markets, using an income sharing model, where students can sign-up for courses without upfront payment and pay later when they start earning upon graduation from the program. (19:34)
• Finally, Cyril shares a powerful quote, based on his experience that says –“if you're an entrepreneur and you cannot start off your idea in two weeks, then you're probably not the best person for that thing”. As a young founder, it is important to be able to start work on something that the founder can personally start and build an MVP in less than two weeks. Once the MVP is built, the founder can then focus on learning aspects to improve the MVP, finding product-market fit and growing it into a venture. (21:50)

Resources from this episode:

• Chaptr Global website 
• Dispelling Africa's Impossibility Mindset - Cyril Michimo @ TEDxStateHouseRoad
• Cyril Michino - MIT Launch Application featuring his startup Deliverus Online Supermarkets

Connect with Cyril:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

This week on the Finding Impact Podcast, we are talking to Boston Nyer, co-founder of BURN. Boston's played a wide variety of roles during his 8 years at BURN, including COO, where he was tasked with setting up processes in their factory in Nairobi that makes more than one stove per minute. It's the largest of its kind on the continent.

On this episode you will learn:

• An intro to his background, to BURN, and how BURN is structured. 1:48. 
• How BURN is split up by departments. 6:00.
• • Four pillars: 1) Innovation (ie. new product development, piloting sales models, distribution schemes, etc.), 2) Operations (ie.manufacturing and supply chain), 3) Commercial (sales marketing), 4) Finance and Business support (Admin, IT, and HR). 
  • Which of these four areas Boston realized he needed to formalize by establishing systems and procedures. 7:00. 
• How Boston would start making a procedure. 10:32.
• • Start with and have the right vision on how you’re going to succeed on the market as well as operational side. 
  • Find expertise externally if you do not have it internally. Find two or three experts who disagree with each other, and where they disagree is the spotlight of the area that you can play in. 
  • Avoid the trap of making systems to make systems. 
  • Start early and often. 21:50.
• How Boston introduces new processes to staff without too much pushback. 18:02.
• • Skipfab? - Why, How, What
• How often he revisits procedures. 23:10.
• • It’s continuous, although some things have more of a natural cycle, like launching a new product. 

• Create a forum for conversation of sharing of ideas which might or might not be winners. 25:10.
• How Boston gets people to follow processes. 27:37.
• • Make them and refine them so that they are inherently obvious. 
  • Bonus system to pay people for quality. 
• Resources that Boston would recommend: The Finding Impact podcast, conduct research via google, be self driven, go find external experts, d-rev

Resources from this episode:

• BURN cookstoves https://burnstoves.com/
• D-Rev http://d-rev.org/ 

Connect with Boston:

• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/boston-nyer-9993831a/ 

This week on the Finding Impact Podcast, we are talking about the challenges of maintaining culture as your social business scales, and tactics for how to adapt and scale your culture, with Paul Breloff of Shortlist. Paul's company, Shortlist, helps companies build and develop their teams through a new approach to hiring. Particularly, we’ll be talking about Paul’s experience as he grew Shortlist’s team across two continents and to nearly 100 people and lessons he’s learned from the entrepreneurs at companies Shortlist works with.

On this podcast you will learn:

• The definition to the word Shwashbuckle. 0:58.
• Why why he got into “talent;” his background is mostly in non-talent social enterprise and impact investing after advertising and corporate law. For about 14-15 years now, very focused on financial inclusion and initially was part of a team who set up a community development bank in the US which led to Accion Venture Lab. https://www.accion.org/how-we-work/invest/accion-venture-lab The theme underlying all of this has always been looking at for-profit business models which can expand access to opportunities in different ways. 2:30.
• • Saw a talent gap in companies and how culture could enable or disable teams in doing things. 
• Realized that investors comfort zone was talking about fundraising and strategy. The messy reality of building teams and getting the right people on those teams are something that doesn't get talked about as much, but they often make or break whether these companies work. So Shortlist emerged from those experiences. 6:12.
• Shortlist created a platform (now close to 1 million people) that connects skilled professionals to great careers in India and Kenya, using tech tools that automates the collection of data points beyond their CV. 8:08.
• How Paul came to define Shortlist’s culture. 10:10.
• • Culture should come from the co-founders. A key part of defining the culture was setting strong core values, which are: own it, act with intention, find the adventure, be a whole person, and one team.
• Core values can adapt! Shortlist added “one team” after realizing the importance of this after a merger with another company and now they make it a major priority. 18:56.
• Challenges he faced maintaining culture across multiple continents and what process or activities he put in place to help develop it. Tried to create consistency, and enough opportunities for exchange so people could get to know each other. But distributed teams is probably the future. 21:15.
• • Things that have worked: 1) Creating global informal places to spark chatter and sharing of personality. E.g. Their global WhatsApp group is quite active, silly, not very professional, but lets people throw emoji’s back and forth. 2) Creating face-to-face opportunities for real time connection, ie. making sure the team travels between India and Kenya. 3) Investing in technology that allows you to stay connected remotely. 4) Monthly remote town halls which get the whole office together to say hello to new employees, goodbye to employees moving on, promotions, etc. 24:30.
  • Any pushback from Board members or investors about having too much fun? No. “A startup’s most important product is the team, and making sure it works well. I think our stakeholders believe that and want us to invest in that.” 30:45.
• Resources that Paul would recommend to others: The Culture Code by Daniel Coyle, Setting the Table by Danny Meyer, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh (Zappos CEO), Primed to Perform by Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor. 32:10.

Resources from this episode:

• Shortlist company website https://www.shortlist.net/
• The Meta-Culture of Building Great Teams https://medium.com/@paul_53628/the-meta-culture-of-building-great-teams-b08b8daf5023
• One Team: A Fifth Shortlist Value Enters the World https://medium.com/@paul_53628/one-team-a-fifth-shortlist-value-enters-the-world-87d6fa7b828b
• The Power of Swashbuckle: How Shortlist Decided What’s Important https://medium.com/@paul_53628/the-power-of-swashbuckle-how-shortlist-decided-whats-important-5ca817efcf51

Connect with Paul:

• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-breloff-5638b67/
• Twitter https://twitter.com/paulbreloff?lang=en

This week on the Finding Impact Podcast, we are talking about how founders of social enterprises can transition from being a product builder to company builder, with Glynis Rankin from Creative Metier. Glynis is the CEO of Creative Metier, a niche consultancy that works with social impact investors and their investees to support social enterprises and small and growing businesses in emerging markets through executive coaching, human capital resources, and organizational strengthening.

On this podcast, you will learn:

• How founders shift their leadership and management styles as their social enterprise scales, by looking at issues such as delegation, role of culture and values, coaching styles, etc.
• The key difference between leadership and management roles in early stage social enterprises, where the core objectives of the leadership role are to set the strategic vision for the business, manage the interface between the business and the external environment, and inspire others to engage in it. Whereas, the management role is about the day-to-day activities to achieve the strategic business plan and deliver results.
• The importance of delegation and coaching as a necessary leadership style so that the founder can pass on responsibility of key business functions and driving the business to others within the organization, while the founder can focus on other key aspects of aligning the culture and values with the business vision and future growth.
• About examples of Creative Metier's programs to support small businesses and social enterprise founders in making the transition to a delegation and coaching style of leadership in line with their business objectives and values.
• And finally, Glynis shares excellent resources that are useful to social entrepreneurs and small business founders as they think about shifting their leadership styles and prepare to transition their business for growth and scale. The links for the resources are provided below.

Links to Resources:

• Creative Metier
• HBR Article - 5 Things Leaders Do That Stifle Innovation
• HBR Article – Creativity and the Role of the Leader
• HBR Article – Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?
• Wired Magazine

Connect with Glynis:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

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

This week on the Finding Impact Podcast, we are starting off a new series to help social entrepreneurs understand and navigate the whole gamut of services and service providers in entrepreneurial ecosystems and we are talking with Maryanne Ochola, East Africa Regional Chapter Manager of ANDE (Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs), based in Nairobi. Maryanne shares her views on the different players in entrepreneurial ecosystems, roles they play and services they offer to help social entrepreneurs succeed.

On this podcast, you will learn:

• Why entrepreneurial ecosystems are important - just like Silicon Valley for technology startups or Hollywood for films, these ecosystems increase the productivity of enterprises associated with the ecosystem, drive the pace of innovation and help stimulate the formation of new enterprises.
• Learn about ANDE, its focus on Small and Growing Businesses (SGBs), and its work in building strong local entrepreneurial ecosystems - with 8 offices in emerging economies, having 280+ members as service providers providing financial and non-financial assistance to social entrepreneurs and operating in 150 countries.
• About ANDE's 6x6 framework or key activity domains that underpin its entrepreneurial ecosystem services, such as: (i) finding entrepreneurs, (ii) training entrepreneurs, (iii) cultivating physical and virtual support spaces for entrepreneurs, (iv) funding support for all types of financing, (v) enabling entrepreneurs with legal, regulatory support, and finally (v) celebrating entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs.
• How entrepreneurs can find and make use of the different services provided by the ANDE ecosystem and its member organizations - such as networking events, acceleration programs, pitch competitions, funding support, legal services, etc.
• And finally, how it is also extremely important for investors and entrepreneurial support service providers to be embedded in the local ecosystem and possess an understanding of the local context, challenges, and opportunities in order to deliver maximum value to entrepreneurs.

Links to Resources:

• Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) Global
• ANDE East Africa Chapter Website

Connect with Maryanne:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Sagun Saxena, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of KOKO Networks, is a company operating in Kenya and India that builds and deploys a dense network of kiosks inside local corner stores that distribute bio-ethanol for the modern cookers they sell. This is the third episode in our second 3-part series on invention-based entrepreneurs, supported by The Lemelson Foundation. The series aims to provide unique insights into some of the challenges and workarounds faced by entrepreneurs creating hardware products in emerging markets.

On this episode you will learn:

• A description of the physical product, and how KOKO customers use this on a day-to-day basis. 0:58.
  • KOKO deploys dense networks of KOKOpoints inside neighborhood stores across the city, which communicate real-time with the KOKO Cloud.
  • Customers can buy KOKO Cookers, refill their KOKO Canisters with KOKO Fuel, and access other useful products and services.
• The India team supports the engineering and manufacturing of KOKO Fuel, and the first commercial market they are targeting is East Africa, specifically Nairobi, which already has 700 KOKOpoint dispensers throughout the city. 3:10.
  • Target is to get around 200-250 households around each dispenser location.
• Long term goal is to be in at least 40 to 50 major metropolitan areas across Sub-Saharan Africa.
• How they move highly flammable liquid around the city and partner with large oil companies which already have the infrastructure in place at scale. 6:45
• Why they decided to manufacture in India versus locally in Kenya. 10:45.
  • Cost considerations, and many other factors including logistics.
  • Pros: engineering skills in product iteration, moving product in and out of India easier for global markets, density of suppliers, stable/cheap energy (electricity), and contract workers. 15:00.
  • Cons: Long logistics chain (India is far away), Kenya import uncertainty especially with import taxes of new products not yet categorized. 18:45.
• Top level tips on achieving compliance with regulations. 21:15.
  • Chose this market because clean cooking is a priority for the government, Kenya has a reputation of innovation, and other countries in the region respect how the Kenyan Bureau of Standards (KEBs) looks at new technology - a regulatory body that has a rigorous process for supporting innovation and making new products available.
  • Partnerships with established players adds to credibility. Organizations like gearbox (tied to universities), plus commercial partners like Vivo Energies (the Shell brand) which has world class facilities 25:17.
• How they mobilized capital for hardware with just a prototype. First, articulated a vision, then tried to demonstrate demand (ie. consumer appetite at their price points). 27:20.
• Co-founders had quit their other activities and their basic consumer demand pilot was self-funded 31:18.

Resources from this episode:

• KOKO Networks 

Connect with Sagun:

• LinkedIn 
• Twitter 

• Simon was motivated to solve the problem of not being able to manufacture high--precision products in Kenya. 3.50.
• He realised he needed to approach bigger contract manufacturers who had existing contracts, and could help them achieve better per unit costs with his machine. 6.04
• Helping companies with their problem of long turnaround times of sending parts outside Kenya to be manufactured 8.59
• Simon started with an engineering degree, moved into programming, and making his own electrical circuits.  11.11
• He wanted to make enclosures for his circuit boards, so got into vacuum forming, which needed wooden moulds, and he needed a machine to make the high precision wooden moulds. He built one at home over the course of a year, whilst working a full time job 14.37
• His first client was a university who used it for educational purposes. He did a lot of research online to figure out what parts he needed to make his machine, and which suppliers to order from. He chose US suppliers because they contained alot of content and how-to guides on their website 20.48
• His first commercial client was a manufacturer with a contract from General Motors who had to improve their turn around time for custom parts  29.47
• Simon's proposal to the manufacturer included a design to improve turnaround time, which the manufacturer won the tender on. He received a 50% down payment to build his CNC machine for that client 33.04
• Training staff is key to the business, as it's a unique skill set, and he has a bespoke training scheme for new staff that takes a year. 35.12
• Simon doesn't have competition and he doesn't see it coming, because of the processes and training required for a successful service business 38.48

• proteqautomation.co.ke
• buildyourcnc.com

• Twitter @ProteqAutomate
• Facebook @proteqautomationltd

This week on the Finding Impact Podcast, we are continuing our second series on hardware entrepreneurs, this one with Mike Hahn of PayGo Energy about his hardware development journey. This is the first episode in our second 3-part series on invention-based entrepreneurs, supported by The Lemelson Foundation. The series aims to provide unique insights into some of the challenges and workarounds faced by entrepreneurs creating hardware products in emerging markets. As many will know, from episode 44 with Mike's Co-Founder Fausto, PayGo Energy has created a smart meter that sits on an LPG gas cylinder, that lets customers pay on a PAYG basis.

On this podcast, you will learn:

• How the idea of PayGo came about: started in 2015 with an observation that, on a daily basis, lots of people were lining up at petrol stations to buy kerosene or diesel fuel for cooking and they were bringing small vessels to carry this fuel home, despite there being a liquified petroleum gas (LPG) option 10 meters away. This spurred our question about why aren’t people cooking with LPG? It’s clean, fast, and convenient.
• • This idea came about while all of the co-founders were working for different organizations within the informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya. 
• What their first basic prototype looked like: technical discovery "can we turn gas on and off with a text message?"
• How their diverse group of co-founders with diverse skill sets helped: technology development, understanding the market/operations, etc. and this blend of personalities and experiences gave them an advantage early on.
• For their first prototype they used BRCK components (see episode 111 with Erik Hersman, Co-founder of BRCK https://findingimpact.com/fip-111-hardware-entrepreneurs-3-3-creating-a-modem-cum-router-device-aimed-at-solving-last-mile-connectivity-issues-in-africa-with-erik-hersman/)  in order to test how to get some level of accuracy of measuring gas vapor (actual flow) to the stove, and then send that data remotely to a server while including the ability to shut that gas flow off. 
• Why he uses SolidWorks for designs and recommends GrabCad for downloading files that other people have made based off of the real object. It makes it easy to plug into My Assembly so you can build something around it, and spatially you are in the right ballpark. 
• Why he decided to buy a 3D printer instead of using 3D printing services: it’s incredibly fast and convenient to do it by yourself, especially if you aren’t sure how many iterations will be needed, and you’re learning about the design as you’re making it. 
• How they raised their seed round: having a physical prototype and a real functioning unit in someone’s home along with comprehensive market research and a business modeling effort prepared them for that seed round. Also having a couple backers from very early before the seed round helped instill confidence. 
• When working with manufacturers it’s a good indicator when you get to meet directly with the CEO. 
• Advice for those in the hardware development process: get yourself into it, fake it until you make it. (But his design background at Rhode Island School of Design also helped.) Don't be afraid to ask for help. Talk to people, work with in the past who are willing to pick up the phone. i.e. how to do contract with a contract manufacturer. 

Links to resources:

• PayGo Energy https://www.paygoenergy.co/ 
• SolidWorks http://www.solidworks.com/ 
• GrabCAD https://grabcad.com/

Connect with Mike:

• LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mhahndesign/ 
• Twitter https://twitter.com/paygo_energy?lang=en 

This week on the Finding Impact Podcast, we are talking to Solonia Treodos, Co-founder of The Change School, who describes why social entrepreneurs need a clear fundraising strategy and goal before starting their fundraising activities. Solonia shares her journey of fundraising for The Change School, with lessons from her experience of almost closing a fundraising deal, changing course and walking away from the deal and coming back to it later with a clear strategy.

On this podcast, you will learn:

• How Change School helps transform organizations and individuals by helping them re-connect with their values, re-design their work and re-define success as authentic leaders. Change School thus equips and empowers people to navigate uncertainty and embrace change during the transition or transformation that they are going through.
• About Change School's journey of testing various offline business models such as: creating immersive retreats for people to re-connect with themselves while enabling a peer-to-peer and community learning experience; to creating Change School mind gyms for bite-sized learning to develop mental resilience; and creating bespoke experiential transformation programs for organizations.
• How the founders encountered the growth and scale challenges of Change School by evolving and developing an online delivery model of working with its vast pool of trainers and experts while drawing from the expertise of its offline immersive retreats and retaining the Change School brand personality.
• Why social entrepreneurs should have a strategy of pro-actively approaching investors for funding and alignment with business growth plans rather than just nosediving into fundraising re-actively in trying to impress investors, while not losing focus on the business vision and operating matters such as managing cash flows properly.
• Finally, you will learn about Change School's online courses and tutorials for anyone needing resources and additional support to managing change and transitions. Check out the free online course at https://findingimpact.com/changeschool, which is a 5-day visioning challenge for teams or individuals to help find clarity of vision in careers or lives.

 Links to Resources:

• The Change School
• Personal Website of Solonia Teodros
• Free Online Course – Vision Your Bold Career Move

 Connect with Solonia:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

This week on the Finding Impact podcast, we will be speaking with Caroline Bressan, the Director of Social Investments at Open Road Alliance. This incredible service at Open Road Alliance provides capital (loans or grants) to social impact organizations (non-profit and for-profit) facing an unexpected roadblock during implementation.

On this episode you will learn:

• The story behind why it was set up: founded in 2012 by psychologist and philanthropist Dr. Laurie Michaels to address the need for contingency funds and the absence of risk management practices in philanthropy. It originally started as a grantmaking organization and then moved on to recoverable grants, and finally in 2018 launched Loan Fund Open Road Ventures which is a $50 million dollar commitment towards short term loans on solving this unexpected roadblocks and cash crunches. To date they have put out $18 million towards that $50 million target.
  • Half of their portfolio is in East Africa.
• Fast response: from initial request to decision being made, it’s a period of 6 weeks.
• Examples of:
  • Some organizations receiving bridge loans for accounts receivable and / or the large purchase order, and 
  • Open Road Alliance speaking with actual investors to say that they can help and to not back out.
• The Roadblock Analysis Report which has around 150 data points which shows (among other things) that about half of these cash crunches are caused by funder created obstacles.
  • E.g. An agricultural social enterprise in Kenya can look to see what are the top three risks likely to occur so that they can put a contingency plan in place.
• Caroline’s advice from the entrepreneur side: when talking to investors, first make sure they have already raised their funding and ask if they have made their first deal out of their new fund. Impact investors, particularly in East Africa, could do a better job about being clear and transparent regarding their application process, their timeline for disbursement, and criteria they use to make decisions.
• Open Road Alliances criteria for social entrepreneurs:
  • 1) It has to be mid implementation (ie. you had all the money you needed and then something happened).
  • 2) An “unexpected” criteria (ie. something external outside of the management teams control, like a funder pulling out, the government changing a policy, or an office being robbed, etc.).
  • 3) Discreet criteria (ie. need to be able to fully solve the problem at hand, for example, the average loan is $300k and if you have a million dollar gap, Open Road Alliance won’t be able to fund you until you find that first $500k).
  • 4) Catalytic impact criteria (ie. does this model have the potential to be system changing either in design or scale, and what is the probability of achieving that impact?)
  • **Geography is not important.
• The process: an entrepreneur-centric approach. It typically takes 4 to 6 weeks, although the fastest they have ever moved is 7 days. You can connect through an existing investor or reach out to the OpenRoadAlliance.org email to start an initial conversation to talk through your model, ask questions about the roadblock(s), and Open Road Alliance can give a diagnosis to how well things are fitting into their criteria. The next stage is the application which is 4 pages and asks about your model, the roadblock, the solution, and the impact. Open Road Alliance can have a 1 hour call to give feedback to make the application as strong as possible before moving to the investment committee. Then a decision is made after that within a week. In between Open Road Alliance will check references, talk through repayment structures, etc.
• Open Road Alliance has only had 1 loss out of 60 loans.

Links to Resources:

• Open Road Alliance website 
• Open Road Alliance funding inquiries email: funding@openroadalliance.org 
• Roadblock Analysis Report 

Connect with Caroline:

• LinkedIn 
• Twitter 
• Open Road Alliance Twitter

• Allie Burns - CEO of Village Capital: get clarity on the key milestones to grow your business i.e. building your team, validating your value prop, refining your product or sales process. Then ask how an accelerator will help. And then do your research to find out which accelerator will help you reach those milestones.
  • Check out https://vilcap.com/programs/ to check out their active and recruiting programs, and they're tweeting at @villagecapital
• David Bartram - Director of Ventures at UnLtd: Three key things. 1- be really clear what you want to get out of programme; 2- think about what you can give back i.e. to other cohort entrepreneurs or the accelerator organisation; 3- don't change your idea to fit the needs of the accelerator.
  • Check out https://www.unltd.org.uk/ and they're tweeting at @UnLtd
• Siobhain Dullea - CEO of MassChallenge: Be clear about what problem you're trying to solve and why your product is the solution. Share your numbers (churn, revenue, profit), traction (interest and demand), go-to-market strategy or product development process. And your team - why they're the winners.
  • Check out https://masschallenge.org/ and @MassChallenge
• Ben Powell - Founder and CEO of Agora Partnerships: Articulate three things. Your market opportunity or idea (sustainability), quality of your team, quality of your impact. Be sure to highlight your core values and the kind of culture you hope to build. Talk with maturity, and openness and some vulnerability on how to build culture and attract the best people.
  • So check out https://agora2030.org/ and Ben is tweeting at @BenAgora
• Paul Miller - CEO of Bethnal Green Ventures: Tell us something about the problem we don't know. Explain why you're the people that understands this problem, in a way that people haven't understood it before.
  • Check out https://bethnalgreenventures.com/ and they're tweeting at @BG_Ventures
• Luni Libes - Founder & Managing Director, Fledge: Applying to an accelerator is like an elevator pitch. Balance giving enough information in a clear and concise format. in just a few paragraphs. also convey how far along you are. where you are. how fast you want to grow. where to get to.
  • Check out fledge.co/ - Luni is tweeting at @lunarmobiscuit.
• Ryan Kushner - The Accelerator Guy: put yourself in their shows. How you'll be evaluated. Are you in scope for that program. Do you tick the boxes. If so, lay out the team, technology, promise and your social impact. Put it in their language. 
  • Check out https://acceleratorguy.com/ and Ryan is tweeting from @KushyKush
• Tom Rippin - CEO and Founder of OnPurpose: demonstrate your interest, tailor your application, and don't just write a me, me, me cover letter. Say why you're interested in doing this and why you. 
  • Check out https://onpurpose.org/ and they're tweeting at @OnPurposeUK

This is part three of a 3-part series on invention-based entrepreneurs, supported by The Lemelson Foundation. The series aims to provide unique insights into some of the challenges and workarounds faced by entrepreneurs creating hardware products in emerging markets. This third part episode is with Erik Hersman, co-founder of BRCK, which creates a modem-cum-router device aimed at solving last-mile connectivity issues in Africa. We're going to talk about the early prototypes, how they funded manufacturing and validated the market, some of the challenges they had along the way, and how the product evolved into what it is today.

On this episode you’ll learn: 

• Erik’s mantra about why “Experience is knowing what not to do.”
• “Managing expectations.” It took 15-16 months to get a prototype working, then another 12-18 months to build it for the market.
  • It could be done quicker if you: 1) really know what you’re doing (ie. what materials should be used, 2) if you’re well capitalized (have the money), and 3) if you’re not based in Africa (increases costs and time).
• How to validate the market to make sure people will buy it? Kickstarter, the crowdfunding platform, is a great way to find out.
  • Raised $170,000 then created a for-profit company to raise additional capital.
• Early stage companies (particularly in hardware) have to find a balance of when to pull the trigger on shipping.
  • Internal message was that it is not acceptable to miss deadlines.
  • External message to stakeholders that you try to deliver when you say you’re going to.
• Some of the initial problems (that went wrong) and why initial timelines were pushed back: “end of life” manufacturer (ie. they don’t make it anymore), testing at scale, user experience, etc.
• Internal conversation within the company on whether they are solving the real problem of how do you get people online?
  • Resulted in business model innovation (more so than technology innovation) which led to Moja wifi in Kenya and Rwanda which serves up free internet to half a million people.
• Linear versus non-linear growth: when you’re getting venture backed finance or choose to take venture funding, they are looking for non-linear growth.
• Why they became a vertically integrated company—discovered value in building everything in house—helps with risk mitigation, agility, and the ability to respond to customer needs.
• How Moja wifi is funded.
• What Erik knows now that he wished he knew back then:
  • Realize earlier that they needed to build a platform on top of the hardware since the hardware is just a means to an end.
  • Focus more capital on the super brck earlier (their next generation device) since it was delayed 6 months.
  • Hiring the right people: maybe hired too fast in some positions and didn’t get the right people.

 Links to Resources:

• Company website https://www.brck.com/

Connect with Erik:

• Email: Info@brck.com
• Twitter https://twitter.com/brcknet?lang=en

This is part two of a 3-part series on invention-based entrepreneurs, supported by The Lemelson Foundation. The series aims to provide unique insights into some of the challenges and workarounds faced by entrepreneurs creating hardware products in emerging markets. This part two episode is with Mary Mwangi of Data Integrated Ltd., and we are going to hear about her electronic hardware development journey on manufacturing products to improve security in public transport, and to reduce financial leakage. Data Integrated Ltd. is creating electronic hardware products for businesses in East Africa to help business owners keep track of money, whether that is transport companies keeping track of passengers, or point of sale (PoS) devices for retail businesses taking cash and mobile money payments.

On this episode you will learn:

• The biggest problem that most small businesses in Africa face is a lack of data. There is not enough information around their payments, about their resources, and services they are being paid for--there is no digitized or automated way of keeping this and it has been very manual and not very productive.
  • Cash leakage and loss of revenue for owners
  • Insecurity
• Her easy and affordable point of sale (PoS) device for retail businesses taking cash and mobile money payments, particularly small restaurant owners, and making sure it would work for the local African market.
  • Integrates with mobile money providers, card payments from the bank, and cash payments all captured in one place.
  • Keeps track of inventory that has been paid and gives data back to the owners in an easy to read dashboard so they can make better decisions.
  • Raspberry pi - premade hardware kit for simple programming.
• One of the biggest challenges she faced was the long development cycle, having to send electronic boards to China, create a prototype, test, iterate, and send back again for testing. Each iteration can take over two months to get the next version back.
  • No PCB manufacturer exists in East Africa that can create such small PCB units.
  • Mary recently bought a 3D printer to shorten casing time.
• Her struggles with sourcing good local talent so people can help create these PCBs. Since there is no industry in East Africa, there is not as much local talent nor expertise, and people are finding the tools online to teach themselves, so there is a lot of trial and error going on. Her advice is:
  • Get referrals from local universities
  • Recruit young people keen to learn
  • Accessing experts on LinkedIn, YouTube videos
• How she is financing her business with this long development cycle. It is really difficult to get funding for hardware development, so they label themselves as a software company, since they create connected devices for software solutions.
• How she creates partnerships in order to find hardware solutions and to iterate the product with them, then sell it onto other customers. Once you are able to do it with one company, then you find similar ones that also want the same solution.
• Finally, you will learn about the new actionable playbook for invention-based entrepreneurs based on interviews and discussions with leaders in the field, delving into the challenges of bringing physical products into the market. The playbook prepared by Finding Impact will provide actionable content around issues such as workarounds, hiring teams, raising funds, creating minimum viable products and launch strategies, to help entrepreneurs on their invention journey. Click here to sign-up for the playbook.

Links to resources:

• Data Integrated Ltd. (company website)
• Videos of how their products work (fleet management, eticketing, cctv, cashless cards, etc.)
• Mara phones in Rwanda: “Rwanda Is Set To Open Africa's First Smartphone Factory In April 2019.”

Connect with Mary:

• LinkedIn
• Company Email: Communications@DataIntegrated.co.ke
• Twitter