EP1 Alexie Seller - Creating Impact for Women Entrepreneurs in India and Nepal

Today’s guest is Alexie Seller who is CEO and co-founder of the Pollinate Group which is a not-for-profit social enterprise which, through empowering women entrepreneurs and providing customer financing, provides access to life changing products like affordable and clean energy technology that improves the livelihood of poor people living in slums and villages in India and Nepal.

Now I first met Alexie in 2013 when we were both speakers at a Sustainable Development conference in Melbourne. At this time she had just co-founded what was then Pollinate Energy which she formed with five other young Australians to see if they could find a way for children living in a slum in North Bengaluru, to have light to study.

What began as a trial of solar lights in a makeshift community has now developed into the Pollinate Group which today empowers women as leaders of change to distribute products that help families save time, save money and improve their health. These entrepreneurs which they call Pollinators provide these products on short-term payment plans to their communities who usually have trouble accessing loans or credit.

They operate across India, Nepal, Australia and the US.

In this episode we talk about the reason Alexie founded her company, the challenges she faced and what advice she would give to others that have a vision for a better world - oh and we also discuss the missed opportunity to teach Australian Prime Minister Sco Mo to bust a move like MC Hammer.