The Good Business Podcast

Seema Sanghavi, Transforming a Passion for Cooking into a Purpose with Cooks Who Feed

In today’s episode I am talking with Seema Sanghavi, Founder of Cooks Who Feed who transformed her love for cooking into a business that benefits artisans in India and connects with non-profits.

This episode is a great example of the power of one as Seema is probably like many of you listening. You see Seema read an article on food waste one day and felt the need to do something about it but wasn’t sure where to start. Then one day whilst out on a run she came up with an idea. That idea was Cooks who Feed which she decided to create as a side hustle whilst working full time, raising three young children, and confronting that fear of failure we all experience whenever we set out to make a difference in the world.

Cooks Who Feed sell aprons and for each apron sold they provide 100 hungry people with a nutritious meal whilst also empowering female artisans in India to help others.

In this episode I talk with Seema about the event that triggered her drive to make a difference, the fears she had to face in making it happen, and how the power of one person can create a ripple that spreads around the world.

To access the show notes visit https://www.bluetribe.co/podcast

Hugh McGilligan, From Branding Expert to Creating the Future of Farming

Today’s guest is Hugh McGilligan who is the CEO at Sprout Stack, Australia’s only commercial scale vertical farm.

Sprout Stack is a great example of an innovative company - it has developed a system for highly-efficient and sustainable salad production using repurposed shipping containers - they produce a range of nutritious, delicious, sustainable and locally grown salads for the Sydney market.

As a youngster Hugh spent summers working in traditional agriculture, on his uncle’s farm in the UK. He then wasted a couple of decades, climbing slippery corporate poles, as a strategist, mainly in advertising, mostly in New York City. After moving to Australia and the arrival of his first child he began a reappraisal of the important things in life. He realised that, after years of helping to tell other people’s stories, it was time to write his own.

For this interview I visited Sprout Stacks facility in an industrial estate on the Northern Beaches area of Sydney and we have some bonus content where we go on an audio tour of the facility at the end of the episode.

In this episode we hear about Hugh’s journey from branding expert in New York City, the challenges of building an innovative urban farming business, and you will get practical advice from a branding expert on how to build a brand that your customers will love and that also does great things in the world.

You can access the notes for today’s episode by simply visiting www.bluetribe.co/podcast and check out episode number 6.

Jill Heyes, Upcycling Used Tea Bags for Good

Our guest in this episode is Jill Heyes, CEO and founder of Original T-bag designs.

I first heard about Jill and Original T-bag designs whilst on a family holiday to South Africa. I was talking to a local guide about what we do at Blue Tribe and how we help organisations and entrepreneurs to develop commercial solutions to environmental and social issues and he raved about this company called Original T-Bag designs who make home wares and fashion products out of used t-bags whilst at the same time providing jobs and hope to people living overwhelming poverty in the Townships near Cape Town.

I was so curious about this that I reached out to Jill and as it happens she has family in Sydney and was coming to Australia to see them so I took the opportunity to talk to her about her journey with Original T-bag designs.

In this episode we hear about the humble beginnings of Original T-Bag Designs, some of the many challenges Jill has had to overcome to grow Original T-Bag Designs into a sustainable business which employs crafters from a Township near Cape Town and supports their extended families throughout South Africa. Known affectionately as the T-Bag Lady, Jill shows us that just like that perfect brew every sustainable business needs the right combination of ingredients.

So grab yourself a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy my interview with Jill Heyes.

To access the show notes visit https://www.bluetribe.co/episode5

Sarah Mort, From Natural Disaster to Building with Purpose

Today on the Good Business Podcast we have Sarah Mort from MiHaven, a Cairns based construction company and certified Benefit corporation that focuses on social impact through sustainable housing, developing long term employment for Indigenous Australians, and affordable housing in tropical North Queensland.

Sarah has always been a trail-blazer. In the 1990s, Sarah was the first female project manager to be employed by construction giant Multiplex working on large-scale construction projects in Sydney and is now blazing a new trail as a Director of MiHaven proving that profit and purpose can be aligned.

In today’s episode we talk about how a natural disaster, mixed in with an innovation award, and a chance meeting led to the establishment of a construction company with a social purpose.

You can access the show notes at https://www.bluetribe.co/episode4

Dr Gavin Armstrong, Alleviating Iron Deficiency Around the World using a Simple Health Innovation

My guest today is Dr. Gavin Armstrong who is a committed impact entrepreneur. He is currently serving as the Founder and President of Lucky Iron Fish Enterprise, a social enterprise attempting to alleviate iron deficiency around the world using a simple health innovation.

Whilst the innovation behind Lucky Iron fish is one of my favourite case studies in how to commercialise University research - it is Gavin’s journey from severe bullying to the founding of a social enterprise aiming to solve the issue of malnutrition that is the real inspiration.

We talk about how bullying shaped his path towards social entrepreneurship, how Lucky Iron fish’s first product failed and how they overcame these challenges and ultimately created a business model for global distribution.

You can access the show notes at https://www.bluetribe.co/episode3

EP2 Tom Szaky, Eliminating the Idea of Waste

Today on the Good Business Podcast I talk with Tom Szaky, Founder and CEO of TerraCycle.

In 2006 Tom featured on the cover of Inc. Magazine, as the #1 CEO in America under 30 years old as part of their coveted 30 under 30 Awards.

Since then Tom has become a world leader in recycling and upcycling and is on a mission to show that Terracycle can be a very successful social enterprise with the key goal of eliminating waste from being burned or buried while being a profitable business.

In this episode we hear about how a group of friends growing pot with worm poop inspired a thriving business on a mission to eliminate the idea of waste, we discuss the challenges Tom faced in growing the business, the secret to creating a successful sustainability strategy, and how it is possible to align profit with purpose.

You can access the show notes at https://www.bluetribe.co/episode2 

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.

The Good Business Podcast Trailer

The Good Business Podcast where you get an inside view of what it takes to take an idea to transform the world for the better and turn it into something real.

There are thousands of change makers out there in the world from people working in Government developing innovation programs, researchers and academics discovering the next generation of sustainable solutions, sustainability managers fighting for every dollar to support their initiative and business leaders and entrepreneurs starting new enterprises to solve social and environmental problems.

In this podcast we talk with these change-makers and leaders.  You’ll get insights into the personal stories that drive these change-makers to make a difference in the world.

You’ll get to hear first hand about that 'ah-ha' moment when inspiration struck

And you’ll get practical advice directly from these change-makers to keep you motivated on your journey to change the world.

This podcast has the stories you never hear, the challenges and struggles behind what every change-maker faces, what it really takes to take your idea to save the world and make it into something real.

The Good Business Podcast is about making doing good, good for business.

Subscribe now wherever to listen to podcasts - together we can make a huge impact.

To learn more visit https://www.bluetribe.co/podcast