November 05, 2023

#148 Martijn Wilder (First Ever In-Depth Public Interview): Book publishing family to building Pollination & the $15B National Reconstruction Fund

1 hour 3 minutes

Martijn Wilder is the Founder & CEO of Pollination, a global climate change advisory and investment firm. He is also the chair of the $15B National Reconstruction Fund set up by the Australian Government and was previously Head of Baker & McKenzie’s global climate law and finance practice for twenty years working with governments and bodies to accelerate the global net zero transition.

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Episode guiding points:

Learn about Martijn’s sunrise in Sydney, Australia being of British and dutch heritage with his parents having immigrated to Aus in their early 20’s and a strong family history of working in the book publishing industry, and influences of his 2 younger sisters. You may be surprised to learn that Martijn wanted to be a vet at age 18, and fell into law and business.

Questions our host, Vidit exploring with Martijn include: His Honours thesis at university in economics focused on antarctic legal issues, What made him join and then work at the law firm, Baker Mackenzie for 20 years, How he rose up to partner and his learnings on backing people, climate solutions projects he worked on around the world including buying and selling UN sanctioned carbon credits in 2004, Helping FIJI host the COP, attended by heads of countries, meeting indigenous leaders for regenerative agriculture projects and more. Our host, Vidit was particularly fascinated by how some of these projects actually originate and the realities behind the scenes. We cover Martijn’s journey to being on and chairing various non for profit and government boards including the clean energy finance corporation, the australian renewable agency and most recently being appointed to chair $15B National Reconstruction Fund set up by the Australian Government.

Important aspects of his story that are intriguing include the role his wife Jane has played in his life, and of course how and why he decided to set up Pollination nearly 4 years ago now, their thesis, the first 12 months of setting it up with COVID hitting, Raising capital and learn about Martijn’s systems and habits to manage his time and his most recommended newsletter he religiously reads.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

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The High Flyers Podcast re-imagines the traditional notion of a "high flyer" and is a premier product of the Curiosity Center. The podcast showcases the journeys of relatable role models from their sunrise (childhood) to today. Listeners love the unique and direct inside access to these relatable role models, companies and industries in every walk of life to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

145+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

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By Vidit Agarwal