Corporate Unplugged

Reynir Indahl isn’t just a man who talks the talk, he is a man who walks the walk. 

Having had a wobble as he turned 40, questioning what he was doing and what impact he was having on the world, Reynir, much to his family and friends confusion, turned his back on his successful career in finance in order to focus on being a solution to the world’s most significant challenges. 

Drawing on his Harvard education, Reynir founded Summa Equity in 2016, a purpose-driven, Nordic private equity firm managing €1.4 billion, to invest in companies looking to solve global challenges.

“The world is developing rapidly. This poses new social and environmental challenges. By investing in companies that actively work to solve these challenges, creating a prosperous society for everyone, Summa is part of the solution.”

This isn’t Reynir’s first time on Corporate Unplugged, he originally sat down with Vesna in 2018 to discuss Summa Equity and the work it was doing, and now feels like the right time to catch up with Reynir again, to see how far he’s come and hear what he’s learned over the last few years. 

When Reynir first ventured into impact investing, he was concerned with the effect that the financial system was having on the world around us, and how companies are increasingly affecting environmental issues. But then he realised that everyone is feeling its effects - social inequality is on the increase, for example, and this concerned him because he didn’t know if he was part of the solution or part of the problem. 

So he took steps to rectify this. Which has subsequently led him to where he is today.  

“These challenges create immense opportunities in the financial system. And investors can be a big force for driving that change. So I decided to leave private equity and started to work with with philanthropy and impact investing.”

We hope you enjoy this podcast as much as we did. 

In this podcast:

• Why Reynir credits the financial crisis as the transformational point in his life
• How Summa Equity creates value
• How Summa Equity chooses and works with the companies they invest in
• Why Reynir’s passion is problem solving
• How his kids are helping him see the world differently
• Why companies need to unleash the creativity in their organisations
• What Private Equity 4.0 is

Links:

• https://corporateunplugged.com/reynir-indahl/
• Albert Hirschman - Exit, Voice, Loyalty

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Jan Broman, along with his brother, founded Fotografiska as a meeting place to inspire a more conscious world, using photography - portrait, fashion, nature and documentary photography, for example, to initiate conversations. Not just conversations about the here and now, but what the photos represent and the world around us. 

The renovated former Customs House, built in 1906 in the heart of Stockholm, is home to Fotografiska, now considered one of Scandinavia’s most important and powerful artistic magnets. 

Since opening almost ten years ago, Fotografiska has hosted some of the biggest names in photography from Annie Leibovitz to Gus Van Sant to Martin Parr. But Fotografiska is anything but a regular museum or art gallery. At its core it is a dedicated hub of human interaction, a creative space that nurtures thoughts and discussion and encourages the exchanging of ideas. 

As Jan says, “What we have become is more like a place where conversation can take place. And it can be inspired by what we do in the exhibition spaces, but it could also be inspired by what we do with the food, and helping people to get a bit more conscious.”

Because Fotografiska’s vision is to inspire a more conscious world, Jan and his brother are keen to share their values of inspiration, inclusion, innovation, sustainability and relevance not just with their partners, but with the people who come to meet there. To make its accessibility even greater and to make more impactful places for photography around the world, Fotografiska is very soon expanding to New York, and London not long after that.

“We see people meeting, meeting their friends, meeting family and loved ones. All kinds of meetings take place here. Fotografiska is more and more becoming a familiar sort of a place for conversations.”

In this podcast:

• The importance of creating a space for meeting and talking
• The value of talking
• Why Fotografiska isn’t just relevant in Sweden, but around the world
• How to be more conscious
• How photography can raise awareness of global issues
• The benefits of getting older   
• If you run a company you have to be able to fight and change
• Why the world needs more empathy right now

Links:

• www.fotografiska.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If, like us, you are captivated by the inspiring actions of a select few individuals who are devoted to save the planet, then you want to listen to this podcast with Ulf Stenerhag, the Swedish entrepreneur who doesn’t believe passion is driving him in his quest to bring about change for the future generations, but a sense of compassion and responsibility.

Because that is the kind of man Ulf is: understated, not a self publicist. In fact, for his latest venture, Wayout, they haven’t actually launched it yet publicly, because they’re too busy just getting on with, well, getting on with it. His company hopes to empower people by way of job opportunities, resolve issues of scarcity of water, and reducing or eliminating plastic consumption.

“We are, let's say hard, hard working people, working more on deploying, rather than to shout about it. And there is also a reason for that, we want to make sure that everything works out fine before we go very, very public.”

But Ulf shouldn’t fear failure. This is a guy who is the CEO of Thurne Teknik, a Nordic Tech Trade company with many years of experience in leading international and industrial sales organisation. A man who has built up significant experience creating value-based corporate cultures in challenging global business environments. The founder of Not For Sale Ale, a company built for social impact and a beer where 100% of profits is invested in the fight against modern slavery. No, Ulf is a one man war on creating change, and his ‘just get on with it’ attitude is inspirational. 

“If you want to do important things in this life, first start, then continue.”

In this podcast:

• Why a lack of courage stymies activity
• Why people separate their agenda in their professional life from their personal life
• What we can learn from the world’s smallest petrol station
• How to build company culture
• Why the most important thing for companies is to figure out their purpose
• The importance of letting employees explore their own personal values
• Why the world needs leadership, hope and bravery most right now
• If you want to do important things in this life, first start, then continue. 

Links:

• Tool - value online
• NGO - The Hunger Project
• Wayout Website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If we want to change the world, instead of fighting against the system from the outside, how about taking a leaf out of Maria Cristina Papetti’s life book, and try to change the world from the inside?

“Being an activist, that is not easy, because you need a lot of energy, a lot of passion. But from the outside, always fighting all the time against something, that is easy. It’s what you can do when you are inside the system, that some would say, is more challenging.”

And Maria Cristina embodies the passionate purpose that the company she works for, exists to fulfill. Enel, a global Italian utility company believes that ‘sustainability will not develop without continuous innovation and for us innovation is meaningless unless it is oriented towards sustainability.’

Enel couldn’t have chosen a better person to be their Head of Sustainability Projects and Practice Sharing, because Maria Cristina is not just dedicated to her work - what she does is so much more than just a job, you see, Maria Cristina’s desire to change the world through sustainability and innovation is a part of who she is. 

“I'm always asking myself, even nowadays, what kind of woman you would like to be in your future… for young professionals entering this world, be curious about people, about the world, about friends, about what is all around you. This is really important, if you get that, if you make a deep dive into everything, because you need to catch and to understand what can be done.”

In this podcast:

• How to bring about change through sustainability and innovation
• The importance of embedding sustainability into business and creating a new culture
• How a utility company can better the world we are living in
• Why we all have a purpose
• Innovation can make your business more sustainable
• Open power
• Why young professionals need to be curious
• It is important that you live the life you are here to live
• There is no Planet B

Links:

• Enel
• Barefoot College
• Solar energy, the Barefoot College and Enel in Africa
• The sun reaches inside homes in Bahia

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this podcast:

• Changing cultural perceptions of parenthood and work
• Designing a learning experience around parenthood 
• Riccarda’s dream for Ma’am is that they become useless with no more clients
• Why Riccarda is passionate about making sense and maintaining consistency
• What makes a business work today is what will hinder its growth in the future
• Why the current thinking on retirement needs to be re-examined
• The link between power and responsibility
• Why the world really needs more care at this time

Links:

• https://www.maam.life/en/
• http://www.opesfund.eu/

What if businesses looked at parenthood as a training model and were empowered to do good in the world with an ethics-first approach? Learn how Riccarda Zezza, founder of MAAM, is aiming to do just that. Based in Milano, Italy, MAAM is the world's first and only digital training program turning parenthood into a masters in key skills for business.

MAAM delivers a powerful digital and life-based program that builds employees’ soft skills by up to 35% in a very engaging and rewarding way, in order to boost employee motivation and company productivity.

MAAM’s goal is to transform life experiences into business skills and shape a world of work where everyone can fulfill their potential. To date, MAAM has been used by over 40 Italian and international organizations to train over 4,500 participants.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Harish Hande is founder and chairman of Selco Foundation, a social enterprise seeking to inspire and implement socially, financially and environmentally inclusive solutions, by improving access to sustainable energy. 

Selco have made under-served communities the central focus of their thoughts, words and actions. Harish has a doctorate in energy engineering from the University of Massachusetts and he serves on the boards of many organisations, both national and international.

In this podcast:

• What Selco is and who it’s serving
• The impact Selco has in India and what they hope to do
• How Harish defines his passion for leveling the playing field of opportunity for the poor, no matter where people come from
• What social enterprise is, and what it should be
• Why Harish would like to innovate the education system
• Why Harish hopes to see Selco kill itself

Links:

• http://www.selcofoundation.org/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nivi Sharma is COO of BRCK, a company connecting Africa to the internet. BRCK is at the cutting edge of frontier market technology needs for connectivity, whether that’s for people or things.

Nivi is involved because she has dedicated her career to creating digital access for children, youth, and adults. 

Nivi is passionate about the potential impact the internet can have on the economic and social development for the 800 million Africans who are currently not connected, although they all have devices designed for a digital world.

In 2011, Nivi co-founded eLimu, the first company to digitize the Kenyan Primary School curriculum for revision and literacy. Nivi’s other passion is creating children’s playgrounds and enabling connectivity in an analogue way. 

In this podcast:

• Why Nivi is passionate about connectivity
• Nivi’s dreams for BRCK and overcoming barriers to connectivity
• Why we need to connect in a more meaningful way
• The transformational points in Nivi’s life that have influenced her so far
• Why Nivi wants to make the idea of public spaces different
• Why leaders need to listen with an open heart and with empathy
• The importance of listening to yourself 
• Why companies should be focusing on integrity and creating values
• Nivi’s answer for the world is more love and empathy

Links:

• www.BRCK.com
• www.e-Limu.org

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Future of Education With A Techno Optimist

Raya Bidshahri is a serial entrepreneur, writer, educator, futurist and keynote speaker. She has been described as a techno optimist, a communicator of popular science, and an advocate of curiosity, critical thinking, wonder, and awe. 

Raya is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Awecademy, a future-focussed educational organization that is disrupting traditional high school curricula and inspiring students to bring about civilization-level change.

In this podcast:

• Why traditional education models, systems and curriculum are outdated
• Why almost all global challenges, man-made ones especially, boil down to human limitations
• How parents can look to challenge the traditional education experience
• How exponential technologies can be used to tackle global and existential challenges facing our world
• Who Raya thinks we actually are (from a cosmic perspective)
• Raya’s passion—the one that she is willing to suffer for
• What the transformational points in Raya’s life have been
• Why the future of education takes a more blended, hybrid approach, it isn’t just online and digital
• Why the most challenging part of fundraising is subjectivity
• Raya’s advice to leaders
• What Raya believes the world needs most right now

Links:

• SciFest Dubai
• Robin Farmanfarmaian - The thought leaders formula
• Intelligent optimism
• A New Earth - Eckhart Tolle
• https://www.rayabidshahri.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nicklas Bergman has spent the past 25 years working as an entrepreneur and a technology investor, mostly focusing on investments and business development in emerging markets. A couple of years ago he embarked on a journey to understand where technology is taking us and if we are ready for the upcoming tech storm. Today Nicklas talks about accepting uncertainty, being curious but skeptical, his book “Navigating the Tech Storm,” a three-way process for innovation in technology, tech trends he finds interesting right now, and why the world needs to get better at listening to different opinions.

On today’s podcast:

• Accepting uncertainty
• Being curious but skeptical
• Navigating the Tech Storm
• A three-way process for innovation in technology 
• Interesting tech trends
• Listening to different opinions

Links:

• Navigating the Tech Storm
• NicklasBergman.com

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Today’s guest is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Copia Global, Tracey Turner. Passionate about social businesses, social investing and international development, Tracey talks to us about using capitalism to end global poverty.  

Inspired by a class she took in her first semester at Dartmouth called “The Politics of Starvation,” and by her travels to Africa, Asia and Latin America, Tracey has seen first-hand that people in the developing world are incredibly talented, hardworking and intelligent. What they lack is opportunity. 

And having worked in microfinance before founding Copia Global, Tracey is a firm believer that capital constraints keep people trapped in poverty. In fact, in America alone, 98% of venture capital goes to white men and the remaining 2% to white women and minorities. According to Tracey, if minorities and low-income people had access to venture capital, the world would be a dramatically different place.

On today’s podcast:

• How using capitalism can end global poverty
• The advantages of running a for-profit over a not-for-profit when trying to help the world’s poorest people
• Why startups need to stay lean in the beginning
• The world’s greatest evil, besides oil, is an under-utilised mind
• Microfinance is what is good about capitalism, it helps people raise themselves out of poverty
• Why entrepreneurs should embrace failure

Links:

• Andela
• The Lean Startup

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.