IMPACT VENTURERS - Change-makers Share their Stories

Akintola (Tola) Adesanmi is the CEO of Spleet, a prop-tech startup located in Lagos, Nigeria, which is focused on the development of products for improving aspects of the Nigerian Rental Market. In this episode, we discussed Spleet's innovative solutions as well as the Nigerian entrepreneurial ecosystem. 

Tejal Kaur is the Founder and Director of Graymatters Medical Practice PC, a mental health practice providing personalised mental health care that extends well beyond treating mental illness - to empower patients, to prevent mental health challenges, and to build better lives for patients, staff, and communities.

Lanre Ajakaiye is the Founder & CEO of 25 Bough Street.

Kathy LeMay is a veteran in the world of Philanthropy, with over thirty years of work as a Fundraiser and Leader of several organisations, including Women for Women International, World Pulse Media, Zana Africa, Beyond Words Publishing, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and others. In 2005, she founded Raising Change Inc, of which she was the CEO for over 14 years. Kathy is currently the Director of Philanthropy at Amazon Watch, an organization that works in solidarity with Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin to defend the rainforest. She is also getting her Master’s degrees in Advanced Trauma-Informed Mental Health Counseling to support those on the front lines of social change and global unrest. She’s based in western Massachusetts where she operates a farm sanctuary and rescue with her sister. In this episode, Kathy shared her wisdom on philanthropy, fundraising, empathy, listening, leading, teaching, and explained the effect that 'surrendering' has had in her own quest to deal with trauma as well as helping others deal with theirs... 

Garri Rivkin is an Entrepreneurial Educator, Learning Specialist, Higher Education Administrator, Career Coach, and Community Organizer.

In this Episode, Frank Azeke describes Nigeria's slowly developing entrepreneurial ecosystem and discusses the opportunities available, as well as the huge obstacles that Nigerian entrepreneurs have to overcome in order to succeed. 

Frank Azeke is a College Professor and Entrepreneur with a passion for transforming young minds, universities, and organizations by sharing real-world experience in entrepreneurship, education, and startup business. 

Lisa Selin Davis is the author of hundreds of essays and articles for publications like the New York Times, Time Magazine, The Washington Post, The Guardian, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and many others. She is also the author of 'TOMBOY', a non-fiction book, where she explores the evolution of Tomboyism, honouring girls and women who defy gender norms. In this episode, we discuss the history, science and psychology of gender non-conforming girls, what their future holds, and how we understand them now in the context of gender identity. 

Gabriel Brodbar's career in the field of social impact spans over 25 years. He began by developing and operating award-winning drop-out prevention and college prep programs for at-risk youth in Houston and New York. He later founded and directed Dartington-i NY, a national and international consulting firm, providing a wide range of research and tools to city and state child social service systems. In 2005, he became the founder and Executive Director of NYU's Reynolds Program in Social Entrepreneurship, where he stayed for 13 years. The program provided funding and support to students, faculty and other parties from across NYU and around the world, focused on realising pattern-breaking change of social importance in sustainable and scalable ways. Today, he is the founder and Principal of GB Consulting, a firm that focuses on the strategic management and policy needs of social enterprises, non profits and government agencies, as well as an Ambassador to The Black Entrepreneurship Initiative. In this discussion, Gabe shares experiences from his long career and offers insight into the world of social impact. 

Micah Kotch is a nationally recognized thought leader with deep relationships across multiple mobility, urbantech and energy-related sectors. His current position as Managing Director of Urban-X, an Urban-Tech venture accelerator affiliated with the BMW Group, allows him to work at the forefront of innovation, helping early-stage Urbantech startups succeed. 

Frank Mruk is an architect, a strategist and a social entrepreneur. He is the Executive Director of the Center for Smart Building Technology in Roxbury, MA, a center focused on training the workforce for hybrid professions related to smart buildings. He is also the Executive Director of the Center for Strategic Innovation. In the past he has served as the Associate Dean of NYIT's School of Architecture and Planning, and has held numerous faculty positions at colleges like Parsons, RISD, and NYU. His unique background combines a bachelor's degree in Architecture from Pratt, with an MBA from Pace and a Postgraduate degree in Strategy and Innovation from the University of Oxford.