When Australia revised its drug classifications in 2023 to make psychedelic substances like MDMA and psilocybin legal for treatment of some medical conditions, a new industry was born. Now moving out of clinical trials and studies phase, psychedelic-assisted therapies have shown to be efficacious for patients who were previously struggling with other less-effective mental health treatments.

When Christina Kappil and Jim Brazeal learned of this news from Australia, they didn't hesitate to jump in and put together an Inspiration Grant itinerary to get on the ground and learn how this industry was building itself in real-time. Along the way, they met with clinicians, researchers, investors, and other experts to see what they were learning as they went, with hopes that this live-saving treatment could soon make its way to places like the U.S. and expand to help as many people as possible.

This is their Inspiration Grant story.

To register for this year's Business of Psychedelic Therapies Conference on Saturday, May 18, 2024 in downtown Chicago, visit our event registration page here. 

Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/entrepreneurship/levy-inspiration-grants

Learn more about the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg program at kell.gg/entrepreneurship.

Produced, written and edited by Tyler Seybold

Hosted by Tyler Seybold

Special thanks to our featured students, Christina Kappil and Jim Brazeal

Background music by Blue Dot Sessions

Ever since his experience in fintech at one of Africa's largest telecom companies, Yanju Folarin has been on a mission to increase financial inclusion in West Africa. To further investigate mobile money as a tool for increasing financial access, Yanju traveled to Nigeria, Ghana, and Benin to visit the hubs of financial activity in each location: the marketplaces. While there, he spoke with mobile money agents and the people that use their servcies in an attempt uncover any opportunities that could help unbanked people access financial tools that can help better their lives.

This is his Inspiration Grant story.

Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/entrepreneurship/levy-inspiration-grants

Learn more about the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg program at kell.gg/entrepreneurship.

Produced, written and edited by Tyler Seybold.

Hosted by Tyler Seybold

Special thanks to our featured student, Yanju Folarin

Background music by Blue Dot Sessions

Luna Yamashita and Aman Vijay began their friendship journey as neighbors. Little did they know that some time later, they’d be halfway across the world doing hands-on research together. Both share a deep passion for mental health and wellbeing, but when they also connected over their desire to support underserved populations in developing countries, their entrepreneurship journey began its course. This collective passion led them to travel to Kenya to investigate the country’s mental health needs, centered around an employee wellbeing app idea that they had been dreaming up. Along the way, their initial assumptions were tested and challenged, leading to unexpected learnings on their journey.

This is their Inspiration Grant story.

Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/entrepreneurship/levy-inspiration-grants

Learn more about the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg program at kell.gg/entrepreneurship

Produced, written and edited by Tyler Seybold

Hosted by Tyler Seybold

Special thanks to our featured students Luna Yamashita and Aman Vijay

Background music by Blue Dot Sessions

Entrepreneurship is built into Lucy Grierson's heritage, so when she came to Kellogg, she wanted to use her time away from full-time work to dive into her creative side and further explore her entrepreneurial potential. After some soul-searching on the type of company she saw herself building, the idea to create a denim brand based on the values of the American West came to her, combining her experience with embroidery and her love of U.S. Western ideals and culture. For her Inspiration Grant, she set out on a mission to Colorado and Wyoming to answer the question: what values does the American West stand for, and how might you represent that in an apparel brand?

Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/entrepreneurship/levy-inspiration-grants

Learn more about the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg program at kell.gg/entrepreneurship

Produced, written and edited by Tyler Seybold

Hosted by Tyler Seybold

Special thanks to our featured student, Lucy Grierson

Background music by Blue Dot Sessions

Scuba diving has been a core part of Walker's life since he was a teenager. Post-high school, he spent some time working in government policy and marine protected areas, and his passion continued as he began his degree at Kellogg. For his Inspiration Grant, he wanted to travel to a developing diving hub, in this case, the Philippines, to see how they're working through the growing pains of managing their marine resources: tapping into the economic benefits of the scuba diving industry, while also trying to mitigate the downsides and support sustainability efforts. While on the ground, he got to witness some of nuances and complications that he never would have known while researching from afar.

Show Notes:

Philippines Tourism report: https://beta.tourism.gov.ph/news_and_updates/1st-philippine-tourism-dive-dialogue-unites-dive-industry-37b-raked-in-2022 Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/entrepreneurship/levy-inspiration-grants

When Julia Ha and Mohit Patel were introduced to the concept of microgrids in developing countries as a way to address electricity access, they were intrigued to learn more about a market opportunity that also positively impacted a huge, unaddressed population. Later, as they began to explore the topic more deeply, they eventually decided that the best way to go deeper was to speak directly to their potential consumers and current companies trying to address this issue. For their Inspiration Grant, they traveled to Kenya and Ethiopia, and along the way, they learned that things were more complicated than they anticipated and a one-size-fits-all approach was not the way to go.

Show Notes:
- Productive Use of Electricity: https://energypedia.info/wiki/Productive_Use_of_Electricity
- What is a microgrid?: https://www.microgridknowledge.com/about-microgrids/article/11429017/what-is-a-microgrid

Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/entrepreneurship/levy-inspiration-grants

Learn more about the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg program at kell.gg/entrepreneurship


Produced, written and edited by Tyler Seybold

Hosted by Tyler Seybold

Special thanks to our featured students, Julia Ha and Mohit Patel

Background music by Blue Dot Sessions

With both parents in the healthcare industry, Sherry Zhuang grew up hearing stories about the ups-and-downs of navigating the healthcare system. While she never had to worry about her own healthcare access, she saw the struggle of families who were less fortunate and how strongly they were impacted by not getting the care they needed.

In the hope of learning more about the issue for her own entrepreneurship journey, Sherry traveled to Mexico to find out how doctors, clinics, and startup founders are innovating within their own complex healthcare system, all in the hope of finding ways to give underserved patients the healthcare access that they deserve.


Relevant Links:
AMA Digital Health study: https://www.ama-assn.org/about/research/ama-digital-health-care-2022-study-findings

Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/entrepreneurship/levy-inspiration-grants

Learn more about the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg program at kell.gg/entrepreneurship


Produced, written and edited by Tyler Seybold

Hosted by Tyler Seybold

Special thanks to our featured guest, Sherry Zhuang

Background music by Blue Dot Sessions

Ever since attending an arts elementary school as a kid, Noelle Harasym has had a deep love for art and artists. More recently, she wanted to investigate how artists create sustainable careers for themselves in a tumultuous and challenging societal environment. On top of that, new tech and AI tools like Midjourney and DALL-E, which threaten to displace working artists, have heightened the urgency to find ways to support them.

For her Inspiration Grant trip, Noelle traveled to a few cities in Europe to meet artists and see how they're promoting their work through tech platforms and overall keeping themselves going. Along the way, she picks up lessons on empathy, the complex nature of artists and tech platforms, and what it takes to be a working artist.

Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/entrepreneurship/levy-inspiration-grants

Learn more about the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg program at kell.gg/entrepreneurship.

Below are a list of links shared by Noelle, featuring the artists, studios, and collectives she visited during her trip:
- Marcus McAllister, artist, Paris (https://www.marcusmcallister.com/)
- Rivoli 59, artist residency, Paris (https://www.59rivoli.org/homepage/)
- Margaret Hunter, artist, Berlin (https://margaret-hunter.com/)
- Haus Schwarzenberg, studio and gallery space, Berlin (https://haus-schwarzenberg.org/)
- Coung’s Creative Market, print store, Berlin (https://www.cuongscreativemarket.com/)
- Let it Bleed, print store, Berlin (https://www.letitbleedberlin.com/)
- Alternative arts tour, street art tour, Berlin (https://alternativeberlin.com/berlin-tours/street-art-tour/)
- Copenhagen outsider art gallery, Copenhagen (https://coag.dk/)


Produced, written and edited by Tyler Seybold

Hosted by Tyler Seybold

Special thanks to our featured guest, Noelle Harasym

Background music by Blue Dot Sessions

In this special episode, we're featuring unaired stories from some of our past student travelers with a focus on automation and the human touch. Each of our featured students went into their Inspiration Grant trip with a hypotheses or assumption that digitizing or automating a process would be the ideal solution to their chosen problem area. As they each subsequently learned, automating processes was not as simple as they had originally imagined...

Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here. 

Learn more about the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg program at kell.gg/entrepreneurship.



Produced, written and edited by Tyler Seybold

Hosted by Tyler Seybold

Special thanks to our featured guests, Yousuf Ahmed, Jialu Zhou, and Sahil Desai

Background music by Blue Dot Sessions

Noor Johal firmly believes that some of the best dairy products in the world are produced in her home state of Punjab, India. Having grown up on her family's dairy farm, her conviction comes from personal experience. Although her family farm's outcome was not ideal, she never forgot her roots and has always held on to a love for the dairy industry. When given the opportunity to study something she's passionate about, it was clear to her that dairy farming should be her focus, so she traveled to Switzerland to experience one of the most prolific dairy-producing areas of the world. Through speaking with businesses, government agencies, and dairy farmers themselves, Noor was able to learn more about ways in which current producers are innovating within the dairy industry.

Learn more about the Levy Inspiration Grant Program on the program's webpage here. 

Learn more about the Entrepreneurship at Kellogg program at kell.gg/entrepreneurship.



Produced, written and edited by Tyler Seybold

Hosted by Tyler Seybold

Special thanks to our guest, Noor Johal

Background music by Blue Dot Sessions