By AlterContacts
The podcast currently has 28 episodes available.
In this interview, Jane Bertch, the Founder of La Cuisine Paris, shares the story of the lockdown in a company that works on the intersection of the restaurant, tourism, and events industries, that have been affected the most. As soon as the news started spreading in January the flow of clients decreased. Jane and her team of eight chefs applied ‘strategic procrastination’ instead of immediately reacting, they took a pause to reflect and see how the things would be developing. The part of the business model around building the community became very important. The team kept on sharing recipes and anything that could do to keep clients engaged and positive in challenging times. To keep business going, Jane and her chefs recorded virtual classes that her clients could purchase to enjoy the french experience at home. She also made an agreement with a partner company to develop bespoke baking packages that could be shipped to any home.
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Guest
Jane is the Founder of La Cuisine Paris, a native Chicagoan having lived in Europe for more than 20 years.
La Cuisine Paris is a French cooking school that offers a variety of cooking classes in English—from croissant and macarons to cheese workshops, market runs and more. La Cuisine’s small, but dedicated international team all work with a common value: the desire to share their "savoir-faire" and passion with food-loving Francophiles. The small, hands-on classes are given in a deliberately homey atmosphere so that students can replicate the dishes they learn at home. You can join La Cuisine Paris in the centre of Paris overlooking the Seine, or now, online.
Website: www.lacuisineparis.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lacuisineparis/
About the Host
Julia Skupchenko is a co-founder of Think Tank for Sustainable Development, AlterContacts.org, a co-founder and lead mentor of the global online community of entrepreneurs, BusinessGreenHouse.org. She is a published writer for a leading international online magazine for small business with millions of readers, Entrepreneur.com. She is also a business mentor on the Artificial Intelligence program at Rockstart Startup Accelerator (Amsterdam) and at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In her personal practice as a Business Developer and Advisor, Julia has consulted 100+ entrepreneurs, experts, small and medium businesses across the globe. She is nominated for Entrepreneur Award 2020.
https://julia.altercontacts.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaskupchenko/
In this interview, we meet Aly Madhavji (Vancouver), the Managing Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund which invests in and venture builds top-tier startups. He shares how the lockdown gave new opportunities to startups in the Health sector and the example of an affordable insurance solution for self-employed and freelancers in the US. At the same time, Aly mentions that some startup founders who experienced too much pressure had to part ways. He also talks about the initiative the fund started of connecting students with startups. In less than a month, there were over 600 matches done and the number continues to grow. Some students say that they learnt more in two days than in the last six months. Aly notes that the main criteria for choosing the students is not in what they know already but in their passion to learn. He also talks about the report on how blockchain can alleviate poverty, the fund is preparing for the United Nations.
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Guest
Aly Madhavji 穆亚霖 is the Managing Partner at Blockchain Founders Fund which invests in and venture builds top-tier startups. He is a Limited Partner on Loyal VC. Aly consults organizations on emerging technologies such as INSEAD and the UN on solutions to help alleviate poverty. He is a Senior Blockchain Fellow at INSEAD and was recognized as a “Blockchain 100” Global Leader by Lattice80. He is an internationally acclaimed author, publishing three books and a monthly columnist for the leading blockchain magazine. Aly has served on various advisory boards including the University of Toronto’s Governing Council, which manages a $2.5B budget. He is a mentor with Chinaccelerator, an elite accelerator program operated by the venture fund SOSV with $500M+ AUM and the Mobile Only Accelerator (MOX). Aly holds a Master of Global Affairs as a Schwarzman Scholar from Tsinghua University (清华大学), a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD (Singapore and France), and a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from the University of Toronto.
http://blockchainff.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alymadhavji/
Twitter: @BlockchainFF https://twitter.com/BlockchainFF
Twitter: @aly_madhavji https://twitter.com/aly_madhavji
Internship application: http://rockstar.blockchainff.com/
The Underwing health coverage product from Jauntin: http://underwing.co/
Startups Seeking Investment: http://investment.blockchainff.com/
Startups Seeking to join the highly coveted Venture Program: https://succeed.blockchainff.com/
About the Host
Julia Skupchenko is a co-founder of Think Tank for Sustainable Development, AlterContacts.org, a co-founder and lead mentor of the global online community of entrepreneurs, BusinessGreenHouse.org. She is a published writer for a leading international online magazine for small business with millions of readers, Entrepreneur.com. She is also a business mentor on the Artificial Intelligence program at Rockstart Startup Accelerator (Amsterdam) and at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In her personal practice as a Business Developer and Advisor, Julia has consulted 100+ entrepreneurs, experts, small and medium businesses across the globe. She is nominated for Entrepreneur Award 2020.
https://julia.altercontacts.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaskupchenko/
In this interview, Elizabeth Milovidov, a European eSafety consultant and the founder of Digital Parenting Consulting and Coach, shares how the lockdown and increased online interactions led many parents to seek her advice. More and more families had to understand how to use technology in a positive manner, how to set boundaries and engage with their children. During the lockdown, Elizabeth doubled her efforts in running the community of parents and fellow online protection experts. She had time to listen more to parents to create helpful resources that would give them the right amount of information at the right time. Unlike her consulting of big companies, most of the coaching Elizabeth does is pro-bono. With more work on that front, she created a crowdfunding sponsorship account where parents can express their support. To our viewers, Elizabeth offers a small challenge to ask your children “How was your online day today?”
Code: LOCKDOWNECONOMY on https://www.digitalparentingcoach.com/ for decks and online toolkits
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Guest
Elizabeth Milovidov, PhD, J.D., is a Digital Parenting Consultant, who provides support to governments, companies, schools, and parenting associations on digital parenting and children and the internet. Currently, Elizabeth is a Board Trustee for The Diana Award, an Advisor on European Cooperation and International Projects to e-Enfance, the French Child Online Protection Association and a Digital Parenting Contributor to France 24. She also consults for UNICEF, Child Online Protection and the Council of Europe as an independent expert on Digital Parenting and Children’s Rights and Internet; and is an eSafety content provider for The UK Safer Internet Centre; “Ask the Expert” member for Internet Matters; and guest blogger for the Family Online Safety Institute.
Website: https://www.digitalparentingcoach.com/
FB free, private group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheDigitalParentingCommunity/
Social media: @digiparentcoach on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook
About the Host
Julia Skupchenko is a co-founder of Think Tank for Sustainable Development, AlterContacts.org, a co-founder and lead mentor of the global online community of entrepreneurs, BusinessGreenHouse.org. She is a published writer for a leading international online magazine for small business with millions of readers, Entrepreneur.com. She is also a business mentor on the Artificial Intelligence program at Rockstart Startup Accelerator (Amsterdam) and at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In her personal practice as a Business Developer and Advisor, Julia has consulted 100+ entrepreneurs, experts, small and medium businesses across the globe. She is nominated for Entrepreneur Award 2020.
https://julia.altercontacts.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaskupchenko/
In this interview, we meet Alexander Kozhevnikov (Moscow), the co-founder of Voxi AI, the voice assistant for taxi services, and Daw Software, a contact-tracing solution developed during the pandemic. He shares that with the lockdown the number of taxi rides went down by 80% which reduced the demand for Voxi AI with their current clients. But it was balanced out by the inflow of taxi companies that had to arrange their call centres in a new digital way. With the Daw Software, Alexander and his business partner identified an opportunity for contact-tracing software back in January when the first news of the pandemic came. They tried to launch it in China but their app was not allowed in. Despite that, Alexander and his co-founder participated and were shortlisted in multiple hackathons, including the ones by UNESCO and IBM. The app now has over 50 000 downloads in Italy, Spain, India and Brazil. Alexander also shares that the support network that he gets from the startup incubator of the Higher School of Economics was an essential part of that success.
About the Guest
Alexander Kozhevnikov is a co-founder of Voxi AI and Daw Software. He made his way from software to business developer. VoxiAI is a voice assistant for automation of call centres like taxi services and food delivery.
https://voxiai.com
Contact Tracer for Business is the enterprise solution to save your business from shutdowns and financial losses.
https://contacttracer.us
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Host
Julia Skupchenko is a co-founder of Think Tank for Sustainable Development, AlterContacts.org, a co-founder and lead mentor of the global online community of entrepreneurs, BusinessGreenHouse.org. She is a published writer for a leading international online magazine for small business with millions of readers, Entrepreneur.com. She is also a business mentor on the Artificial Intelligence program at Rockstart Startup Accelerator (Amsterdam) and at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In her personal practice as a Business Developer and Advisor, Julia has consulted 100+ entrepreneurs, experts, small and medium businesses across the globe. She is nominated for Entrepreneur Award 2020.
https://julia.altercontacts.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaskupchenko/
“Being an entrepreneur is an act of service. No matter what happens, you have your gift.”
In this interview, we meet Bisila Bokoko, CEO of BBES International, a New York-based business development agency that has been on the market since 2012 helping companies to go international and grow. She shares her journey from “What is my business now?” to “How I can be of service to my clients and the wider community of entrepreneurs?” Being in a people-facing business, Bisila used to travel to her client-companies personally to learn about them in-depth, she now found herself confined to a single location. The lockdown has also put on hold her speaking bookings for the next eight months. Bisila mentions that at first, it was paralyzing, but once she accepted the fear and focused on her entrepreneurial gift, she tried to see it as an opportunity and started a youtube channel to stay active and continue sharing her advice. As far as the future goes, Bisila already anticipates that the market will remain slow till the end of the year. So she is assessing the new hybrid option on how to restart her business activities.
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Guest
Bisila Bokoko is a Former Director of the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce in New York, CEO of BBES International, a New York-based business development agency that represents, promotes and markets brands internationally. She is a Founder of BBLP African Literacy Project Bisila Bokoko whose mission is to promote literacy among African people.
Bisila Bokoko is considered one of the ten most influential Spanish women in American business.
Former director of the Spain-US Chamber of Commerce in New York, CEO of BBES International and Founder of BBLP African Literacy Project Bisila Bokoko whose mission is to promote literacy among African people.
BB has created a collection of wines called “Bisila Wines'' made in Spain, which has received international recognition.
Since 2010 she has been working closely with the UNCTAD with the EMPRETEC program, supporting emerging entrepreneurs from all parts of the world. Recently Bisila has been awarded by the UN Hospitality Committee with the 2019 Citizen of the World Award, and she is the recipient of the 2019 International Award by the Spanish Federation of Women Managers, Executives, Professionals and Entrepreneurs (FEDEPE). She has also been awarded by Ideal Woman organization in Equatorial Guinea, the Entrepreneur of the Year Award by Women Werk, Inspiring Leader Award by the University of New York (NYU) among others along her career.
https://bisilabokoko.com/
About the Host
Julia Skupchenko is a co-founder of Think Tank for Sustainable Development, AlterContacts.org, a co-founder and lead mentor of the global online community of entrepreneurs, BusinessGreenHouse.org. She is a published writer for a leading international online magazine for small business with millions of readers, Entrepreneur.com.
She is also a business mentor on the Artificial Intelligence program at Rockstart Startup Accelerator (Amsterdam) and at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In her personal practice as a Business Developer and Advisor, Julia has consulted 100+ entrepreneurs, experts, small and medium businesses across the globe. She is nominated for Entrepreneur Award 2020.
https://julia.altercontacts.org
In this interview, we meet Victor Camara, a business consultant who helped to start over 70 new companies in Mexico in the last ten years. His practice was done in-person and due to the lockdown, he had to cancel most appointments. At the same time, Victor saw an even higher need in advising people on how to start their business, especially now that many were forced to create their own jobs. He decided to produce a series of training for beginning entrepreneurs in Spanish and launched a youtube channel with tips. Victor mentions that before the lockdown, people in Mexico were reluctant to use virtual services and especially to pay for them online. But now since there is no choice, the trust online is growing. He shares that people who will be paying for his courses will be contributing to free education for the ones who cannot afford it. How can I do something to help people to start their business, especially now that many people are forced to create their own job.
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Guest
Victor Camara has a bachelor in Marketing and International Business and also has a Master in Government and Public Policies. Since he was 18, he has started his first company focused on providing logistics and marketing for artistic purposes. In 2009 he started to be a business consultant in order to help other entrepreneurs to land their ideas and launch their companies. Until now, he had worked with more than 150 entrepreneurs and helped to launch more than 80 companies. Now due to the SARS-COV2 lockdown, he is working on the remake for his business model and on a way to provide his consulting services, switching into an online model where he also can offer business and entrepreneurship training, additional the consulting services. This will come with a rebranding work and a YouTube channel with tips for entrepreneurs with the new brand Soy Victor Cámara (I'm Victor Cámara). Victor is a Liaison Director at the Polytechnic University of Yucatan. He is In love with innovation and entrepreneurship. He has been an entrepreneur and business developer since early 2000 and had the opportunity to have positions related to science, innovation and technology for development, also in the Higher Education field.
Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCevZJZ2FMGY1vS6e7UZ6H2w
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/soyVictorCamara
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/soyVictorCamara
Twitter https://twitter.com/soyVictorCamara
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/soyVictorCamara
About the Host
Julia Skupchenko is a co-founder of Think Tank for Sustainable Development, AlterContacts.org, a co-founder and lead mentor of the global online community of entrepreneurs, BusinessGreenHouse.org. She is a published writer for a leading international online magazine for small business with millions of readers, Entrepreneur.com. She is also a business mentor on the Artificial Intelligence program at Rockstart Startup Accelerator (Amsterdam) and at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In her personal practice as a Business Developer and Advisor, Julia has consulted 100+ entrepreneurs, experts, small and medium businesses across the globe. She is nominated for Entrepreneur Award 2020.
https://julia.altercontacts.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaskupchenko/
In this interview, we meet Valentina Primo, the founder of Startups Without Borders, a social enterprise with a mission to change the perception of refugees and migrants in the world. She shares how the idea of an ecosystem builder was born in 2018 and how with the lockdown, Valentina and her team had to find the new way forward. To do so she asked her community with over 2000 entrepreneurs worldwide about what they need. That is how she launched an interview series about building a startup. The big question was still about this year’s summit. After last year's success when it was hosted at American University in Cairo in partnership with the United Nations and Facebook, the plan for 2020 was to have an even bigger summit. Given the travel limitations, Valentina and her team decided to organize it in hybrid form with several main stages, including Amsterdam, San-Francisco, Cairo with online streaming internationally.
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Guest
Valentina is an entrepreneur and a journalist with a Masters in peace studies, Human Rights, and EU policies. She is the founder of Startups Without Borders, a platform that supports and connects refugee and migrant entrepreneurs to resources, while providing investors with an entry point to under-the-radar startups with disruptive potential. Valentina has been involved in the Middle East’s entrepreneurial landscape since 2013, having launched Egypt’s largest platform on entrepreneurship, Startup Scene Middle East, in 2017. She has been actively involved in the Middle Eastern startup landscape, giving workshops and keynote speeches at conferences in Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Russia, Norway, France, and Italy, including Lean Startup Nights Cairo, Egypt’s RiseUp Summit, and Techfugees.
About Startups Without Borders:
Startups Without Borders connects the most ambitious refugee and migrant entrepreneurs with resources to grow their business, while providing investors with an entry-point to under-the-radar startups with disruptive potential.
Website: https://startupswb.com/
Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/startupswithoutborders/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startupswithoutborders/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/startupswb_com
Linkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/company/18592903/
About the Host
Julia Skupchenko is a co-founder of Think Tank for Sustainable Development, AlterContacts.org, a co-founder and lead mentor of the global online community of entrepreneurs, BusinessGreenHouse.org. She is a published writer for a leading international online magazine for small business with millions of readers, Entrepreneur.com.
She is also a business mentor on the Artificial Intelligence program at Rockstart Startup Accelerator (Amsterdam) and at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In her personal practice as a Business Developer and Advisor, Julia has consulted 100+ entrepreneurs, experts, small and medium businesses across the globe. She is nominated for Entrepreneur Award 2020.
https://julia.altercontacts.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaskupchenko/
In this interview, we meet Nils Schmeling, the managing partner at NECXT, an international boutique consultancy based in the Netherlands. Before the lockdown, Nils and his team of seasoned experts prepared inspirational tours across the world for corporate leaders to give them “aha” moments or “mind clicks” which are essential to bringing the cultural change into their companies. With the lockdown, it became practically impossible. Just like their clients, they felt a sense of urgency to make the change. Within two weeks there was the first virtual inspiration tour. Nils shares that it helped him that his clients did not want to stand still and wanted to go on with the transformation to remain ahead of the competition.
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Guest
NECXT is an international boutique consultancy based in the Netherlands that brings inspiration into the transformation of corporate organizations. We focus on organizing inspirational events around change. Inspirational tours are about taking leaders, their peers and colleagues on the journey to other companies that already embraced the change and achieved something astonishing to share their experience and what they learnt. We serve large & global organisations in transforming to future readiness & innovation. We do: inspiration & activation of transformations with the customer at heart.
https://necxt.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nils-schmeling-89952a/
About the Host
Julia Skupchenko is a co-founder of Think Tank for Sustainable Development, AlterContacts.org, a co-founder and lead mentor of the global online community of entrepreneurs, BusinessGreenHouse.org. She is a published writer for a leading international online magazine for small business with millions of readers, Entrepreneur.com. She is also a business mentor on the Artificial Intelligence program at Rockstart Startup Accelerator (Amsterdam) and at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In her personal practice as a Business Developer and Advisor, Julia has consulted 100+ entrepreneurs, experts, small and medium businesses across the globe. She is nominated for Entrepreneur Award 2020. https://julia.altercontacts.org
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliaskupchenko
In this interview, we meet Angele Giuliano, business angel, mentor and the founder of AcrossLimits, a Malta-based company with 19 years on the market, that guides businesses and organizations through different opportunities related to EU funding. She tells how the lockdown has driven many more entities to seek their advice, especially related to new health funding. Angele shares that the big change was in the lack of travelling and physical presence when the initial introduction with clients happens. The whole team of 25 employees was working remotely. Angele notices that people were more productive, they could save time on travel and after the lockdown, she plans to keep the remote working with only two days in the office.
Angele also shares what it means to be a business angel. She talks about a group of female business angels Rising Tide, and how the lockdown affected their behaviour in terms of investing.
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Guest
Angele has been an entrepreneur for over 22 years in the areas of ICT, Research and European Opportunities. She is now also a business angel and mentor to budding entrepreneurs or those that want to pivot their business model.
AcrossLimits is a technology company with a heart. We believe that ICT should be put to good use in society and therefore we push for excellence in areas like eHealth, eLearning and Digital Culture. To do this we create and collaborate in large projects mostly based in Europe, that make the impossible just a little bit more reachable. We are a small office but we aim high and are keen to collaborate with you if you share our passions.
Main company: www.acrosslimits.com
https://www.facebook.com/acrosslimits
https://www.linkedin.com/company/acrosslimits/
(mostly it’s better my own personal LinkedIn as I have 3600+ followers there:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelegiuliano/)
Training Centre: www.trainingmalta.com
https://www.facebook.com/traininginmalta
https://www.linkedin.com/company/trainingmalta/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZhtRwOHPJW8-Z2So5uYZbA
http://risingtide.eu/
About the Host
Julia Skupchenko is a co-founder of Think Tank for Sustainable Development, AlterContacts.org, a co-founder and lead mentor of the global online community of entrepreneurs, BusinessGreenHouse.org. She is a published writer for a leading international online magazine for small business with millions of readers, Entrepreneur.com.
She is also a business mentor on the Artificial Intelligence program at Rockstart Startup Accelerator (Amsterdam) and at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In her personal practice as a Business Developer and Advisor, Julia has consulted 100+ entrepreneurs, experts, small and medium businesses across the globe. She is nominated for Entrepreneur Award 2020.
https://julia.altercontacts.org
In this interview, we meet Fabrizio Faraco, the founder of In Sprint, an Italian based facilitation business, that helps companies achieve success and autonomy. From the start at the beginning of 2019, it has been highly in demand, and Fabrizio was travelling from client to client delivering workshops. The lockdown caught him during the international workshop and suddenly all of the work booked for the next quarter was cancelled. Fabrizio shares that the very next week he had to be with a client in Dubai which allowed him time to reflect, away from the panic of Italy. He and his business partner decided to build an online-based MVP which was well received by the clients. Fabrizio mentions that most businesses are focusing on business as usual, and very few are preparing for new uncertainties, scenarios and making the most of opportunities that come up from the crisis. He shares his perspective on how to understand your business better and how to spot unique opportunities in instability.
#LockdownEconomy #SustainableDevelopementGoals #AlterContacts #SDGaction35868
About the Guest
Fabrizio is certified facilitator in Design Sprint, Design Thinking and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®. After 15 years of corporation as a manager and 10 of business consultants around Italy and abroad, today he focuses on effective strategies for the success of organizations and in particular the opportunities offered by the development of digital and advanced business design tools. Those who engage with Fabrizio can always count on innovative methods and effective paths to acquire an innovation-oriented mindset. His assignments are geared towards ensuring that organizations are able to carry out innovation independently. His works produce: a solution that the participants feel their own (because it emerges in the workshop from them); the growth of internal skills (individual and organizational) to be able to continue innovating within the organization. In addition to innovative methods, those who engage with Fabrizio can benefit from his experience gained over the years and developed in extensive applications of the adopted methods. Whether it is, quickly validating a development choice (using Design Sprint) or co-create a real-time strategy to carry on with simple guiding principles (with the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY) or a continuous innovation process (with design thinking and lean startup), Fabrizio has already applied the methods and a combination of them in similar contexts repeatedly with success. In Sprint is an Italian company who supports organizations to have success in autonomy. In Sprint have been known for introducing business agility into organizations. The new program will focus on how to manage the uncertain future and how to strategize while you are taking care of day-to-day business.
https://in-sprint.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabriziofaraco/
https://www.facebook.com/faraco
https://twitter.com/fabriziofaraco
The podcast currently has 28 episodes available.