Seedpod

Marlon Parker is a leading social entrepreneur who uses information technology to empower communities. His passion for technology and innovation has led him to founding of R Labs which focuses on skills training and economic empowerment opportunities. He also co-founded JamiiX, one of the largest mobile chat counseling networks in the world with more than 4.5 million people being reached since inception.

The Mail and Guardian named Marlon as 1 of 300 young South Africans you have to take out to lunch. He has been listed as one of the 100 World Class South Africans, an alumni of President Obama’s Young African Leaders initiative and a honorary faculty member of the International School of Digital Transformation. He was also selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Dangote Fellow and an Ashoka Fellow for his work in Social Entrepreneurship.With a heart filled with love, Marlon wants to change lives and make hope contagious. I left this conversation inspired, in awe and filled with hope , what a pleasure to spend time with this amazing human being.

This weeks guest Shani Kay calls herself a Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Specialist who works with global clients to design, produce and amplify content and tools that are relevant, compelling and inspiring.

One of her recent projects is SA INC., a new 20-part series set to air on local TV channels with the objective of changing the narrative in South Africa to highlight and celebrate the country’s successes and achievements.

In our thought provoking conversation we discussed the state of our beautiful country from the perspective of someone who spends every day looking for good news stories from within the corporate landscape of South Africa. As south africans we are often guilty of complaining and focusing on the negative but Im sure this conversation will shift your perspective on our amazing country for the positive.

In this weeks episode for the first time I had 2 guests, Brad Shorkend and Andy Golding who have written a book together called “We Are Still Human!... and work shouldn’t suck!”.

Brad is an agitator & thought provoker… he has summited 3 of the seven summits, and expeditioned to Everest Base camp. He is an architect, entrepreneur  and has been coaching, mentoring and facilitating leaders across all industries since 2007.

Andy is an employee experience specialist and co-founder of Still Human. She works with companies to craft and build cultures that are always innovation ready as well as designing employee experience to ensure that people are being switched on and grown. 

Our conversation looked at what it takes to lead or shape an organisation in todays fast paced, changing world so that work doesn’t have to suck. For anyone who has ever wanted to write a book this episode is a must listen for some inside insight into the experience, the highs the lows and what its like to do it with someone else. There are lots of nuggets of wisdom in this one I am sure you will enjoy it.

Rob stokes is the epitome of an entrepreneurial spirit, he just oozes it. He started off by founding Quirk, arguably South Africa’s most successful digital agency eventually selling to WPP in 2014. He is on the board of a multitude of businesses some of which he helped start and today spends most of his time at the Red and Yellow School of Business. Rob is passionate about developing, transforming and growing new and established businesses predominantly in the technology and education sectors.
I dont think I have ever spanned so many topics inside an hour of conversation, we touched on some big topics like saving the world, the importance of education, voting,  freedom of speech  and impending ecological collapse and some lighter topics like fishing, porches and family. Hold on to your seat and get ready for a ride, I loved this exchange and am sure you will to.

There are many things that we take for granted in our lives and we place trust and power in others hands where sometimes we should be questioning more. This is at the heart of todays guest Sally Anne Kasners approach to life and sustainability, basically question everything. Sally-Anne heads up Circular Vision and is constantly trying to find new ways to change our current linear economy model to be more Cyclical or Circular. Dont know what that means, listen on. Her focus and passion lies in designing waste out of our system. Our conversation was extremely enlightening looks at the current economic system, how its broken and some ideas to fix or rebuild it to achieve different outcomes that are more sustainable for us all.

Todays guest Max Pichulik lives and breathes social impact, at scale. Since 2006 After leaving the corporate banking sector Max has been involved in driving access to capital for scalable, impact ventures on the African continent. Currently his titles include co-founder of impact amplifier, director of earth capital and co-founder of greenfingers mobile. In recent years max focused his personal efforts in helping leaders understand the sub conscious drivers of their success, By Waking Up, Growing Up, Cleaning Up and Showing Up. Our conversation went pretty deep into the meaning of success and purpose in life and work, the role of pain and how big a role personal development plays in the success of people and organisations. 

Grace Stead is one of those people who is involved in so many things that I am left wondering how she does it all. She is a stalwart in the sustainability space here in South Africa who is truly dedicated to her work. She is currently the MD at Abalimi Bezekhaya - an NGO teaching people in the townships to grow their own veggies, Co-Founder of Wrap -zero focusing on sustainability in the film industry and founder of Steadfast Greening her own environmental consultancy. What I really loved about our conversation and what I walked away with was some simple practical advice for us all to work with in taking a step towards the world that I know I want. I hope you enjoy.

John Sanei is fascinated by the cross-section of human psychology and future studies,  He brings these subjects to audiences around the world through inspirational talks and has just written his third book.  He is the first African member of the Singularity University Faculty.  Over the past 20 years, John developed a set of frameworks, perspectives and questions to contextualise business trends and innovation in today’s hyper-connected world.

Our conversation went into detail on how John optimises all aspects of his life to be the person he is striving to be on all levels. From physical, to spiritual and mental we looked at what some of the practical things are that anyone can do to, as John puts it, eliminate energy leaks so that you can be fully empowered. I loved this exchange and I am sure you will too.

Marine Goldenberg is a French import to South Africa who is small in stature but definitely not in spirit. Living for extended periods as a woman alone in both India and Nigeria prove that she has courage and tenacity. She now brings that character to the organisation she now works for called Digital for the planet. Our conversation traversed some of her experiences as a lone female traveller to how we are all impacting our planet through our daily digital habits and addictions. I learnt a lot and gained new awarenesses that I know will benefit you too.

Marcus as a management consultant with over 20 years’ experience in providing strategic support to organizations that have a social impact – primarily social enterprises, non-profits organizations, high-impact businesses and government departments.

He wants to help organizations like these to cultivate strategic clarity and hope, so that they can navigate a successful path into the future.

We went into a detailed conversation about the concept of minimalism and how marcus uses it to great success in his life. Its a concept he brings to the organisations he works with to help them achieve strategic clarity.