Unusual Talks

Ruchika Singhal is the Vice President of Global Access at Medtronic and heads Medtronic Labs – a social business for healthcare access. Millions of people can't afford the healthcare they need. As a result, they suffer from low incomes, lack of education opportunities and low quality of life. Medtronic - the world's biggest medical device supplier - addresses these challenges through innovative healthcare access solutions in Asia and Africa. In order to achieve their goals they work closely together with governments, NGOs and others. Tune in to learn more about the challenges they overcame in building up their social business and the various initiatives Ruchika has helped launch.

The COVID crisis has made it painfully clear that we need equitable access to healthcare. We get a chance to talk with Cristina Campos and Lutz Hegemann at Novartis, who lead Novartis' access activities, including Novartis' social business activities. Millions of underpriviledged people have been benefitted from their initiatives. Listen into their journey and lessons learned.

Access to finance as a tool for poverty alleviation? Salah Goss talks about her mission to bring financial services to the African continent - and drive change and positive outcomes at Mastercard. She is a financial inclusion expert specializing in digital solutions. She is Senior Vice President for Social Impact at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. She was also Head of the Mastercard Lab for Financial Inclusion in Nairobi where she oversaw technology innovation and product development focused on developing markets. Salah has contributed to multiple patents, representing her contribution to the development of innovative digital solutions.

Garance Wattez-Richard is leading AXA‘s Emerging Customers division, tackling social issues amongst BOP customers through insurance solutions with a sustainable business model. In this episode, Garance outlines how the unit is positioned at the insurance giant. You’ll also hear from Maggie de Pree, CEO and Founder of the League of Intrapreneurs. She highlights the role of intrapreneurship in achieving climate and social goals.

How can we drive social value in a large company? Which role do incentive structures play in supporting social innovation? And is ESG helpful in driving positive impact? Listen to Jasjit Singh, Professor of Strategy at INSEAD and Jessie Coats, EY Global Impact Entrepreneurship Leader. The conversation is moderated by Katell Le Goulven, Executive Director at the Hofmann Institute for Society at INSEAD.

Learn more about Jasjit’s Work here.

Check out the many interesting perspectives that Jessie published through EY here.

And learn more about the work of the Hofmann Global Institute for Business & Society at INSEAD here.

"Let us conduct our businesses with both the heart and the head" – Antoine Riboud, Danone CEO 1972

Antoine Riboud's speech in Marseille came just two years after Milton Friedman's "Shareholder Value Doctrine" article. Riboud's words were in stark contrast to Milton's focus on shareholder value maximization and asked companies, Danone first and foremost, to serve all its stakeholders. Especially in the twenty years from 2001 to 2021, Danone has shown an incredible trajectory towards a purpose-driven company, culminating in the B Corp certification and becoming France' first "Enterprise á Mission". 

But in 2021, its CEO, Emmanuel Faber, was pushed out of office by activist investor Bluebell Capital. In this episode, he speaks about this journey and the campaign against him.

On this episode, you will listen to the Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Yunus and the former CEO of Unilever, Paul Polman, talking about climate change and the ability of every person to change something by founding a social business themselves or leaving positive impact via intrapreneurship from within existing companies.

A big thank you to the Schwab Foundation and our partners Porticus for making this podcast series possible. And thanks also to the 15 plus sector organizations who are helping to implement the Unusual Pioneers program.

Further reading:

Upcoming Book “Net Positive” by Paul Polman

Book “A World of Three Zeroes” by Muhammad Yunus

Unusual Pioneers Program (applications open)

You will hear from Gib Bulloch and his business DEcelerator for intrapreneurs, from Florencia Estrade who has created the “I’m in” campaign at the League of Intrapreneurs, from Yasmina Zaidman, who has built numerous partnerships with companies at Acumen and Heiko Spitzeck, author of the intrapreneurship book “All that Jazz” and professor for corporate social innovation.

Asa Skogstrom Feldt will talk about IKEA’s ambition to integrate Social Entrepreneurs into its business. Jayanth Bhuvaraghan will talk about his journey from a social intrapreneur to Chief Mission Officer at Essilor. Corinne Bazina will highlight how Danone is financing and supporting social businesses around the world. And Aaron Hurst will share his thoughts about c-suite buy-in, based on his book The Purpose Economy but also from his background as the Founder of the Taproot Foundation and CEO of the leadership development platform Imperative.

Further reading:

Aaron Hurst: Imperative Executive Coaching, The Purpose Economy Book 

IKEA Social Entrepreneurship

Danone Communities

Essilor Eye Mitra 

Craigberoch Decelerator by Gib Bulloch and his book.

League of Intrapreneurs

Acumen

Fundacao Dom Cabral and Heiko’ Spitzecks book: Social Intrapreneurism - All That Jazz 

More case studies and research on Social Intrapreneurship here

Today, we are launching our Unusual Pioneers’ podcast. It features the highlights of our Unusual Talks brought to you by Yunus Social Business, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Porticus and 15+ sector organizations. We spotlight the voices of corporate social intrapreneurs and their executives. These “Unusual Pioneers” are at the forefront of transforming companies into net positive contributors to people, the planet, and society. They talk about their dreams and ideas, their successes and failures, their challenges and opportunities, and why there is hope if we act.