Leading with Social Impact

Over the past 10 months, we continued developing the Nordic Changemaker Map initiative: shedding light on the voices and experiences of more than 500 changemakers, mapping the ecosystem and discovering the challenges and strengths from the field.

🎙️ Today, we are proud to share our new podcast episode developed in collaboration with Leading with Social Impact, in which Emma Lindgren - @AshokaNordic and Nicklas Wallberg - @ReachForChange, explain the unicity of this initiative, and the insights from this pan-Nordic project.

Have you ever wondered, how is the life in Antarctica? Whenever we look at documentaries about the diverse marine life like humpback whales, penguins, sea lions, orcas in Antarctica, we are awestruck and wonder how it must feel like to see it in-person. With the immediate challenge of climate change, the research work there has become even more important. How is climate change impacting the marine life?  

Listen to my conversation with Nadia Frontier, a marine biologist at Rothera Research Station in Antarctica, with British Antarctic Survey. She has been living there for couple of months now and talks about her research work and journey to become a marine biologist. 

Desertification is one of the biggest challenges we are facing in the world. We are currently losing 12 million hectares of arable land every year due to this problem. This is about 23 hectares per minute! And 30% of all world's agricultural land is already highly degraded. Dams and man-made lakes are some of the main reasons for land degradation in fragile alluvium ecosystems. More than 42% of the world’s dams will face siltation problems in the next decade, with an estimated cost of siltation at over $21 billion per year. 

Join me in the conversation with Vesela Tanaskovic, founder of Afforest for Future to talk about how their innovative solution works to transform the world's deserts into food Forests. 

We are living in a world where mental health is growing to become as important as physical health. But it is not always easy to seek help for mental health due to various reasons like social stigma, unavailability of resources, cost etc. Moreover, COVID 19 has had an adverse impact on people's well being which makes it even more important to provide valuable resources to help overcome these challenges. 

Join me in the conversation with Jimmy Westerheim, founder and CEO of The Human Aspect. He talks about the mission to create a Life Experience Library where people share about their life's toughest challenges and the tools they used to overcome it. 

Floating pollutants, debris, oil and sludge etc. are quite challenging to separate from the water surface. Starting from the industrial segment to the waste water treatment plants, everyone is looking for robust solutions for this problem. Most of the present solutions out there are either labour and energy intensive or takes a lot of time. Moreover, if done properly the floating waste like sludge can be reused to make biogas or fertilizers for plants. We need a solution which is automated, consumes less energy and is efficient to separate the pollutants without wasting any fresh water. 

Join me in the conversation with Christina Lundbäck, CMO and founder of SurfCleaner AB where she talks about their innovative solution which helps in keeping pollutants from accumulating on the water surface and therefore help minimizing VOC emissions. 

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. There definitely has been some progress over the last years but no where it is even close to achieving the UN Goals. The UN Policy brief on "The Impact of COVID-19 on Women" mentions that the outbreak exacerbates existing inequalities for women and girls across the sphere - from health and the economy, to security and social protection. Technology has provided solutions to every challenge that we can think of but when it comes to Gender Equality, is there any such solution?

 Join me in the conversation with Theresa Kauffeld, co-founder of Equalista where their mission is to build the first gender equality learning app to discover why inequality exists, what it looks like, how to talk about it, test your own biases and train to take action in real life.

Plant based solutions for carbon sequestration are one of the ways to solve the planet pollution and tackle climate change. We all have definitely at some point come across Bamboo or its products. Bamboo, the fastest growing plant in the world acts as a natural carbon sequester and can be handcrafted to make various products.  Companies can invest in this plant based solution which not only helps them to reach their net zero target but also the harvested bamboo can be manufactured into eco-friendly products.   

Join me in the conversation with Freddie Catlow, co-founder of Planboo where they aim to create systemic change and end planet pollution through their plant based solution.  

Today, construction and real estate industry already does a lot to reduce its climate impact. The processes and material used for construction is already energy efficient and the waste is recycled. But when it comes to transport to and from the properties, there is still a lot to do. It is estimated that by 2050 almost 68% of world's population will be living in urban cities. Even with the urban planning solutions like "15 minute city", it is important to develop a shift in citizen behaviour from car focussed transport to sustainable mobility solutions. 

Listen to my conversation with Ylva S Åqvist, founder of PlanM where she talks about her solutions to reduce fossil - fuelled traffic in cities by helping others create sustainable transport flows to and from properties.

When satellite was launched more than 50 years ago, no one new how much impact it would have in all aspects of our lives. There are various input factors that affect the farming which includes use of nitrogen based fertilisers, irrigation and adverse climatic conditions. The farmers face the challenges to quickly adapt to these changing conditions which in turn leads to over use of certain resources having adverse affect on the climate. Is there a way by which we can monitor the plant and soil health to adapt the inputs for farming? 

Join me in the conversation with Robert Schmitt, founder and CEO of Vultus where he talks about his journey of becoming entrepreneur and their innovative solution. Vultus uses satellite data to make precision farming tools for the farmers through which they can reduce nitrogen fertiliser use by 1/3rd and increase crop yields. 

Allan Savory, a naturalist and wildlife expert says that fossil fuel, carbon, coal and gas are by no means the only thing that is causing climate change. Desertification is another immediate threat that we are facing where almost two thirds of the land in this world is turning to desert. It took some time for scientists, ecologists and experts to understand that there is only one thing that we can do to solve this issue and that is mimic nature. Also, agriculture and land management are multi-dimensional with numerous challenges both in the rural and urban context. So what can we do and what are the tools/methods available to enable the age of regeneration?

Join me in the conversation with Durukan Dudu, co-founder of Anatolian Grasslands where he works with enabling holistic farmers to become actor in the social economical and ecological transformation process. They are transforming agriculture to make it the most powerful and fertile tool of combating and adaptation to climate change, soil creation and ecosystem repair. 

One of the biggest challenges that the world currently faces is access to clean water and safe sanitation. Globally 2.6 billion people lack safe toilet access and poor sanitation causes 80% of all infectious disease, 4% of deaths globally and takes life of one child every 20 seconds. At least 20% of girls drop out of school due to lack of safe, private toilets and this in turn contributes to increased rates of early marriage, sexual violence and teen childbearing. But it is to be noted that the incurred cost for developing a proper sanitation infrastructure and its maintenance is very high. 

Join me in the conversation with Dr. Diana Yousef, founder of change-WATER Labs where she shares her story of becoming a female entrepreneur and talks about their solution in order to develop a low cost, compact, waterless toilet for non-sewered households and communities. 

It is estimated that our sea food consumption will grow more than 30% in the next 10 years. With the increase in demand for the last few years, fish farms are collapsing and overfishing is threatening the marine ecosystem. Moreover, we have higher levels of toxins, antibiotics, mercury and microplastics in our seafood than ever before. But at the same time seafood contains high nutritional value and has been considered as a healthy option for long time. So is there a way to tackle this challenge and meet the needs? For the past few years we have observed that plant based alternatives have challenged the conventional food system and consumers are becoming much more aware.

Listen to my conversation with Emil Wasteson, co-founder of Hooked who envisions to remove animals entirely from the seafood industry and give healthier plant based seafood alternatives to the people. 

In today's digital era, we spend more time in front of a screen than meeting people in person. Same thing applies for children who would have had 3500 hours of screen time even before they join the school which is equivalent to 3 years of contact with a teacher. However, the teachers face challenges to teach these digitally native children about topics such as diversity, health and wellbeing, SDG etc. which is not very strongly built in the current curriculum in most countries. Due to pandemic there has been less contact with people in general which has made it even more difficult for children to have access to quality education. Regardless of all these challenges, we are fortunate that today's technologies enable us to provide these crucial skills and values to young children in an engaging way. 

 Listen to my conversation with Paulina Tervo, Co-CEO of Lyfta where with the help of immersive learning technology, they enable young children to sit on the driver's seat and explore the world on their own. 

Currently in the society there are n number of challenges such as mental health, health, societal segregation, sustainability, climate change etc. Even though Nordic countries are known for innovation, there is still a lot that needs to be done especially in terms of policies, regulations and cross sector collaboration. Swedish government has invested around 150million SEK to support social entrepreneurs and help them grow. Nowadays the complexity of challenges require social entrepreneurs to open up to the possibility of collaborating with different stakeholders. Ashoka.org envisions a world in which everyone is a changemaker : a world where all citizens are powerful and contribute to change in positive ways.

Listen to my conversation with Emma Lindgren, Director of Ashoka Nordic where we talk about how Ashoka Nordic supports social entrepreneurs to take a systems thinking approach to solve the complex societal problems. 

A million programme in Sweden was an ambitious project to build a million housings during the 10 year period in 1960's. This was an initiative to cater for the large urbanization trend at that time but unfortunately these areas now struggle with high unemployment, health issues and demographic change. Additionally, when we talk about the young children in these areas, they face a lot of difficulties especially in terms of having equal opportunities and role models to inspire them . The pandemic has had an impact on everyone and somehow has exemplified these challenges for the young children. 

 Listen to my conversation with Madeleine Opira, founder of A Million Minds, who aims to unleash the potential of young children in Sweden and work with equality from a bottom up perspective.  

Climate change is real and we will never reach our global target if we continue to go about business as usual. Clearly industrial revolution has given us lot of things but with that it has also given pollution and climate change. Humans have engaged in large scale transformation of natural systems for millennia. Thousands of years of forest clearance added hundreds of billions of tones of carbon in the atmosphere. The average human contributes about 5 tonnes of CO2 every year out of which a quarter will remain in atmosphere for well over a millennium. But how can we contribute in mitigating climate change and become climate positive?

Join me in the conversation with Oliver Bolton, founder and CEO of Earthly where their mission is to mitigate climate change by focusing on nature based solutions to create a Natural Revolution. 

What is Modern Slavery and why is it important that we as consumers should know about this? Certainly ethical consumerism is on the rise but still most of us are unaware of the conditions in which our products are being produced. The term modern slavery is designed to capture all of the diminished human rights conditions in work spaces that exists around the world which includes human trafficking, forced labour, child labour and others. A multi-billion dollar company can tell you exactly where their products are coming from but can't tell you anything about the humans that are involved in making the products. 

Listen to my conversation with Brian Iselin, founder and CEO of slavefreetrade where their mission is to deliver human rights to workplaces around the world and help consumers like us to make a conscious decision. 

The current covid crisis has affected every individual in the world in some way or the other. Especially when it comes to small business owners and social entrepreneurs, it has had a huge impact and threatens their survival in the field. But these challenges are not something new for social entrepreneurs, who try to create a business which is connected to the society. Now more than ever they need to be part of a community where they feel supported and are able to reach out for help or collaborate. Societal innovation plays a big role when it comes to the sustainable development of the world. 

Listen to my conversation with Jesper Kjellerås, founder and director of Impact Hub Stockholm. Impact Hub was founded as Sweden's first co-working place to create a safe environment to foster collaboration and societal innovation. 

Elephants are such a majestic creature and it is fortunate that we share our world with them. Sadly there is incredible loss of biodiversity that we as humans have influenced and losing elephants as species will drastically shift the ecological system. But it is also a challenge for many economically poor communities through out the world to live alongside wildlife which sometimes has negative impact on their livelihood.  According to WWF, experts estimated that Africa's elephant population had dropped by 111,000 elephants in the span of a decade. 

Join me in the conversation with Dr. Kate Evans, founder of Elephants for Africa where she works to tackle the challenges like elephant conservation, poaching, education and living harmoniously among wildlife. 

"If you want to change the world, you have to start with education". In the ever-transforming era, the need for digital education is very clear but it is a big challenge for underprivileged children and other group of people who do not have access to such online education tools. In the global scale education is still a costly activity and moreover due to the current shutdowns more than 1.9 billion children cannot attend schools. In education, mathematics acts as a starting point to change the world. 

Career transition from academia to industry is many times a challenge for PhDs, researchers and other students. Managing our expectations and understanding the labour market is tricky, especially finding the exact field with our expertise. We always tend to underestimate the value of networking which plays a major role not only when looking for a job but also to start your own venture. Researchers want their work to have a greater impact in the society and to do that sometimes you need to take the role of social entrepreneur. 

Join me in conversation with Tina Persson, CEO of Passage2Pro who motivates and helps people in this difficult transition. She talks about the challenges faced by academics and how to tackle this by changing the mindset. 

Circular economy, a term which is not new to the industry and people, is gaining momentum over the past few years.  The linear model of "Take, Make, Waste" has prevailed for a long time since the first industrial revolution and has waged a terrible battle with our beloved planet. Fortunately, now many business and social leaders are embracing the principles of circular economy and work with the core of its framework - to design out the waste. The World Economic Forum has reported that implementing the circular economy worldwide could yield material cost savings of up to $1 trillion a year by 2025.

Global warming is a challenge which we have been facing for a long time. Generally we talk about greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activities like burning of fossil fuels, coal, natural gas and deforestation. We tend to miss out that the leading source of anthropogenic methane emission is animal agriculture. Bill gates recently said that if cattle were a country they would rank 3rd in Greenhouse Gas Emissions. How do we solve this global challenge?

Join me in listening to Fredrik Åkerman, co-founder and CEO of Volta Greentech who found out a way to reduce the methane emissions in cow burp and farts by almost 80%. 

We live in a multi-lingual world and living in a place where you don't speak the local language is something quite common nowadays. The problem comes when you have to go to the healthcare centers especially more now during the Covid times and you are unable to explain your issues to the medical staff because you don't speak their language. Misinterpretations in the medical field cannot be afforded as it is the matter of life and death. Healthcare facilities rely on interpreters for this and there is a scarcity of number of interpreters available to meet patients' needs. How do we solve this problem?

Join my conversation with Maja Magnusson, COO and co-founder of Care to Translate, to listen to their innovative solution to digitally interpret with correct medical language for healthcare providers. 

Unfortunately, we live in a world where even young children are sexually exploited. The volume of material depicting children exposed to sexual abuse appears to continually increase especially  in today's modern digital era. How do we tackle these problems? Are the laws strict enough from these things happening all over the world?

Join me in the conversation with Linda Wijkström - ECPAT Sweden, who will share the role of ECPAT, a non-profit organisation, working to prevent sexual exploitation against children before it occurs. ECPAT Sweden runs a web-based hotline service enabling anyone to anonymously report any kind of suspected sexual exploitation of children. 

You can find ECPAT: 

If we open our closets we would find most of our clothes made of polyester, polyamide, rayon or other petroleum based materials. It is a known fact that clothing industry is one of the highest polluting industry in the world. The micro-plastics from the clothes enter the water stream and pollute our environment. Is there no solution to this? Can we ever reach 100% sustainable clothing?

Listen to my conversation with Franziska Mesche - founder of Tripulse, who is passionate about sports and environment which drove her to find a sustainable alternative to make active sportswear product. 

"Consume less, but more consciously"