Podcast: Impact

91: The Washing Machine Project – Let’s Engineer a More Sustainable Future

January 25, 2022 aviyer2000 Design and Innovation, Europe, Impact, USA 00:28:00 0 Comments

70% of the world’s population lacks access to an electric washing machine.
Hand washing clothes sounds like a simple task but for many women around the world, it poses a significant obstacle to their wellbeing and livelihood.
Navjot Sawhney was a curious child always trying to figure out how things worked. He grew up to be an engineer and wanted to use his engineering and design skills for good. He quit his secure, highly respected job at Dyson to volunteer for Engineers Without Borders Uk and Prakti (an Indian NGO). He saw his friend Divya spend hours doing household chores and he promised her that he would design and make a hand-cranked washing machine for her. He returned to Uk and after a short stint with Jaguar he went to the drawing board to make good on his promise. He designed a hand-cranked washing machine that used fifty percent less water, saved time, avoided touching the detergent and completely off the grid. By providing displaced and low-income communities with an accessible, off-grid washing solution, The Washing Machine Project’s mission is to empower women with the time to take charge over their lives. They believe that when women rise, we all rise.

https://thewashingmachineproject.org/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Design and Innovation
91: The Washing Machine Project - Let's Engineer a More Sustainable Future
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88: Amor Perfecto – Decolonizing Colombian Coffee

January 4, 2022 aviyer2000 Agriculture & Farming, Impact, USA 00:50:19 0 Comments

In this episode, we have Luis Fernando Velez founder of Amor Perfecto with whom our host Vidhya Iyer talks about their common love for a good cup of coffee – with its perfect aroma and complex flavors. Luis shares what is entailed in producing a rich and fragrant coffee. It starts from the coffee cherry picked at the exact ripeness using high-tech refractometers to find the optimal ripeness to pick each variety of dark red for one to purple for another. At Amor Perfecto each bean is hand-picked, unlike some other brands who prefer strip harvesting by machine, an efficient, affordable, but indiscriminate practice. The beans are then expertly processed and most importantly roasted close to where they are picked.

For over 200 years Colombia has been exporting green coffee beans to be roasted in consuming countries all over the world. In fact, it was illegal to roast quality coffee in Colombia until 2003. The government and the growers had been convinced that the consuming countries knew better than them how to perfectly roast coffee, robbing Colombians of additional revenues by adding value to their crop. Amor Perfecto fought to change the law and volunteered as guinea pigs to show lawmakers that their signature crop was not just for export. Grab a cup of coffee and tune in to listen to Luis’ fascinating stories.

https://amorperfecto.com/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Agriculture & Farming
88: Amor Perfecto - Decolonizing Colombian Coffee
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86: Forust – 3D Printing to Rematerialize Wood Waste

December 14, 2021 aviyer2000 Design and Innovation, Impact, Sustainable Materials, USA 00:35:27 0 Comments

Every year, 15 Billion trees are cut down to produce paper, build homes, and make furniture. From this, millions of tons of wood waste are generated annually. A portion of this waste is recovered and sold to downstream markets to make particle board or wood pellets for energy. The remaining sawdust is either burned – contributing to air pollution – or sent to landfill. Though biodegradable, sawdust can be harmful to the environment in large quantities when landfilled. As it decomposes, sawdust releases high concentrations of lignin and fatty acids, which can contaminate water supplies, potentially poisoning wildlife and micro-organisms. We speak with Andrew Jeffery, Co-founder of Forust, by Desktop Metal, uses the power of high-speed, high-resolution 3D printing to give a new life to a discarded resource – creating strong, beautiful and carbon-friendly wood products from wood waste. For each tree saved, we reduce the CO2 footprint by a metric ton over the tree’s life. Learn more in our next episode.

Mentions:
Virginia San Fratello
Ronald Rael
https://www.forust.com/
https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Design and Innovation
86: Forust - 3D Printing to Rematerialize Wood Waste
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83: Rebel Nell – One of No Other Kind

November 23, 2021 aviyer2000 Design and Innovation, Fashion and Beauty, Impact, Sustainable Materials, USA, Womenled 00:48:42 0 Comments

This episode has two parts – in part one, we talk with Amy Peterson, the co-founder of Rebel Nell about her inspiration and motivation to start Rebel Nell. While living next to a homeless shelter in Detroit, MI, she got to learn up-close the women who lived there and their challenges. One day out on a jog she finds a piece of graffiti that she envisioned could be repurposed into meaningful wearable art. A fusion of these two ideas gave birth to Rebel Nell. Amy with her co-founder Diana Roginson started Rebel Nell in 2013 with the mission to provide employment, equitable opportunity, and wraparound support for women with barriers to employment. They seek to embolden women, to embrace their infinite strength, and to define their own future.

They partner with local organizations to seek out women who have struggled to find and retain employment. Their goal is to help the women move from a life of dependence to one of self-reliance, overcoming barriers to employment through the fruits of their own labor. Rebel Nell’s product line starts with repurposing graffiti, after it has fallen off the walls.

These are women who when hired have no background in jewelry become creative designers who make incredibly intricate and unique piece each one more beautiful than the next. In the part two we chat with one such woman – Ethel Rucker, Production Lead at Rebel Nell.

In addition to on-the-job training and guidance on how to make jewelry, Rebel Nell also provides them with life management, financial training and business education to make sure they have the confidence and knowledge that will enable them to leave homelessness/dependence behind permanently and move forward as strong independent women. Listen to this powerful story in this episode.

https://www.rebelnell.com/
To hire Ethel Rucker for your next photoshoot contact her via her website https://harteclectic.com/

https://www.mindfulbusinessespodcast.com/

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Design and Innovation
83: Rebel Nell - One of No Other Kind
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73: Unrest – Some Ideas Deserve to Go Further, Faster

September 7, 2021 aviyer2000 Europe, Impact 00:36:41 0 Comments

We talk with Orr Vinegold, founder of UNREST, driving impact through ethical & sustainable businesses. He is hugely passionate about turning businesses into a force for good. UNREST supports founders ready to re-imagine what profitable companies can do for the planet and people. The program provides start-ups with the opportunity to take their business idea from MVP to the next level; ready to launch and solve global issues. Unrest prepares start-ups for seed funding, whilst helping them develop a world-class brand, through their partnership with award-winning Uncommon Creative Studios. Within the next 30 years, every consumer company will be mission-led. Unrest wants to be the institution that launches the most successful of these.

Unrest is a mission-driven accelerator based in London, on a mission to amplify the disruptive power of other ethical companies. Unrest empowers entrepreneurs to change the world through impactful, global businesses. The accelerator has been set up due to the desire for environmental and social change with the deep belief the solutions are in the hands of talented people using their ingenuity to build global companies.

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Europe
73: Unrest - Some Ideas Deserve to Go Further, Faster
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72: Tahmina – To Be Brave (Donate for Afghanistan)

August 31, 2021 aviyer2000 Food, Impact, USA, Womenled 00:29:56 0 Comments

Want to join us in making a difference? We are raising money to benefit Education Foundation for Afghanistan Inc, and any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.

A little bit about Education Foundation for Afghanistan (EFFA), – founded by Prof. Zarjon Baha, Purdue University, an octogenarian who emigrated to the United States in 1982 as a refugee after the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan. He founded EFFA with the mission to promote education in Afghanistan. As a long-time educator, he believes that only education can help empower women. 100% of your donations will go to educate girls. The past two weeks’ turmoil has made his mission even more difficult. Like Michelle Obama said “When girls are educated, their countries become stronger and more prosperous,”  The need is immediate and urgent.  Please don’t look away. Donate by clicking on the link
https://gofund.me/ea4e1401
We talk with Sarah Jackson (whose name has been changed due to security reasons), founder and CEO of Tahmina. Tahmina is an international brand with a vision to export transformational products from different conflict regions of the world. Their maiden project is saffron and saffron-infused teas from Afghanistan. Learn more about their work through this podcast.

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Food
72: Tahmina - To Be Brave (Donate for Afghanistan)
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71: Greyston Bakery – Inclusive Hiring One Person At a Time

August 24, 2021 aviyer2000 Impact, USA 00:39:38 0 Comments

It all started with a Buddhist and a bakery in 1982. Since then, when people say, yes, I want to work; Greyston Bakery says yes right back. It begins by trusting in human potential. Greyston Bakery has opened its doors to those who ordinarily face rejection, providing those struggling to prosper an opportunity to thrive. When people say they want to work, they give them a chance, replacing scrutiny with trust, transforming lives, and breaking the cycle of poverty – one person and one job at a time. Today, they are scaling their mission through their Centers for Open Hiring in Yonkers and Rochester, New York by sharing their experience with business leaders and guiding them in implementing the Open Hiring® model in their organizations. With their Open Hiring®- no background checks, no resumes, no interviews- they invest in people and build communities, businesses, and a better world. Because it’s not someone’s past that matters — it’s their future. We talk to the compassionate and driven Joe Kenner, President and CEO of Greyston Bakery. Come and listen now!

Greyston Bakery is proudly Kosher and B Corp Certified.

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Impact
71: Greyston Bakery - Inclusive Hiring One Person At a Time
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67: Avocado Green Mattress – Organic Mattress

July 20, 2021 aviyer2000 Impact, Sustainable Materials, USA 00:27:33 0 Comments

This week we talk with the Sustainability Director of Avocado mattresses, Bri Decker. Avocado organic mattresses are handmade with only the finest naturally non-toxic and 100% certified organic materials from their own farms in sunny California. A Certified B Corporation, Avocado mattress was born when one of the founders Jeff D’Andrea couldn’t find a green mattress for his newborn baby. Their mission is to be the most respected source for organic mattresses and pillows at affordable prices — while maintaining environmentally conscious, ethical, and sustainable business practices — to help safeguard the health of people and the planet. Learn more about their journey in our next episode.

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Impact
67: Avocado Green Mattress - Organic Mattress
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66: Bengal Muslin

July 13, 2021 aviyer2000 Europe, Impact, Sustainable Materials 00:47:16 0 Comments

Woven Air – as muslin was known in the 1600s…the Portuguese legend said it was the fabric woven by mermaids. What makes a fabric muslin? The original muslin was produced solely from a cotton plant called, Phuti Karpas, which grew exclusively along the banks of a certain stretch of the Brahmaputra river. The extracted cotton was then hand-spun into an extraordinarily delicate yarn in villages near Dhaka, Bangladesh. Six yards of muslin cloth could be fitted into a matchbox, sixty yards would fit inside the shell of a coconut, a pound of this yarn could be stretched for 250 miles.

The finished cloth woven on looms that have barely changed over the centuries was sought after by royalty and traded globally across the Middle East and Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, earning enormous revenue for those involved in its trade. Tragically, the industry was deliberately and cruelly erased by past colonial rulers, especially the East India Company and replaced with their machine-made fabrics in the 19th century.

As a result the plant, along with muslin’s spinners and weavers, receded into the pages of history. Today, the best examples of the finished product are in the custody of Western museums and viewed mostly by Western audiences.

We talk to Saiful Islam, Managing Director of Bengal Muslin, that has identified the DNA from the fossilized plants to revive and grow the plant again. He talks to us about the challenges that Bengal Muslin faced to find, train and motivate the traditional generational spinners – who still had the collective memory of the fabric to weave 400 count Dhaka muslin. Listen to this passionate Saiful Islam only on Mindful Businesses. Saiful’s picture was taken through muslin for the cover for this episode.

PC: @Drik @Saiful Islam @Bengal Muslin

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Europe
66: Bengal Muslin
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65: The Farmlink Project – Harvesting Hope

June 29, 2021 aviyer2000 Food, Impact, USA 00:27:44 0 Comments

The Farmlink Project was started at the height of the pandemic in April 2020 to fight food insecurity by repurposing surplus produce. Back home in Los Angeles at the start of the pandemic, with nothing but time on their hands, Aidan Reilly and James Kanoff were like many of us disturbed by the long lines at the food pantries alongside farmers throwing away their produce, eggs, milk … and their harvest. The boon of an efficient supply chain in the food industry can be a major problem with any slight disruption. The Farmlink Project, a non-profit run by 200 plus volunteers, operates in 48 US states and Mexico bringing the excess produce of farmers to food banks. They are the recipient of the 2021 Congressional Medal of Honor – Citizen Honors Award – awarded to outstanding Americans who have gone above and beyond to perform extraordinary acts of courage or service. Listen to their story of compassion, drive, and vision on Mindful Businesses podcast.

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Food
65: The Farmlink Project - Harvesting Hope
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