Impact Hustlers - Entrepreneurs with Social Impact

Alon Cohen is the founder and CEO of Pika Diapers, an impact-driven startup focused on changing the world one diaper at a time. Born from Alon’s own struggles as a parent constantly needing to buy and change diapers, Pika offers a machine that cleans and dries reusable diapers, making this a great alternative to using roughly 6,500 disposable diapers per baby that will simply end up in landfills.

Not only does Pika Diapers address the financial aspect of having to shell out money for diapers regularly, of which the costs for this expense alone can pile up, but it also lessens the environmental impact through reusable diapers. And so, in this episode, Alon shares with us his entire entrepreneurial journey, from Pika’s inception, to the obstacles he faced like his stuttering, and then onto his goals and his vision for Pika as they soldier on in their mission to clean up babies’ sh*t. Oh, and we have exciting updates for the Impact Hustlers community. Listen to this episode to find out what we have in store for you!

Alon’s key lessons and quotes from this episode were:

• “Figure out each feature if it is the right solution for the customers. If not, don't waste time adding features that the customer does not have any value [for].” (21:09)
• “Look, to be a founder, it is not the obvious thing to do. I think it's not recommended for everyone... You need a lot of inner strength.” (35:50)
• “The perspective is to change the way that we consume, to consume less, to consume without disposables.” (40;26)

In this episode, we also talked about:

• An overview of Pika Diapers (7:08)
• How Pika came to be (12:33)
• Bootstrapping the business (23:49)
• Overcoming challenges in his entrepreneurial journey (29:02)
• How the world looks like in 10 years if Pika Diapers succeeds (40:24)

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Did you know that the UK government allots 16 billion pounds every year to charities? That’s seven billion pounds more than private donations made to these same charities. With that, Time to Spare founder Tom Neill shares what it’s like providing data that helps charities manage their projects and volunteers as well as collect information that, in the end, not only keeps charities transparent and organized but also allows the government to decide on local projects and organizations that would benefit most from being funded.

After quitting his job at Oliver Wyman and taking a sabbatical in China, Tom realized there was a problem that needed to be solved, which was the lack of data on what charities were doing and the impact they were having on people’s lives. And so, Time to Spare was created. With their software that records all the information on charities and their projects, they help charities provide support to the people that really need it.

Having to pivot during the pandemic was one of their main challenges, among others, and along with that, Tom also shares the story behind their business model, how they figured out how to make it sustainable, other challenges they faced and overcame, their competition, what it is like working with the government, and more.

Tom’s key lessons and quotes from this episode were:

• “I think the main source of motivation really is a lot of the organizations, especially the charities that we work with, are really quite underserved by software tools in general.” (24:46)
• “You go to a local community center and their activities they're putting on for people, the support they're providing to people who just have no other way of getting that support is really inspiring.” (25:49)
• “The only way you can do it, or at least the way we managed to do it, was to do something on the cheap.” (30:35)

In this episode, we also talked about:

• Tom’s journey from Oliver Wyman to Time to Spare (1:32)
• The world of Time to Spare, charities, and government (7:57)
• The lessons Tom’s learned from his journey with Time to Spare (20:17)
• Why Tom and his team do what they do (24:46)
• Tom’s advice to startup founders (30:23)
• How the volunteer space will be in 10 years’ time according to Tom (35:30)

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Vanessa Martins Lopes is the co-founder of The Wild Curl, a naturally curly hair care company

Highlights:

• The trouble for naturally curly hair that has no product for them.
• Straight hair is the good hair that was set by social media and society - the misconception of great hair.
• The Wild Curl aims to let everyone know to be confident with their hair.
• Dryer hair by nature, mostly difficult to manage as it is mostly tangled, different hair structures require different hair products - there is no one hair product for all hair types.
• Seeing customers happy with their beautiful hair after using their product makes Vanessa and her fiance feel very proud.
• Vanessa and her fiance are looking forward to expanding their business through crowdfunding, so their customers, friends and family, or sponsorships could invest and be part of their business.
• Big hair products companies in the past do not consider more products for afro hair people but have changed recently, however people do think that the companies should do this sooner.
• It is never a good time to start, it's always a bad time to start, it can be your excuse, but it is always like this, it is either full in or you never gonna do it.
• Talk about your company as much as possible, to strangers, to friends - you might be surprised with the advice you get from the investors.
• To grow the business, we must have a proper scale, as a founder there are tasks that we have to do and not queuing up in the post office.
• Funds will be mostly used in product development, their next step is to launch three conditioners next year.

Useful Links:

The Wild Curl : https://www.thewildcurl.com/The Wild Curl Crowdfunding campaign: https://www.crowdcube.com/companies/the-wild-curl/pitches/bAJ7kq

Vanessa Martins Lopes : https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamartinslopes/

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Impact Hustlers proudly welcomes one of the pioneers of venture capital and impact investing, Sir Ronald Cohen, or Sir Ronnie. Having been in the finance industry for decades, he now has the well-deserved distinction of being known as the Father of British Venture Capital. He has also founded investment firms and companies that are regarded as leaders in the social impact space.

Sir Ronnie had an interesting childhood, leaving Egypt as a refugee at age 11 and moving to the UK. From his humble beginnings, his dedication and hard work landed him in Oxford and, later on, Harvard Business School. Interestingly, at age 53, he one day sat down with the management of Apax Partners, the investment firm he founded that now has over 50 billion dollars under management, and announced he would be leaving after seven years to focus on social issues. He was then tapped by the British Treasury to lead a task force on poverty, which led him on the path of impact.

He shares how luck played a major role in his life, the valuable insights he learned throughout the years, what drove him to impact investing, and more. He also shares snippets from his book, Impact: Reshaping Capitalism to Drive Real Change, which is a worthwhile read, by the way, as well as the three major forces that are working to make the world a better place. This is truly an episode you won’t want to miss.

Sir Ronnie’s key lessons and quotes from this episode were:

• “Our success or our failure, the types of challenges we have to go through are not all within our control. And once you understand that, you become a lot stronger in meeting the challenges that come your way.” (11:27)
• “There's a greater purpose to your being on earth than just continuing to make more money.” (17:50)
• “The profit motive needs to be guided by impact. Making money and not worrying about the harm you do is no longer possible.” (24:51)
• “Mandatory reporting, use of accounting to measure impact, and measuring both social and environmental impact. If we do that, it will be a historical frontier for capitalism and for society.” (31:06)
• “Bring impact into your thinking. It's the future. You will do better financially, and you will improve the world.” (35:41)
• “Those who refuse to understand the importance of impact for the future of their businesses will once again be left behind.” (37:40)

In this episode, we also talked about:

• An overview of Sir Ronnie’s journey, his childhood, and education (2:52)
• Luck and how it helped Sir Ronnie get to where he is today (10:52)
• Why 1998 was a memorable year for Sir Ronnie (16:06)
• Integrating impact into the core of every business model (24:41)
• Sir Ronnie’s book and social impact bonds (32:39)
• The world in 10 years according to Sir Ronnie (36:13)

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