Mission Driven Podcast Rich

In this episode, of the Mission Driven podcast, I had the privilege of speaking with Devika Malik, the visionary Founder of The Wheeling Happiness Foundation, about the shared mission she has with her mother to elevate the lives of individuals with disabilities in India.

An accomplished paraolympian, Devika approaches entrepreneurship with incredible tenacity, and is backed by crystal-clear vision for change.

Through our conversation we speak about the founding of the organization, the role of mentors (aka coaches) to help ensure accountability, and overcoming the challenges of being a young entrepreneur.

Prepare to be inspired as we uncover the entrepreneurial mindset driving her endeavors and the profound impact she is making in the lives of individuals with disabilities.

About Devika:
An international para-athlete, counsellor and co-founder of the Wheeling Happiness Foundation, Devika Malik is a resounding global voice in the sphere of inclusivity for people with physical, emotional and social challenges.

Born with hemiplegia, a condition that causes paralysis to one side of the body, Devika developed a sensitised worldview from early on. She not only overcame her disability to become an international para-athlete but has also become an inspirational role model through her work with people facing different types of challenges – educating economically under-privileged children; vocational training for rehabilitated sex workers & AIDS-affected children; and emotional and physical rehabilitative techniques for physically challenged individuals.

Today, she is a leading voice for young people with disabilities in the Commonwealth and the United Nations and has represented India at many international forums, including the Commonwealth Youth Forum and Bright Ideas Talk at Commonwealth Secretariat.

In 2021, Devika was awarded the National Youth Award by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports; and the Queen’s Young Leader Award in 2015 for her work with underprivileged people with disabilities and towards disability awareness and universal inclusion in India. She has been honoured amongst the Women Transforming India by Hon. Vice President and United Nations; and was listed as an honouree on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List 2020. In her career as a para-athlete, Devika has won three medals at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix, and multiple golds at the National Para-Athletics Championships between 2010 and 2015.

Devika holds the unique honour of being one of only two youngsters, chosen from across the Commonwealth, to speak at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018 (CHOGM) in London in front of Heads of State of 53 nations, including the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi and the entire Royal Family. She also addressed high-level stakeholders at the first-ever global Disability Summit in London in 2018.

Follow Devika:
Website: https://www.wheelinghappiness.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/devikamalik394
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devika.malikQYL/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/devikamalik_394
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devika-malik-a4377345

About Rich
Driven by the belief that change begins with a single step, Richard Brubaker has spent the last 15 years in Asia working to engage, inspire, and equip those around him to take their first step.

Acting as a catalyst to driving sustainability, Brubaker works with government, corporate, academic and non-profit stakeholders to bring together knowledge, teams, and tools that develop and execute their business case for sustainability.

Follow Rich
Website: http://www.richbrubaker.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rich.brubaker
LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richbrubaker
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/richbrubaker

Contact Rich
social@richbrubaker.com

Through this conversation, I speak with Andy Klump about his 15 year journey to to build one of the world's leading solar energy and storage services firms.

It's an incredible conversation about entrepreneurship, the need to constantly adapt (as an entrepreneur), and the need for entrepreneurs to continue identifying, acquiring, and leveraging the resources needed to build culture, empower teams, and find scale.

ABOUT ANDY
Mr. Klump is the founder, owner, and CEO of Clean Energy Associates (CEA), a solar energy and storage engineering services firm established in 2008 which serves investors, developers, EPC contractors, utilities and other downstream clients in the areas of supply chain management, quality assurance, independent engineering, and business intelligence.

CEA’s team of 200+ professionals including 135+ engineers with a presence in 13 countries have worked with clients in over 70 countries and completed over 145GW of solar and 15GWh storage projects valued at $96B+.

CEA’s team of professionals exhibits a deep commitment to the core values and purpose and has obtained NPS score of 80 from customers and team members as a validation of its unique culture.

Follow Andy:
Website: www.cea3.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aklump/

ABOUT RICH
Driven by the belief that change begins with a single step, Richard Brubaker has spent the last 15 years in Asia working to engage, inspire, and equip those around him to take their first step.

Acting as a catalyst to driving sustainability, Brubaker works with government, corporate, academic and non-profit stakeholders to bring together knowledge, teams, and tools that develop and execute their business case for sustainability.

FOLLOW RICH
Website: http://www.richbrubaker.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rich.brubaker
LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richbrubaker
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/richbrubaker

CONTACT RICH
social@richbrubaker.com

#richbrubaker #missiondriven

Daniel Spitzer is a mission-driven entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to building businesses that solve big problems at scale.

It’s a journey that started seeing the socio-economic and environmental challenges faced in the region, and coming to the belief that private business was the best way to address those issues.

In the years that followed, Spitzer built a vertically integrated forestry products manufacturer (TPP) that planted over 100 million trees as part of its business model, and shortly thereafter built Mountain Hazelnuts.

An organization that has become one of the largest private employers in Bhutan.

While Spitzer's journey into mission-driven may seem counterintuitive, Spitzer's work highlights the impact that mission-driven entrepreneurs can play in addressing large scale social and environmental issues, and through this interview I hope you will be inspired to think about how you too can deliver impact AT SCALE.

About Daniel
Daniel Spitzer is Chairman & CEO of Mountain Hazelnuts Group, a major agri-business that is planting 10 million hazelnut trees on deforested mountain slopes in Bhutan.

The Company’s mission is to generate strong financial returns while creating sustainable income for 15% of Bhutan’s population, while addressing the country’s key social and environmental issues.

Since 1993, Daniel has developed ventures that successfully combine financial objectives with social and environmental goals, including Plantation Timber Products, which he built into China's largest sustainable forestry company. With state-of-the-art processing facilities and 1,000 PTP retail stores, PTP engaged 700,000 subsistence farmers in planting fast-cycle trees used to produce fiberboard panels as an import substitute for plywood made from SE Asian rainforests.

Previously, Daniel was Partner & Managing Director of the General Atlantic Group in Asia.

Spitzer received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters degree from Stanford University. Daniel is married to his business partner, Teresa Law, with whom he has a grown son and daughter.

Follow Daniel
Website:
LinkedIn:
Facebook:

About Rich
Driven by the belief that change begins with a single step, Richard Brubaker has spent the last 15 years in Asia working to engage, inspire, and equip those around him to take their first step.

Acting as a catalyst to driving sustainability, Brubaker works with government, corporate, academic and non-profit stakeholders to bring together knowledge, teams, and tools that develop and execute their business case for sustainability.

Follow Rich
Website: http://www.richbrubaker.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rich.brubaker
LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richbrubaker
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/richbrubaker

Contact Rich
social@richbrubaker.com

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I interview Jimmy Pham, the founder of KOTO, and explore his impactful work in improving the lives of disadvantaged youth in Vietnam.

Jimmy's journey began over 15 years ago when he decided to return to Vietnam and discovered his mission. It all started with his support for a small group of street kids.

During our conversation, we discuss Jimmy's quest to find his purpose, reflect on the early days of KOTO, how he defines success, and the lessons he has learned through the last 15 years as he has built this incredible organization.

About Jimmy:
Jimmy Pham AM is the unstoppable force and visionary founder behind Vietnam’s leading social enterprise KOTO (Know One, Teach One). Over the last 21 years, KOTO has impacted the lives of over 1000 street kids and disadvantaged youth in Vietnam.

KOTO was named finalist for the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award and was also awarded the inaugural UNICEF Vietnam Zero Award for Social Innovation for its work championing the rights of children and youth.

Jimmy was recognised as a World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader in 2011, and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his service to the community through KOTO in 2013. Jimmy received South Korea’s POSCO TJ Park Prize in 2017 and has now been featured on CNN, BBC, LA Times and The New York Times.

Follow Jimmy:
Website: https://www.koto.com.au/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmy-pham-am-402258151/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jimmyphamkoto/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KOTOFoundation

About Rich
Driven by the belief that change begins with a single step, Richard Brubaker has spent the last 15 years in Asia working to engage, inspire, and equip those around him to take their first step.

Acting as a catalyst to driving sustainability, Brubaker works with government, corporate, academic and non-profit stakeholders to bring together knowledge, teams, and tools that develop and execute their business case for sustainability.

Follow Rich
Website: http://www.richbrubaker.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rich.brubaker
LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richbrubaker
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/richbrubaker

Contact Rich
social@richbrubaker.com

Steven Moore is a former leadership chief of staff in the House of Representatives who founded the Ukraine Freedom Project.

Initially, UFP helped evacuate Ukrainians from hot spots like Kyiv and Kharkiv. Now, the organization provides food, medical supplies, generators, Starlinks and other needed supplies to the front where international organizations and larger NGOs don’t go.

Moore has extensive relationships in Washington D.C., both on the Hill and off. He utilizes these relationships to provide help to Ukraine in ways other aid workers cannot.

He also uses the Ukraine Freedom Project’s 501(c)(3) status to educate policymakers on the situation in Ukraine.

Follow Steven:
Website: ukrainefreedomproject.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/steven.e.moore
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-moore-7884a04/
Email: steven@ukrainefreedomproject.com

About Rich
Driven by the belief that change begins with a single step, Richard Brubaker has spent the last 15 years in Asia working to engage, inspire, and equip those around him to take their first step.

Acting as a catalyst to driving sustainability, Brubaker works with government, corporate, academic and non-profit stakeholders to bring together knowledge, teams, and tools that develop and execute their business case for sustainability.

Follow Rich
Website: http://www.richbrubaker.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rich.brubaker
LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richbrubaker
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/richbrubaker

Contact Rich
social@richbrubaker.com

In this episode, I speak with mission-driven entrepreneur Sabrina Mustopo about her journey as founder of Krakakao.

A “farmer-to-bar” social enterprise founded with a mission to improve the livelihood of Indonesian cocoa farmers and the sustainability of cocoa farming.

Timestamps:

About Sabrina:
In 2013, Sabrina founded Krakakoa Chocolate, a "farmer-to-bar" social enterprise working directly with smallholder cocoa farmers to produce organically grown award-winning Indonesian chocolate.

In partnership with SwissContact, Krakakoa has provided training to about 1,000 farmers living in the sensitive border areas around national parks in Lampung, Sumatra and in West Sulawesi, to help improve their livelihoods and the sustainability of cocoa farming.

Krakakoa Chocolate has won a total of six medals at the 2017 Academy of Chocolate (AOC) Awards in the United Kingdom, making them the first Indonesian chocolate maker to win any AOC award.

Follow Sabrina:
Website: https://krakakoa.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sabrinamustopo/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sabrinamustopo
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sabrinamustopo

About Rich
Driven by the belief that change begins with a single step, Richard Brubaker has spent the last 15 years in Asia working to engage, inspire, and equip those around him to take their first step.

Acting as a catalyst to driving sustainability, Brubaker works with government, corporate, academic and non-profit stakeholders to bring together knowledge, teams, and tools that develop and execute their business case for sustainability.

Follow Rich
Website: http://www.richbrubaker.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rich.brubaker
LinkedIn Page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richbrubaker
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/richbrubaker

Contact Rich
social@richbrubaker.com