Impact Snapshot
August 2023
In this month’s Impact Snapshot, read about EHF Fellows in action creating environmental, social and economic impact, plus recent recognitions and awards they’ve received.
Fellows in action 🎬
Anne-Marie Brook and the Human Rights Measurement Initiative have recently registered the Rights Tracker as a Digital Public Good.
The Rights Tracker, provides free, country-level human rights data, and is the second project in Aotearoa NZ to be recognised as a Digital Public Good (DPG). Eco-Index, was the first DPG in NZ, which also had a Fellow behind the certification, Nathaniel Calhoun.
The Digital Public Goods Alliance helps address ‘information pollution’ by reviewing open-source solutions and has a registry of those that meet the standard.
Anne-Marie and Nathaniel agree that having these open-source tools certified in this way gives an added layer of assurance to users and opens up pathways for international collaboration.
CEO of the Hillary Institute and EHF, Rosalie Nelson, says. “Making these important tools available for Aotearoa NZ and the world to use epitomises Fellows striving to address inequities and shifting systems. We know knowledge is powerful, and these initiatives put that power into the hands of the public by making important insights on biodiversity and human rights freely available.”
Brophy Tyree, CEO and co-founder of Wasted*, is transforming the portable sanitation industry. Wasted* uses circular sanitation infrastructure that converts human waste into a potent and secure fertiliser. The outcome is a positive impact on environmental sustainability and agricultural productivity.
Brophy recently unveiled a video to explain the circular sanitation ecosystem crafted by him and his team - based in Vermont, USA. His innovation uses a unique separating system that diverts waste and prepares it for the upcycling process for conversion into fertiliser.
Watch the video to find out more.
Frédérique Irwin is a champion of equity in education and women's entrepreneurship. She has recently taken the helm as President and CEO of the National Women’s History Museum in Washington DC. Her mission is to inspire women, girls, and communities by showcasing the stories of trailblazing women, fostering collaboration, and transforming perceptions of women's potential. The museum, a beacon of women's history education, wants to reshape how women and girls perceive their own power and impact.
Topaz Adizes has dedicated a decade to fostering human connection worldwide. He is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and known for his work on {THE AND} and The Skin Deep. Through interactive experiences, he has facilitated profound conversations between more than 1200 pairs of people, from 10+ countries.
Topaz recently announced his upcoming book, 12 Questions for Love, a guide to enhance relationships, applicable to all meaningful bonds in life. Topaz’s work highlights the potential of a single conversation to forever change relationships and deepen human connection in our current world.
Topaz also recently appeared on a MUDWTR podcast to discuss the last 10 years of work The Skin Deep has been doing to shift the direction of people’s lives for the better.
Tim Pare continues to make a positive impact for Sri Lankan tea leaf communities with community-led skills and leadership Children’s Activity Programmes, benefitting more than 4,000 children.
Through his Tea Leaf Trust, Tim runs the programmes for children and young people to help to lift them and their families out of poverty through employment, further education and training, and enables the children to engage with positive role models from their own communities.
Chris Jensen, co-founder of Leadership Lab NZ, is driving transformative change in Aotearoa NZ. To connect community and sector leaders interested in equity issues, Chris has launched a webinar series that will focus on the frameworks and methodologies of systems thinking, tools, leadership, and change.
The first in the series is titled ‘Hautū Waka: An approach to navigating complexity drawn from mātauranga Māori’. It introduces and explores the navigational practice and knowledge of Hautū Waka, an indigenous approach to wayfinding and working in complexity.
Aaron McDonald continues to significantly support the emerging metaverse tech industry This month his company Futureverse announced a US $50M venture fund and studio titled Born Ready that will focus on early stage Web3 and metaverse technology investments.
The fund has already deployed capital into a variety of companies, including a high-tech sneaker startup, a Web3 startup, and blockchain gaming companies. Born Ready will announce an accelerator program with funding opportunities at a later date.
The announcement comes hot on the heels of Futureverse’s US $54M A Series round.
Jacinta Gulasekharam, CEO and co-founder of Dignity, celebrated winning the Emerging Gold Product award at the Wellington Gold Awards - important recognition of the work she is doing to create an inclusive future for Aotearoa NZ.
Dignity is a social enterprise that operates a ‘buy one, give one’ model to create access to period products in high schools and workplaces. It aims to create a more equitable, inclusive environment that enhances employee wellbeing and productivity and helps to reduce the stigma, shame and costs of periods.
Shiva Susarla is driving change towards sustainable food systems. As CEO of Mycovation, he has unveiled MycoSmart, an innovative AI tool revolutionising the Mycelium industry.
MycoSmart empowers food formulators to create tailor-made Mycelium fermented plant flours, potentially accelerating the adoption of plant proteins. Mycovation's visionary approach leverages Mycelium's versatility to drive transformative change in food systems, and could significantly impact how fast plant proteins gain adoption in the market.
Thabiso Mashaba is working with the local community to support the Tairāwhiti region through innovative community-led solutions.
Spearheading the 'Slash for Cash' project in Tolaga Bay, he and his team have ingeniously transformed slash waste into valuable biochar and charcoal products, recently securing their first client for their smokeless charcoal briquettes.
Thabiso and the Slash for Cash initiative has garnered widespread attention, including coverage on RNZ (radio interview and news article) and Te Ao Māori News this month.
David Yuan and Tidemark unveiled their next project to help founders build generational companies, with the announcement of the next chapter to the Vertical SaaS Knowledge Project (VSKP), called VSKP Next.
Beyond funding, David aims to empower entrepreneurs by providing strategic frameworks derived from his years of investing experience and access to world-class talent. After compiling insights from successful businesses into over 20 essays, David has elevated VSKP into a repository for premier Vertical SaaS expertise.The aim is to provide data, tools, and benchmarks to help entrepreneurs to analyse their business.
Jonathan Chang is helping to advance financial inclusion and literacy. He has recently been announced as President Director of Fintopia Indonesia, a global fintech firm dedicated to equitable financial services for the unbanked and underbanked. With US $2B in unsecured loans disbursed, Fintopia's leadership in micro-lending is evidenced by collaborative efforts with regulatory bodies, fintech associations, and educational institutions to enhance financial inclusion.
Faumuina Maria Tafuna'i and Rasha Abu Safieh shared their expertise as tech innovators at the CIO Summit 2023, presenting on new opportunities for innovation in the tech industry in Aotearoa NZ.
Rasha (co-founder of STARlab) spoke on the topic of ‘The transformational power of technology in complex communities: strategies for success’.
Faumuina (CEO and founder of Flying Geese) spoke on the topic of ‘How can Wayfinding, a design framework based on celestial navigation and ocean voyaging, help solve wicked problems with technologies?’
The CIO Summit’s key themes reflected changes in individuals' lives, society, economy, and environment, and emphasised the importance of making strategic ICT decisions.
*Images have been provided by Fellows or sourced from the Internet. EHF does not claim to own the images.