Impact Snapshot
July 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 🎬
Alex Veiga’s venture studio Co-Created has launched an APAC division in Auckland, which will partner with corporate clients throughout APAC to identify and explore new opportunities to build and launch innovative solutions.
Alex is an advocate of uniting entrepreneurs, innovators, corporations and venture capitalists to foster growth. Since moving to Aotearoa NZ four years ago, Alex recognises the region's amazing entrepreneurial drive but the need for greater global connection for startups and corporations. He believes that venture building is a fantastic tool to enhance the network, capabilities and experience of the region, while de-risking and amplifying results, and sees the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to this fast-growing ecosystem.
Aaron McDonald, co-founder of Futureverse, an AI and metaverse technology and content company, has raised $US54 million in an effort to marry AI and the metaverse. Futureverse is the latest Māori-founded tech unicorn, empowering developers and users to create and engage with interoperable content and applications previously unavailable within the metaverse, and has the potential to transform the way humans engage and collaborate with each other to improve our experiences across a number of different spheres.
As shared in our June Impact Snapshot, Futureverse was also recently honoured as part of the Callaghan 100 Report.
Maya Soetoro and Zelda Keller, from the Institute for Climate and Peace, have been in Aotearoa NZ on a journey to cultivate, contextualise, and reawaken their collaboration with NZ. While here, they also launched the Institute’s Pacific Partnership Hub for learning and exchange between Hawaiʻi, other Pacific island nations, and the rest of the world.
Their vision for the Pacific Partnership Hub is to amplify the sharing of climate information generated in the region, models of positive peacebuilding, and indigenous wisdom between the Pacific populations in Hawaiʻi and Aotearoa to catalyse climate-resilience and peace in the Pacific region and beyond.
Highlights from their visit to Aotearoa are summarised in their blog post, including details about their engagements with women and gender inclusion specialists, young people, community leaders, and climate and peace practitioners from various organisations, as well as their visit to Ūawa Tolaga Bay to meet with Fellows Lily Stender and Thabiso Mashaba who are together spearheading the enhancement of social and economic conditions in Tairāwhiti.
Ryan Petersen (founder of logistics startup Flexport) has joined VC firm Founders Fund as its newest partner, with plans to invest in early- and growth stage startups, creating economic impact for the global tech community.
David Bent continues to advocate for transformation towards a sustainable future, particularly around creating effective global climate governance.
He participated in the 'Race to Regulation' event organised by the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland, which was also attended by Fellow Tessa Vincent. The event's goal was to accelerate climate policies and regulation by governments around the world. He was one of 40 climate action experts in and around the UN COP process who attended the event.
Read more about David’s thoughts and key takeaways from the event here.
David Yuan is using his 20+ years of investing in tech to help other tech companies to grow and scale, through sharing his knowledge on building and investing in vertical market software businesses, understanding the control points in the market, and why vertical SaaS even needs to exist.
He spoke with Colossus podcast about what makes vertical market software an interesting space to invest in.
Kaye Maree Dunn was recognised for her contribution to meaningful change to the digital and tech sector in Aotearoa NZ by winning the Kaiāwhina (Change Maker and Emergent Change Maker) award at the inaugural Te Hapori Matihiko Awards.
She also released the 'Mapping the Māori Tech Sector 2023’ report, created in collaboration with Making Everything Achievable (co-founded by Kaye Maree), the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment; Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi; and NZTech. The report delves into the dynamic landscape of Māori Technology in 2023, unravelling the ways in which Māori practitioners, workers, and business owners incorporate mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) into their work.
The collaborative 12-month research project, which Fellow Hazel Heal also contributed to, celebrates and showcases the remarkable advancements and innovative spirit within the Māori tech sector, fueling inspiration and fostering future growth in this field.
Sasha Lockley and Money Sweetspot took out the Biggest Impact on Financial Health award at the Global Financial Wellbeing Awards, a huge recognition of the impact Sasha’s business is having on financial system change and helping people to better navigate financial nuance and disrupt predatory lending.
Sasha has had major banks contacting her to find out about Money Sweetspot’s lending ethos and financial education programme.
Read this Stuff article to find out more about why Sasha’s good lending model is piquing the interest of big banks.
Cameron Smith’s transformative coding programme, Take2, has already been changing the lives of individuals in the justice system in Aotearoa NZ, and is now set to create global impact with the announcement of an Australian programme, based in Sydney.
Cam’s Take2 programme upskills and supports justice-impacted individuals to have a second chance at life and to find meaningful employment opportunities on release.
Lani Evans, Alanna Irving, and former Hillary Institute Chair Anake Goodall are working together to create a connected and resilient Aotearoa, where business success and community success go hand in hand, with the launch of Share Collective.
The Share Collective is a new initiative enabling founders and investors to donate equity shares to charity. Shares are held long-term, with funds from any dividends or company sales going to critical environmental and social impact areas.
Jase Te Patu (a mental health advocate and the founder of M3 Mindfulness) has been a voice for the Mental Health Foundation of NZ's Mindfulness Month during July.
Recognising that there are increasing numbers of people (particularly young people) suffering from anxiety and depression, Jase has been advocating for setting work–life boundaries, and using simple mindfulness activities to create positive changes for wellbeing.
He spoke with both STUFF and Ensemble Magazine about ways to be more present in our everyday lives.
Jase is also about to open a not-for-profit arm called Hauora Aotearoa, with assistance from Fellow Steven Moe who helped Jase move into the not-for-profit space.
Erin Jackson continues to advocate for the transformation and improvement of the women’s health care system in Aotearoa NZ. Through Project Gender, Erin has been involved with forming the vision of the recently released (and Aotearoa NZ’s first-ever) National Women’s Health Strategy.
The strategy is a significant milestone in the ongoing pursuit of gender equity and improved healthcare outcomes for women. The continuing contribution from Erin and Project Gender to urge government to move this strategy forward is highlighted in this The SpinOff article.
Nikora Ngaropo is fostering connectivity, creating cultural connections and raising awareness of Māori culture through a cultural exchange he built around Matariki, to connect with other cultures in the ASEAN region.
Nikora has been in Thailand leading a group of Maori delegates who hosted the first Hautapu (dawn ceremony) launching ASEAN Matariki 2023. As part of this education, workshops for rangatahi (youth) were run focusing on animation. Another workshop was run in Malaysia on AI technologies and automating processes and systems for businesses.
The ASEAN Matariki Night 2023 was organised to commemorate the Māori New Year, Matariki, and celebrate cultural similarities between Māori and Thai Song Dam ethnic group. Nikora led the exchange alongside Maya Thong-Oui, the President of the ASEAN Business Alliance, to build a foundation for enhanced economic, social and cultural collaboration between the two communities and to open up future opportunities for young Kiwi animators.
Florence Van Dyke continues to be a leader in advocating for a resilient sustainable economy. She spoke at the Nelson Tasman Chamber of Commerce Aspire Conference on how businesses can navigate the future of sustainability, sharing her insights about the power of collaboration in order to make systems-wide change and the importance of balancing the harmony of caring for our environment for the benefit of the economy.
James Nikitine (founder of Blue Cradle, which provides marine conservation education to schools, universities and the wider public) is creating awareness around ocean science and blue economy opportunities. They have released their 2023 Annual Report, which outlines the national and global impact they’ve made throughout the year, including research facilitation and advocacy, engaging with school students through plastics and penguin workshops, marine biosecurity workshops, and much more.
Joanne McEachen shared her knowledge as an education change leader at the National Association of Elementary School Principals Annual Conference in Maryland, USA, where she spoke to the theme of ‘Level up your Leadership’.
Around 1500 elementary principals attended from across the USA, where Joanne highlighted her ethos of supporting every child's journey to discover and learn who they are, how they fit into the world, and how they can each contribute their unique skills to humanity, the planet and to the prosperity of our world.
Dr. Galia BarHava-Monteith mobilised her knowledge for social and commercial impact during an ‘ask me anything’ session with Tech Innovators Exchange, where she spoke about positive cultural transformation, and the social impact created through mentoring women and other disadvantaged groups in their careers.
Galia’s conversation is helping to foster collaboration and ignite new ideas that will drive transformative changes in the tech landscape.
View a recording of her conversation here.
*Images have been provided by Fellows or sourced from the Internet. EHF does not claim to own the images.