Real Leaders Podcast

From music to cryptocurrency, see how one of the world's most popular artists is harnessing his platform for good.  Majority of the public  know Akon as the artist who ruled the early 2000's hip/hop and R&B scene bringing us hit albums Trouble, Konvicted, and Freedom, but few are aware of his efforts to rebuild and restore the land he came from - Africa. Listen to the never before heard story of how he is activating Africa. Full story at real-leaders.com/Akon Subscribe to our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/RealLeadersMagazine?sub_confirmation=1

Thomas Raffa, founder of Raffa-Marcum’s Nonprofit & Social Sector Group, shares his thoughts on shared value principles, what lead him to start a mission oriented company with quality services and how his group is benefiting from a shared leadership approach. This is a great interview if you are curious about how a company can reduce your turnover and lead with a shared vision.

Kristin Carroll is the CEO of Rescue The Behavior Change Agency who was working for a major marketing firm in NYC when she realized she wanted to align her business acumen with positive behavior change. Rescue does this through health communications, policy change to try and shift environments that shift behaviors, altering social norms to ensure healthier behaviors become normal behaviors.  You can see the live interview by clicking on this link! 

Micro-powered design or MpowerD empowers emerging economies by extending clean and affordable energy to create opportunities from problems. On this podcast listen to why MpowerD started, how they are able to reduce costs to reach poverty stricken areas, and the overarching leadership qualities that propel this company forward.  See more online at https://goo.gl/E7gwK6 

Founder & CEO, Lisa Curtis discovered a magical nutrient called Moringa in Niger, West Africa when she was 22 years old serving in the Peace Core. “I had never eaten anything that had had such a profound impact on my body”. The plant has now impacted more than just the consumer. Soon after, Lisa went on to raise all sorts of capital to hire women and men in South America, SE Asia, and Africa to produce and export her sustenance adding additional societal value to the supply chain by providing 1 world access to 3rd world countries, “it was really hard for me to get people to take me seriously. I got a lot of, `nice project little girl.’” Now, KuliKuli has raised over $10M, is located 445 stores and ranked #38 on the Real Leaders 100 list provided in the link in our bio. You can access Lisa’s full interview on Facebook: RealLeadersMagazine

Will Chen is the founder and CEO of P.L.A.Y., a San Francisco-based company that specializes in lifestyle pet products such as pet beds, toys and outdoor gear. P.L.A.Y. is one of the only three companies in the pet industry that is certified B Corp and their mission-driven approach has helped them achieved fast growth in the past few years. 

Shannon Keith, CEO of Sudara, speaks about her passion for social entrepreneurship and the journey towards creating her ethical apparel brand. Sudara is a company that aims to help minimize sex-trafficking in India by providing options for women who would typically have to sell their bodies for survival. Working through organizations that offer training and job placement for such at-risk women, the company enables them to have a life of their own choosing. Pursuing business opportunities and fair trade, Shannon hopes that one day there will be no need for a distinction between business and ethics.

Rick Perez is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer or Avanguard Innovative, who helps manage, measure, and monetize your hidden green assets. The circular economy generates profit through reusing resources that have no negative environmental impact on the value chain. You'll hear Rick mention how his company has been successful because they were able to make waste valuable for businesses. Real Problems, Career Journeys, Leadership Lessons. See more at: real-leaders.com/podcast

In this interview learn about how the government is taking action to improve emerging economies. David Bohigian is the Acting President and CEO of OPIC the Overseas Private Investment Corporation that provides direct loans and and partners with private equity investment fund managers to help American businesses and ultimately improve emerging economies. They do this by managing risk, allocating political insurance to ensure job growth and revenue streams that will not be affected by political interruption. They operate in over 160 countries around the world with more than 1/4 of those investments come from Sub-Saharan Africa.  At the time of this interview David was the Executive VP of OPIC (congratulations to David). See the live interview by visiting our podcast page here.

2.5 billion people lack sanitation, when Jack Sim turned 40 years old he left the construction industry and decided to devote the rest of his life to social impact. He's now constructing a 65,000 sq. ft "World Trade Center" for the poor in Singapore that intends to coordinate and transform the world's 4 billion financially insecure into a massively efficient marketplace to end global poverty.  World Toilet Day was established by the United Nations, November 19th 2013 in efforts to increase awareness around sanitation problems in poverty-stricken areas.