Founders For Good

Robin Ferris is the CEO and Founder of Bankuet. With the cost of living crisis and inflation, food poverty in the UK is at it’s worst. This year 9.3 million people in the UK will experience food insecurity and in the last year 1 million people have used food banks for the first time.Volunteering in his local food bank, Robin saw firsthand the challenges that food banks face and how they would struggle to meet the continued increasing demand.Robin wanted to build a tech platform that would make it was easy and simple for people to donate, whilst making their money go further. And also making sure food banks got the food and items they needed, when they needed them. In 2019, Bankuet was born with the vision for no one in the UK to go hungry.  Since then, they have partnered with over 300 food banks across the UK and delivered over 2.8 million food and household items to help tackle food poverty. Highlights:03.23: The harsh reality of food poverty in the UK07.15: Things are only going to get worse and less food is being donated10.53: The food bank system, how it all works17.08: The story of Bankuet31.26: The power of technology to solve social issues 39.53: Build brand awareness and attracting donations43.31: Bankuet is for profit, building a scalable impact business model49.06: Internal operations, managing volunteers and part time staff remotely around the UK55.33: The future plans for Bankuet59.22: Meeting King CharlesOur Host:Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] Our Guest:Robin Ferris, Founder and CEO of Bankuet.https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinjferris/ / https://www.bankuet.co.uk/ Donate here >> https://www.bankuet.co.uk/givenow   Our Sponsor: Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more. www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0 Our Producer: Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionado, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 

Philipp von Lamezan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Squake. Travel and transport are responsible for 20% of emissions worldwide, with the global population growing, this footprint is only going to increase in the next decade unless we do something about it now. Squake are advocating for short and long term change, by building a platform that makes sustainable travel and transport accessible to everyone. They do this by focusing on three main steps:1.      Working with businesses to accurately calculate emissions, so consumers can understand the impact of their travel decisions.2.      Reducing or avoiding emissions through alternative means or better modes of travel.3.      Compensating for any remaining emissions by investing in carbon projects. In this episode Philipp explains more about sustainability in travel and what needs to change, his journey building Squake, the hardest part about being a Founder and his advice for hiring as a startup. Highlights:02.00: Travel and transport make up 20% of global emissions05.06: Changing consumer behaviour to minimise the impact 10.39: The pressures on businesses to change14.33: Transitioning to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in the future17.34: Squake overview23.46: Emission calculation, regulations and frameworks 26.42: Helping consumers minimise their impact33.30: Raising their Seed round, the good and the bad 37.11: The hardest part of the Founder’s role42.31: Early stage and engineer hiring advice  Our Host:Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] Our Guest: Philipp von Lamezan, CEO and Co-Founder of Squake.https://www.linkedin.com/in/vonlamezan/ / https://www.squake.earth/ Our Sponsor:Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0 Our Producer: Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionado, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 

Elena Rueda is the CEO and Co-Founder of Dama Health. 900 million people around the world use contraception, yet 80% of women report experiencing side effects that decrease their quality of life, and on average women try 4 different contraceptive methods before finding the right fit!Pretty shocking right! Elena explains why the lack of data and research in this field combined with pressures on the NHS, results in a very poor patient experience and can lead to serious side effects in women including depression, blood clots and heavy bleeding. Dama Health are fixing this broken system by applying personalised and precision medicine to contraceptive health. Their screening test identifies patient biomarkers and personal preferences, to enable better decision making between patient and clinician. They are also conduct genetic research studies to better understand how different genes react to different contraceptive methods.  Highlights:02.06: Elena’s career journey and being her friend’s contraception guru 08.34: The reasons people take contraception11.13: Different forms of contraception 13.08: The current routes (and challenges) in being prescribed contraceptives15.34: The side effects of taking the wrong form of contraception17.44: The challenges prescribers face 24.40: Dama Health and their work37.15: Dama’s genetic research studies 46.30: Getting the right funding for R&D heavy startups57.51: Meeting Davina McCall and being on Channel 4’s recent documentary  Our Host:Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] Our Guest: Elena Rueda, CEO and Co-Founder of Dama Health.https://www.linkedin.com/in/elena-r-14335187/ / https://damahealth.com/ Channel 4 documentary: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/davina-mccalls-pill-revolution (Elena/Dama Health snippet 36.58-40.06).   Our Sponsor: Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more. www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0 Our Producer: Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionado, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 

Dan Garrett is the CEO and Co-Founder of Farewill. For everyone, losing a loved one is one of the hardest things you’ll need to deal with. Trying to process your emotions, whilst having the pressure of deciding on funeral plans and dealing with probate. Most people end up turning to their local high street provider, who costs thousands of pounds, and they often don’t reflect the wishes of the family or deceased. Dan recognised the opportunity to innovate an industry that hasn’t changed for 100’s of years, even though everyone will need to use it at some point in their life. So Dan founded Farewill to build a tech platform that focuses on making it as easy, simple and affordable as possible for people to deal with death and provide a meaningful goodbye to their loved ones. Farewill is now the largest will writer in the UK, and one of the largest providers of probate and direct cremation services, and with a 4.9 rating on Trustpilot and multiple awards for their services – they must be doing something right! Highlights:01.59: Why the death industry appealed to Dan06.09: The reality of someone dealing with a death – the emotions, the body, the funeral 12.18: The challenge of innovating the funeral industry 17.15: Planning the “ideal death experience” 23.32: Farewill overview32.04: Farewill’s approach to designing product and user experience 40.40: The scale of Farewill and their number 1 challenge right now48.17: Burnout, collapsing on the street and having realistic expectations54.59: The publicly available Farewill Handbook, hiring and culture  Our Host:Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] Our Guest: Dan Garrett, Co-Founder and CEO of Farewill.https://www.linkedin.com/in/dangarrett-ceo-farewill/ / https://farewill.com/ Our Sponsor: Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more. www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0 Our Producer: Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionado, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself. 

Vese Aghoghovbia is the Founder of Philly & Friends. Philly & Friends is an iconic children’s lifestyle business with purpose, representation and diversity at its core.In this episode we cover:The importance of representation Is diversity and representation in child’s toys improving? Actions we need to task as parentsWant to listen to the full interview, click below:https://www.foundersforgood.io/episodes/vese-aghoghovbia-philly-friends-adding-a-drop-of-colour-and-diversity-to-the-playroom 

Felix Atkin is the CEO and Founder of Sharesy. During COVID Felix started to explore why local schools weren’t renting out their unused spaces to generate much needed additional income. Most still took bookings via pen and paper, on average requiring 30 interactions before a booking was completed. This was frustrating for both the venue and the booker.Felix recognised this was a much wider problem with community spaces– church halls, scout huts, community centres – they all had unused spaces that they struggled to rent out.Enter Sharesy. In a few simple clicks, people can find and book spaces in their local community. Their unique model operates on a success only basis, so venues can sign up for free and only pay when a booking is made. Sharesy are on a mission to help local communities to thrive, by encouraging people to book local venues and put money back into their community. Highlights:02.00: Spotting the need for small schools to generate side income04.58: Community spaces struggling to rent out their spaces 07.38: The issue with existing SaaS solutions11.53: The early days of Sharesy: Angels, lockdown and raising £750k in 6 weeks20.06: Removing the barriers for venues to use Sharesy28.23: Pricing experiments and repeat bookings34.07: Funding, Angels vs VC43.02: Felix’s biggest learns as a Founder48.10: The importance of knowing what you need to hire for Our Host:Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] Our Guest: Felix Atkin, Founder and CEO of Sharesy.https://www.linkedin.com/in/felixatkin/ / https://www.sharesy.com/ Our Sponsor:Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0 Our Producer: Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionado, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 

Bex Hay is the Co-Founder and CTO of Organise. Organise have supported over 3000 worker-led actions by providing a safe trusted space where people can anonymously discuss topics with colleagues and peers, get access to expert advice, and use tools purpose-built for running effective campaigns.In this episode we cover:How can people take action relating to workplace issues Common workplace issues and the most vulnerable workers The barriers stopping people from taking actionHow to take meaningful actionOrganise overview Want to listen to the full interview, click below:https://www.foundersforgood.io/episodes/bex-hay-organise-helping-employees-to-find-their-voice-and-take-collection-action-to-improve-their-workplace 

Sir Peter Wanless is the CEO of NSPCC. One of the largest and longest standing charities in the UK, the NSPCC have spent over 130 years delivering on their mission to prevent cruelty to children. Peter has recently celebrated 10 years as their CEO, where he has helped modernise the charity to meet the everchanging and complex world of child abuse and neglect.The NSPCC break down their mission into three impact goals: 1. Everyone plays their part to prevent child abuse. 2. Every child is safe online. 3. Children feel safe, listened to and are supported. In this episode Peter talks about the different types of child abuse, how this has evolved over the last decade, the NSPCC’s work, the challenges running a charity this size, his highlights from the last decade and much more.Before the episode starts, I’d urge anyone who is able to, to click on the link in the show notes or go to www.nspcc.org.uk/donate and give what they can. Highlights:03.28: Who is Peter Wanless? 07.16: Child abuse and the different types of abuse10.03: How child abuse and safety have evolved over the last 20 years13.43: The importance of prevention versus protection and intervention18.40: Why England haven’t adopted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 23.24: NSPCC’s mission and three impact goals35.45: Peter’s highlights from the last decade at NSPCC39.28: Raising £120mn each year, operating costs and how money is spent45.21: The importance of transparency54.28: The new NSPCC careers website and open roles Our Guest: Peter Wanless, CEO of NSPCChttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sir-peter-wanless-b43aa372/ / https://www.nspcc.org.uk/ 👉 Donate here: https://www.nspcc.org.uk/support-us/ways-to-give/donate/ Our Host:Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected]   Our Sponsor: Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more. www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0 Our Producer:Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionado, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi 

Morgan Fitzsimons is the Co-Founder and CXO of Perci Health. Perci have the largest network of cancer experts in the UK. Perci assign each person with their own specialist cancer nurse to build a personalised care plan and ensure they get the support they need to improve their quality of life.In this episode we cover:The state of cancer todayThe focus on cancer diagnosis and treatmentThe issues with typical post-treatment support Perci Health overviewPivot from B2C to B2BThe user journey for someone using Perci health Want to listen to the full interview, click below:https://www.foundersforgood.io/episodes/morgan-fitzsimons-perci-health-giving-those-affected-by-cancer-the-support-they-need 

Peter Briffett is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wagestream. After coming across an article about predatory finance, Peter started to explore the financial support offered to low income workers and he was shocked by the lack of fair financial services available. The common practice being pay day loan companies targeting people in need with ridiculous repayment terms. So Peter co-founded Wagestream with a vision of providing fair financial services to frontline workers, starting with flexible pay, where workers could stream their earned wages in real-time. Fast forward to today and Wagestream works with 500+ employers to help over 3 million workers to have full visibility of their pay, stream earned wages, set up automated savings and get access to financial coaching. Peter chats to me about financial wellbeing and the struggles frontline workers face, how Wagestream are solving that problem, scaling a social impact business and much more. Highlights:02.01: Peter’s journey into financial wellbeing07.30: What is financial wellbeing?09.05: The financial difficulties affecting frontline workers15.21: The employer’s role in people’s financial wellbeing19.11: Wagestream services and how they’re helping frontline workers22.53: Early stage challenges in launching the business32.16: Wagetsream’s social charter38.03: The future of Wagestream43.05: The importance of a clear mission from day oneOur Host:Craig Turner. Founder of Confido Talent, a business that helps Tech For Good startups to scale their product, design and engineering teams.https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigturner7/ / www.confidotalent.com / [email protected] Our Guest:Peter Briffett, Co-Founder and CEO of Wagestream.https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbriffett / https://wagestream.com/  Our Sponsor:Jobs For Good. The only job platform to find the best jobs in sustainability, impact and much more.www.jobsforgood.io / https://bit.ly/3wjwJa0 Our Producer:Jabriel Al-Suhaimi. Jabriel is a podcast aficionado, editing and producing podcasts for many, including himself.https://www.jabrielalsuhaimi.com/ / https://twitter.com/jabealsuhaimi