Impact Snapshot
November 2022
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 🎬
🌏 Environment
During COP27, Blue Cradle Foundation's short film Moana Irakau (directed by James Nikitine) was screened at the Moana Blue Pavillion. The film highlights concerns around deep sea mining to extract minerals for potential use in ‘low carbon’ technologies. As well as calling for a ban on all deep-sea mining, the film asks that the ocean be given a voice, and proposes another future based on a sustainable blue economy, indigenous knowledge, and ancestral views.
Photo credit: Blue Cradle
Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom and Eric Dahlstrom presented at the Migrant Investor & Entrepreneur Association (MIEA), a non-profit organisation by migrants for migrants co-founded by Alan Guo. Alan also spoke, as did Alex Veiga.
Emeline and Eric highlighted their SpaceBase initiative to democratise access to space for solving global problems.
Photo credit: Steven Moe✌ Social
Amarit Charoenphan presented the keynote at Canterbury Tech event in Christchurch, sharing his life lessons in Failing Forward and how he began his journey in social entrepreneurship.
Photo credit: Steven Moe📈 Economic
Mohan Nair sat down with Bex de Prospo and shared his views on values-based innovation, what attracted him to Aotearoa and his insights on doing business here. Watch the short video and read the full interview on the EHF website.
Thabiso Mashaba presented at the 49th Creative Pills event on using the co-creative design process for technological development and community empowerment in grassroots communities. Thabiso is the cofounder and CEO of These Hands GSSE, which helps diversify Botswana’s economy and promotes continued gains in human development.
Doug Steiner presented at the University of Canterbury Business School Summer Startup Programme. Doug shared how there is a difference between social and economical relationships, how to utilise the EHF directory, and how to find first investors.
Photo credit: Erica Austin
Arash Tayebi, Sahar Izadi, Farmehr Farhour and the Kara team were featured in Startup Daily for their recent seed round raise of NZ$1.3 million.
Kara is building a more equitable and accessible global communications system for the deaf community through a combination of motion capture, AI, and neural network algorithms.
Steven Moe provided a futures retrospective for Think Beyond set in the year 2050, with a focus on the themes of transport and technology. “A futures retrospective takes readers into the future and asks them to consider how they got there and the steps they might take today to amplify or dampen that future.”
Lily Stender and Scott Miller launched the first cohort of Tolaga.org, a brand new ever-green fund providing seed loans for indigenous grassroots entrepreneurs and businesses. Three new businesses were accepted into the cohort, including a portable sawmill business, a solar installation business and a lawn mowing maintenance business. Other community initiatives were pitched to the Fellows including land regeneration projects, skate park upgrades, Māori product sales, mental health and wellbeing to name a few.
Fellows Janine Edge, Benedict Perez, Miguel Perez, Kay Maree-Dunn and Scott Miller have committed to continuing the relationship with the Tairawhiti community and to working on tangible projects to create positive impact there.
🤝🏽 Collective Impact
Awards and recognitions 🏆
Harmaan Madon, Matthew Jackson and the Alimentary Systems team for receiving funding from the 2022 Ākina Impact Investment Readiness Programme.
Sai Hossain and Crowdcast for launching their v2.0, which is the world’s first studio-in-browser for online events.
Antoinette Wilson, Jordan Osmond and the Happen Films team for winning the “Better Environment” award at the Better Cities Film Festival with their film, Together We Grow.
Jojo McEachen for releasing her book, “The Depthvale Detectives and the Great Education Crisis,” a deepdive into Contributive Learning in schools and community.
Sarah Grant, Jojo McEachen and the Kia Kotahi Ako team for winning the Canon’s Oceania Education Grant with Te Pihipihinga Kakano Mai i Rangiatea Kura Kaupapa Māori, a Māori full immersion school in Taranaki. The gift of Canon cameras gives students the chance to share their ideas during their solar education project and showcase mātauranga Māori and indigenous approaches to climate action.
*Images have been provided by Fellows or sourced from the Internet. EHF does not claim to own the images.