In this episode of our Fit for the Future series, craft beer social entrepreneur Louisa Ziane shares her recipe for turning money (and surplus bread) into mission, with Buzzacott's Eddie Finch and Pioneers Post's Tim West.

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What does it take to be a fit social business?

The Good Leaders Podcast - Episode 1: Cemal Ezel

How do you build a high growth startup? In this episode of the Fit for the Future podcast, produced in partnership with Buzzacott accountants, we delve into how to take a startup to the next level at a fast pace, drawing from the journeys of two relatively young, high growth social enterprises.

In this episode, co-hosts Tim West and Eddie Finch talk to Ariana Alexander-Sefre, founder and co-CEO of SE100 award-winning Spokeworld, and Joe Seddon, founder and CEO of Zero Gravity and winner of the SE100 Leadership award, about the steps required to build a high growth social business startup.

Fit for the Future: How two high-growth startups harnessed ‘the power of technology’ for good

In this episode of the Good Leaders podcast, hosted by Tim West, Esther Foreman, founder and CEO of the SE100-listed Social Change Agency, and Social Change Nest, delves into navigating lockdown, new motherhood and multiple sclerosis alongside entrepreneurship, and says her social enterprises take care of administration and governance, the “two pillars of social change”, so that changemakers can get on with creating impact.

Good Leaders Podcast Episode 12 – Esther Foreman: ‘I’ve had three or four significant burnouts’

In this episode of the Good Leaders podcast, hosted by Tim West, Devi Clark, managing director of Impact Hub London, shares the good and bad of running an impact-driven ‘umbrella organisation’: from the legal benefits of developing a new building to the struggle of attracting investors when your impact is “powerful, but often indirect”.

Good Leaders Podcast Episode 13 – Devi Clark, managing director of Impact Hub London

"The magic happens when you create uncomfortable, unconventional partnerships" – Sebastian Rocca, founder of social enterprise Micro Rainbow, opens up to Tim West about what Pride Month means to him, growing up gay in Catholic Italy, the importance of understanding who your allies are and embracing vulnerability in leadership.

Good Leaders Podcast Episode 14 – Sebastian Rocca, founder of Micro Rainbow

"Here’s what I knew: this was a place where a strong-minded female leader could flourish" – Kirsten Dueck of NESsT tells Tim West about stepping into the shoes of ‘the godmother of impact investing’, retiring ‘imposter syndrome’ and how her organisation has supported thousands of social entrepreneurs across very different regions and cultures.

Good Leaders Podcast Episode 15 – Kirsten Dueck, CEO of NESsT

Join Pioneers Post reporter David Lyons in the Scottish Highlands as he voyages on an award-winning social business ferry.

Good Stories Episode 1 – Isle of Skye Ferry CIC

"I'm very conscious about what nurtures me": Triodos Bank UK boss Bevis Watts talks to Tim West about his journey from environmentalist to CEO of a multi-billion-euro ethical bank, transforming the financial sector, fostering connections and the importance of connecting with nature.

Good Leaders Podcast Episode 16 – Bevis Watts of Triodos Bank UK

With clients like Ikea and KLM, Dutch social enterprise i-did could be judged a success story. But breaking new ground in the social economy hasn't always been easy. Join Estelle Uba in the Netherlands visiting the circular economy pioneer.

Good Stories Episode 2 – circular economy pioneer i-did

The two tech-for-good experts talk to Tim West about their initiative for women leading the development of ethical AI, the importance of empathy to advance AI for the good of humanity, and why women shouldn’t be expected to work for free.

Good Leaders Podcast Episode 17: Julia Stamm and Olivia Gambelin, the women driving AI for good

Tim West and Liam Black invite purposeful business leaders to open up about their real-life issues in our new podcast series. First on the “couch”, Kerrie Jones, founding CEO of eating disorder treatment clinic Orri, talks about the challenges of turning her vision into messy reality.

The Good Leaders Clinic Episode 1: 'Taking the leap' with Kerrie Jones, founder CEO of Orri

Join Pioneers Post reporter David Lyons in Oaxaca state, Mexico, as he learns about how NGO SiKanda is supporting informal waste pickers to professionalise, set up enterprises and improve their communities’ waste management.

Good Stories Episode 3 – how Mexico's waste pickers are getting decent, green economy jobs

For Cambridge Social Innovation Prizewinner Izzy Obeng, co-founder of Foundervine, the 2011 riots in her London community inspired a drive to change the system which perpetuated the economic status quo. 

Our Good Ideas collection explores ideas that challenge the status quo and the entrepreneurial changemakers behind them. This episode is part of a series featuring the extraordinary winners of the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize 2024, presented by the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation and Trinity Hall Cambridge. The 2024 winners were interviewed for the Cambridge Centre for Social Innovation's Social Ideas podcast, which Pioneers Post is reproducing here as part of its media partnership to support the 2025 edition of the prize. 

Find out more, or apply for the Cambridge Social Innovation Prize 2025, here (deadline 17 April): https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/social-innovation/cambridge-social-innovation-prize/

Good Ideas Episode One: Izzy Obeng, co-founder of Foundervine

Creativity is set to become one of the most-needed skills of the future. From Cape Town, our DICE Young Storymaker reports on efforts to democratise the world of design and to bring creative education to new audiences.

Music by A.A. Alto

Can design (thinking) really change the world?

If there was ever any doubt that UK charity boards aren’t diverse enough, consider this: less than 3% of trustees are under 30 years old, while one in twelve are called John or David. 

In the latest episode of our Agenda Item One podcast, Practical Governance co-founder Bob Thust is joined by four people who want this to change.

Over an online call, young trustees Leon Ward and Tamanna Miah, Blagrave Trust director Jo Wells, and Young Trustee Movement programme manager Mita Desai discuss why more organisations should include young people in decision making.

Agenda Item One: What difference can young trustees really make?

For the past 20 years, Liam Black – board chair, former CEO, investment advisor and mentor for corporates, social businesses and charities alike – has been signing off his blogs and emails in a way that reflects the conflicting values of the world of social business. Now, he has got together with Pioneers Post to create a new podcast series of the same name: ‘Peace, Love and Profit’.

In the first episode, he talks to Henry Jones, CEO at mental health social enterprise Big White Wall, who opens up about what it's like to lead a social business which is thriving under Covid-19.

“It’s like running an A+E department” – Henry Jones

Thousands of new mutual aid groups have emerged in the wake of Covid-19: enabling neighbours and friends to both give and receive support. But is there a danger of losing the 'mutual'? In a new podcast series, Bob, Maff and guests discuss – and offer their potential solutions.


This is episode 1 of The Feeling’s Mutual podcast. Get in touch or join future discussions for the series at hello@practicalgov.co.uk – and find more podcast episodes from Pioneers Post on Apple, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Podcast edited by Caroline Hailstone. Music: If – Broke For Free

The Feeling’s Mutual: "They're walking over the top of beautiful community action"

How do we best nurture mutual aid? In this episode, Vidhya Alakeson and Angela Fell discuss how institutions can create a supportive environment and enable community action – rather than trying to replace it.

The Feeling’s Mutual: Can we be less prescriptive – and ‘more pigeon’?

Pioneers Post is an online magazine and networking platform for innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and advisors who are building a better world through good business.

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