Celebrating Three Years of Narratives of Purpose

Episode Transcript

Claire  00:11

Hello and welcome to Narratives of Purpose. This is a place for conversations with inspiring leaders, which is all about amplifying social impact. You have just tuned into our final episode of Season Five, our last episode of 2023. And the episode that marks three years of Narratives of Purpose.

Pauline  00:32

I just want to thank you again and Claire for your support, your sisterhood - and also this show. I have listened to many shows, many people who have been interviewed and I think it's really good that you're giving voices for people to share what they're doing and why.

Bart  00:56

Thank you so much Claire. And let's get all your guests together at one event so we can meet each other.

Claire  01:05

Yes, I should probably consider a gathering with all the podcast guests at some point. But that is something for the future. In today's special celebratory final episode, I want to take a look at the three years since Narratives of Purpose was launched back in December 2020. And share with you some highlights of this fantastic journey, including some listener feedback.

NOP Listener  01:30

Some of my favourite seasons of the podcast have been around Sustainable Food Systems. I really enjoyed that three part series because it was so interesting to hear about these different organisations and different companies that are finding ways to be able to make sure that everybody is getting good, high quality food. And we just don't hear enough stories like that.

Claire  01:56

If you are a regular listener, thank you so much for your continued support. If you were tuning in for the first time, my name is Claire Murigande, I am your host on this podcast, which showcases unique stories of changemakers, stories of people who are contributing to make a difference in society. And this is the right place for you to be inspired to take action. So let's get started with this Three Year Celebration. 

Claire  02:33

It's when you take the time to pause and reflect on how far you have come, that you really see the progress that has been made. For Narratives of Purpose this translates into hosting fifty-eight guests with over twenty nationalities based in fourteen countries across four continents. And this all happened throughout the five seasons. Although the main language of this show is English, I was able to include a few episodes in French and German, therefore bringing some more diversity in the mix. If we look at building community and growing followers, then we are now close to 5000 followers between our social handles, podcast listening platforms, and our newsletter. Also, Narratives of Purpose has been listened to in more than 70 countries. 

Obviously big numbers are great, that being said, there are other achievements I'm particularly proud of. We had a total of seven Award Nominations since 2021, including three this year at the Sonic Bloom Awards and the International Women's Podcast Awards. Another achievement is that Narrative of Purpose was listed in Pod Bible magazine, which is a UK based podcasting magazine, and we were listed as one of their favourite independent podcasts. I also had the opportunity to speak at this year's Afros and Audio's Podcast Festival; This is one of the most anticipated conferences in the industry, celebrating community and collaboration each year - my session was about how I craft impactful interviews. 

Another highlight I want to mention here is being recognised by a fellow podcaster on their show, now this came as a fabulous surprise to me. So Regina Larko, the host of Hashtag Impact celebrated my work in honour of one of the 2023 International Women's Day missions, which was to elevate visibility for women creatives. In her special episode, Regina mentioned that she had just discovered Narratives of Purpose, that she resonates with the range of guests I talked to (which is somewhat similar to her podcast), and that she loves to listen to great storytellers and hosts that know how to really listen and let the conversation flow. Isn't that awesome? I'll make sure to include the link to that episode in the show notes so that you can listen to Regina in her own words. You see, achievements can come in different forms, I think it all depends on how you measure success. 

Claire  05:22

Of course, none of this would have been possible without the many many amazing guests who joined me to talk about their work and their personal journeys. I first thought of sharing clips from some of my memorable guests with you. The thing is, all of the conversations were so memorable, I just didn't know which ones to pick and which ones to leave out. So instead, I have selected short clips from the episodes that earned Narratives of Purpose a nomination at the International Women's Podcast Awards throughout these three years. We were shortlisted for 'Moment of Behind-The-Scenes of Brilliance' thanks to Episode 11. That was the Season One bonus. And to Episode 48, the first of our three part series on exploring sustainable food systems. 

Claire  06:16

"On today's episode, there are no new guests with me, rather I will share with you some previously unreleased interview segments to conclude this first season. You will hear from a handful of guests that you had the opportunity to get to know in the past episodes. I will start with Pauline Koelbl, founder of AfriProspect and ShEquity whose primary focus is African female led innovative startups. Pauline tells me more about the first companies ShEquity has invested in. I will then give you some more clips of my conversation with Ana Maria Angarita and Isabel Brücher, Both co founders of Capacity, a talent and startup incubator for refugees and migrants in Switzerland. Ana Maria and Isabel share how Capacity actually started, what makes the diversity of its team and which process to follow if you're interested in becoming a mentor with their entrepreneurship programme. There is also a part of my discussion with Thomas Bosshard, co-owner of Oertli, a medical device company. Thomas tells me how his collaboration with Dr. Sanduk Ruit, a world renowned eye surgeon from Nepal, has impacted his work and that of his employees. Finally Alessandra Patti, founder of Find Your Way Coaching and university lecturer on Assertive Communication shared the importance of self care during the current pandemic."

Jamie  08:01

"So here at Too Good To Go, we're a social impact company. We're an organisation which is really addressing and fighting food waste, and at the heart of our operation is our mobile app. Now that's the Too Good To Go app, which you can download on the App Store or Play Store. And what this app does is it connects individuals with businesses who have surplus food for sale. So these individuals now log on to the app, they pay a reduced price for food which would otherwise have gone to waste and then collect it from that business during an allotted collection window."

Margaux  08:38

"Our initial purpose is to act as a foodbank, so we have three missions initially, which is to fight against food waste, and to fight against food poverty, but also to promote professional reintegration, meaning that within the 42 employees we have here at Partage that, 27 of them are in reinsertion, meaning that they work with us for a certain amount of time and then we help them to reintroduce the job market."

Claire  09:11

We were also nominated for 'Moment of Entrepreneurial Inspiration' thanks to these three episodes, Episode 12 with Kevine Kagirimpundu on Creating an Eco Friendly African brand, Episode 13 with Henri Nyakarundi on Developing African Renewable Energy, and episode 37 on Empowering Action Through Innovative Technology with Rhiana Spring in her first of two interviews on the podcast.

Kevine  09:46

"When it comes to the future of entrepreneurship, especially for women in Africa, it's just so promised because the numbers show us that 58% of entrepreneurs in Africa, pursuing creating SMEs, (small and medium enterprises), are made of women that 58% of all entrepreneurs created in Africa. However, when you go to numbers of women, requesting loans from the bank, or having access to finance in any way, is lower 34% than men. And that is a challenge when I started a business. I didn't even know those numbers, they were nowhere to be found. But today, people are starting to pay attention to what women are doing. And that is a great, great thing. The start of a conversation is the beginning of just finding solutions. So women's future in business is very bright. But we need to be persistent and continue talking about these things. And today, it is such a great opportunity for me to be able to voice what's going on and talk about my business so that someone else can be inspired and know what's going on. One more person is going to learn what I just said. And that is very, very important. And when it comes to Uzuri K&Y we're seeing Uzuri K&Y the one of the biggest shoe brands in Africa, we have shoe brands in Africa, some of our competitors that have been known and none of them are truly African. None of them have been owned by Africans. So we're creating a brand that could potentially be the biggest brand of footwear manufacturers or even also recognised in the whole world, but mostly leading the African footwear industry. The future is sustainability. And the future is absolutely African enterprises, especially women owned enterprises."  

Henri  11:46

"So ARED was an idea when I decided it was time for me to come back on the continent. So that's where my new journey started with developing a new type of technology called Edge Technology. Basically what it is, is instead of accessing digital applications via the Internet only, why not build a localised network, where you install mini servers closer to the user, whether it's within the kiosk or any other micro infrastructure, where you can store those applications on this mini server, and distribute it via Wi Fi? It took another year and a half, close to two years to develop that technology. And today, we're the first company to build what we call a 'smart solar kiosk'. And we do more now because we also help optimise existing third party kiosks on the ecosystem. But that's pretty much the journey - I mean, the first seven years of the journey has been about development testing, failing a lot and understanding the problems, but it's truly a product that was developed specifically for the African market. We visually defined it to two sets of impact, direct and indirect feedback. Obviously, our technology evolved, but also our business model evolved, and maybe I can elaborate on that. But as far as the impact, first we've had, the direct impact we've had is the job creation aspect. Mostly, we have a focus on women and people with disabilities, who operate those kiosks and generate revenue from those kiosks. The indirect impact is the customers that come to use the services from our kiosk, we have served, since for the last six and a half years, over a million customers across three markets."

Rhiana  13:44

"So our mission is to connect human rights and technology. And our vision is to empower people through innovative technologies to take action and help eliminate global social and justices. I truly believe we have all the resources in the world, financial and information, to help every single person we just need to connect them. Because in this case, the refugee knew exactly what he needed, and there were organisations that were there to help exactly that case. But we... I mean, one of us is overwhelmed with the information out there at the moment. And we just need some kind of guidance to see where to look, what to look for, and where to look. So like I said, Sophia is the world's best chatbot for survivors of domestic violence, helping them gather potential evidence, assess their rights, and learn about their options. So she functions in principle of GAL, gather potential evidence, assess your rights, learn your options, and we launched in Zurich in December - 9th December 2021. And since then, actually over 4000 people have chatted to Sophia, and we are now in, actually right now, we're in Peru launching here as the next step. And what Sophia does is she's a chatbot, which is a robot that is designed to have a conversation with a human. She is pre programmed and the answers are pre programmed so that she can't misunderstand anyone in this very delicate situation. At the moment, she's available on Telegram and Viber, WhatsApp and Signal are to come. You can create a digital safe, where you can upload potential evidence, photos, recordings, documents, reports from the police, reports from the doctor anything basically journal, you can upload and it's saved on servers in Switzerland completely encrypted so we can't access, nobody can access your files, and they're there until you yourself decide to take action."

Claire  15:44

Finally, we were shortlisted for 'Moment of Visionary Leadership' thanks to Episode 22 with Ndeye Makalou, one of the most amazing guests I spoke with about health equity and access to health care on the podcast.

Ndeye  16:02

"That's really one of the things I'm most proud of, right? Because when we went at that time, no patients were getting access to our innovative medicine that can actually save lives. So they were never put in treatment, and I don't think I mentioned this before, the treatment is extremely expensive and there's no health care coverage, like in most countries for cancer treatment, for example - so everything is out of pocket. And you can imagine, people had to make the decision between feeding their family or treating their wife for cancer, which is horrible, right? So, for me, what happened as part of that journey is working with all the work that we have done with different stakeholders, building that capability, raising awareness, being patient, we came from zero to 2000 patients being put on treatment. And number two, it's like we put the foundation with that holistic health care approach into the system. And now it is continuing and taking it to the next level, the work is still ongoing, yes, I came back. But there are so many other people working very hard on the continent, engaging every single day to help patients. So that really makes me happy. Because myself and my team were on the ground and doing that we really laid the foundation and opened up the door and even had the basics that can help the patients, and also the doctors. And even the government's, so now we're expanding it to other countries, and they're seeing the benefit. So that's really the legacy."

Claire  18:04

So what did I learn? And what did I take away from all these conversations I had in these three years. A couple of things I want to give you. Number one, I noticed a common theme, something quite similar to every one of these changemakers journeys is that they don't set out to become impact entrepreneurs or founders from the get go. Rather, they reoriented their paths because they became aware of an issue. You know, we talk about many topics on the podcast, we talk about health equity, the gender funding gap, sustainability questions, all forms of inclusion, the education system, and even creating Tech for Good. And once these changemakers see the consequences of an issue, they want to provide a solution based on their own experiences. Number two, and this is a phrase you can also use for yourself, stick to your vision. Whenever I ask my guests how they managed to overcome challenges, or what advice they can give, it often comes down to the same words; patience, persistence, self care, and celebration. Patience, you know, change takes time and you're in it for the long run. Persistence, don't give up, never give up in fact. Self care, remember to take time out and find your support network because the mission will always be there. And celebration, celebrate your wins with your team or your friends, because it's important to have moments of fun in the work you do. 

Claire  19:43

I did mention in the beginning that I would share some of your feedback. And I first want to thank everybody who rated narratives of purpose on the various listing platforms because it is a unanimous five star rating across Apple podcasts, Spotify and Good Pods. Five stars out of five, it surely means that the content and the quality of our podcast is very good, right? And speaking about content and quality, I also want to thank those of you who took part in our listener survey earlier this spring. Most of you are highly likely to recommend Narratives of Purpose to a friend, with 80% of responders rating us between nine and 10 on a scale from one-to-ten. 

Now, let me read some of the reviews many of you shared for others to find Narratives of Purpose and encourage them to start following us.  This one is from Fiona: "Incredible, yes, an incredible listen. Claire definitely navigates big topics with her guests, and pulls the best from them. A hugely valuable podcast." This other one is from The Therapeutic Poet: "Such a well researched podcast. Claire's questions are so well researched, which leads to interesting conversations about such important matters, inspirational and informative." Here is a third review from Enough 1984: "Meaningful conversations. I discovered Claire's podcast, Narratives of Purpose in 2021. The concept immediately resonated with me and it kept me thinking and broadening my perspectives. Guest speakers are carefully selected for their impact and purpose driven mindsets, a must-listen." And here's another one from Anna Malt: "An inspiring Listen, recommended for anyone interested in learning from others how to create positive change." If this is also your opinion, or perhaps you have a completely different opinion, it is equally important, then please let me know about this and include a rating, either from your listening app or directly on our website using this short link; bit.ly/narrativesofpurpose and then just head over to the "Review" tab. Alright, last, but certainly not least, here is a listener voice message that is simply amazing, because it really shows how impactful Narratives of Purpose is, take a listen.

NOP Listener  22:20

"I've been listening to Narratives of Purpose from the very beginning. And in those early stages, it was really apparent, particularly coming out of the pandemic and understanding that there was more that we needed to do in the world for good, and to help more people and be able to connect, and I think that the the pandemic really showed us the impact when we all work together. And I feel like this podcast was placed at the right place at the right time, to be able to open our minds to what was possible. I've loved how the show has evolved and developed, and I really love the fact that we're now going back to previous people that have been on the show and hearing from them and how their businesses and their nonprofit organisations have grown. I really do think that this podcast is something that everybody should be listening to. It helps to give you a new perspective on things that we otherwise might not know. And also hear from people who are in the trenches doing the work that we don't really see in mainstream media, so I can't recommend this podcast enough. Some of my favourite seasons of the podcasts have been around sustainable food systems. I really enjoyed that three part series because it was so interesting to hear about these different organisations and different companies that are finding ways to make sure that everybody is getting good, high quality food. And we just don't hear enough stories like that. But I will definitely continue to listen to Narratives of Purpose and I hope that you listen to it too."

Claire  24:04

And you know what? I also have some feedback from my returning guests in the fifth season. You heard from Pauline Koelbl and Bart De Witte earlier in the intro...

Pauline  24:17

" just want to thank you again and Claire, for your support to your sisterhood and also in this show. I have listened to many of the shows and many people who have been interviewed and I think it's really good that you're giving your voices for people to share what they're doing and why."

Bart  24:38

"Thank you so much Claire, and let's get all your guests together once at an event so we can meet each other."

Claire  24:45

check out Episode One and Episode 60, to hear about Pauline's work on funding African Female Entrepreneurs and Innovators. You will learn as well about Bart's endeavour on making medical AI a common good in Episodes 41 and 61. I also asked my three other guests to share their thoughts about Narratives of Purpose. And this is what they said...

Ismail  25:11

"I will say that you are doing a fantastic job by providing this podcast platform for entrepreneurial people like us, because there's a lot of things we go through and there's a lot of experience we can share with the world, and your podcast platform, even from last time I see that it has given us the opportunity to share our experience to a larger audience. Continue to do what you're doing and also see how we can evolve it, maybe from being one-to-one to one-to-many, maybe also the ability for us to combat physically, every once in a year, where you can actually meet the people you are also dealing with in passing, to see how we can also connect perhaps also in the future is to see how you can also connect based on the challenges, our experience, how can we connect ourselves within the same space, within other spaces that will be of value, indirectly or directly, towards each of the people you're giving this possibility in your podcast to. I think that will also transform your platform."

Claire  26:31

That was Ismail Eleburuike who first joined me in season three, find out more about his work on Powering Education with Technology in Episodes 31 and 58. The next you are about to hear from is Alma Moya Losada, who is also in the edtech sector, just like Ismail, you will learn about the work Alma carries out on gamifying diversity and inclusion education in episodes 14 and 59.

Alma  27:09

"What I love about these podcasts, and what you're doing is really to amplify the unheard voices or the voices of other female entrepreneurs or the great entrepreneurs that we are in the social impact space. And I think it's great to give space and spotlight great humans out there. And I think that's very beautiful as a mission and to have a place where people can get inspiration that is possible to make a positive impact, or it's possible to be successful as a woman or social impact entrepreneur, I think keep on doing it. I wish you can duplicate your listeners, followers all across your socials, I wish you growth and success and I wish you well."

Claire  27:57

And this last one I absolutely love. It's from Rihana spring who also first joined me in season three, find out how she and her team are empowering action through innovative technologies in Episode 37 and 62

Rhiana  28:16

"It's just such a wonderful podcast that impacts people. When we did the podcast and I went and saw the other people that you're interviewing, it's just they're all just such inspiring people and I come and listen to it to be inspired, basically. There's so many different fields and so diverse which is so important and I can't see enough of it, you don't see enough of it. So I think that's really nice the diversity you have on your podcast. And you yourself Claire, you're such an inspiring person to have this knowledge and expertise in science and then 'boom' you're a podcaster! And a successful award-winning podcaster and that's such an inspiring journey to witness as well. So I'm very excited to see where it goes and who you interview and everything, one day I will say "I was on the podcast with Claire! What? That Claire" Yeah, you will only go by first name because you're that famous."

Claire  29:09

I cannot conclude this episode without a very special thank you to all the past and present team members who have made Narratives of Purpose what it is. The person who always makes my guests' voices and mine sound great since season two is Tom Evan Hughes. Tom is the Podcast Producer, he also created the Narratives of Purpose music theme, you know those first few notes unique to our show that make you instantly recognise our podcast - well, that's him. Sherilyn Carter joined two years ago, and she's been managing the podcast since then. Sherilyn has also been dazzling our social media content for the past couple of seasons. Speaking about social media, Miyamiko Lee and Tünde Mikò were both our content creators along with curating the podcast newsletter for season Two and Season Three respectively. Tom, Sherilyn, Miya, Tünde, you have greatly contributed to this podcast and I have learned a lot from you. 

Claire  30:12

That was it, the highlights from three years of Narratives of Purpose. It feels like a long time yet it's only three years, imagine that a three year old human is just a toddler who still has lots to learn. And I like to think that we still have lots of opportunities to grow and to evolve. So do stay tuned for more conversations and more stories from global changemakers. Connect with us if you have ideas or guests you want to suggest, this is our email address narrativespodcast@gmail.com and I will talk to you again in the new year. 

Until the next episode, take care of yourselves, stay well and as always, stay inspired.