23rd March 2024

How do we get more of the world’s best entrepreneurs to tackle our biggest challenges? With Zinc’s Ella Goldner

Welcome to 20/30 Visions, a new Bridges series in which we ask experts and thought-leaders from around the globe: what needs to change if we want to build a more sustainable and inclusive future in the next decade? And how do we make that change happen?

If we’re going to have any hope of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, business and enterprise clearly need to play a central role. So it follows that we need to get many more of the world’s best entrepreneurs working on solutions to our biggest social and environmental challenges – and then give them the resources they need to succeed at scale.

This week’s guest is Ella Goldner, the co-founder and GM of UK-based Zinc, whose model offers an interesting exemplar of how to do this. Zinc gets would-be entrepreneurs excited about solving a pressing societal challenge, helps them identify a specific commercial solution, and then provides them with the capital, expertise, and connections they need to scale the business up.

In our interview, Ella discusses:

  • How to get the best talent focusing on big societal challenges
  • The importance of breaking down silos
  • What to look for in a co-founder
  • The support these fledgling businesses need
  • Why ecosystems matter
  • The funding outlook for mission-driven businesses
  • And more

 

Watch our conversation here:

Or you can download Ella’s insights to read as a PDF here

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