Mission Driven Podcast

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Kasia Zellmann about why we can't afford to wait any longer to solve the challenges our economies, communities, and environments face— and the urgency that has driven her to build and scale multiple businesses tackling challenges in the circular economy.

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Rahat Hossain about the importance of choosing the right co-founder, building founder alignment, and the lessons learned through navigating one of the most difficult parts of entrepreneurship: evolving partnerships. The conversation explores the realities of building a mission-driven business in an underdeveloped market, learning the sector from scratch, and candidly speaks to the dynamics of co-founders that have divergent experience, resources, and expectations.

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, Rich Brubaker sits down with Apols Garmay to explore her journey building Hidden Manna Farms and her mission of Empowering rural farmers through inclusive agriculture.Key Takeaway:1. Entrepreneurship Often Begins With Proximity to the Problem2. Trust Is Infrastructure3. Scale Is About Predictability, Not Just Volume4. Mission-Driven Entrepreneurship Requires Patience and Practicality

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Rogerine Miguel-Irvine, former Chief for Strategic Policy and Innovations at the National Economic and Development Authority , about her work to build a national framework for innovation and entrepreneurship.Rogerine shares her journey from building a social enterprise supporting indigenous weaving communities to helping shape national innovation policy in the Philippines. We explore why governments often struggle to support entrepreneurs, the barriers startups face navigating bureaucracy, and why innovation policy frequently fails at the implementation stage.We also discuss the role of procurement in supporting startups, the challenge of fragmented systems, why human capital and R&D investment matter, and what it was like bringing an entrepreneurial mindset into government itself.This conversation is a candid look at the realities of building innovation ecosystems — and why governments must evolve if they want entrepreneurs to help solve the major economic and social challenges ahead.Key Takeaways:1. Governments should support innovation ecosystems — not control them.2. The Philippines has strong talent and innovation output, but struggles with implementation and commercialization.3. Bureaucracy and outdated procurement systems remain major barriers for startups and innovators.4. Policy making improves when entrepreneurs and private-sector voices are directly involved in the process.5. Procurement reform could become one of the most powerful tools governments use to support startups and innovation

In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, Rich speaks with David Lynn, co-founder and CEO of Mission Driven Finance, about the ambitious vision to move trillions of dollars into communities and build a financial system designed around impact. Inspired by the rise of firms like Blackstone and Brookfield, David shares why he believes the next trillion-dollar investment platform could — and should — be built around community outcomes, access to capital, and long-term social value.The conversation explores the challenges of financing mission-driven businesses, the gap between small community lending and large institutional capital, how impact is measured and managed, and why Mission Driven Finance is now moving into care economy real estate — including child care facilities — as a way to build long-term community assets.Key Takeaways- The problem isn’t lack of capital — it’s lack of infrastructure.- Mission-driven finance needs scale to move institutional money.- Impact must be intentional and built into the business model.- The biggest financing gap is now in the lower middle market.- Care economy real estate is a major untapped opportunity.