Creating the Next ‘Social Unicorn’ – Innovating to Change a Billion Lives

100x Impact and The Conduit explore how to scale social innovations to meet the size of global challenges.

The world faces urgent and complex challenges – from poverty and rising inequality to the climate crisis, education gaps, and global health threats. Solving these problems demands innovations capable of reaching hundreds of millions and even billions of people.

In partnership with 100x Impact, whose mission is to create the next generation of ‘Social Unicorns’—not companies worth a billion dollars but organisations whose approaches have the potential to impact a billion lives. This event will explore what it really takes to scale social innovations to match the magnitude of the problems we face.

With insights from social ventures within the 100x portfolio and experts in social innovation, our panel will challenge conventional thinking on scale. Together we will explore how to build an ecosystem that catalyses collaboration between innovators and funders committed to transforming the future.

Event Schedule

• 6:00pm: Pre-event socialising and networking
• 6:15pm: Event begins
• 7:30pm: Event ends

Meet the panelists

Paul van Zyl grew up in South Africa during the apartheid era. He served as the Executive Secretary of South Africa’s post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission.Paul co-founded The Conduit club in 2016. The Conduit serves as a home for those committed to improving the world by harnessing the power of creativity and entrepreneurship. The Conduit connects thinkers, leaders and innovators in various fields to force impact for the greater good. Paul was named by London Tech Week as one of its 30 "Change Makers 2018", celebrating the companies and people harnessing technology to inspire social and economic impact and drive global innovation.

Kieron Boyle is Chief Executive of 100x, a world-leading initiative creating the next generation of ‘social unicorns’ — ventures positively impacting a billion lives. He is also Professor in Practice and Director at the LSE’s Marshall Institute, leading a global platform to shape the future of the impact economy. As Chair of the UK’s Impact Investing Institute, he helps set national strategy on impact capital, aiming to unlock £1 trillion for investments that improve people’s lives. Previously, Kieron was CEO of Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, where he transformed its £1 billion endowment into a leading force for change in urban health. In government, he was the architect of the UK’s first impact investment strategy and helped create Better Society Capital, the Government Outcomes Lab, the B Corp movement in the UK, and other global impact initiatives. He has held senior roles at No.10 Downing Street, the Cabinet Office, and the Foreign Office, following an early career at the Boston Consulting Group. He co-leads the UK’s taskforce on impact capital, was the first recipient of an OBE for services to the impact economy and chairs a $7 trillion investor alliance on health.

Nalini Tarakeshwar joined the UBS Optimus Foundation in January 2019. In her role as Deputy CEO of the Foundation, she oversees the strategies, philanthropic programs, and impact measurement of the Foundation’s programs in health, education, and climate and environment. Nalini started her career in global development as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University and has since gained more than 20 years of experience in the field. She briefly worked for the Global Health Institute at Duke University and for the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, where she established the Evidence, Measurement and Evaluation team. In addition, Nalini worked for Big Win Philanthropy, where she developed their strategy and established their programs team. Nalini completed her undergraduate degree in civil engineering in India and worked briefly as a special education teacher for children with cerebral palsy.

Rhea Yadav is the Director of Strategy and Impact at Wysa. She leads the India Impact work, focusing on bringing the Wysa solution to underserved communities in regional languages, and running the business unit with financing and partnerships. She also works with the founders on business strategy and operations, investor relations, and revenue growth. She has nearly a decade of work experience in management consulting and development impact. Previously, she was a manager at Dalberg Advisors, a social impact advisory, and worked with the leading foundations, donors, social enterprises, and impact investors across domains including education, agriculture, healthcare, financial inclusion, and gender. She helped set up the first bank for Tibetan refugees in India with USAID, worked with a fortune 500 company on shaping private markets in refugee camps in Kenya, and shaped the national nutrition strategy for the Gates Foundation. She also worked with Bain and Company in the financial services and consumer products practices across North America and EMEA. Rhea is pursuing Psychological Sciences from University College London, and holds a degree with honors in commerce from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.

Batya Blankers is the Co-Founder and CEO of Chancen International, an organization expanding access to higher education and career pathways in Africa through Income Share Agreements (ISAs). Since 2018, she has led Chancen’s growth from a start-up in Rwanda to financing over 6,000 students across Rwanda, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana, with expansion to India soon underway. Under her leadership, Chancen students achieve a 93 graduation rate and a 71 employment rate, while the model increases lifetime earnings by up to 5x. She also serves as Co-Chair of the Global ISA Alliance, where she is helping to build a fair and ethical global ecosystem of ISA providers and elevate ISAs as a recognized model for fueling economic mobility and establishing a new asset class. Inspired by her own experience studying in Germany on an ISA, Batya brings over a decade of management experience and holds an MBA from the African Leadership University School of Business.

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