In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Pinky Poe about Bringing Business Rigor to Social Enterprise — and why compassion and creativity alone are not enough to build lasting impact.

After a successful global corporate career, Pinky returned home to the Philippines and was struck by the immense talent, resilience, and heart she saw in underserved communities. But she also recognized something missing: the discipline, structure, and operational rigor required to turn that energy into enterprises that could truly scale and sustain themselves.

We explore what happens when mission-driven founders neglect the “enterprise” side of social enterprise, why so many ventures struggle in the messy middle, and what Pinky learned after launching 50 community enterprises in five years — only to realize that without systems and structure, impact fades.

We also discuss her decision to build an outsourcing firm focused on accounting, compliance, and financial literacy — the overlooked foundations that allow founders to make better decisions, extend their runway, and build organizations that outlast their passion.

This conversation is a candid look at what it really takes to move from compassion to capability — and why bringing business rigor to social enterprise may be the most mission-aligned decision a founder can make.

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In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Cheryl Jacob, Founder and Chief of Growth and Impact at Resonate & Co, about her work helping mission-driven entrepreneurs scale.

We begin with a direct challenge to investors: their responsibility isn’t to personally deliver every layer of support, but to find and fund the people who know how to provide it—whether that’s operational expertise, systems support, coaching, or even mental wellbeing resources—based on what founders are actually struggling with.

From there, we explore the realities facing social entrepreneurs today: navigating the "valley of death" between startup and scale, building hybrid nonprofit/for-profit models as global aid tightens, and ensuring founders themselves don’t burn out before their organizations mature.

This is a candid conversation about ecosystems, responsibility, leadership growth, and designing organizations that can endure long enough to deliver lasting impact.

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In this episode of the Mission Driven Podcast, I speak with Dr. Legena Henry, Founder and CEO of Rum and Sargassum about when an unexpected result sparked the innovation that lead to the development of a local biofuel.

It was a moment that came during student-led summer research project in Barbados, and it was “lucky mistake” became the foundation for a venture working to transform a regional environmental crisis into a renewable transportation solution.

It is a great conversation that also dives into the process for commercialization inside a university system, negotiating IP and royalties (as part of a spin-out), and navigating entrepreneurship as a family.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.