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1st September 2023 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Sridhar Vembu is the CEO and Co-founder of Zoho Corp, which he describes as “…a state-of-the-art tech company with a very old-fashioned approach to company building.” Founded in an apartment, in 1996, Zoho now has over 15,000 employees, more than US$1 billion in annual revenues, and over 100 million users. All of this ‘bootstrapped’ as a private business, with no external or public investors. In 2005, he launched the Zoho University (now called Zoho Schools of Learning) programme with six rural high-school students, trained for two years in computer science, maths and communication before being absorbed into the company. Today, around 15% of Zoho’s workforce is made of ZU Graduates who benefit from the business wishing to open offices in small towns, suburbs and rural locations rather than metros. Today, Zoho continues to scale, and Sridhar Vembu is a self-made billionaire, recognised as one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs & philanthropists. In 2021, he was recipient of the Padma Sri (one of India’s highest civilian honours). In this interview, I speak to Sridhar Vembu, CEO and co-founder of Zoho Corp, recognised as one of the world’s most successful technology entrepreneurs who has bootstrapped his business from launch to over US$1 billion in revenues, whilst making huge social impact. 

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01-09-2023 9:28:14
Thought Economics

1st August 2023 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Bjørn Lomborg is President of the Copenhagen Consensus and Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. His new book Best Things First brings together 12 new, peer-reviewed studies which highlight how to make the world a better place, in the best [and most cost-effective] way. These studies show that by spending $35 billion a year (the same as the increase in annual global cosmetics spend in the last 2 years), on 12 specific policies, we could save 4.2 million lives a year, and generate over $1.1 trillion in new wealth. For every dollar spent, these policies generate $52 in global benefits. In this interview, I speak to Bjørn Lomborg, President of the Copenhagen Consensus. We discuss the 12 most impactful solutions to some of our world’s most pressing challenges – saving millions of lives, generating trillions in economic gains, and huge returns in the process.

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01-08-2023 10:37:21
Thought Economics

30th March 2023 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Mitchell Kapor is a pioneer of the personal computing revolution. He is the founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the designer of Lotus 1-2-3, the “killer application” which made the personal computer ubiquitous in the business world in the 1980s. In 1982, Mitch took lotus public, and in 1990 he co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation (The EFF is a non-profit civil liberties organization working in the public interest to protect privacy, free expression, and access to public resources and information online)   Mr. Kapor was first chair of the Mozilla Foundation, maker of the open source web browser Firefox, and continues to serve on its board. He is the founding investor and first chair of Linden Research, the creator of the virtual world Second Life. Currently. He is a trustee of the Mitchell Kapor Foundation, a private foundation works to ensure fairness and equity, particularly for low-income communities of colour. Mitch and his wife Freada Kapor Klein launched Kapor Capital to prove that investing in gap-closing start-ups—companies whose services or products close opportunity gaps for both communities of colour and low-income communities—is good business – they detail the stories of some of these remarkable businesses in their new book, Closing the Equity Gap. In this interview, I speak to Mitch Kapor about the inequality created by venture capital and how Kapor Capital has proven that economic and social impact can occur together – benefiting the investor, and society.

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30-03-2023 15:40:13
Thought Economics

7th January 2022 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Andy Last has spent 20 years advising some of the world’s biggest businesses on social issues. In his new book, Business on a Mission, he explores the link between social mission, purpose, sustainability, and performance. Andy shows that purpose and profit are not incompatible, and that understanding, responding to, and actioning the values of a business can drive returns alongside attracting and retaining talent. In this interview, I speak with Andy Last, author of Business on a Mission, on the importance of social mission for businesses, how to articulate and measure your mission, and how social mission can drive real profits and performance.

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17-01-2022 15:41:49
Thought Economics

4th December 2021 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Ranjay Gulati is the Paul R. Lawrence MBA Class of 1942 Professor and the former Unit Head of the Organisational Behaviour Unit at Harvard Business School. In his new book, Deep Purpose: The Heart and Soul of High-Performance Companies, he argues that companies must embed purpose more deeply than they currently do, treating it as a radically new operating system for enterprise. At a time when many have become cynical about purpose, Gulati documents the vast performance gains that purpose-driven companies achieve as well as the social benefits they deliver. In this interview, I speak to Professor Ranjay Gulati about deep purpose, leadership, and his field research in organisations including Etsy, Lego, Warby Parker, Mahindra, Microsoft and the Seattle Seahawks. Gulati discusses how long-term value and short-term performance need not conflict but rather, when leaders go deep on purpose, high-performance and durable profits typically follow, delighting all stakeholders. Deeper engagement with purpose holds the key, not merely to the well-being of individual companies, but to humanity’s future.

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04-12-2021 17:15:54
Thought Economics

21st December 2020 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Throughout the world, capitalism and democracy are being challenged with great force. The world must change, but we cannot change it by throwing money at old ideas that no longer work. We need a new path to a new world where inequality is shrinking, where natural resources are regenerated, and people can benefit from shared prosperity. This is the world being created by the Impact Revolution. Sir Ronald Cohen is a preeminent international philanthropist, venture capitalist, private equity investor, and social innovator, who is driving forward the global impact revolution. He is Chairman of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG) (which succeeded the G8 Social Impact Investment Task Force, of which he was also Chair); Chairman and co-Founder of The Portland Trust; co-Founder of Social Finance UK, US, and Israel; co-Founder of Bridges Fund Management UK, US, and Israel; and co-Founder of Big Society Capital. Each of the initiatives he leads today aims to shift the allocation of human and financial resources to creating positive impact. In 1972, he co-Founded what became Apax Partners Worldwide LLC, which he led as its Executive Chairman until 2005. Each day, he strives to live by a simple principle: Do Good, Do Well! In this exclusive interview, I spoke to Sir Ronald Cohen about the impact investment revolution, a fairer capitalist model, and how impact investors are tackling some of our world’s biggest challenges.

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03-12-2021 8:26:16
Thought Economics

2nd October 2020 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Over 3,500 businesses around the world, including household names such as Danone, Innocent and Patagonia, have taken the journey to become Certified B Corporations- committing to the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Andrew Kassoy is the cofounder and CEO of B Lab Global, the not-for-profit behind the B Corp movement. In this exclusive I spoke to Andrew about the role of business in society, the story of the B Corp movement and how businesses can balance profit with purpose.

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02-10-2020 9:52:30
Thought Economics

17th June 2020 · Articles & Interviews by: Vikas Shah MBE

Jacqueline Novogratz has made a remarkable impact on our world. Her work began in 1986 when she quit her job on Wall Street to co-found Rwanda’s first microfinance institution, Duterimbere. In 2001, she founded Acumen which has invested $128 million of patient capital to build more than 130 social enterprises across Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the United States. These companies have leveraged an additional $611 million and brought basic services like affordable education, health care, clean water, energy and sanitation to more than 308 million people. Acumen has also built a global community of more than 500,000 moral leaders who together are driving solutions enabling millions of low-income people to change their lives. In this exclusive interview, I spoke to Jacqueline Novogratz about why we need a moral revolution in our world.

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24-08-2020 17:36:18
Thought Economics

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