Mission: Possible – Innovating for the World’s Most Marginalized

By Heiko Gebauer

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Image by Heiko Gebauer

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Episodes: 71

Description

Description:


Mission: Possible – Innovating for the World’s Most Marginalized examines social innovations at the intersection of technology, policy, and community action. Each episode features in-depth conversations with experts and innovators tackling systemic challenges in low-income and underserved contexts—from water access and financial inclusion to climate adaptation and digital public goods.

The podcast highlights not only what works, but why it works: unpacking business models, behavioral insights, design principles, and research evidence behind scalable social impact.

Designed for practitioners, researchers, students, and curious global citizens, this podcast translates complex development challenges into practical lessons for building a more equitable world.


Key content:

Innovation, Inclusion, Equity, Resilience, Poverty, Community, Empowerment, Impact, Justice, base of the pyramid, transformative services


Episode Date
#71 From Screening to Sight: Scaling AI Eye Care in Tamil Nadu
Oct 13, 2026
#66 How Schneider Electric Powers Rural Microeconomies
Oct 12, 2026
#67 Phool’s Circular Social Enterprise - From Temple Flowers to Bio-Leather
Oct 12, 2026
#68 Building Trust at Scale: The Economics of SUNU’s Inclusive Insurance in Africa
Oct 12, 2026
#69 How YoLa Fresh Hit $1M Then Failed
Oct 12, 2026
#70 Charge & Own: How Carbon Credits & E-Bikes Are Powering Ghana’s Delivery Economy
Oct 12, 2026
#62 Electrifying Africa: How Ignite Energy Access Scales Clean Power Across the Continent
Oct 07, 2026
#63 The Ecobana Story: From Banana Waste to Menstrual Equity
Oct 07, 2026
#64 Upcycling the Cocoa Fruit: Inside Koa’s Impact-Driven Ghanaian–Swiss Business Model
Oct 07, 2026
#65 Scaling Smallholders: Inside Nigeria’s Babban Gona
Oct 07, 2026
#61 Project Maji: Pricing Water, Powering Change in Sub-Saharan Africa
Mar 05, 2026
#60 Shenzhen Power Solution Replacing Kerosene Lamps with Solar Innovation
Mar 05, 2026
#59 How AFEX is modernizing African Agriculture
Mar 05, 2026
#58 Clean Water, Local Responsibility: Sustainable Water Solutions with Waterkiosk Foundation
Mar 04, 2026
#57 Wecyclers: Turning Trash into Cash in Lagos
Jan 24, 2026
#52 Sehat Kahani: How Two Women Doctors Rewrote Pakistan’s Healthcare Story
Jan 23, 2026
#53 Honeysuckers of Bangalore: How Informal Innovation Filled an Urban Sanitation Gap
Jan 23, 2026
#54 Off-Grid Water in Haiti: How Decentralized Solutions Are Quenching a Nation’s Thirst
Jan 23, 2026
#55 SwissFreshWater: Franchising Safe Drinking Water Across Africa
Jan 23, 2026
#56 Naandi Foundation: Scaling Social Innovation from Classrooms to Coffee Farms
Jan 23, 2026
#50 How Bühler Group has been reinventing milling for a better world
Jan 20, 2026
#51 Logy.AI: Bringing AI-Powered Oral Health Screening to Everyone
Jan 20, 2026
#41 ChotuKool and the Power of Frugal Innovation
Jan 19, 2026
#42 W.A.T.A.: Turning Everyday People into Clean Water Changemakers
Jan 19, 2026
#43 Spring Health: Delivering Safe Water, One Village at a Time
Jan 19, 2026
#44 Devergy: Rethinking Rural Power with Energy-as-a-Service
Jan 19, 2026
#45 M-KOPA: Pay-As-You-Go Power and the Future of Inclusive Finance
Jan 19, 2026
#46 SOIL: Reinventing Sanitation Through Dignity, Design, and Circular Systems
Jan 19, 2026
#47 Project Shakti: How Unilever Built a Rural Distribution Network by Empowering Women
Jan 19, 2026
#48 Hippo Roller: A Simple Idea That "Rolled" Into a Water Solution
Jan 19, 2026
#49 How Coca-Cola’s Micro-Distribution Centers were cracking the Last Mile in Africa
Jan 19, 2026
#36 Mobisol and the Promise—and Limits—of Pay-As-You-Go Solar
Jan 19, 2026
#37 Esta Casa es Mía: How MIA Is Redefining Affordable Housing in Mexico
Jan 19, 2026
#38 Cooking Without Smoke: How Eco Cookstoves Are Transforming Health, Homes, and the Climate
Jan 19, 2026
#40 How Husk Power Is Electrifying Rural Communities
Jan 19, 2026
#39 How LifeStraw Turned Clean Water into a Global Social Innovation
Jan 19, 2026
#33 How Sanergy Is Redefining Urban Sanitation in Africa
Jan 19, 2026
#34 From Motorbikes to a Super App: How GoJek Built an Inclusive Digital Economy
Jan 19, 2026
#35 How Azuri Technologies Is Bringing Clean Energy to Off-Grid Africa
Jan 19, 2026
#31 Toyola and the Clean Cooking Revolution: Saving Fuel, Health, and Forests
Jan 19, 2026
#32 When Profit Isn’t the Point: Procter & Gamble's Pivot to Purpose”
Jan 19, 2026
#29 Safe Water, One Village at a Time: The WaterHealth Model
Jan 19, 2026
#30 Bankers to the Poor, Online: Inside Kiva’s Digital Lending Model
Jan 19, 2026
#26 Hydrologic: Scaling Clean Water in Rural Cambodia Through Aspirational Design
Jan 19, 2026
#27 Unilever and the Quest for Safe Water: The Pureit Innovation Story
Jan 19, 2026
#28 How Grameen and Danone Took on Child Malnutrition
Jan 19, 2026
#25 Bboxx: Powering Progress Through Next-Generation Distributed Utilities
Jan 19, 2026
#24 Jayashree Industries - Decentralized Innovation for Menstrual Hygiene
Jan 19, 2026
#20 The KickStart Story: Irrigation, Innovation, and Income
Jan 19, 2026
#21 Waste Concern: Turning Urban Waste into Resource
Jan 19, 2026
#22 Manila Water (Tubig Para sa Barangay): A Model for Inclusive Water Service
Jan 19, 2026
#23 Farmerline: Cultivating Prosperity through African Agri-Tech Innovation
Jan 19, 2026
#16 Sight for All: The Aravind Eye Care Revolution
Jan 19, 2026
#17 Mobility, Motors & Markets: The MAX.ng Story
Jan 19, 2026
#18 Grameen Bank: Reinventing Credit for the Rural Poor
Jan 19, 2026
#19 Beyond Charity: BRAC’s Blueprint for Ending Poverty
Jan 19, 2026
#11 Pilots Never Fail—but Also Never Scale
Jan 19, 2026
#10 How Grameen America Scaled Microfinance in the U.S.
Jan 19, 2026
#13 Worms, Waste & Wealth: Raj Organik’s Green Revolution
Jan 19, 2026
#12 Drones, Data & Deliveries: Zipline’s Skybound Impact
Jan 19, 2026
#14 How Peek Vision Is Transforming Eye Care
Jan 19, 2026
#15 Patrimonio Hoy - Housing Innovation for the Poor
Jan 19, 2026
#08 Clarity for All: How DotGlasses Makes Vision Affordable
Jan 14, 2026
#09 The Mumbai Dabbawalas: Masters of Precision
Jan 14, 2026
#06 Smart Farming, Shared Tractors: The Hello Tractor Story
Dec 16, 2025
#07 Watt by Watt: How Grameen Shakti Lit Up Rural Bangladesh
Dec 16, 2025
#04 Bright Ideas: d.light’s Solar Path to Empowerment
Dec 01, 2025
#05 Beyond Cash: How M-PESA Transformed Everyday Finance
Dec 01, 2025
#01 Reinventing Impact: Stories from the Base of the Pyramid
Nov 14, 2025
#03 mPharma’s Fight for Affordable Medicine
Nov 14, 2025
#02 Franchising Clean Water: Sarvajal’s Model for Rural Access
Nov 14, 2025