Welcome to another episode of Awarepreneurs with your host, Paul Zelizer. In today's special solo episode, Paul dives into three critical topics that will shape the landscape for social entrepreneurs and climate tech founders as we head into 2025. We'll explore the game-changing $58 billion New Mexico Permanent Fund and its impact on the state's thriving start-up ecosystem, the anticipated headwinds and challenges for impact-driven businesses in the coming year, and the importance of embracing the season of winter to rest and resource ourselves. Tune in as Paul shares insights, strategies, and personal experiences to help you navigate these transformative times and prepare for a successful year ahead. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review to help more people discover the path to positive impact through values-based business. This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• New Mexico’s Climate Solutions Venture Fund

• NMClimate Meetup newsletter

• Steve Sponseller's website (co-leader of NMClimate)

• Rep. Andrea Romero's bio

• Wintering book

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Rose Velasquez is the CEO of Hiring Hub, an executive recruitment firm specializing in helping high-performing companies find top talent. With over a decade of experience, Rose is passionate about matching individuals with roles that align with their true strengths. She believes the right job can transform lives and drive organizational success. A native of Arizona, Rose relocated to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2002 and built her career around empowering job seekers and employers. Her commitment to building passionate, productive teams has made her a trusted partner for Southwestern organizations, ensuring every hire strengthens a company's culture and long-term success. One of the things Hiring Hub is best known for is it’s Second Chances placements. This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Hiring Hub site

• Hiring Hub Employees Testimonial Video

• Tom Vozzo (CEO of Homeboy Industries) interview

• Homeboy Industries site

• SBA THRIVE site

• WESST site

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Tony Onwuchekwa aka Tony Doe is an Audio Content Strategist, with years of experience on-air, in production and management for multi-format radio stations, most recently at 93.7 FM, Onitsha, where he led a team of on-air talents as Programmes’ Manager to top 3 status in the region, growing the audience share by 75% in 3 months. He currently curates, produces and hosts the informative hybrid newsletter-podcast, ‘Into The Podverse’, which explores challenges and opportunities for podcasters from an African perspective.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Afripods site

• Tony on LinkedIn

• Africa Podcast Network site

• Association of African Podcasts & Voice Artists

• Era92 Group site

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Paul Zelizer is a business coach and consultant that has specialized in supporting social entrepreneurs for the past 17 years.  And, he's the host of the Awarepreneurs podcast - which is now one of the longest running social entrepreneur podcasts in the world.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Paul's coaching site

• Era92 Creative site

• Megan Bott Awarepreneurs interview 

• Carlos Perea Awarepreneurs interview

• ApiVera site

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Dan Barker is the President and CEO of Halcyon, an incubator and investor in early-stage, impact-driven startups from around the globe. Dan joined Halcyon from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth where he was vice president focused on supporting cutting-edge research on financial inclusion and entrepreneurship. Prior to Mastercard, Dan was vice president for social impact at BlackRock.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Halcyon House site

• Dan's email

• Dan Barker on LinkedIn

• New Mexico Startup Alliance

• Run Albuquerque site

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Achyuta Adhvaryu is a Tata Chancellor's Endowed Professor of Economics, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy and the Co-founder and CEO of the Good Business Lab.  Good Business Lab uses rigorous research to find a common ground between worker wellbeing and business interests. They have positively impacted the lives of 200K+ workers in 30 ongoing projects around the world.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Good Business Lab site

• Achyuta Adhvaryu's site

• Employee Resource Groups episode

• Achuyta on LinkedIn

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Brando Crespi is the Founder and Executive Chair of Global Biochar Inc, a company focused on the deployment of biochar and green charcoal as the most effective way to mitigate our climate crisis while also addressing food security, deforestation, biodiversity loss, and global health issues.

He also focuses on philanthropic and advisory work. As the co-founder in 1985, and still executive vice-chair of the Brazilian-born NGO Pro Natura International (PNI), for more than three decades, Crespi has helped design, fund, and implement developmental projects, many using biochar and climate smart agriculture (CSA), in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.

Over the last decades, PNI has deployed 1.6 billion euros in 63 countries and has helped lift over 7 million people out of what was often abject poverty.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Pro Natura International site

• Global Biochar site

• New Mexico Startup Alliance site

• Brando Crespi on LinkedIn

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Paul Zelizer is a business coach and consultant that has specialized in supporting social entrepreneurs for the past 17 years.  And, he's the host of the Awarepreneurs podcast - which is now one of the longest running social entrepreneur podcasts in the world.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Paul's coaching site

• Era92 Creative site

• Megan Bott Awarepreneurs interview 

• Carlos Perea Awarepreneurs interview

• ApiVera site

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Wendy Gonzales is the CEO of Sama, a global leader in data annotation, supervised fine-tuning, and model evaluation for computer vision and generative AI applications. Driven by a mission to expand opportunities through the digital economy, their social business model has helped over 65,000 people lift themselves out of poverty. Sama has worked with companies like Google, Ford, eBay, and Microsoft.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Sama site

• Wendy Gonzalez on LinkedIn

• Era92 site

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Carlos Parea is the CEO & Co-founder of Terra Vera, a company dedicated to making it easier for farmers to grow valuable crops without the use of synthetic pesticides that are often linked to major environmental damage and health issues in your food. Their solutions are people, plant, pollinator and planet friendly and can unlock significant profitability. Carlos is particularly excited about the work they are doing to help save honeybees.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• Terra Vera site

• Carlos Parea on LinkedIn

• MIOX Water Technologies

• The Ground Beneath Us book

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode

Levar Jackson is the Founder and CEO of the Yogh Group, a sustainable and impactful hotel development and management group. Yogh Group is making great strides to be the vanguard of hospitality and sustainability as society transitions to an interconnected, intelligent, and low carbon world.

This episode is sponsored by the coaching company of the host, Paul Zelizer. Consider a Strategy Session if you can use support growing your impact business.

Resources mentioned in this episode include:

• The Yogh Group site

• Levar Jackson on LinkedIn

• Paul's Strategy Sessions

• Pitch an Awarepreneurs episode