Eva Goulbourne didn’t examine meals techniques in school – she studied the Chilly Battle, intercontinental ballistic missiles, and artwork historical past – however her lifelong obsession with meals would ultimately form a profession that’s taken her throughout the globe and put her on the middle of the worldwide meals techniques transformation dialog.
I not too long ago caught up with Eva for an episode of The Spoon Podcast to speak about her journey and listen to extra about her imaginative and prescient for her new podcast, The whole lot However the Carbon Sink.
“I began subscribing to Martha Stewart Dwelling Journal after I was about seven or eight,” Goulbourne advised me. “What can’t you find out about meals techniques from Martha Stewart?” That early curiosity turned a basis for what she describes as a “very long-term relationship with meals,” one which she would ultimately channel right into a mission-driven profession.
After a brief stint on the U.S. State Division, Goulbourne took a job targeted on monetary providers for tobacco farmers in Kenya and Malawi. “That was once more like a continued entry level to agriculture [and] worldwide improvement,” she mentioned. The venture, funded by Nike Basis, MasterCard Basis, and Gates Basis, launched her to the function of philanthropy in market improvement — a theme that may form her later work.
Her subsequent large step got here with the World Financial Discussion board, the place she landed a job on the meals safety and agriculture crew. “That was actually, like I used to be saying, I used to be off to the races when it comes to having entry and understanding and serving to to facilitate complete regional tasks with agribusinesses, the most important retailers on the earth, seed firms, fertilizer firms, ministers of agriculture and improvement banks.”
Goulbourne describes this era (the period after the launch of the UN Sustainable Improvement Objectives) as a pivotal second when “goal and revenue may very a lot truly win.” She witnessed company leaders, equivalent to Unilever’s Paul Polman, carry ‘web optimistic’ considering to world meals coverage discussions.
However ultimately, she needed to go deeper. “I used to be actually itching to develop into an knowledgeable… I couldn’t be the Jane of all trades.” That itch led her to ReFED, the place she turned worker primary and helped flip a landmark meals waste report right into a full-fledged group. “We didn’t know if anyone was gonna learn this factor,” she recalled. “And boy, we didn’t know… hoping that individuals would obtain it nicely.”
The report was a success, and Goulbourne stayed on to assist increase over 1,000,000 {dollars} in philanthropic funding to develop ReFED. However after just a few years, a brand new motivation emerged: motherhood. “I discovered I used to be pregnant… and instantly had this maternal intuition to do extra and do one thing to now shield the planet, the setting, society… In order that’s why Littlefoot is known as Littlefoot.”
Together with her consulting agency, Littlefoot Ventures, Eva has guided meals manufacturers, startups, and philanthropists by every thing from meals loss methods to regenerative ag and capital deployment. “I kind of name meals waste a chameleon difficulty,” she mentioned. “My get together trick is that it doesn’t matter what a part of the meals provide chain you point out, I can persuade you and have some entry level again to meals waste.”
It’s this broad view is that makes Eva such a terrific podcast host. Her new podcast, The whole lot however the Carbon Sink, focuses on the intersection of meals, local weather, and finance , in addition to the powerful and thorny challenges that forestall progress.
Eva calls these thorny points nobody desires to speak in regards to the ‘ugly child’ issues.
“For The whole lot however the Carbon Sink, I made a decision to have the podcast be targeted on this intersection of meals… to local weather… after which finance, as a result of to reply your query in regards to the ugly child, how will we pay for these items? Why is it so rattling arduous?”
One factor I seen about Eva is she works with just about each continsituency within the meals system innovation. Via her consulting work and now her podcast, Goulbourne is making an attempt to assist stakeholders throughout sectors, from enterprise capitalists to philanthropists, perceive that substantial techniques change requires coordinated funding. “You’ll be able to’t VC your approach out of this drawback,” she mentioned. “Our meals system runs on harvest seasons and climate, and we’re working in opposition to and with the local weather disaster.”
If you’re interested by meals system innovation, lowering meals waste, or constructing a profession in mission-based investing and fundraising, you will wish to hearken to this episode and subscribe to Eva’s podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can too watch our dialog beneath.
