Today you'll discover the biggest challenges facing NGOs and impact innovators today, including funding cuts, shifting donor priorities, and geopolitical instability, why the old playbook isn't enough anymore, and what it takes to think outside the box in a rapidly changing impact landscape, how Egregor is breaking down the structural, financial, and logistical barriers that keep brilliant innovators from realizing their vision, and the role of technology like AI and blockchain in helping impact builders work smarter, and how to separate genuine tools from the noise. Welcome to CryptoUltris, where we explore the intersections of Web3 and Social Good to the stories of impact-driven builders and offer actionable insights to empower your journey into the world of blockchain for good. I'm your host, Drew Simon. Now, before we dive in, please remember that this is not financial or legal advice, and always do your own research on any of the projects or investment opportunities that we discuss. Welcome back to the Crypto Ultras Podcast, and thank you so much for joining us today. I want to start with something I suspect a lot of you are feeling right now. If you work in the nonprofit or impact space, the last few years have been brutal. Funding is being cut, donor priorities are shifting, sometimes overnight, geopolitical instability is reshaping where resources flow and who gets left out, and through all of it, the needs on the ground aren't shrinking, they're growing. We've talked about this on the show before, with organizations working in Ukraine and Afghanistan and Tanzania, Somaliland, the pattern keeps repeating. The people doing the most essential work are often the ones with the least support, the least stability, and the least room to breathe. So the question then I keep coming back to is this if the old playbook isn't working, what does it actually take to adapt? And how do impact builders not just survive this moment, but find new ways to thrive in it? And that's what we'll be digging into today. So I'm joined by Inez Defoy, Chief Operating Officer of EGregor, a nonprofit dedicated to catalyzing social and environmental transformations, playing roles that range from accelerator to venture philanthropists and strategic advisor. Their team is truly global, and their work reaches across climate and education, social justice, civic engagement, and more. And what I find compelling about their model is where they choose to focus. Rather than just writing checks, they work to remove the structural, financial, and logistical barriers that stand between an innovator and their vision. Because so often the bottleneck isn't the idea, but everything surrounding it. Ines has spent her career in humanitarian development work, which means she brings something this conversation really needs: a grounded, clear-eyed perspective on what creates impact and what's just noise. So today we're going to talk about the challenges impact builders are facing, the innovation and outside the box thinking this moment demands, the honest role technology can play, and lessons from EGregor's first cohort. So let's dive in. Today I'm so excited to be joined by Ness from EGregor, who's gonna uh be here for a really interesting conversation just about the kind of the current state of humanitarian and development work and you know the really innovative work that you're doing to support a lot of really cool um impact organizations uh through the work they're doing. So thank you so much for taking the time to share your expertise today. I'm excited to dig in. So thank you for your time.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much for having me on the buttcast. Very glad to be to be explaining your action and to be discussing with you today.
SPEAKER_00For sure. Well, I'm really excited. I you know, the work they're doing is super innovative. Uh still very early. Obviously, I think this is maybe your your first or your second year, maybe.
SPEAKER_01Second year of operation, yes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we're gonna talk a little bit about kind of what the the first year looked like, the the impact report, some of the organizations that you worked with, and really how you're bringing tech into the conversation as well. Um but to start, I'd like to you know learn a little bit about you and your journey here. So you spent your career, you know, working in humanitarian development work, you've traveled a lot uh throughout the world, um, you know, as you've done this work. What ultimately kind of drew you to this path and what led you to working with Igregor?
SPEAKER_01Sure. Um well actually first it's funny because it was more about elimination that I actually became a humanitarian worker. Um I started, you know, as a as a young person, wanted to be a diplomat. I started working and doing my internships in economic diplomacy. Uh so that was kind of more my field and my specialty, uh, even though I had done law and international relations, but I was more entering uh in the diplomatic fields through kind of the economic kind of door. And I was actually kind of disappointed with uh what economy diplomacy is at the moment, uh, you know, the leverage that they can actually pull, and you know how strong they are in negotiations, maybe when it comes to their power in comparison to uh private corporations. Um and so I didn't feel that it was concrete enough for me. Um, and that maybe, you know, I can be very diplomatic and good at negotiations when it's when it's required. Um but I was I was kind of feeling that it's it was remaining on a very theoretical field uh rather than uh you know very much the ground, and you can see at the end of the day what's the result of your action. Um and so it's like, okay, you know, I'm not gonna be a diplomat, and um I'll maybe I'll start working in security. Um and so I worked for a year for a private security company, and I um did not like working with uh militaries, um mostly also because it's a very um sexist environment. Um and so I ended up working for humanitarian organizations, you know. I knew how to negotiate with governments, and when you work for international humanitarian organizations, this is where most of the capital comes from. Um and so this was my first, this is why I was hired in the first place, you know. I would uh design the humanitarian projects and I would convince the governments to fund it. Um I started working on Central Asia, so I was working on uh Afghanistan, Pakistan, uh Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. So a very, very interesting uh area with uh with very much of a mix of uh huge humanitarian in uh emergencies, as we know with Afghanistan. I was uh the focal point when Kabul fell, uh a lot of things you know happening at the same time, and then at the same time you have uh you know countries like Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that you know are countries that are still recovering from uh the Cold War. Uh then at the same time, countries uh that have Islam also integrated, uh that have very poor women's rights, uh, so a lot of development, and that are at war also because of water issues. Um so it was a very complex environment and maybe less known, uh maybe less um attention uh from the you know international uh media, even though the the crisis uh were quite important. And then I joined another organization after working on Central Asia, and I was uh basically working as you could from um if someone is working on a in the private sector, may as a strategy consultant basically, as I was like switching every three months. Um so going from one humanitarian zone to another humanitarian zone depending on the emergency. So it was to train the team, it was to assess whether the team was going well, it was to close a mission, it was to open a mission. So very kind of strategic tasks that I was uh sent to uh that allows you very much to, you know, work with the logistics, work with the programs, work with the finance, um in a very quick um time pace, um, and requiring for yourself also to adapt to a lot of um very different uh cultural contexts, um, adding to the fact that those were actual war zones, right? So I was uh in Yemen, in Syria, in Haiti, uh in Niger for quite a while afterwards. Um and so I think I was I was very happy at the humanitarian as a humanitarian. Um it is a very, very essential sector. It is actually very sad what is happening to the humanitarian sector at the moment. Uh I mean I'm not gonna talk again about the cuts of USAID and uh, you know, everything that's happening, uh, but um it's um I think people really need to be reminded that you know humanitarian organizations they work on survival issues. It's not even development, it's whether a person is able to survive the next morning. Uh so it's um quite short-term in its initial approach, even though humanitarian organizations have kind of extended um the kind of activities that they're able to perform on the field and go for a more longer-term vision. But really, the point is to save lives and not in an abstract uh manner. Um so I was really happy doing this, but uh in reality, I had uh, you know, as a director of programs, working for the Norwegian Refugee Council, I had started working with startups also on the ground because I really believed that you know we should not only support microentrepreneurs, but if you really want to build an economy, right, you want to create new ventures that are innovative, that are creating jobs, that are actually solving problems of their own country, and not just subsidiaries of occidental companies. Uh, and this is mostly what happens in terms of development in those countries. And so I wanted to find a new opportunity where I could work at the intersection of um those um sectors, let's say. Um, and so I was in Niger, there was a coup d'etat, a coup d'etat that was very much anti-French. I'm a French citizen. Uh, and so I stayed in that country until I could, and my visa was not renewed. I left that country, came back to France, and then I met an amazing person who's Guillaume Sautomaillard, who's the president of uh Egregor. Um, and so he's uh been a researcher on uh systemic violence uh since the past um 17 years. Uh he had been working in the same countries that I had been working with, and so he was very familiar with the actors of violence that are operating in those countries, terrorist groups, religious groups, uh, you know, criminals, mafia, etc. And he was uh he had just launched actually this new organization. So by the end of 2024, um, and he was uh looking for a director of the of its developments, and then I became the director of operations. Um it was a very, you know, I think fortunate encounter where we were sharing the same conclusions, I think, on what was happening to the sector and why they were we kept talking about economic development, and all those countries were actually mostly staying in the same place where they are. And so we were not actually solving issues despite the amount of funding that had been deployed. And so we really he thought he had identified a part of the solution on how to work with uh those ventures, and so I wanted to be part of the adventure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, that's really cool. I mean, it's amazing, like you've worked in so many unique contexts all over the world um on a number of different projects. Um so you're very well traveled, well-experienced working in this field. Um, and you know, ultimately this led you to working with uh Yor, and you talked about um, you know, meeting Guillaume Sotemeyer as well. Um maybe you can just give a kind of a high-level intro. What exactly are you trying to solve uh at Yregor?
SPEAKER_01Sure. Um okay, so there's two two aspects, uh I mean three aspects maybe to it. Um first, there's uh really the issue of violence in our societies uh that has been completely ingrained in our way of life, in our products. Um, and so we have actually corporations, organizations, and even ourselves where we don't realize that we have accepted that violence in our models of organizations, um, but in the in the everyday products as well. And so we wanted an organization that was not naive to these uh these infrastructures of violence. Uh, and so um first the methodology and the tools that we're building, you know, they are always grounded in that non-naiety of that the fact that when we worked, we operate in context where it's not that you're progressive entrepreneur, impact entrepreneur, however you want to call it, that is trying to push an innovative solution that can solve uh maybe uh the world's problems. Okay, but you're not operating in a context where you have people that only agree with you and that will actually want to push the solutions. You have actors that are maybe not clear opponents or uh but maybe they don't realize it because their own mode of production and in their supply chain, they have accepted that violence uh most of the time to reach low prices. Um but uh you also have actors that are actual opponents, and so when you're building uh a growth strategy, you're actually trying to think also and to anticipate who's gonna be against you. And so, because we they there was a form of us realizing that every time we talk about scale up, every time we were talking about growth, you know, people were forgetting that it's not like everyone is going in the same direction. On the contrary, we have a world that is more and more violent, there's more and more opponents, and so we didn't want to start an organization um that maybe was too naive about the world it's it's operating in. Um secondly, we had we have a team that comes from, so I come from the humanitarian sector, Guillaume comes from the research sector, but we have people also that are coming from accelerators, we have people that have been strategic consultants before, that have been working in the industry. And so, and we were kind of all sharing the same conclusion. Uh, you have either small organizations, you know, that really remain at a very local level, you have very big um social entrepreneurs, the ones that have been very visible, you know, there's usually huge personality at the end of it, you have the international NGOs, um, and then you have a kind of uh missing middle gap, you know. Um organizations that have proven their impacts that are really growing, but when we started to make the the research, this is exactly the moment where actually organizations die. Uh, and you have so few that are reaching um that kind of uh well big position in their ecosystem that is able to really create systemic change and to really influence the functions and rules of that system. And this is also our vision, you know, of economic development. It has to be systemic, you know. Um you have organizations, you know, um you're probably familiar with the term theory of view of change, um, you know, theory of change. So what change you want to create in the world, you know. And usually when you build an organization, you're not uh you're not ever a holistic organization that addresses all the causes that creates one problem, you know. Usually you kind of only interact on one branch of that um problem. Um that doesn't mean you don't you don't have an impact, right? Um but the fact that we're kind of um staying all in our lane and not making coalitions to re-to actually provoke a systemic impact is the thing that makes things not moving, you know. Every time uh organizations are trying to do a good job, uh, but it's a very linear kind of thinking. And this is why there's not that leverage points where the system is actually moving. And so we really wanted to create an organization that had that systemic thinking in the tools we were building. Um and that's also where taking the methodologies, not from only one sector, but really that we're trying to make bridges between the different sectors. You know, I was a humanitarian worker, very big international humanitarian organizations, they're extraordinary machines, you know, they are very complex, they're very heavy, but also it's also organizations that stay in their lane. There's there's there are specific humanitarian tools. Um, as you have, uh, you know, if you're in a private consulting company, you have specific private consulting tools that are kind of standards in the sector. And our thinking was that this was, you know, everyone is kind of swimming in their own lane uh and not looking at what's happening on the other side. And so we really wanted to build an organizations uh that uh intrinsically will try to think outside of itself and that will try to seek and look for just the best tool uh in what whatever sector it was being used.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, that's really interesting. And you mentioned the missing middle gap, uh, which is an interesting concept I hadn't heard much about before, about how many um organizations who seem to be proving their impact and growing kind of reach a point where they plateau and that this is where like many of these organizations die. Uh so tell me more about this missing middle gap and you know how you can work to help organizations kind of escape that trap and and move past it.
SPEAKER_01Uh so really the idea was to say, okay, we have that missing middle gap. This is where organizations die. Um so those organizations, what are their, why are they dying at the moment? They're dying, um, well, because of that system, but because the support that is being provided to them doesn't fit their needs, really. You have, and I'm not criticizing them, but you have a lot of incubators and accelerators, the duration of those incubators and accelerators, it's usually, you know, a year's program. Um but a year's program for an incubator that can work, if you want to kind of think and create an idea, but really when you grow an organization, uh every study that people look at is that an organization that really scaled up between three and seven years. So it's between what is being promised and the reality of what is economic growth. You know, we were seeing a mismatch. Uh so we one created an organization that was providing capital because there's also a missing middle gap in capital. We are working in on the African continent and we are working in France. In the African continent, uh you have only one to one percent of venture capital that comes to Africa. Um so, of course, you need to bring capital, but you need to bring support as well. So we are supporting organizations for a minimum of three years because we believe that is a fair timeline for development. Um and maybe in opposition to what you have with uh standard accelerators, most of the accelerators they have collective sessions. So you're the CEO or COO of either an NGO or startups, you come to an accelerator, you listen to what people are saying, probably you have a mentor, you know, but you're kind of coming back to your own organization with all of the homework to do by yourself. Um and this is kind of the problem because when you have an organization, so you've built it, you have proof of concept, and so you need to maintain your operations, but then at the same time, the moment where you need to scale up, it's really a push forward. So you're already exhausted by my maintaining your standard operations, and then now you have the scale-up plan to apply. And so this is where organizations kind of get lost and then die, also because of the risk that they're taking and the exhaustion that they're provoking for yourself for themselves, um, doesn't allow actually for well-being and for sustainable growth. So we basically will be an organization that is really like a sparing partner for those organizations. So no collective session, only uh bespoke basically support for those organizations. So they have an entirely operational team that is available to them 24-7 that works on a scale-up plan that we have co-decided together. And we instead of only providing uh strategic recommendations, we do with them. Um, because a lot of the also what is really important for us is the well being of social entrepreneurs. You have 60% of social entrepreneurs, so social entreprises, that's 20 million uh organizations throughout the world. Um, 60% of them are suffering because they believe they are not doing their job well, because they are exhausted, and so they believe that they are making better. Beneficiaries suffer so they know they have impacts, but they are actually frustrated of their own impacts because they are not correctly supported. And most of them think that exhaustion is due to a lack of support. So it's really that well-being aspect also in uh by saying, okay, you do an amazing job. You have you know not chosen the fully capitalistic way, you know. You have chosen to do something good, but then at the same time you're the one at the for at the front line suffering the most from it. Um so yeah, you would just wanted to be the organization that fitted the reality, I think, uh, rather than fitted um well reporting IPIs, you know. Um and yeah, just really be spoken with a lot of liberty in the tools that we were using. And uh it's a very independent organization, you know, it's not like there's one big founder under it. So there was no um preconcept about how to build it. We really built build it based on the needs of the entrepreneurs.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's really interesting. And I like that individualistic approach, and that you're really working with these organizations kind of like hands-on as a and like really further unique context as opposed to coming in with like a cookie-cutter approach. Um, and so, you know, obviously you created this organization at a perfect time when a lot of nonprofits are struggling immensely from you know, funding cuts, from a changing environment, from changing needs around the world, uh, you know, a complex geopolitical environment that's quickly evolving. Um, so talk to me about like kind of the the first year and some of the organizations that you work with. Maybe you can give like a quick intro to the different projects you supported, and then I'm kind of excited to dive into a little bit more about um the specifics of what you did. But maybe let's start with a high level of tell me about you know some of the projects that you work with in this first year and that you helped navigate this complex environment.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Um so we have six organizations that we are supporting at the moment. We started with a cohort of uh free organizations, uh, and then so an additional free were added uh this year. So again, those organizations are across the African continent and across France, mostly in marginalized territories. Um that means, for example, that we consider that, for example, in Kenya or in South Africa, you know, there's already a lot of support organization and a lot of capital that actually are flowing mostly to those countries when we look at the African continent overall. And so we want to be present where maybe others are less present. Um so we have uh free organizations in France, we have free organizations in Africa, and that is a mix of NGOs and startups. Um, for example, if I can give one, uh we have an organization, Alage, uh, for example, so they are using regenerative agriculture to do social insertion. Um so they have uh and they do that in uh urban context and semi-urban contexts, um, basically realizing that you know the urban expansion has completely destroyed the soils. And so now we have kind of this combat of oh, we need nature uh into towns. Um and so that that world is good, and I you know I'm calling from Paris, there's just been uh the heat wave, and of course, this is very much needed. Uh, but then you have politicians that are realizing that they want to grow something somewhere, but it's not growing, because the soil, even when you don't have cements and you they have preserved the soil, the soil is dead. Um, and so you you have really to take the time to bring, and mostly, you know, when when you have a soil, for example, that is dead, what are people doing? They actually dig elsewhere in a rural area, they take the basically dirt and then bring it to the urban areas. So you're just basically destroying another ecosystem to then restore what you've destroyed in the first place. And sometimes you have organizations, you know, that um, and people are making an ecological argument about it like, oh, look, we've we've grown now back trees into a city. Yes, but you've not done it in an ecological and systemic way because you're just recreating a problem elsewhere. Um, and so the the that organizations that we support, they really fought through the entire chain of what they're doing. So um, and they have an economic model behind it. So it's an NGO, but it's actually two social enterprises that are linked to the NGO. Um, so they're growing the flowers, they're growing the product, and who's growing the flowers and the product? Uh it's uh people that are are refugees and asylum seekers that have been trained into those jobs with official French certifications, um, and that are working directly in those social enterprises. So very you know, a holistic circle. Um, and really something that's um it's already one big organization, but really the aim is that that serves as really a pilot for so many other organizations that have to implement these sort of systems in France. So it had been quoted by the EU as uh their way of doing as one of the most innovating things in terms of regenerative agricultures, and so we really, just in terms of advocacy and geographical dissemination, we're really pushing that forward in the coming years. If I can give another example, we have, for example, Coolbus, uh, which is uh so it's a Nigerian startup. Um, and so they have uh solar freezers. Uh so why do we need solar freezers? So in Nigeria, you have a lot of micro entrepreneurs that are selling food into markets, uh, but just as heat. So you have a lot of what you're selling on the market that is basically gonna be a bad fruit or a bad vegetable at the end of the day, and that you're not gonna be able to sell. Um and people, when they are on the markets, then you know, most of the markets are not connected to electricity. So even though they had a freezer at home, they do not have a freezer on the market. Um, and so solar freezer uh solves exactly that. Um and that solar freezer can also be used for vaccines, for example. And so they have created a very innovative system that even during the night, because that's always a problem with solar, you know, when there's no sun and uh solar battery, that's kind of another issue. How do you do? So they have created a cold compressing system, so making it that basically the energy that you have accumulated during uh during the day. Uh then at night you have your entire uh freezing circle that continues to run because of that compressing system. Um and it's an amazing organization. So um now there is you know, sitting in Uganda, sitting in Andrea, and um they are currently doing um their Series B. Um so yeah, it's a it's a growing organization. Uh, but there's so many issues, you know. Yeah, there it's it's connected freezers, Internet of Things. Uh, you know, there are so many uh issues that we're trying, you know, kind of putting our hands on and trying to solve with them. Um so yeah, we really hope it's um elevating the pressure for them and also kind of scaling more rapidly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, that's really cool. Um, what an interesting um project. I mean, all the projects have been really interesting. I you know, I gave your annual report of read through and it was really cool seeing you know some of the takeaways and lessons. And we'll be right back after this brief announcement. Trying to keep up with everything happening in the world of Web3 for good, let us make it easy for you. The CryptoUltras newsletter is a free monthly roundup delivering the top highlights from our platform, along with the most important news, developments, and opportunities across the ecosystem. Whether you're a builder, a change maker, or just crypto curious, it's the perfect way to stay in the loop without the noise all in one place, once a month. To subscribe, simply click on the link in the show notes and sign up with your email. And now, back to the episode. You know, obviously we wouldn't be having this conversation if technology didn't play an important role here. And you know, the last example you shared of the solar freezers, obviously that, you know, that is technology, obviously, at its at its core. But you know, beyond that, I'd really love to dive into the role of you know, Web3 and AI, because I know that that's an important piece of the puzzle, you know, and given the complexities of today's environment, funding cuts, shifting donor priorities, geopolitical instability, growing needs of clients, more complex needs of beneficiaries in those um, you know, that that these organizations are serving. So, all that said, how do you see technology, specifically like frontier tech, like AI and Web3, helping these organizations navigate this complexity and scale their impact in today's environment?
SPEAKER_01Sure. Yeah, um, so conversations about Web3 have actually started at the very beginning, beginning of uh Agregoth creation. I think probably because we are also like a young team, you know, so basically, you know, that has been part of our own education, you know. Um, everyone except for the for the board is uh is under 40 years old um at the moment in the team. Uh and so that has been very much part of our education. But I think also um our thinking about this is very much linked to the context we had been working in and the context we are working in at the moment. Because we know uh that government is not always your ally. Uh you we know that uh the banking system is not always your ally when you're operating in uh restricted environments. Um you we know also that uh you know governance is to be uh re thought. And so there's a lot of what uh you know of the Web3 innovations that actually are exactly targeting those issues. And so this is uh very much how we entered uh into that field, and we realized that uh basically Web3 stakeholders had a lot uh to give to those uh NGOs and social enterprise, and that there was there was such a huge gap between the two the two, you know. Again, you know, people kind of swimming in very lanes, and uh, you know, just kind of this is where the system really doesn't function. When you see an innovation that is successful but that is not being replicated, it means that there's a problem in the information flow. Uh and so this is exactly what we're trying to solve. So we kind of you know, we did the events where we invited the hundreds of NGOs and we invited hundreds of Web3 stakeholders so that they can discuss uh trying to solve exactly that information problem. Um and so we have organizations that have um integrated blockchain uh into um their supply chain. So, for example, one that was uh working in Uganda, uh collecting uh agricultural residues to be uh transformed into energy and into biochar. Uh biochar being basically a replacement for coal that you can use uh for heating, cooking, or uh microdosing onto your fields uh that basically add as an alternative to pesticides. Um so again, very, very good innovation. This, I mean, this good and bad in biochar. Um but really, you know, that's a traceability that you need, this is also what blockchains offers, especially when you kind of starting to enter into a field of new financial mechanisms such as carbon credits, et cetera, and that you're trying to build them um into in an ethical and efficient way. Uh, and I think ethics is very important because if some of your listeners are you know familiar um with carbon credits, you know, of course there's a lot of criticism that can be made on all of those systems, right? So I don't want to deny that. Um but it's basically because actually of what has been happening to that sector that I we think blockchain is actually uh useful uh because it can solve actually some of the transparency issues that credits have been encountering. Um so and when we talk about AI, of course, like you know, we have um we have NGOs that are maybe not the most tech friendly. Uh you know, but it's not they're not not tech friendly by nature. It's also that those entrepreneurs are working so much, like everyone is burned out and they're doing crazy hours because of the lack of funding, you know, because of the because you don't have funding, then you can't hire. So you're basically doing like you know three jobs at the same time. So it's very hard actually to just be aware of what are the digital innovations that you can use for your own organizations. And so this is where also I think we we have really leverage here as a team, is that uh we are able to provide and implement um the digital tools that they need within their organizations and to build them for them and for them, it will be free. Um so you know, and and with that, you know, you kind of immediately have a scale-up effects and efficiency and kind of again releasing the pressure. Um also because you have that external look on their operations. Uh, and I think this is also, you know, not having your heads um, you know, stuck and being that external partner, but then at the same time, you're not a consulting company. You know, you're really that sparing partner, and that sparing partner position puts us in a position where organizations do not see us as only a funder, even though we do provide money to them, but they are being so frank about the problems that they have, uh, you know, even violence within their organizations, you know, problems between employees, etc. Which means that when we're building the tool, we're also making sure that we're taking those into account. And I think this is also why, you know, a lot of of course you can pay for consultants for an NGO, you know, but that consultant will lack a lot of information that will make the tool useful or not. Um, and so we're really seeing also the impact of being there on a daily basis because the transparency that you have with those organizations is really not the same. And you're kind of creating a different relationship, and I think this is very much what we need just in in general, just more kind of spurring partner mentality rather than you know utilitarian mentality into our partnerships.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's really interesting. That's so cool. Yeah, I love the different ways that you're working tech into what you're doing, and it was really interesting seeing this, you know, in the annual report that I was reading, you know, as well. And I think one of the challenges around tech as well, and around this type of work in general, obviously, is the history of like um, you know, colonialism, but also groups coming in and really imposing and saying, hey, here's this new thing you need to do, it'll make everything better. You know, it does, and it's not kind of in tune with the needs of the local populations as well. Uh, and there is a lot of hype around technology as well, solving problems. You know, you hear right now how you know, as opposed to, oh, AI is gonna be a great tool for doing X, Y, and Z, we're hearing AI is gonna solve every single thing that you know humans have ever encountered and make everything perfect, you know. And so it's like, how do we navigate that hype, right? And so, as someone who's grounded in the realities of humanitarian and development work, how do you manage this and kind of separate out the reality from the noise and make sure that like you're working with the communities to put in place things that will like, you know, support the work that they're already doing, as opposed to trying to like impose new things on them, if that makes sense? Like, walk me through the process for how you engage these communities in these sense and kind of manage this.
SPEAKER_01Sure. Um, well, so so the one thing is that um because of the context we work in, you know, um people think that um digital or phone access is is everywhere, you know, but I but I think uh you know kind of numbers are very misleading. For example, if you look at some a number of African countries, and if you look at whether people have access to a if a household, because usually the question is whether a household has access to a phone, not whether an individual has access to a phone. Uh a household meaning in Africa, uh, you know, you have countries where the average children per family is seven, meaning that if they say that actually a family has access to a phone, that means one telephone for the entire family. So that is uh average, actually, digital access. And we're not only talking about the competencies of the people, you know, holding the phone. Um and so this is really where you know we there's a there's obviously a problem of literacy that we we take into account. Um and even when you have you know organizations that are uh considered to be very innovative, um there's there's already so many senior leaderships that are still struggling, you know, with setting up a teams meeting, and suddenly you're gonna be talking about AI adoption to them. Uh and so I think we're really what what we do any in any case is that we start uh every venture support with a three-month diagnosis. And that diagnosis includes a digital diagnosis, you know, levels of understanding, levels of capacity, and not only of the senior leadership team, but of the entire team as well, and of the beneficiaries. Um so, for example, we were talking about uh solar freezes. Uh so the solar freezer, it's um there's internet of things because the um solar freezer is connected to a platform and will tell you um the energy that you have produced and consumed, and it's a pay-as-yo system. Because, of course, for a woman that is a micro entrepreneur, she cannot pay up front um the freezer. So it's the more she will use it, the more she will pay. Uh that pay-as-you go system creates a lot of challenges for the startup, uh, because that means that you kind of need to fundraise constantly if you want to grow your pool of clients, uh, because you are actually going to be the one that is going to be advancing the money for them to possess that freezer. Um, but then at the same time, you know, it kind of um allows the entrepreneur to one-track the money to track the electricity. And so just in terms of mentality, you know, of having access to that kind of information uh that they're not uh you know uh used to have about their themselves, that brings also other perspective about what they can do with that data for their own company. Um and so, yeah, for example, at the moment, yeah, we're we're starting uh a lot of work on you know trying to uh well ameliorate the interface for users as well, not only on the startups, you know, internal side of things, uh, so that in addition to the actual product, which is which is the freezer, we bring an additional layer of added value for the for the entrepreneur. Um so yeah, so that that's the kind of examples of what we're we're we're doing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's really cool. Um we've talked a lot about kind of the unique approaches you're taking and the ways that you're kind of really helping these organizations just survive the complexity of this world. Um, you know, obviously behind each organization are individuals that are you know working on the front lines, that are managing the administrative complexities of running an impact organization in the 21st century. Um so I'm curious, like for builders listening in, whether founders, nonprofit leaders, just like innovators or change makers interested in working in this space, you know, what's your best advice for how to navigate these challenges and what really separates the organizations that adapt and thrive from those that struggle and eventually kind of fall apart or shut down?
SPEAKER_01I think just the you know, the reason for being. Um when you have that very, very clear, um then it's you know, if if the reason for being for you is basically just to make money and you're able to you're willing actually to adapt the model of your company, whatever in whatever shape or form, then at least you know that's clear, and that's clear in terms of you know um well the way you should structure your company and the way you should uh think about uh your roadmap for scale, and that's fine to admit as well. Um and then if and for another type of enterprise, you know, again, thinking about a more complex theory of change in the sense of and a more systematic lens. So not exactly where I want to be in three years, but more what I want my organization. To represent in three years in a certain ecosystem? And do I want to just be positioned within that ecosystem and to be making money within that ecosystem or to implement my nonprofit action and impacts? Or do I want to have a larger impact and to make that system change? And the way you will build your organization is very different, depending on the answer to those questions. And I think there's a lot of funders that are just not exactly clear about that. And you know, maybe they're thinking that because they're doing good, they have a systemic impact. Doing good is not having a systemic impact. It's something completely different. And so if you don't recognize that, then you know, if you wanted to activate um change a rule in the system, for example, you need to realize whether you have you are the best actor to do so. Some people are trying to change rules that fundamentally, because of the way the system works, they cannot change. Um if you realize your position within a system and you map that that systems and you know kind of the flows that are entering in and out of that system, then you will recognize quickly which actor you need to kind of do a coalition with, what kind of advocacy, lobbying you need to do to actually have a result. Uh and so again, in terms of the efficiency of impact and efficiency of the own group of their company, I think this is yeah, probably the starting points for them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's really helpful. Um, you know, I'm sure there's folks that are listening along here that are interested in learning more, learning more also just from the lessons of the first year, which there are some great insights in the annual report, which I'll make sure to link in the show notes. Uh, but for those who want to dig a bit deeper, uh, learn more about you gotta go over rather and support the work or get involved as an innovator, an expert in your community, where's the best place for them to go to learn more about what you're doing and to get in touch?
SPEAKER_01Sure. Um, so we have a website. Um I I would say that so there's the annual report that is available in English and in French on the website. There are other articles that we have published with uh in uh recent uh you know, academic papers and everything, kind of explaining the way we reflect. There are podcasts uh available of uh Guillaume Sotomayor, again, the president of Egregor, uh explaining his vision about systemic violence. So if you also tap that and you want to kind of dig further, you can type into Spotify and listen. Um the website will be updated with a lot more information in the in the coming weeks. So uh I think this is the good place to go. I think just contacting um me as well and the and the team, and I'm sure Drew you'll you know add contacts. Um I think so, just again, you know, it's uh it's a very international team. Uh so you maybe I yeah, I didn't mention that. You know, we we have people in Senegal, we have people in Algeria, we have uh people in Geneva, Berlin, I'm currently in uh in uh in Paris. And we have so so this is their there is the operational team, and then we have the egregor community. Uh the egregor community is basically um two things. It's a community in itself that's kind of share the same visions and want to you know reflect and brainstorm about those topics. So every month we have an event that we organize. Um most of the time, actually, the speakers are actually members of that uh community that are gonna be uh presenting, but it's not a you know kind of descending conference kind of mode. Uh we really want um people to interact and discuss. So we do that once a month for that community, but also people that are part of that community is people that wanted to participate to that kind of mission. And uh we also acknowledge that we do not know how to do everything within the uh with the people that I have hired. So we have a super solid team, uh, but sometimes we need an external hand. And so basically that uh community, which uh you are very welcome to apply to. Um, and so again, you can contact me to be part of that community, and we have an ethical charter that you have to sign. And if you agree to that ethical charter, uh and uh also you know, we see that there is a fit, um, then uh you'll be part of a group. Soon there's gonna be a community platform that is gonna be launched where basically you will be able to see uh the contributions of all the members to all the social innovators, the missions that they have been doing, the updates about the social innovators. So, really something very interactive uh to understand what the organization is doing on a on a daily basis. Um and that community basically is uh, well, I'll just uh you know either contact directly people because I have a mapping of the skills that I have in that community, or just boot them and have with like, you know, terms of references and be like, I'll I'll need a hand on analyzing uh laboratory results, for example. I did that recently. Uh so this is the example that comes to mind. Uh or uh we are creating a financial task force because we have a debt issue with one of the organizations, you know, so there'll be members of my operational team, but also members from the economy uh from the community. And so we'll do that task force to address uh quickly a very problematic issue. So I think this is a very good way to engage with the organization, you know, and kind of check our work. We have a LinkedIn page as well where we are posting quite a bit. Um so that's good. And uh yeah, and also uh if uh you know some people kind of what we're trying to build is really, you know, kind of philanthropy 2.0. And we really be believing that, you know, this is so we are an endontment fund, sorry, uh and an NGO. So that's a very specific kind of French legal um legal formats, but it's basically like a foundation. It's really the equivalence. Uh it's just a more flexible vehicle, actually, than uh than a foundation. But uh also if people you know want to participate in the work of the foundation, we have a donation page on our website. So, you know, there's kind of different ways of collaborations, and we we continue to publish. So it can be intellectual, it can be financial, it can be volunteering, you know, many different ways to engage.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, totally. That's really cool. So lots of different ways to get involved, obviously, lots of resources. I'll link all that in the show notes for folks listening along so they can get in touch, get involved. Uh, you're doing some really cool work. At the very least, they should definitely read the report and learn more about some of the organizations you're working with, some really cool lessons to be drawn there and some great work being done. Um, you know, to wrap things up, uh, you'd mentioned uh the co-founder Giome Satamayo before. Um, you know, there was when I was reading through the annual report, there was uh one kind of quote in particular that really spoke to me from Giome, and it said, We are at a historic turning point in philanthropy, faced with the multiple crises surrounding us, climate, democratic, social, the urgency to anchor ideals and tangible realities has never been greater. The innovators we support are precisely these people, women and men, who take action, who through their daily deeds embody the possibility of a fairer world. Our role is to give them the means to go further, faster without betraying their raison d'etre. So uh love that quote. Um, with that in mind, you know, what does this mean to you and what gives you hope that humanity can rise to the challenge and seize this moment to build, you know, a fairer and better world?
SPEAKER_01Um so I think the most important part probably of that sentence is uh growing without losing the raison d'être. And I think um this is very much also what we have seen is that you have a great organization that has amazing impact on communities and beneficiaries, but then because it wants to grow, then you kind of dilute your impacts with that growth. Um and so again, this is very much part of our way of thinking. It's how you maintain really the quality and the depth that you're doing, and really the, you know, all the science that goes behind it, with that will to disseminate your solution. Um and so I think, you know, um, well, founders, I think, again, that are listening in will kind of recognize that challenges, you know. You were like super good at something, and so you you were kind of thinking that it was a given, but it is not a given, actually, several years later, and you always have to question yourselves. And we we hope that this is kind of uh some a question that more and more founders are asking themselves and about you know their social and their ecological impact, etc. Um, I think we so we we we live in a world, of course, where you know, um, again, fundings are just more restricted, ecological values are of course being questions as well. Uh, and that's true in the US, but that's also you know true in France uh and in many European countries, or where it seems like a given, you know, that uh climate chasing climate change is here, but then at the same time it's still not very much part of political priorities when you switch from the discourse to the actual money coming in and being in those sectors. But actually, what we are finding is that if you preserve again those middle organizations that already exist, it's not like we are trying to look for new solutions that are gonna arrive in some time. We are trying to save the solutions that are already there. And so, you know, that's also just in terms of efficiency of the money of any citizens, you know. If you keep on having organizations that are being subsidized and then die afterwards because they're not being correctly supported, then that's also a loss of your money. Um, and so this is also why we, you know, we're trying to to switch the mentalities. It's exactly, you know, we we just destructive innovation and all the theories that we know around it, you know, of course they're useful. However, at the moment they're probably too destructive. This is, you know, um, you know, we and I I think the the discourse about the well-being of the entrepreneurs and how much that well-being is necessary for the organization to be sustainable. I think this is probably a topic that's kind of it starts to come more and more often. Um, I think I would like to see a word when it's not only talked about, but really again implemented in the tools and the methodologies that we use as companies. Uh and so, you know, really having so I'm building something really always having in the back of the mind, so how long is it gonna take to the person? You know, I'm at am I adding a layer that is just control, controlling reporting, or does it actually add a value? Um and so there's it starts to change slowly, but the the problem is that we have kind of traditional organizations uh that are talking about a lot about what they need to change, but again, to make that transition, uh, you know, it's a very slow process, which is also why we wanted to well create a new organization that started immediately with all the new tools that we were we you know we appreciated and that we built ourselves. Uh and thinking that it's by showing that we have impact that then others will actually follow, because they will see that uh the method is just way more efficient than what they've been doing before. And so again, you know, as long as you have you don't have that information barrier, then we do believe that the rest will follow. And so basically, that is the the hope you implement, you prove, and then you can advocate. And the advocacy part is very much part of our mission, but it's not an advocacy part that is, you know, in air and theoretical. It's only based on the proof of what we do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And and wow, what a great note to end on. Um, very insightful. Thank you so much for everything you've shared, uh, Ines. It's been a pleasure to uh to get to know you and to learn about what you're doing. It'll be exciting to follow along as you kind of build now into you know 2026 and beyond and uh continue to kind of really support these incredible organizations, and it'll be exciting to see where they go from here, um, you know, as you support them for three years. So I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it. I'm sure listeners will as well, and I'll include all the links in the show notes so you can do that. So thank you so much for your time here today, uh Inez. It was a pleasure. Uh appreciate you being here. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much. And if uh anyone wants to reach out also to exchange on methodologies and you know, tools that you want to bring in within your organization, we're just always happy to help out. You know, it's uh it's a it's a collective movement.
SPEAKER_00It is a collective movement for sure. And and uh yeah, get in touch, great organization. Uh thank you, Ines.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00And that was Ines Dofoy of EGregor. There are a few things that stuck with me from this chat. First, the honesty about how hard this moment is. It would be easy to paper over it, but the reality is that impact builders are navigating funding cuts, shifting priorities, instability, and rising needs all at once. Naming that clearly matters because you don't adapt to a prom you're pretending isn't there. Second, the insight that so often the barrier isn't the vision. It's everything around it, the structural, financial, and logistical weight that keeps brilliant people from doing the work they're brilliant at. YGregor's whole model is built on removing that weight, and I think there's a lesson in that for anyone thinking about how to support changemakers well. Sometimes the most valuable thing you can offer isn't a new idea, it's clearing the path for the ideas that already exist. Third, the grounded take on technology. Ines sits at an interesting vantage point, deep enough in humanitarian and development realities to know what actually works, but open enough to see where AI, Web3, and new tools can genuinely help. That balance is rare, and it's exactly what this space needs. Not hype in, not dismissal, but a clear question. Does this help people or doesn't it? And finally, the hope. Because that's what this whole conversation ultimately comes back to. EGregor's co-founder Guillaume put it beautifully in their annual report, describing the innovators they support as women and men who take action and who through their daily deeds embody the possibility of a fairer world. That's not naive optimism, it's hope grounded in people actually doing the work. And after this conversation, I feel more of it. So for listeners who want to learn more about egregor, support their work, or get involved as an innovator or an expert in their community, we've included all the relevant links in the show notes. A huge thank you to Inesse for sharing your experience and your perspective with us today, and to everyone at EGregor for the important work that you're doing. And that wraps up today's episode of Crypto Ultras. Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I did. If you're inspired to explore more stories of the intersection of Web3 and Social Impact, be sure to visit us at CryptoAltrist.com for articles, resources, and more. And if you love what you heard, it would mean the world if you could rate review and subscribe to the podcast. Your support is huge in helping us reach more listeners like you and keeping the platform going strong. Thanks again for joining us, and I look forward to having you back for the next episode. Until then, let's keep showing the world the good of crypto.