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EP 23- Ben Gleisner of CoGo

By June Ramli

Edited by Fazleena Aziz

Leaving A Cushy Job For Entrepreneurship

Kia Ora! Welcome to another episode of 30 minutes with DailyStraits.com where we pick the brains of an awesome entrepreneur across the Tasman- New Zealand.

Our guest today is Ben Gleisner, the founder and CEO of CoGo.

Ben is an economist, environmentalist and social entrepreneur who launched CoGo in 2018. He launched the business in London before moving back to his home country of New Zealand early last year.

For those of you who are not in the know, CoGo is an app that helps consumers make informed decisions when it comes to reducing their carbon footprint.

In other words, it empowers consumers with their data through an open banking technology, showing them their footprint, making easy recommendations on how they can lower it through various actions such as having a plant-based diet, buying second-hand goods or aligning their spending by showing them businesses that are taking action to reduce their impact on the environment.

CoGo is currently trading in New Zealand and the UK but has plans to expand to new markets with Australia being next on the list.

In this episode, we address what it is like to leave a cushy job to dabble into entrepreneurship, instead.

Some of the questions answered in this podcast are: 

1. After working with the New Zealand Treasury for seven years, what made you want to switch careers to one as an entrepreneur?
2. How did you get the idea to start your first business?
3. How did you go about validating the idea and what was your initial investment?
4. At any time while you were working on your business, did you ever doubt yourself and thought about returning to full-time employment, perhaps your old job at the Treasury?

Without further ado, let’s listen to the interview.