Welcome to The Zenergy podcast! On today’s episode, Karan Takhar speaks with Dimitry Gershenson, CEO & Co-Founder of Enduring Planet. They discuss Dimitry's time living in Kenya and India and how that shaped his perspective on how to approach climate solutions. Dimitry then walks us through the founding of Enduring Planet and the gap in the market they are filling using their unique funding model. Karan and Dimitry discuss Enduring Planet's idea of lending against grants, the average ticket size they lend, and Dimitry breaks down how federal and state grants and procurements are allotted out. He shares his thoughts on the election and if he believes it will impact the climate landscape and gives insight into the raising of Enduring Planet’s second fund.
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Connect with Dimitry:
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:20 Welcome
2:16 Dimitry’s very first job
4:27 How Dimitry’s time living in Honduras influences his work today
6:00 The resilience of the ecology of the planet vs. the human race
8:00 Capitalism and climate
10:45 Dimitry’s work at Meta
12:05 Origins of the Zenergy Podcast
13:00 SEMA fund
13:40 Dimitry’s favorite foods from abroad
17:00 Funding model for Enduring Planet/what does Enduring Planet do?
20:30 How Enduring Planet is different from government grants
22:30 Working with government loans alone is really hard on companies
24:15 How grant agencies work with companies
25:00 The path that Enduring Planet helps companies to be on
25:30 The amount of money Enduring Planet gives for different kinds of investments
27:00 How smaller start-ups have trouble accessing public money
29:30 What Enduring Planet is doing to level the playing field
31:15 The process of partnering with Enduring Planet
35:20 Enduring Planet allows companies to accelerate the trajectory on grants
37:20 Any climate projects are welcome to request funding
39:30 Now is not the time to wait to invest in the fight against climate change,
now is the time to be bold
44:30 How the upcoming election will impact the climate landscape
48:20 The exciting parts about the future of climate industry
52:00 A message to those early in their careers
Credits:
Editing: Desta Wondirad, Wondir Studios
