Changemakers: Ella Goldner

When governments fail to provide solutions to our most pressing social problems, where are we to turn?

In March 2015 Ella Goldner MBA2011, co-founder of the mission-led venture-builder Zinc VC, asked herself the same question. Having twins and taking maternity leave from her job as Strategy Director for IPG Mediabrands sparked a shift in outlook that led her to change direction towards making a positive social impact on the world: “It had to be something that was my own,” says Goldner, “and I didn’t want it to be an app or a digital product. That was my brief to myself.”

A successful graduate of London Business School’s MBA programme in 2010, she reached out to LBS’s career coaches and, through “serendipity” and getting to know the right people, met the man who was to become one of her co-founders: Saul Klein, a venture capitalist and Executive Fellow of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at LBS. Together with third co-founder Paul Kirby, a former partner at KPMG, they started to flesh out what Zinc would look like; they have since raised £3 million from a mixture of venture capitalists and the London School of Economics, enabling them to fund three ‘missions’.

Goldner’s MBA at LBS has been fundamental in the relationships she has formed whilst establishing Zinc. Her top takeaways are just as relevant to her today as they were in 2010:

1. A global and diverse network
   The success of creating a global reaching business that achieves a positive impact on the world can, in part, be credited to studying in a diverse and global institution, such as LBS: “You have people all over the world and in every industry to connect with and ask for advice or help,” reflects Goldner.
2. Give back and it will keep giving
   Goldner is an active alumna and, in the decade since matriculating, has kept an ongoing relationship which has both supported her and LBS: “I have been actively working with London Business School via various collaborations, as well as trying to give back, which keeps my connection to the school and its amazing networks alive, which in return keeps giving back to me and my work.”
3. The network goes well beyond the other students
   It’s not only fellow students and alumni that can make a lasting impact on your successes. Goldner has been able to draw on the talent of LBS faculty: “I am fortunate that Diane Morgan (previous Associate Dean/Head of Career services at LBS) is now Zinc's talent director,” says Goldner. “And some of the alumni who joined our programmes, did an internship with Zinc.”

Zinc’s first mission, focusing on women’s emotional and mental health, spawned 16 companies, addressing a raft of issues from gauging the likelihood of developing psychological side-effects from using the contraceptive pill to how to navigate through the maze of seeking help for infertility. 

“There’s a lot of data available now to help solve these problems,” says Goldner. “It’s just not been tapped into. But with more female founders and investors who care about these issues, we can change that.”