Episode 29 – Sue Fennessy – where there’s darkness, let the sunshine in!

In this episode of Doing the Opposite: Business Disruptors, Jeff Dewing speaks to Sue Fennessy, founder and CEO of WeAre8 which hopes to change the future of social media by building a platform that is positive and puts people and the planet first. Sue Fennessy is a serial tech entrepreneur who has spent 30 years creating disruptive businesses.

Sue describes what motivates, inspires and excites her – and she describes it as a passion for solving problems together and being the ‘antithesis of everything that has controlled humanity over the last 15 years’. She talks about the ‘darkness ‘she sees in the world, such as the economic crisis, mental health crisis, climate crisis and more, and that she sees ‘sunshine’ as the opportunity for change and resolutions in each of these areas.

Sue explains how her social media platform aims to promote collective action on issues – raising awareness and enabling people to celebrate the successes of their friends. ‘We all want to be part of something bigger than ourselves’. WeAre8 also aims to raise money for good causes by encouraging its users to watch ads, fully aware that the proceeds of them doing so would be supporting charities and community projects.

Sue and Jeff discuss how to create a movement for positive change in the world. Sue’s platform works with a number of charities and Jeff uses the example of Jeroen van de Waal’s Reef Company (episode 6 of Doing the Opposite). This charity is building engineered reefs to combat climate change, but creating a movement to tackle the scale and funding challenges along the way.