After building a successful career in consulting at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Kate Bakal knew she wanted to pursue something different. She left without a clear plan and started a YouTube channel to explore her interest in climate change. Through the channel, she found her co-founders and a project in Liberia. Today she is co-founder and Head of Programmes at Carbonibus, a carbon finance business putting more efficient charcoal stoves into Liberian homes.

This episode is for anyone waiting for the perfect next step. Kate shows how answers come from movement. She explains how a consulting toolkit holds up in the field, what it fails to prepare you for, and what it takes to make fast decisions under uncertainty while managing the risk of burnout. She speaks frankly about the responsibilities of a foreign founder in West Africa. And she challenges the romanticized image of building a social enterprise in Africa, sharing the stamina it takes to create lasting impact.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Welcome and introducing Kate

1:16 - Are you in a good place?

3:05 - The Big 3 consulting: why in, why out?

9:17 - Moving to Liberia

10:29 - Carbonibus: clean cooking as a climate business

12:36 - What consulting skills carry over?

18:06 - The ethics of being a foreign founder in West Africa

24:05 - Is impact work in Africa romanticised?

26:16 - Frontline work and the risk of burnout

31:01 - How to start a pivot to impact 3

5:33 - Hosts' debrief

Resources mentioned

• Carbonibus: https://www.carbonibus.org
• Kate’s climate change YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@BakalKate
• Carbonibus’s work in Liberia, reported by AllAfrica: https://allafrica.com/stories/202604220234.html
• Clean Cooking Alliance: https://cleancooking.org