YouSaid · the spoken record

Susy Schöneberg

lines on the record: 29
first: 2022-03-17
most recent: 2022-03-17
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“can definitely visit flexpo.org slash donate so that's flexport.org slash donate if someone is managing corporate donations or matching programs they can also email relief at flexpot.com and then lastly i totally understand that not everyone can contribute right now or maybe they already supported other great organizations but it would mean a whole lot to me if you can just spread the word about our work so that we can support our fantastic partners in the long run.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Most people might not understand that sometimes you have to go slow to go fast. In our case, it means it doesn't matter if something is on a plane first. It matters what's arriving first. If it's just getting stuck in a warehouse because there's no one to distribute it, you didn't really reach your goal. And so the upfront planning, making sure that the whole process is set up correctly is extremely important. And my second point would probably be around how complex those responses are in general. So I really appreciate that everyone wants to help, but my big call to action would be to support existing organizations. If you are trying to set up a disaster relief operation for the first time in your life, it might just be hard for you to navigate the system, but you could still volunteer your time and resources to an existing”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We do and we even go one step further all disaster relief shipments are carbon neutral, meaning Flexport is covering the costs compensating for the emissions that are related to those shipments. We know that the emissions in the transportation sectors as the rising, it's contributing to climate change and a lot of people that already live in poverty are overly affected by climate change. And so we have to make sure that we address this problem. It's one of the reasons why we are sending planes to that region. It's kind of ironically if we wouldn't take care of the emissions as well.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We know how to ship into regions that are almost unaccessible. We know how to work in emergency situations. And so we have certain relationships that can also help other clients if they want to respond to a disaster. And another aspect that we haven't talked about yet is Lexpo.org is also addressing the decarbonization of supply chains. So that's an element where we talk to our commercial clients about how to ship carbon neutral and also all the disaster shipments are also carbon neutral. So logistics actually plays an important role for solving social and environmental problems on many levels. And this is how we work with our commercial clients. The benefit for us being part of Flexboard is the access to one the technology. So we use the exact same system and also our non-profit partners have access to the full Flexpot platform. And of course, we have also access to the expertise of all”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Shipments going on, right? You only want to see what really needs your attention. It's really crucial that every party, so the donors, the NGOs, the shippers, all have one single source of truth. And this transparency and clear communication really helps them to be successful. So I would say that's the common denominator. And big learnings from our COVID-19 response. What makes this crisis different is we are not sure yet. We're kind of this will go, how many people are affected. It's almost like a crisis on another crisis. We are in a situation where we can't just fly planes in. There's a safety aspect that is different compared to our COVID-19 response. And so we are constantly learning and trying to improve our response every day.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Absolutely. So we know that those eight organizations, their goal is to provide the life-saving and critical needed supplies as soon as possible. But it's so difficult because so many different parties are involved, right? And they each have to carry out actions pretty quickly in succession. We provide the platform so that they can see what is happening. So let's say you plan to send a plane from the US to Eastern Europe. And for some reason, there is a delay. We will highlight this delay as soon as we can to you. So if like 100 shipments are going as normal, you can focus on the things that need your attention. And this proves to be extremely helpful in a crisis where there is a lot of chaos around you. So in 2020, Flexport delivered almost half a billion units of PPE, other medical supplies, and also food aid around the world. And so you can imagine with all the”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Were other sick patients, and I remember well that the families of those patients brought in food, right? There's no meal service. And whenever someone died, you heard those people scream and cry. And I still remember those cries really vividly and the desperation. I was fortunate enough because I still had some money and was able to get some medical supplies and could arrange an airlift out of this region. All the other people that were with me that day in that room didn't have this opportunity. And so I know how critical those medical supplies are and how large the desperation is if you don't have access to basic necessities.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I once got sick in a foreign country and was really close to dying, so I know how it feels if you don't have medical supplies. I'm doing this work personally because I saw people dying around me. So I was in Xinjiang in China close to the border to Afghanistan, to Tajikistan. So really remote. I personally contracted cholera. I wasn't aware of what I was suffering from, suffered from internal bleedings and there was no hospital infrastructure available, at least not similar to how you and I might think of hospital, right, when we hear the word. People tried to treat me, but they weren't even tools to just give me an IV, for example. That was just literally a plastic bag and an open needle, right? Which was really scary. And I was the only foreigner in this hall. They placed me in the middle. But around me,”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Based on my youth, many of us can't remember conflict and they don't know what it does to families. But to me, it's a very vivid memory and I know how it's affected me personally. We have to look out for each other and we also have to help each other in a crisis because Might be a preconceived notion, and this particular picture might pop into your head, but we should all remind ourselves that it could be us, like you and I could be refugees in the future that need support. And that's something I want to stay conscious of.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, a million of children alone. Many of the children might even be separated from their parents or any family. So there's also just a big need for reunification services. So this crisis affects people on so, so many levels.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, there is no Flexport staff in Ukraine, but we have team members in neighboring countries. And so they are working on the ground with our partners. We hear that the situation is getting more dire every day. We also hear that the need for support is far larger than they thought. So, every signal that we're receiving right now indicates a larger response than previously anticipated.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we can make those matches. Ideally, we don't want to interfere with the operations of some of those eight organizations, and they have really strong procurement departments. And again, the requirements are also very specific. We don't want to send any painkiller, right? It has to be allowed in the country. And so they're really experts in getting the right goods. But if needed, yes, we are also enabling product donation matches, how we call them.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Personally, I have no reason at all to complain. I feel very fortunate that my team and I are in a position where we can make a difference. But of course, those times are intense, right? We have people telling us that they need medical supplies so urgently because right now they have to perform surgeries without any pain medication or without any antibiotics. So there's definitely a lot of pressure.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Definitely true that our main focus right now is the crisis in Ukraine. And again, we are following the lead of our nonprofit partners. We are also actively shipping into other regions in the world right now. There are still ongoing projects that we are supporting. We are still responding to the crisis in Syria. We're sending supplies to Haiti, to African countries. There is so much work that needs to be done. There are two major benefits that we provide to those organizations, independent to where they are responding to right now. One is just like the real-time visibility, the supplies, where are they now? When are they arriving? What is arriving, but also just the coordination. There's so many parties involved. And so communication is really crucial to an effective operation.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So Flexport is taking care of our team, so they're covering basically all the operating costs that are related to our responses. And then for the FlexPot.org fund, we are raising outside capital. There are also many instances where Flexport will actually pay for a specific shipment. But given the scale of our operation, it's just impossible for Flexport itself to pay for all the work that we are doing. And that's why the Flexpot.org fund exists. And everyone can contribute. So it could be any individual, any company. It's open to everyone.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, actually, Milan Ashton have been long term supporters of FlexPot.org. They helped us already to raise funds in 2020 for bringing masks and other person protective equipment to China and then to frontline responders around the world. And Ashton realized really early on how powerful FlexPot.org could be. And so he said time aside years ago to advise us on storytelling. And Ashton and Mila are doing a lot of great work just behind the scenes. And so it was also them who started the GoFundMe campaign and then the Conway family donated and they're also really big supporters. And we are just like really grateful and lucky that we are one of the beneficiaries of their GoFundMe. And of course also we're just really humbled by all the contributions that we have seen and everyone's generosity.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We know from experience that this will be a long-term response. On average, refugees are displaced for 20 years. So it will take not only months, but years for families to reunite and potentially to go home. At some point, we have to rebuild homes, schools, hospitals, and many other parts of important infrastructure, which will also take time and for which also, again, physical supplies will be needed. So there will be a time for those companies and donors to kind of step in. Typically studies show that giving a significantly dropping after the first four weeks, so a third of the giving is done in the first four weeks, and then after probably five to six months.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I would highly encourage to not even start a drive for goods. I would like to invite you to consider cash donations to certain organizations so that they can disperse cash to the affected population. And if your company produces an item that is really helpful in a disaster setting, wait for the organizations to approach you. In our case, we invite companies that want to help to share the items with us that they are able to donate. We collect the information and once we receive needs list or an ask for an item, we will let those companies know. We will only ship them once they're really needed on the ground.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“On the ground that have to sort through the goods, so it is a massive problem. We try to educate companies and clients we are working with. They want to donate product. We really appreciative of their generosity, but we tell them that their product is potentially not needed now, but maybe in three or six months when we are rebuilding and more supplies are needed in the current phase, we rely on the signals of our nonprofit partners and the Ministry of Health that tell us exactly what is needed. And so we are transporting only those supplies. And here it's really important to be very specific. So for example, if we talk about medical supplies, you can't just send any syringe or any kind of piece for medical equipment. It has to be very specific. There's a lot of regulation. So the only way to do it right is to work with those established aid organizations and the government entities.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I couldn't agree with the CEO of Mercy Corps more. And if anyone has missed this episode, please check it out. It's fantastic. So cash is definitely really, really important in those situations for immediate relief, but also for supporting the local economy. However, we still know that physical goods are needed as well. It is estimated that 60%, so that means over half of all the items that arrive at a disaster site cannot be used immediately or even have to be destroyed, which is a staggering number. And this did not only happen 10 or 20 years ago when we didn't have all the technology, it's even happening today. We were just on a call with UN organizations and they're shared that for this crisis, the amount of unaddressed cargo, meaning goods that are just being sent without a real or defined recipient, is clogging the infrastructure. It's making all the processes slow. It's taking up storage space. It's taking up time of the volunteer.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“There are definitely patterns that we see in every type of crisis. However, based on the location and also the scale of the crisis, there are also a lot of differences. We are not faced with destroyed roads, for example, that we often see if there's a natural disaster. But we are faced with a huge amount of people are affected. We have to work across different regions. We are servicing the neighboring countries of Ukraine as well as Ukraine itself. And it's an ever-evolving situation. So right now we don't even know yet how the situation will play out. And that means that the need for the goods is ever evolving.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly. So, what most people are not aware of is that organizations spend on average 60 to 80 percent of their total budget on supply chain related activities. So this means procuring the goods and then shipping them. And shipping can be very, very expensive, which is why it's really draining their budgets and why we are not only supporting with our expertise and technology, but we are also trying to fund as many aid shipments as possible.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What's less our own aid, right? So we always make sure that we follow the lead of the nonprofit organizations, meaning we as them, which products are needed. And typically they have a lot of the products already pre-positioned at the warehouses. We have to kind of almost match three different sites, right? So we have to coordinate with the parties that are on the ground receiving the items. We have to coordinate with the parties that get the items ready at a warehouse. And then we need this middle piece, which is setting up the logistics. So making sure that we have a truck picking up the goods, that planes are ready to then bring the goods to Eastern Europe if necessary. And then from there, the distribution.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Exactly. We activated a disaster response on February 24th, a disaster relief playbook basically lays out all the actions for each phase of a crisis. So firstly, we reach out to all of our nonprofit partners. Everything we do follows their lead, right? They're the highly experienced humanitarian aid organizations. And our goal is to empower them as much as we can. So we ask them, one, if they respond. And two, if they have any additional context on this crisis based on their personnel on the ground. In parallel, we are then working on setting up our own operational capabilities. This means that we set up And then on the second day, we basically take the constant flow of information that is shared among all parties to make sure that the aid supply chains are set up as successfully as possible.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We don't. But flexpo.org has been doing this work for multiple years. So we have a set disaster relief playbook. We definitely knew that we slowly had to get prepared in case something was to happen.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I didn't feel the warm of the sun anymore. I didn't feel the rhythmic breath of my baby. All that I could just think about was that our world might fundamentally change. Many of us take the status quo for granted, but we shouldn't. I myself was actually born in a country that does no longer exist anymore. A country with a totalitarian regime. And I know that peace anywhere on this earth is not a given. And so we constantly have to look out for each other. And before everyone is now Googling all the countries that do not exist anymore, I was born in East Germany.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was at home on the evening of February 23rd, which is when I heard about the start of the armed conflict. But there is another moment that really stuck with me. As you just mentioned, I had my first baby just a couple months ago, and I was walking on the beach. It was in this bright yellow carrier, and it was a weekday, so the beach was relatively empty. And I made my way to the water. Luckily, the waves were loud enough so that he fell asleep. And I started to listen to a new podcast. The main question, I think it was like early February, mid-February, was if all the troops at the Ukrainian border were actually just a bluff. Suddenly, I just felt this massive hole in my stomach. And I don't know if you know those moments, those split seconds where the whole world just stops.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“This crisis affects people on so many levels. We are servicing the neighboring countries of Ukraine as well as Ukraine itself, a need for the goods is ever evolving. I myself was born in a country with a totalitarian regime and I know that peace anywhere on this earth is not a given and so we constantly have to look out for each other. What makes this crisis different is almost like a crisis on another crisis and so we are constantly learning and trying to improve our response every day.”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sometimes you have to go slow to go fast. We activated a disaster response on February 24th, a disaster relief playbook basically lays out all the actions for each phase of a crisis. Organizations spend on average 60 to 80 percent of their total budget on supply chain related activities. We were just on a call with UN organizations and goods that are just being sent without a real or defined recipient is clogging the infrastructure”
2022-03-17 · Masters of Scale · Rapid Response: The logistical challenge of supporting refugees, w/Susy Schöneberg, head of Flexport.org · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT