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Angels in Tsavo: An Elevation Collective Experience in Kenya

In this deeply moving and inspiring episode, Chris Cooper was joined by four extraordinary members of ‘The Elevation Collective’—Molly Bedingfield, Elisabet Vinberg Hearn, Tessa White, and Hilary Wilson—as they reflect on their recent journey to the Global Angels Tsavo Project in Kenya.

Led by Global Angels founder Molly Bedingfield, the collective lived in remarkable clay eco-domes, learned about regenerative farming on a 26-acre permaculture farm, and witnessed both the challenges and hope within local communities.

From carrying clean water to homes without plumbing, meeting children who rely on the charity for their only meals of the day, and seeing first-hand the transformative power of sustainable development—this was a journey that deeply touched the heart and stirred a strong call to action.

Together, the group shared personal stories: of a child grasping a hand in trust, of water carried in broken buckets from dirty ponds, of resilience, ingenuity, and the joy of giving. They also speak to the deeper leadership lessons uncovered in moments of humility, connection, and service.

Here are some insights from the interview you won’t want to miss:

Global Angels’ Mission & Impact
Molly Bedingfield founded Global Angels to create a movement of people dedicated to doing good, ensuring that 100% of public donations go directly to tangible projects on the ground. Their main focus in Tsavo, Kenya, is addressing serious challenges like lack of clean water, food insecurity, and joblessness.
Transformative Experience for Participants
The Elevation Collective members (business leaders from around the globe) experienced firsthand the harsh realities many in Tsavo face—such as families walking miles to collect dirty water, and children relying on school meals provided by the charity. These encounters were simultaneously humbling and inspiring and gave participants deep personal insights.
Sustainable, Innovative Solutions
Global Angels uses eco domes—ingeniously designed, locally built housing structures that are affordable, climate-friendly, and scalable. The project also focuses on regenerative farming, including water conservation techniques like swales and water pans, permaculture, planting indigenous trees, and drip irrigation, all of which have already started to rejuvenate the land.
Human Connections and Stories
Personal stories made a huge impact—like the emotional connection formed with schoolchildren, or seeing families struggle heroically to manage daily life with so few resources. Sharing these stories illustrated the tremendous dignity and resilience of the communities being served.
Elevating Leadership and Team-Building
The experience offered real value for leadership development and team-building. Being immersed in this environment challenged participants to reflect deeply on their own values, privileges, and roles as leaders—and to think about the broader impact of their businesses and personal choices.
Direct Ways to Help
Specific, small contributions can make a big difference—a $55 clean-burning cooker, $2 for a jerry can, $1,000 for a large water tank, $5 for several tree plantings, and so on. All donations through Global Angels go straight to these tangible outcomes.
Model for Replication and Corporate Engagement
The project serves as a model that can be replicated elsewhere, both in terms of sustainable development and as an immersive, transformational experience for teams or executives seeking to expand their worldview and sense of responsibility.
Community and Collective Power
The Elevation Collective demonstrated the amplified power of collaboration—combining skills, resources, and compassion creates exponential positive impact for both those giving and those receiving.
A Call to Action
Listeners are encouraged to support Global Angels—whether individually or through their organisations—and to consider the effect that even small acts can have. The episode closes with a reminder of the importance of sharing positive stories and uplifting news.

The passion that I had was to build the movement of people all around the planet who had a passion for doing good, to make a difference, and…give them an opportunity and encouragement to step up, be an angel, and actually build that whole movement of people who could donate their time and their skills
– Molly Bedingfield

This isn’t just a story—it’s an invitation. Everyone can be an Angel. Whether through donations, corporate involvement, or volunteering, your support can bring clean water, food, education, jobs, and dignity to those who need it most. To support Global Angels, contact molly@globalangels.org or visit Global Angels here.

You can listen to this Business Elevation Show interview with Chris Cooper & The Elevation Collective here. Alternatively on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Tunein, Amazon Music, iHeart Radio (latter US only).

More about this week’s guests:

Molly Bedingfield is the Founder and CEO of Global Angels Foundation and their International Project Director, founding Global Angels in 2004.

Over the course of a career spanning more than 35 years, Molly has been involved in business management, leadership development and mentoring; experiences that enable her to tailor her business-critical messages in a relevant way which can be practically applied by any organisation.

Molly is also a social entrepreneur, executive coach and inspirational speaker, who helps audiences to practically navigate periods of transition and transformation in order to improve their personal and professional lives, create greater levels of impact and access their game-changing potential. Her perspective on transformational leadership and talent development is based firmly on real-life, practical experience, and communicated with charisma, passion and immense warmth through her inspirational keynote speeches.

For many years she was practicing as a professional counsellor, psychotherapist and executive coach, working within the business and charity sectors. In the 1990’s she was head teacher of two inner city schools working on pilot programs, reproducible in any culture. She worked closely with children, parents and teachers, experimenting with new models of education.

Molly is the mother of four, talented singer/songwriters. International pop stars Daniel and Natasha Bedingfield have established successful solo careers, Nikola is an EMI Award nominee.

At a time when individuals are struggling with their job satisfaction, an unlikely ally was found in a former Fortune 50 executive turned employee advocate. Tessa White, known as the Job Doctor, launched a practice to help individuals better navigate the workplace, and help companies better unlock the potential of their people, just as the pandemic hit.

Tessa exploded on social media with her expertise on careers and how to navigate the complicated relationship between individuals and the workplace in late 2020, after 20 years leading human resources functions within the Fortune 50 to fast growth start-ups. Her insights struck a chord, garnering more than one million followers on social media and she is consistently ranked in the top 1% of similar creators on her LIVE career sessions on TikTok.

Her unique perspective on the modern workplace earned her a place on USA Today’s list as one of the top speakers to watch in 2022.

Her book, The Unspoken Truths for Career Success, was released February 28, and her podcast, The Job Doctor is In, is available on Spotify and Apple. When she isn’t working with companies or individuals about the modern workplace, she can be found on the river, where she flyfishes.

Hilary Wilson is a transformational coach, facilitator, speaker, and emcee with over 35 years of experience helping individuals and organisations unlock their full potential. Renowned for enabling deep transformation with speed and lightness, Hilary empowers leaders to grow sustainably from the inside out.

She has worked with more than 65 FTSE 100 companies, designed and delivered over 900 bespoke leadership development programmes, and facilitated more than 10,000 hours of executive coaching. Her approach is grounded in extensive observation, interaction, and research with over 50,000 executives worldwide, enabling her to identify the most critical success factors and common barriers to growth.

Drawing on this wealth of insight, Hilary has developed a rich suite of tools, strategies, methodologies, and metaphors that deliver tailored and transformational experiences. She believes that real, sustainable leadership growth comes not just from hard work, but from intentional inner work — and she makes that journey simpler, more engaging, and profoundly effective.

She has worked with 65 FTSE companies and an impressive range of Fortune 500 organisations.

Elisabet Vinberg Hearn is an international speaker, author, leadership & culture strategist and executive coach, specialising in impactful, future leadership, winning teams, culture transformation and business sustainability.

She is co-founder of Think Solutions, and member of AI Forum Advisory Board. Elisabet holds an MBA in Leadership & Sustainability, has studied Sustainability Management at Cambridge University, and completed AI Strategy studies at MIT CSAIL.

Together with Mandy Flint, Elisabet has co-authored several award-winning books, including The Leader’s Guide to Impact (2019), Leading Teams: 10 Challenges, 10 Solutions (2015), The Team Formula (2013), and Supercharged Leader(2024). Their books provide actionable tools for leaders to navigate challenges, inspire teams, and create long-lasting organizational impact.

With a 13-year career in senior leadership roles at American Express Europe, Elisabet brings a wealth of real-world experience to her work. She is also a celebrated speaker and thought leader, inspiring leaders worldwide to embrace innovative, sustainable practices for the future of work.