The Purpose Pod

In a climate in which the business value of DEI is increasingly undermined, this wide-ranging discussion with Bonnie Chiu, MD of The Social Investment Consultancy, sets the record straight on how the inclusivity debate should be re-connected to innovation and finding the best talent, how she is helping to shape the new SDG Standards assurance framework for private equity funds to combat SDG washing, and:

- The power of grandparents

- How to support social enterprises and funds to better understand and scale their impact

- How to tackle the shocking stat t...

"On our current path, there will be more plastics in our oceans than fish by 2050"

Lefteris comes from generations of fishermen, though by his own admission he is not a natural... However, when out on fishing boats as part of a Greek fishing school run by his start up during the financial crisis, he witnessed a fisherman hauling plastic out of the sea along with their catch - and simply throwing the bottles, cans, plastic bags, old nets and even fridges back into the ocean. That's when the idea came to him: What if someone could...

“Why are we measuring Impact? To make sure we are maximising impact”  

Across the impact investment industry there is an ongoing evolution of impact measurement. But how often do you hear details of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that impact funds are actually using and the reasons that they were chosen? In this impact masterclass, Lara Viada of Creas, Spain’s pioneering impact investment intermediary, now in the process of raising a third fund of €70m, reveals all, including:

- The magic ingredients impact investors are looking for in founder teams

- Detailed...

“Within the next decade the financial system has to make some progressive moves to protect our way of life, because if we don’t, the economy as we’ve known it for the last 150 years is going to break.” 

With the meaning and value of Diversity Equity and Inclusion increasingly undermined, Beth Knight, Head of Social Sustainability at Lloyds Banking Group, shares her lived experience of the necessary and tangible gains made from engaging with underserved stakeholder groups across the globe, in her refreshingly personal, frank and illuminating style, including:

- Career lessons through a...

“I would like to invite impact investors to look at the region as an opportunity for revival” 

After 20 years of leading effective capacity building across social enterprises in the MENA regional through venture philanthropy, Alfanar are now launching the first regional impact investment fund for the Arab world, aimed for investing in scalable enterprises matching purpose with profit. Richard Mullane caught up with Alfanar Country Director for Lebanon Maya Rahal at the Impact Europe Bilbao conference to find out how Alfanar have managed to support so many brilliant start-ups, delivering critical social and environmental solutions, often under...

"The cost of inaction will be substantially larger than the cost of action"

The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review has become one of the most influential reports on climate change ever produced since its release by Her Majesty’s Treasury of the UK Government in October 2006. Dimitri Zenghelis, senior economist for the review, worked under Gordon Brown as Head of Economic Forecasting in HM Treasury and has since held multiple roles, fellowships and academic posts including Senior Visiting Fellow at the LSE's The Grantham Institute and Senior Advisor to the Bennett Institute (University of Cam...

"I would encourage philanthropists to ask the question, ‘How is your philanthropy unlocking capital?’”

Over the last 10 years, 1billion people have gained access to energy for the first time from solar lighting and home systems. 30% of those people were provided energy by companies that Acumen invested in. 

Working across climate resilient agriculture, off grid energy access, workforce development, education, minority founded companies, healthcare access, financial inclusion and entrepreneurial solutions for forcibly displaced people, all while applying a gender lens across each investment strategy, Acumen are impact market leaders in solving problems of povert...

“If you’re not generating a healthy return and an impact, then people should not back you”

ETF (Environmental Technologies Fund) Partners are one of the original pioneers in sustainable investing, with nearly $1bn raised across 4 funds since 2006. Currently with 31 portfolio companies across the energy transition, future mobility, green connectivity, the responsible consumer and sustainable food, they are leading the charge for impact investing at scale.

In this pod, Robert Geneiser, Managing Partner, brings his insight and infectious enthusiasm to a revealing 30 minute chat covering: 

- Why Greece is a particul...

"We should no longer move fast and break things, but rather create systems change through collaboration and kindness."

- Collaboration as the key to systems change

- How do you build an impact ecosystem?

- Can you match a financial instrument to a personality type?

- Why you shouldn't take yourself too seriously

- Why kindness should not be underrated

- The do's and dont's of co-founder dating

- How to avoid VC ar*eholes ..... and more!

Buckle up fo...

"There are many committed businesses out there with a lot of power - that movement creates a place where the others cannot hide"

Business for Societal Impact (B4SI) is a global membership network uniting close to 200 mid to high cap corporations in managing & measuring their shared value & intentional approach to positive social impact, with up to $3bn held in community investments. So how do you transition corporates into engagement with positive social impact without enabling Socialwashing?

Join Global Director Clodagh Connolly and Richard Mullane for this wide-ranging 20 minute chat, including:

"Guests expect everyone to be offering a sustainable holiday so they don't think that they should be paying more for it"

As we reach peak holiday season, join Eleni Andreadis, ESG Executive Director of Sani Ikos resorts group as she describes their 15 year journey to fully embed ESG principles and actions across 12 resorts in Greece and Spain with over 7000 employees, to become the exemplar for sustainability in tourism. Eleni also describes the other hats she juggles, including NGO Planet Agents, which delivers engaging environmental education each year to over 12,000 school children and writing 11 children's books...

“We are now in an age where people are consuming somewhere between 5 and 7 hours of content a day. The power to use that time to do good is colossal”

Founded in 2020 by Ellen Windemuth, Executive Producer of My Octopus Teacher, WaterBear has rapidly become the leading platform and impact media network dedicated to global purpose driven storytelling.

What exactly is a Waterbear? Sam Sutaria, CEO and founding team member of an ambitious organisation uniquely positioned at the intersection of entertainment, culture, impact and purpose reveals all, including:

- How to creat...

"Everyone in Impact is open to sharing failures as well as successes"

In an impact ecosystem in which thousands are scrambling for attention and the volume of must-read sources is seemingly endless, how can you cut through the noise and select, structure and transfer impact knowledge in the most beneficial ways for all? Join Alessia Gianoncelli, Director of Knowledge and Programs at Impact Europe - the Investing for Impact network - and voted one of the top 100 women in Social Enterprise 2023, as she talks this through, as well as:

- How to structure...

"We can help the land, so the land can help us"

How to solve the problem of rodent infestations costing farmers in Thessaly, the breadbasket of Greece, more than EU100m each year, while mitigating overuse of rodenticides that harm biodiversity, ecology and human health? With the perfect nature-based solution, of course…

Spend some time in the home and in the fields at dusk with agricultural ecosystem expert Vasileios Bontzorlos to hear all about Tyto, the company that expertly researches, fosters and manages communities of wild barn owls across 100s of kilometres of...

“We always provide food supplies that we would give to our children”

In 2013, in the depths of the financial crisis, when Melina Taprantzi visited a regional social grocery supplying food for the unemployed, the only thing that was available on the shelves was razor blades. 

This stark reality was a turning point for Melina, who has since focussed her energies on building Wise Greece into a uniquely circular Social Enterprise that now supports over 100 small Greek farmers and food producers to grow and export 2500 food products - including award winning innovations such as sal...

“The paradigm shift embodied in the impact investment community is from Egosystem to Ecosystem”

Why should we be building Impact Economies across the world? And how can it be done?

This is the mission of The Global Steering Group for Impact Investment (GSG). Spearheaded by Sir Ronald Cohen, GSG are already enabling impact capacity building by establishing and supporting national impact advisory boards across 75 countries, including with our colleagues at the Hellenic Impact Investing Network (HIIN), here in Greece.

With a goal to harness influence, stimulate innovation and fos...

"The relationship between entrepreneurs and investors is like a marriage. You really have to be certain that on the human side of things you are also aligned".

In the world of impact finance it’s easy to focus a lot of attention on the myriad challenges: How to source and support the most impactful enterprises; how to find like-minded investors with skillsets aligned to the entrepreneur business; how to design innovative, smart and patient capital models; how to assess the impact of enterprises; how to help enterprise growth and valuation in parallel with im...

"I've realised that being close to nature gives you a different understanding of what growth is, of what a meaningful life may be."

Is it possible to tackle climate change and soil-degeneration with a nature-based solution while at the same time building a resilient social economy for an existing remote community and for those that migrate there? Yes.

Staramaki is a Social Cooperative Enterprise based in Kilkis Greece, which produces straws from the stems of wheat as an alternative to plastic straws which, despite the ban, are still omnipresent and fo...

"There is this bridge between philanthropy and business that cannot be filled by foundations"

Since 2012, IKEA Social Entrepreneurship has partnered with and supported social entrepreneurs to create a positive impact for vulnerable and marginalised groups around the world.

Join Åsa Skogström Feldt for a wide ranging conversation including how Ikea SE optimise various approaches to supporting social entrepreneurs to become financially sustainable, how to implement a systems change approach to circularity from global conglomerate perspective, the importance of Theory of Change, using qualitative approaches for Impact Measurement & Management, careers advice, the key to...

"Once you've been helped, you help someone else"

Impact Philanthropy has for many years been the engine for social entrepreneurs, but can often result in limited one way transactions. We Share Forward Foundation are transforming the practice with an innovative model that reuses and recycles catalytic capital to support more and more early stage social entrepreneurs.

By in effect turning Social Entrepreneurs into philanthropic investors, the impact of the original capital is aggregated and scaled with multiple positive ripple effects.

Eleni brings a unique and lucid perspective to the complexities...

Established in 1980 and with EU25 billion assets under management, Triodos Bank has a mission to make money work for positive social, environmental and cultural change. In this episode, their Chief Economist & Director of Impact and Economics, Hans Stegeman takes a bird's eye view of global impact economics and markets, including ESG vs Impact, the true meaning of Degrowth (or 'Post Growth') and whether Impact Finance should be called Impact Finance at all.

https://www.triodos.co.uk

https://investing-for-purpose.com

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