“Only when companies disclose their impact - negative and positive - will we live in a transparent, holistic economy.” - Paul Allard, CEO & Co-Founder, Impak Finance.
Watch our panel from EVPA’s Annual Conference.
We started into 2020 with a heavy focus on reshaping our economy – away from shareholder capitalism towards stakeholder capitalism. As the COVID crisis struck, it became even more apparent, which company has “systemic relevance” and which ones lack a purpose in this time of need. How does social innovation help companies to (re-)discover that relevance and turn it into action? Will the COVID crisis accelerate our push towards stakeholder capitalism? Or will it trigger a return to business as usual? We will bring together business and impact leaders to discuss the role of companies and their shareholders in reshaping our economy. We will deep-dive on 1) Trends in capital allocation in financial markets 2) The role of executives in shaping long-term corporate agendas 3) Bottoms-up versus Top-down transformation 4) The role of social innovation and intrapreneurship in corporate transformation 5) Purpose-washing and accountability.
Speakers: - Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, Chief Mission Officer, Essilor - Shannon Klinger, Chief Legal Officer, Novartis - Joachim Drees, Former CEO in the Automotive Industry - Mercedes Gutierrez, Head of Communities Engagement, Ingka Group (IKEA) - Andreas Bluethner, Director Nutrition, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Paul Allard, CEO & Co-Founder, Impak Finance - Saskia Bruysten, Co-Founder & CEO, Yunus Social Business - Daniel Nowack, Managing Director, Yunus Social Business
Is it possible for a fledgling social business to source to a large corporation? Sounds tough, but we know it can work! Corporations have so much to learn from social businesses about putting people and the planet first - and corporations are a great opportunity for a social business looking to scale. It can be the perfect combination. But it needs work.
India has an enormous population of 1.4 billion, within it there are a staggering amount of people who live rurally with no access to a reliable or regular electricity supply. Roughly a third of the planet’s electricity deficit is in India with only 82% of its inhabitants having access to electricity – meaning a total of 239 million people are left in darkness (as of 2016).
We spoke to Molly Burke co-founder of Cycle Connect, our latest investment in our Ugandan Fund. Cycle Connect provides rural smallholder farmers with the necessary tools to propel them out of poverty.