Insuring climate risk - with Helke Waelde and Daniela Zimmermann
Financing Impact
In episode 15, we discuss how insurance can increase resilience to climate risk. Our two guests and their respective organizations cooperate to provide climate risk insurance for developing countries. Dr. Helke Waelde is a senior sector economist at the KfW Development Bank, and Dr. Daniela Zimmermann is senior manager for regulatory affairs at the reinsurance company Hannover Re. In cooperation on climate risk solutions such as the Natural Disaster Fund (NDF), insurance policies are provided which lead to a quick payout to beneficiaries in developing countries in case of an extreme weather...
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Bridging the climate finance divide – with Mahmoud Mohieldin
Financing Impact
For our 14th episode, I invited Dr Mahmoud Mohieldin to discuss the climate finance divide and how to overcome it. The climate finance divide is the gap between the funding needed and funding available to tackle the global climate crisis. It is particularly stark in developing and emerging economies, as these countries face high levels of debt and limited sources of public revenue. Because developing countries are responsible for far less of the Co2 emissions than developed countries, yet suffer more from the consequences of it, bridging the climate finance divide calls for international...
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Financing climate tech – with Baris Efe and Danijel Višević
Financing Impact
In our 13th episode, Baris Efe and Danijel Višević discuss the financing landscape for climate tech. Danijel Višević is General Partner and Co-Founder of World Fund, a Berlin-based climate tech VC (fund size € 300 M, 18 investments so far). Baris Efe is the Co-Founder and Head at Vali Berlin, the entrepreneurship hub of ESMT business school. We discuss why we need tech to tackle the climate crisis and the role of venture capital to finance it. Baris and Danijel analyze the state of European competitiveness and what can be done to improve it. Links ...
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Research-Practice Partnerships - with Katia Halabi and Raji Jayaraman
Financing Impact
In our 12th episode, Katia Halabi and Raji Jayaraman explain and discuss research-practice partnerships (RPPs) and share their experiences. Katia is a practitioner and head of the TVET (technical and vocational education and training) component of a project commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Rwanda with co-funding by the European Union. Raji is a researcher and professor of economics at ESMT Berlin as well as the co-director of the Forward Society...
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Impact investing in frontier markets – with Patrick Nussbaumer and Winnie Odhiambo
Financing Impact
In our 11th episode, and discuss impact investing in frontier markets. Patrick works for ’s innovative finance division, and Winnie is an impact investing professional whose career spans working with pension funds, VCs, in private equity and in private debt. We explore the role of development finance institutions (DFIs) in impact investing and how to mitigate country risk in emerging markets. We also discuss the need for more investments into climate adaptation, and the specific challenges of impact measurement in this field. Links: · ...
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Malengo - with Gladys Amule, Johannes Haushofer and Richard Nerland
Financing Impact
In our 10th episode, we take a deep-dive into Malengo, an organization that facilitates international educational migration. Malengo helps students from low-income countries with admissions and financing for a bachelor’s degree in a high-income country. We discuss why migration is an important lever for development, and how income-share agreements can make supporting it a worthwhile impact investment. Our guests bring in 3 different perspectives. Johannes Haushofer is a development economist who founded Malengo based on findings from his research. Richard Nerland is an economist with a...
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Institutional investors and net zero - with Brunno Maradei and Wiebke Merbeth
Financing Impact
In our ninth episode, Brunno Maradei and Wiebke Merbeth discuss the role of institutional investors in achieving net zero. Institutional investors such as pension funds or insurers invest on behalf of others. Wiebke is member of the Sustainable Finance Advisory Committee to the German Government and a partner at Deloitte, and Brunno is Global Head of Responsible Investment at Aegon Asset Management. Both point out that the sheer trillions of € that institutional investors manage make them key stakeholders for a transformation agenda involving financial markets. We discuss the toolbox...
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Impact investing in EdTech - with Marie-Christine Levet and John Soleanicov
Financing Impact
In our eight episode, we discuss impact investing in EdTech. Our guests bring a complementary perspective: Marie-Christine Levet is founding partner at Educapital, a European EdTech VC that closed its second fund with a €150 million closing. John Soleanicov works for the Jacobs Foundation, which committed CHF 30 million to impact investments into EdTech, and CHF 10 million funding for accompanying research. We discuss the rationale for promoting EdTech and the complementary roles of grants and impact investments. We hear about Educapital’s and the Jacobs Foundation’s approach to...
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Impact investing in public markets - with Krisztina Tora and Eric Rice
Financing Impact
In our seventh episode, we discuss impact investing in public markets with Krisztina Tora and Eric Rice. Krisztina is Chief Market Development Officer at GSG, the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment. Eric is head of Active Equities Impact Investing at Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager. In our conversation, we discuss what makes impact investing through the stock market different from investing in private equity or other asset classes. We talk about what it takes to democratize impact investing and the role of shareholder engagement to achieve impact. Eric shares...
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Deep impact investing - with Charly Kleissner
Financing Impact
In our sixth episode, Charly Kleissner shares his investment philosophy, which he calls “deep impact investing”. Charly came into wealth as a technologist building several very successful companies in Silicon Valley. He developed the basis for what later became Apple’s OS with Steve Jobs at Next, but considers the B2B eCommerce company Ariba his masterpiece. Since selling his Ariba stock, Charly has devoted himself to impact investing to give meaning to his wealth. He co-founded Toniic, a network for likeminded impact investors, to share knowledge and deal flow. Under the umbrella of...
info_outlineIn our sixth episode, Charly Kleissner shares his investment philosophy, which he calls “deep impact investing”. Charly came into wealth as a technologist building several very successful companies in Silicon Valley. He developed the basis for what later became Apple’s OS with Steve Jobs at Next, but considers the B2B eCommerce company Ariba his masterpiece. Since selling his Ariba stock, Charly has devoted himself to impact investing to give meaning to his wealth. He co-founded Toniic, a network for likeminded impact investors, to share knowledge and deal flow. Under the umbrella of Toniic, he also launched the 100% Network, a group of more than 160 asset owners committed to investing all their wealth towards positive impact. With portfolio sizes ranging from more than 1 million to more than 500 million, they have jointly committed 6 billion USD, with more than half currently deployed. Some of these portfolios are the basis for the T100 project, a longitudinal study of investments fully oriented towards impact. We discuss the role of research to analyze risk-return-impact profiles. Charly reflects on his role shaping the impact investing ecosystem and shares his thinking around systemic change as opposed to incremental progress. He also shares why he is opposed to cryptocurrency speculation but believes blockchain technology and tokenization hold promise for the future of impact investing.
Links
- Charly co-founded the Toniic network, a global community of asset owners seeking deeper positive net impact through their investments. The 100% Network is a subgroup of members committed to direct all their investable wealth towards impact.
- Otto Scharmer’s book Theory U influenced Charly’s approach to building trust in networks.
- Toniic has initiated the T100 Project, a longitudinal study of investment portfolios 100% activated towards deeper positive net impact in every asset class. In addition to producing practitioner reports, it works with the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP) under the leadership of Dr. Falko Paetzold to publish academic research.
- Arne Naess’ work around deep ecology (a term coined in a 1973 article) led Charly to come up with the concept of “deep impact”.
- To analyze whether investments are systemic in nature, Charly points to John Fullerton’s principles of a regenerative economy and Kate Raworth’s Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries.
- Charly recently wrote his personal reflections and call to action on Humanity and Impact Investing at the Crossroad.
Timestamps
On some podcast players, you should be able to jump to the section by clicking:
(01:57) – Charly’s background and motivation for impact investing
(07:12) – The process for sourcing an impact investment
(07:26) – The Toniic network
(09:01) – The investors aligning 100 % of their portfolio towards impact
(11:28) – How to establish trust in networks
(15:48) – Research on the impact-risk-return correlation and the aspiration to develop a post modern portfolio theory
(19:41) The value of data vs. the value of insights
(22:32) The ESG movement
(27:25) System change
(28:45) Social impact bonds
(32:34) The need for public-private collaboration to make progress on the SDGs
(37:30) Blended capital to finance social entrepreneurship
(42:49) On market rate returns as a benchmark
(48:51) Tokenization
(01:00:17) Consciousness and deep impact
Contact
For feedback on the show, or to suggest guests for future episodes, contact us at [email protected]