elea

“The impact investing ecosystem needs to evolve in the way players think about exits. We all need to think more about how our investment strategies create value for investors and founders in subsequent rounds,” emphasizes our colleague Amanda Turner Ege. Agriculture has the potential to uplift 75% of the world’s population affected by poverty into better economic conditions. Smallholder farmers, who produce 35% of the world’s food, will play a decisive role in future climate mitigation efforts and ensure the growing global population is fed. But without the right capital instruments across a well-defined capital continuum, and without the right set of investor expectations, innovation risks falling behind the rapidly accelerating climate crisis. We invite you to read the blog article, where Acumen engages with a range of impact investors to discuss the agriculture capital continuum as a crucial instrument to alleviate poverty. https://lnkd.in/deQrqdBx #impactinvesting #eleaWay #acumen #agriculture

So proud of my colleague Amanda Turner Ege who rocked the stage this afternoon at Impact Europe #impactweek24! She shared about the elea model of philanthropic impact investing and convinced the audience on why she thinks that mainstream investors should contribute to early stage impact investor additionality by 💡sharing pipeline - as it is a lot of work to develop a strong pipeline 🚀encourage and facilitate partial exits that allows the early stage investors to receive at least some initial returns for their additionality that helped the business get to the point it is today and prove that the model actually works 💰Finally, mainstream investors could open philanthropic foundations, or do so from the personal wealth they generate and make philanthropic contributions to organizations like elea that are building their pipeline Looking forward to another couple of inspiring days in Bilbao!

“Since my first training at BagoSphere, my life has transformed,” shares Markel Serva, now a Program Officer at BagoSphere.   Before joining BagoSphere, Markel worked tirelessly and had three jobs, yet it was never enough. His wife had to seek work in Singapore to support their family. “Seeing my son crying when my wife left broke my heart,” he recalls. Determined to change these circumstances, Markel joined BagoSphere, where his dedication and purpose in life helped him thrive.     Tippi Fernandez, Co-Founder and COO of BagoSphere, adds: “Markel’s journey from a struggling trainee to a Program Officer who now helps others shows the power of tapping into hidden potential.”   elea portfolio venture BagoSphere aims to build Southeast Asia’s most valuable community for developing frontline workers with mindsets and skills for job readiness, productivity, and a better life. A focus on human skills and self-agency qualifies youth from low-income communities for well-paid jobs in the service industry, mainly in call centers and microfinance institutions.   Watch the full story in the video.

elea is excited to announce that Leva Sidler and Patricia Klein have joined the team in Zurich. Leva a passionate poetry slammer, has joined elea as an Assistant, ensuring smooth office operations. She also contributes to Communications with creative ideas such as creating eye-catching newsroom boards. Alongside her work at elea, Leva pursues a bachelor’s degree in political science and computational science at the University of Zurich. “Joining such a determined and professional team while also diving into university life is a fantastic opportunity, for which I am very grateful.” Patricia has joined elea as the Head of Human Resources. With solid experience across diverse HR areas, she played a key role in shaping corporate culture in her previous role. ”I am overwhelmed by the energy and motivation that the team shows every day. It's impressive to work with such committed colleagues who have welcomed me very openly and warmly into the team. I'm looking forward to our journey together!” We are thrilled to have them on board and wish them a great continuation of their impact investing journey!

Yesterday, our colleagues Isabelle von Jeinsen and Mauro Betschart had the opportunity to present the elea model at the bootcamp "Impact Investing in Practice," organized by SwissFoundations and StiftungSchweiz. It was a fantastic opportunity to share our experiences and reflect together on how we can further scale our impact and actively shape the development of the entire sector. The event covered a broad spectrum of topics - from the legal frameworks of philanthropic impact investing in Switzerland to innovative financing instruments like recoverable grants or revenue-based financing. In their presentation "Getting into Action", Stefan Schöbi (CEO of StiftungSchweiz) and Katja Schönenberger (CEO of SwissFoundations) outlined concrete ways in which foundations can approach the field of philanthropic impact investing. From developing internal expertise to partnering with existing philanthropic impact investors like elea (the "Hop-On Approach"), it became clear how diverse the entry points can be for foundations. A big thank you to SwissFoundations and StiftungSchweiz for the excellent organization and extraordinary format, as well as to all speakers and participants for the inspiring discussions and insights. #ImpactInvesting #EntrepreneurialSupportModels #Partnerships

“Contributing to the creation of deep impact for marginalized rickshaw drivers through electric mobility is very inspiring. We are proud to support SMV as they scale and gear up for their Series A,” states Peter Wuffli. Our Founder and Chairman, Peter Wuffli, recently visited SMV Green Solutions in Varanasi – the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world! This visit was an opportunity to connect personally with Founder Naveen Krishna and his purpose-driven team, align on ambitious growth plans, and further solidify our partnership. SMV empowers vulnerable individuals, many of them women, to own and operate their electric rickshaw business – much in line with elea’s purpose to fight absolute poverty with entrepreneurial means. Since our initial investment in 2022 – together with our valued co-investing partners Artha Impact (Rianta Capital), Schneider Electric, MARSHALL FOUNDATION, and Upaya Social Ventures – we have been excited to actively collaborate as a board member and sparring partner, working on strategy, governance, and impact measurement. We recently closed the Bridge round, reflecting our confidence in the management and commitment to the company’s vision. 🛺 A heartfelt thank you to Naveen and the entire SMV team for the collaboration and partnership so far. We are excited to continue this journey together! Abhishek Dwivedi Wasim Akram IKBAL SINGH CHHABRA Claudius Gutemann Yu Xiang Kok Peter Kenyon Amit Choudhary

“It is an exciting time to actively engage in the impact investing ecosystem in Vietnam,” shares our colleague Jennifer Chan following a recent scouting tour. 💡 Here are some of Jennifer's insights: Vietnam holds immense potential for a thriving impact economy. Walking through the streets, the entrepreneurial spirit is unmistakable, and it's inspiring to see how deeply impact-driven many Vietnamese are. Entrepreneurs are tackling pressing challenges such as illegal waste dumping and the exclusion of ethnic minorities from traditional value chains by promoting sustainable solutions. Yet, challenges remain – particularly around scalability, as limited patient capital and technical support continue to constrain growth. With a few impact investors already active in Vietnam, there's an increasing drive toward positive social and environmental change. However, fostering real progress requires structured, purposeful collaboration among stakeholders. By sharing insights and coordinating efforts, the impact investing ecosystem can achieve far greater reach and effectiveness. Notably, most impact investors in Vietnam focus on later-stage companies, leaving early-stage, high-risk ventures underserved. This is where we, as philanthropic impact investors, can play a vital role in bridging the gap and unlocking new opportunities for innovation and poverty alleviation. Special thanks to the many changemakers I met for generously sharing their insights and working endlessly on creating a brighter future. 🤝 Phuc Huynh Han Phan Ellen Van, CFA Tri Dung, Tran Henri de Reboul CSIP Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) Khue Phan Thanh Tran

✨ Join us at Impact Week Bilbao! Together with Stiftung Fourfold, we warmly invite you to a breakfast and roundtable discussion on effective philanthropy for impact investing. ✨ Philanthropic funding can be catalytic for impact ventures, but can also create misaligned incentives for founders, other investors, and even impacted people. In an open exchange among select foundations and investors, we will explore how philanthropy can be more effective in the investment pipeline. Key questions to explore: ➡ Where is philanthropic funding most catalytic? ➡ What instruments should philanthropy deploy? ➡ When can philanthropic capital do harm? ➡ How can we collaborate to make philanthropic capital more impactful? Event Details: 📆 Friday, 29 November 2024 from 8:30-10:00am. The venue will be confirmed upon registration. RSVP to events@elea.org. Limited seating. Amanda Turner Ege, Elena Torresani, Lena Gampp, and Valerie Remoquillo-Jenni look forward to welcoming you in Bilbao! 🤝

“Building the right team – and keeping it – is the hardest part of growing a business. Take your time in finding the right people with the right attitudes and soft skills from the start. They should share your company’s values, ambition and culture,” stated Diana Michael and Elia Timotheo during a recent elea Entrepreneurs’ Community session. The founders of EA Foods in Tanzania have successfully transformed their business from a small start-up with just five employees into a thriving company with a team of 500. Over the past decade, they have built a network of over 10,000 farmers, aggregating food that is now distributed daily to more than 7,000 businesses. Drawing from their experiences, they provided the elea Entrepreneurs’ Community with practical lessons on scaling an impact venture. These insights can guide entrepreneurs on their own growth journeys. Read more in the blog article. https://lnkd.in/dpBT8fnf

How patient does patient capital have to be while financing social businesses? That was one of the biggest takeaways at a recent event hosted by the Asia Community Foundation. BagoSphere completed our first equity raise by one of our clients, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, earlier this year. Despite being in a completely different industry, Pamela's Bettr raised her first equity round this year. Both of us began around the same time, and have pretty similar philosophy of addressing livelihoods and well-being through employability. When Pam recapped her journey to me last week, I wondered if it was a coincidence - that we both took more than ten years to take the business to a path to scale, and now we have a real opportunity to scale regionally? That, I believe, is what the next generation of impact funds should examine when partnering with social businesses, especially in the education & employability sector. Outcomes are notoriously difficult to track and typically take a long time to produce results. How can one track growth mindset? Critical thinking? How do employment outcomes and income change? We have to iterate (test, learn, adapt) - and we haven't even talk about financial results yet! That's why I'm bullish about the new partnerships that Sue Fertal Toomey and her team at the Asia Community Foundation is putting together. There's two that I'm very excited about: - Investing in Entrepreneurs for Impact Fund (with elea) - Women and Livelihood Funds (with EMpower—The Emerging Markets Foundation). We need more funders who are like #giraffes, and I'm pleased to be seeing more philanthropic funders and family offices are interested in philanthropic impact investing. We need more sustainable and scalable social businesses in South-East Asia. It is not a panacea for all our social ills, but it can be one of the models in our toolbox to help people and reduce suffering. Lastly, I just want to say how special this event was to me - to have Peter, Francesco, and ET Tan in the same room. Eng Tong (ET) is one of our longest serving board members, and his advice helped shape BagoSphere into what it is today! #bagosphere #elea #ACF #socialbusiness #philanthropy #impactinvesting