“There is no passion to be found playing small — in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living” — Nelson Mandela
Time is Nothing // Around The World Time Lapse from Kien Lam on Vimeo.
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Time is Nothing
Jocelyn Ling
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Identifying the Next Steps for Impact Investing
Jocelyn Ling
A report by Credit Suisse and the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship was released this week on the topic of impact investing at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting (Davos). A great overview of the current landscape, it is worth a read, particularly Mark Kramer’s and Sir Richard Branson’s interviews and comments on the sector.
Investing_for_impact Credit Suisse — Schwab Report
The report lead me down an interesting thought path on the “next steps” of the sector…
Evidence: The report highlights several successful social enterprise models that are part of Schwab’s network. My personal favourite was Bam Aquino of Hapinoy in the Philippines — investment funds that creates sustainable distribution channels and business development strategies to empower formerly isolated and informal sectors of the Filipino economy. The report above, complements the Data Driven JP Morgan-GIIN report, that drills drown into the numbers and breakdown of social enterprise in different sectors.
As a next step, I would love to see a report that focusses more on the accessibility and availability of investments in the space — from an investors perspective. Coming from an asset-management background, I have developed a strong belief that understanding the investment is just as important as knowing your investment options. Currently, main-stream investor’s exposure of ‘social’ in investments are SRI offerings — they need to be educated on different entry points and impact investing product offerings ranging from an institutional and private client perspective. A great starting point to this step is Impact Asset’s 50: A listing of Impact Fund Managers.
Failure: With the industry in a growth stage, as great as it is to know the successes and the landscape, it is just as important to know the failures. Where did we go wrong? What worked? How did you manage to pivot? How do you prioritize your mission and your finances? When did you know the time to scale? There is such a stigma with failure in the non-profit/charity world. This stigma should NOT be carried forward into the impact investing/social enterprise sector. Failure is a gift — and the ability to speak freely to learn from them, should be embraced by this sector. A wonderful example of embracing failure is the EWB Canada’s Failure Reports. I would love to see a similar initiative in the impact investing sector. Even internally within organizations — as a start.
Road-Map: There is a wealth of information on impact investing that has been churned up within the last few years or so. The issue is knowing where to look: from funding social enterprises to exiting an investment. A natural next step to this would be for various stakeholders to share their “how-tos” and points of consideration in the impact sector. Some organizations have already begun to pave the way for this, but what we need is for more road-maps to appear so at the very least, when you’re at the starting line — you have a general sense of direction on where to go.
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20 influential female leaders + 20 emerging young women = 40 inspired women
Jocelyn Ling
*The post below was originally published on LevoLeague on Dec 5th, 2011
Note: I had the pleasure of co-organizing the event I wrote up below, and it turned out to be one of the most inspiring nights in my young professional career. Many thanks to the team at YWiB as well as all the attendees for being so honest and open.
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“Stories set the inner life into motion, and this is particularly important where the inner life is frightened, wedged, or cornered. Story greases the hoists and pulleys, it causes adrenaline to surge, shows us the way out, down, or up, and for our trouble, cuts for us fine wide doors in previously blank walls, openings that lead to the dreamland, that lead to love and learning, that lead us back to our own real lives as knowing wildish women.”
—Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Stories are how people make sense of their worlds. As a child, we spontaneously play out stories on who we hope to become and how people relate to one another. As teenagers, we continuously explore our own stories and others in order to understand our ever-expanding world. As adults, the stories that we tell and fall in love with are the ones we value most in this world. In a very real sense, stories are a window into how we perceive the world around us and ultimately, influences our humanity.
It is through the power of stories that Young Women in Business (YWiB) brought together 20 influential women leaders and 20 upcoming young women for an evening of shared values, fears and hopes in Vancouver, Canada this past weekend.
The 40 women came from a myriad of backgrounds: high profile Canadian politicians. Mothers. Partners of legal and financial firms. Trail-blazers. Successful social entrepreneurs. Aspiring young professionals. And above all, lifelong learners. The vision for the evening was to connect those who have paved the opportunities facing young women today, with those who have the eagerness to make a difference in their communities.
Questions posed to the both generational ends of the conversation included:
- What has been one of your most vulnerable moments?
- What do you not like being stereotyped as?
- In one sentence, what would you wish most for your future self?
- What do you look for in a business partner? how about a personal relationship?
- What are components of a healthy relationship? (business, mentorship, romantic relationship)
- What will be different in your life in exactly 1 year?
As the night started, each women shared genuinely her story and how she got to where she is. Several key trends and themes emerged:
1) On work and leading a balanced life
“Our (older) generation overdid it. We overcompensated for our weaknesses and gender when we should have been owning it. We pounded away and sacrificed too many things. Please be smart on how you work.”
“Work with people who have a value base.”
“Your why is more important than your fear. Women have to think bigger and take more risks.”
2) On health
“Watching someone die is one of the best and worst things in life. It puts everything into perspective. Being alive and healthy is a privilege. Cherish it while you can.”
“ Do not ever ever give up on a balanced life.”
3) On inter-generational sharing and mentoring
“My whole life has been spent being spotted and mentored by other intelligent men and
women. It’s not being a man or a woman, it’s about being presentable, intelligent and knowing what you’re talking about.”“Decisions that are complemented by men AND women are better. Include men in conversations and remember to make sure your that voice is heard.”
As attendees left for the night, each walked out a little more courageous, a little more humbled and a little more inspired by the stories that were shared over last the previous two hours. The salon was particularly a beautiful reminder on the strength of inter-generational relationships. When we start sharing from a place that is vulnerable, we start to see each generation’s defining moments — making us listen closely to people around us and more importantly, to ourselves.
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(No)Where // (Now)Here
Jocelyn Ling
Just discovered an incredible photographer and his website: 365q.ca. Thought I would share a couple of my favourite pictures I find inspiring. Enjoy!
