June 2022
Welcome to Wealth, Power & Social Change, our quarterly LinkedIn newsletter about how we can create a more sustainable and equitable world together through philanthropy, impact investing, and ESG.
Welcome to the first issue of Wealth, Power & Social Change, our quarterly LinkedIn newsletter about how we can create a more sustainable and equitable world together, through philanthropy, impact investing, and ESG.
We believe there is hope and opportunity to be found at the intersection of these three financial tools – Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), impact investing, and philanthropy. It’s here that environmental and financial sustainability, long-term profitability, and social impact meet.
With two decades of experience across this capital spectrum worldwide, we see tremendous potential to steer significantly more capital to people, organizations, and social innovations solving our world’s most pressing issues AND creating financial sustainability. We are here to create transformational partnerships and guide our clients and audiences towards these possibilities.
One thing is clear. We need new mindsets and rules that prioritize sustainability and financial returns, and new referees that include more women and diverse leaders. There is endless potential to invest in emerging market and highly-impactful businesses—often led by women—that are providing access to affordable and essential goods and services to low-income consumers. These are the key levers we see to creating a more inclusive and climate-resilient global economy that works for everyone, not just the select few.
Our clients and partners exemplify this. By leveraging different financial tools to address pressing issues like climate change and growing inequality, and provide a viable pathway for global business and public sector leaders and financial institutions to truly play their part, our clients and partners are innovating at the edge and shifting the status quo.
Over the past few months, Lebec Consulting’s founder and CEO, Alix Lebec, has been busy writing about these possibilities at the intersection of ESG, impact investing, and philanthropy in the Financial Times, Business Insider India, Triple Pundit, Investors Champion, and more:
Why are ESG frameworks important? | Financial Times
OPINION: ESG investing remains strong even as the markets crater across the globe | Business Insider India
The war in Ukraine is a wake-up call to investors to do better | Financial Times
Asleep at the Wheel: ESG and capital market apathy | See Change
Your Money has the Power to Create (Political) Change. And There has Never Been a More Important Time to Use it. | Lebec Consulting
Here are some other news and articles we’re enjoying:
Yes, Investing in ESG Pays Off | Harvard Business Review
The Dumbest Idea in the World: Maximizing Shareholder Value | Forbes
LGBTQ+ as part of the ESG conversation: from words to action | Out Leadership
“A seat at the table” isn’t the solution for gender equity | Lilly Singh | TEDWomen
Africa needs $25bn a year of investment to boost energy provision, says IEA chief | Financial Times
Here’s how corporate leaders should celebrate Juneteenth | raceAhead | Ellen McGirt | Forbes
The Secret Diary of a ‘Sustainable Investor’ - Part 4 (Epilogue) | Tariq Fancy | Medium
Two opportunities to invest in emerging market business leaders who are making a difference.
Interview with Sylvana Sinha
Sylvana Sinha is the Founder and CEO of Praava Health
In this episode of Women(+) We've Been Waiting For, Sylvana Sinha speaks up on the urgency of investing in women leaders. As the data continues to show, again and again, female and diversity-led ventures outperform start-ups solely led by men. Women from emerging markets present a huge opportunity—and success story—to generate high social and financial returns. Sylvana Sinha and Praava Health are great examples of this, reshaping the healthcare industry in Bangladesh as we strive to overcome one of the greatest pandemics of our lifetime.
Interview with Eva Yazhari
Eva Yazhari, General Partner for Beyond Capital Ventures, Co-Founder & CEO of Beyond Capital Fund, and author of The Good Your Money Can Do.
In this episode, Eva talks to us about how impact investing needs to move away from an exclusive, overly academic approach, and become far more inclusive in many forms, in order to create real change. She also shares what conscious investing—and conscious leadership—means to her.
(Sources: NPR, labnol.org, pagetutor.com, cdn.ymaws.com)
We believe we already have all the resources we need to solve the world’s biggest problems. Our future depends on the commitment, methods, and urgency with which we act—and it affects all of us.
No more band-aid solutions. We must first look at and address the root cause of our problems. And profit must become secondary to the four 4 P’s: People, Planet, Purpose, and Prosperity. This is systems change.
But systems change is not prescriptive or top-down. It’s imperative we bring a new vision to this work and develop creative strategies through radical collaboration. This is how we can create a more sustainable and equitable world together.
This is where Lebec Consulting comes in. We are elevating the conversation and the impact. We believe that philanthropy; impact investing; and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing desperately need courage, creativity, and transformation—which, for a new generation, means:
Redefining what success means and creating new incentives for the business and global financial industries—which will influence risk-taking, priorities, and behaviors across philanthropy, impact investing, and ESG.
Ensuring more philanthropy is risk-tolerant, patient, and underwriting financial tools that will unlock more capital from the capital markets and governments.
Placing more diverse women+ in leadership positions with financial decision-making authority, alongside male allies.
Getting inside the corporate boardroom as the world’s specialist in translating ESG into actual action and impact that will solve the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Steering the impact investing industry toward creating a global capital market that will reduce inequality and solve the SDGs.
Viewing people living in poverty, not as a problem to be solved, but as a market to be served and supported.
Changing the narrative across media—including social media—by amplifying the stories and successes of communities and women in emerging markets, on their own terms.
Starting a global conversation about what needs to change within philanthropy, impact investing, and ESG—including why it matters, how it affects all of us, and the role we all have to play.
It’s time to forge a new culture, mindset, and ecosystem that steers more capital toward people, organizations, and ideas really impacting the world. Our lives, and the sustainability of our planet, depend on it.
About Lebec Consulting
Lebec Consulting is a women-owned and led company working across philanthropy, impact investing, and ESG. We help clients break with conventionality and think outside the box to achieve their greatest social impact. With over two decades of experience, Lebec supports clients with their strategy, core messaging, and leveraging every tool in the capital toolbox. With our community of partners and clients, we are ecosystem builders, co-creators, disruptors, collaborators, and storytellers.
Lebec-Consulting.com | Meet the Lebec Consulting Team
Watch season one of our show, Women+ We’ve Been Waiting For: Conversations on Wealth, Power & Social Change with Alix Lebec on YouTube!