Impact Transformers Part 7 – Transforming the Impact Ecosystem

In a rare quiet room at the very buzzy Impact Week, seven Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows sat down to talk. What unfolded was a conversation unlike the others in this series: about the life of founders – sometimes wonderful, sometimes not. Our guests shared their experiences on balancing family, business partners and expectations; their biggest questions for each other; and what it takes to keep going when the odds are against you.  Jackie  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/diana-jue-jackie-stenson  Jessica https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/jessica-menon   Monika  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/monika-tomecka Sofie  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/sofie-blakstad Jife  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/jife-williams-adeola-asabia  Ishani https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/ishani-roy Rana  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/rana-sanyal * https://www.impacteurope.net/ 

Part 2 of a multi-part episode on the work lives of five Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows. Ishani founded Serein, which helps companies prevent harassment and discrimination in the workplace. Next, we hear from Rana, founder of RS Research, a next-generation therapeutics company developing novel nanomedicines based on innovative drug delivery platforms to treat patients fighting cancer. Join us for insights on what it means to ask big questions and reach the answers in innovative, impactful ways.    Ishanihttps://serein.in/  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/ishani-roy Rana https://rsresearch.net/ https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/rana-sanyal Meet these Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows – and many more – at Impact Week in Bilbao!  https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home 

The Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows are innovators, changemakers and impact entrepreneurs par excellence. Five of the Fellows came on Impact People to let us inside their world – three in this episode, two more in Part 2. We start with Amaia Rodriguez, whose company Gravity Wave removes plastic from the ocean to give it a new value. Then there’s Salma; she founded Green Watech, a solution that transforms wastewater. Finally, we hear from Titi about 9ijakids, a learning tool that uses interactive quizzes and games to help reinforce what children learn in school. Join us for insights on what it means to be an impact entrepreneur, the big questions they’re asking and how the Cartier Women’s Initiative enables and accelerates their work.  Amaia https://www.thegravitywave.com/  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/amaia-rodriguez  Salma  https://www.greenwatech.com/  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/salma-bougarrani  Titihttps://9ijakids.com/  https://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/fellow/titi-adewusi Meet these Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellows – and many more – at Impact Week in Bilbao!  https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home  

Empowering Systemic Investing: what needs to be done? It’s a big question for the impact ecosystem. It’s also the title of an upcoming session at Impact Week, moderated by Shiva Dustdar, Director, Head and Dean of the EIB Institute. Shiva talks about the concept, big news from EIB, books she’s reading and lots more.   https://institute.eib.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivadustdar/  https://ssir.org/articles/entry/systemic_investing_for_social_change https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Cooked_Adam_Smith%27s_Dinner%3F https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home 

The EIB Institute and EIF launched the Empowering Equity Academy in June to encourage female students in STEM and sustainability subjects to consider careers in venture capital and private equity. Mara and Laura, students with backgrounds in clean energy transition, have joined the Academy and are now learning a lot about how finance can create the world they want to live in. Join Mara, Laura and Ben for an in-depth introduction to their upcoming session at Impact Week, “Empowering Gender and STEM in finance. From the grassroots!” https://institute.eib.org/2024/06/empowering-equity-academy-is-launched/ https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home https://www.linkedin.com/in/mara-balasa/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-linuesa/  

Looking up the sheer glass face at night, you could imagine there’s the beacon they flash to summon the city’s impact people. The BAT Tower stands tall as a central, collaborative space for Bilbao’s impact sector. Our latest episode of Impact People takes us live inside BAT Tower for a chat with the people behind the slate of Impact Week pre-events happening in the tower. After a quick intro with Oscar Ugarte Gamboa (Director, Seed Capital Bizkaia), we hear from Maria Ocariz (Operations Manager, Impact HUB), Josep Ferrer Muñoz (ECV Program Coordinator, Oxfam) and Paul Ortega (Director, Basque Agency for Cooperation & Solidarity).  https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/pre-events https://impacthubmadrid.typeform.com/Side-Events  https://bacceleratortower.com/en/  https://www.seedcapitalbizkaia.eus/en/  https://impacthub.net/ https://www.oxfam.org/en https://platforma-dev.eu/partner/euskadi/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariaocarizmoreno/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/josepferrermunoz/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulortegaetcheverry/ 

Bilbao Berrikuntza Faktoria, a collaborative space from Mondragon University and the City Council of Bilbao, brings together learning, innovation and entrepreneurship all in one impactful place. Impact People takes us inside for interviews with the residents: Ziortza Olano Astigarraga (Team Coach, Mondragon Team Academy), Marisol Menendez (CEO & Founder, Bilakatu, WITH) Juan Zubiaurre Atxa (Business Development Manager, TAZEBAEZ) and Sain Lopez (Co-Founder, Mondragon Team Academy). Expect insights on social entrepreneurship, open innovation, platform cooperatives and more.    https://bbfaktoria.mondragon.edu/en/home https://worldopeninnovation.com/  https://upmeup.es/ https://ia601602.us.archive.org/6/items/sain-lopez/SainLopezMarch8.pdf https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ziortzaolanoastigarraga/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisolmenendez/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/juan-zubiaurre-atxa-2572234b/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sainlopez/  

How does the acorn grow to an oak? Seed Capital Bizkaia has answers, as exemplified by the dozens of impact enterprises they’ve nurtured over the years. After an introduction from Oscar Ugarte Gamboa (Director, Seed Capital Bizkaia), we hear from three social entrepreneurs Seed Capital Bizkaia has supported: Aitor Ojanguren (Socio Fundador, Koiki), Luis Miguel Aras Portilla (Executive President, Impulso Cognitivo) and David Fried (CEO, Evolv). Tune in for insider perspectives on the impact businesses of the Basque country!   https://www.seedcapitalbizkaia.eus/en/ https://koiki.es/en/home-koiki-english/ https://evolvrehab.com/ https://www.impulsocognitivo.com/  https://www.impacteurope.net/people/oscar-ugarte-gamboa  https://www.linkedin.com/in/aitorojanguren/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-miguel-aras-portilla-268a1539/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgfried/ 

Lever for Change has mobilised over $1 billion in philanthropic capital by matching donors to issues in open-call challenges. Dr. Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change, joins Ben for a conversation on how this model works, what voices it amplifies and how more impact people can get involved. A trained economist with 31 years in academia, Cecilia jumped into the world of philanthropy with a splash, eventually leading the MacArthur Fellows program and 100&Change, the latter of which laid the foundation for Lever for Change. Impact Week attendees can join Cecilia at the opening plenary on 29 November – see the agenda below for more details.  https://www.leverforchange.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilia-conrad/  https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/agenda 

We’re going LIVE from Basque country, first stop: BBK Kuna in Bilbao. Meet the impact people of this incubation space during a round table discussion with Kristian Prieto (Director, BBK Kuna), Oihane Aldaiturriaga (Head of Entrepreneurship & Employment, BBK), Isabel Abascal Canales (Founder, Compostree) – and a special appearance from Ainhoa Isla Lopez (CEO, Auziker). Public and private, places and people – learn how these factors come together to grow the impact ecosystem here.  https://kuna.bbk.eus/en/ https://compostree.es/ https://auziker.com/  https://www.impactweek.eu/bilbao/home https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristianprieto/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/oihanealdaiturriaga/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabel-abascal-canales/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ainhoa-isla-lopez-6b8138195/