Thank you for joining us in 2023 to discuss the hottest topics in impact investing!
Very much like last year, our IMPACT FIRE TALKS 2023 allowed pioneers, movers and shapers to discover or rekindle their fire for impact, challenge the status quo and talk practice. In 2023, we kicked off in June and continued during the rest of the year. We are grateful for this year’s inspiring virtual sessions and the passion for impact from like-minded experts, pioneers and speakers. FASE and our event partners EIB Institute, EVPA, EBAN, Bundesinitiative Impact Investing and Toniic thank you for having joined us again. For those who couldn’t make it to one or the other session, our media partner Pioneers Post has covered the highlights for you in several articles. Enjoy!
What was hot in our Impact Fire Talks 2023
Session 1 / June 21, 2023
HOW MUCH IMPACT IS IN SDG INVESTING? This provocative question is at the heart of this top-down session. We will dissect SDG from impact investing strategies and investigate the concrete effects of recent regulatory and sector wake-up calls: How deep is the chasm between impact promise and practice? What can we expect from certain labels? How do we move from lip service to reliable impact? Our experts in this session were Charly Kleissner, Ph.D., Co–Founder of Toniic & KL Felicitas Foundation, and Laurence Laplane-Rigal, Head of Impact Investing of Amundi. The session was moderated by Nathalie Nebelius from Toniic and hosted by Juliane von Boeselager from FASE.
For some key insights in this session, see our LinkedIn post and read the summary article on Pioneers Post!
Session 2 / June 27, 2023, 13:00 – 14:30 CEST
EXIT PATHWAYS DURING ECONOMIC DOWNTURN: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE? Exits are one of the key concerns of impact VCs, especially in times of economic downturn. Questions such as “What is my exit strategy in times of recession and how can I ensure that impact stays at the heart of my portfolio ventures?” are typical and pressing. In this session, we sought to answer them by looking at the best practical hacks and strategies in phases of high uncertainty. Our experienced experts discussed from different angles – investor, investee and economist – and made this session lively, interactive and multi-faceted. A big thank you to Zoé Constantin, Partner at Impact Partners, Prof. Rudy Aernoudt, economist and professor at Ghent University, Walter Zantinge, Chief Veggi Officer at Wholy Greens, as well as Ines Mertens de Wilmars, Impact Investing Lead at EVPA and moderator of this Impact Fire Talk. The session was hosted by Saja Chander from FASE.
Here are some key insights from this very interactive session. This article on Pioneers Post summarizes the thought-provoking discussion for you.
Session 3 / September 25, 2023, 14:00 – 15:30 CEST
DIVERSITY BEYOND GENDER: WHERE FUNDERS HAVE BLIND SPOTS: This myth-busting session explored how to truly create a more diverse fundraising environment for impact entrepreneurs. While the DEI topic has stirred a wave of new investment practices, they seem to have barely scratched the surface. Therefore, we handed the mic to those who experienced first-hand the biases and blind spots that funders still have. We also discussed solutions to the diversity dilemma by picking the brains and creativity of diversity pioneers and peers in the impact space. We are grateful for our fantastic speakers: Leanne Mair, Founder and Managing Director of Benefactum Consulting, Pablo Santaeufemia, CEO and Co-Founder of Bridge for Billions, and Stefania Quaini, Managing Director of Angels4Women, who also moderated this important discussion.
Session 4 / November 14, 2023, 14:00 – 15:30 CEST
DORMANT BANK ACCOUNTS: A SOLUTION FOR LARGE-SCALE IMPACT? The UK is the front runner and has shown that waking up the sleeping bank account beauties can pay off for the impact world. Now, Germany is on the (h)edge to follow suit. But how to unleash the full potential of this yet-untapped source of capital? What needs to be done differently in other ecosystems such as Germany? And which mistakes and obstacles should be avoided?
We sincerely thank our great speakers in this inspiring session: Cliff Prior, CEO of the Global Steering Group for Impact Investing, Zarah Bruhn, Founder & CEO of socialbee and Commissioner for Social Innovation at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Dr. Markus Freiburg, Founder & Managing Director of FASE, and Martijn Blom, Impact Funds Advisor at EVPA, who was also the moderator.
Who are our Media, Co-funder and sponsoring partners
For this year’s Impact Fire Talks we partnered again with Pioneers Post, the news platform for the global impact community. Pioneers Post is offering FASE network members the opportunity to gain unrestricted access to its rich stream of articles and multimedia features on social entrepreneurship and impact investing, with an exclusive 20% discount on both individual and team subscriptions. Use the referral code FASE2023 here or contact subs@pioneerspost.com to discuss a special deal for your team.
In addition to our event partners EVPA, EBAN, Toniic and Bundesinitiative Impact Investing, our special thanks go to the European Investment Bank Institute for sponsoring the Impact Fire Talks again this year.
The FASE Impact Fire Talks are co-funded by the European Union under the program “ESF-2022-SOC-FIN — Transaction costs to support social finance intermediaries”. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
