A2 : access to fund.
There is very low priority for compagnies doing good on a financial aspect.
This is a recurrent challenge that need to be adressed.
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The ways to address these challenges are:
a) Emphasize the business case for social and environmental initiatives, highlighting how they contribute to long-term profitability, risk management, and market competitiveness. For example, understanding that climate change can adversely affect sources of supply, or that diversity within an organization brings greater profitability.
b) Greater focus on leveraging capital and blended finance to achieve the SDGs amongst social impact organizations.
c) Build broad coalitions of businesses, civil society organizations, and local communities to advocate for continued commitment to social and environmental progress. For larger and multinational companies to partner with local companies on social impact programs. This will improve the impact and delivery of the programs, ensure cultural relevance, and strengthen commercial ties for the organization.
d) Partner with NGOs who specialize in working with companies and communities on social and climate initiatives to improve the reach and impact of the programs.
e) Invest in digital infrastructure and tools for more inclusive and transparent development processes, enabling broader participation and collaboration across borders.
Thank you for your comment, Darleen.
Yes, in our MFI in Chile, the loans are āgroup loansā in which, as you say, women hold each other accountable in their repayment of the loans, Also in Peru, we have a product called āPalabra de Mujerā which works in a similar way and has very good results.
Additionally, we have more products designed for women related to health, education and well-being. Furthermore, the granting of loans is accompanied by financial education and in some cases, access to education in other areas such as online sales, how to grow their business, among others, with the objective of accompanying the growth of their business and improving their quality of life.
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Challenge 1 - Redesigning new blueprints for economic development in the emerging markets, that maximize the use of initial development funding to create a more dynamic and sustainable private sector.
Supporting small and medium-sized businesses, the backbones of local economies and job creation, is always a good idea, especially in conflict/crisis affected regions!
Our third question today:
Whatever you plan and do has to make commercial sense, especially in the long run, and you need to be able to justify it to bring the rest of the company behind the benefit of social impact. Supporting social and environmental impact is not a cost, but rather an investment and provides an ROI.
While this approach is important to ensure that the company is behind any social impact initiatives, it is also important for the sustainability of the initiatives because they are not driven by short-term PR or changing government policies, but rather by commercial interests.
Increase your appetite for risk. Social impact organizations know their communities and know what they are so invest in unrestricted and multi-year funding to support organizations to empower the communities that they have built years of trust and impact with, even if that means taking some risk.
Advice:
DEI: Consider global (and untapped) underrepresented talent in your hiring.
CSR budgets: Keep this as a priority and to fund organisations that support the causes your team care about
Skilled-based volunteers: Encourage your teams to volunteer and provide opportunities within the work day.
Absolutely! MovingWorlds operates an online platform that connects social entrepreneurs (anywhere in the world, working towards any of the 17 SDGs) with skills based volunteers from major corporations like SAP and EY, new corporate sales opportunities, and even courses and templates related to internal operations. Along the way, the corporations who partner with us are getting exposed to innovative new business practices, and helping their employees develop as future-ready leaders.
Weāre definitely not the only capacity-building platform out there, but Iād say what makes us different is the volume of experts and entrepreneurs. Instead of having to apply directly for support from SAPās program, then again for support from EYās program, etc., their single account on MovingWorlds gives them access to all of them in one place. The other thing Iād say is our methodology - weāve been in this space for a over a decade, and as weāve grown and evolved, weāve maintained the REAL needs/experiences of social entrepreneurs at the center of our work, platform, and matching approach. At itās core, our work is about matching REAL needs (not āmake-workā) with REAL skills (experienced professionals with proven track records.) Instead of telling enterprises what we think they need, we start with what they actually need!
All of which feel highly aligned with your answers - Iād love to learn more about your work, Sol!
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- If you could offer one piece of guidance to a corporate social impact leader stepping into 2025, what would it be?
- Humility: You canāt do it all, you donāt have the answers, itās not ours to do for āothersā andā¦thatās not just okay, thatās a wonderful thing. Itās liberating because it gives you the space to collaborate, experiment and learnā¦.but do so with Clarity:
- Clarity of outcomes: What are you actually trying to do?
- Clarity of purpose: Why are you trying to do it? How is this deeply connected to what your enterprise does in the world? If you sell food-stuff, for example, itās core that you would want a next generation of farmers (Mars!).
- Collaboration: De-risk scale by working together. You are almost never the only actor in an area, and almost never have control over outcomes. Get together, butā¦act, not talk!
- A bias towards action: In the face of chaos, results speak louder than theory.
A2 ā Part 1: How can businesses play a role in the larger system in which they operate?
First, business leaders should ask themselves this key question through structured exercises as the planet continues to warm at alarming rates while the naysayers seem to have stronger voice at the moment; and as global inequality within countries continues to rise (based on data up to 2023) with many vulnerable populations being left behind on key services such as health, housing, education, financial access, digital access etc. The motivations behind the answers need to be understood ā are these performative requirements, a business opportunity to serve a missing segment, or driven by the mission to scale impact ā are these answers tied to their core business. These insights can help organize talent and recruitment within the company as well as ensure resources for the solutions that are brought forth from this exercise.
Hold your nerve and focus on doing what matters. Whatever the external environment, the social impact community has always found a way of driving forward change. I agree with earlier comments on focusing on the work and not worrying about the language that it is couched in. And in trying to work to find ways to get a few important and simple messages into the ears of business leaders to counter some of the other message that they are getting.
- If you could offer one piece of guidance to a corporate social impact leader stepping into 2025, what would it be?
Invest in Partnerships that Embrace Systems Thinking
Collaborative partnerships with NGOs, governments, and businesses unlock collective expertise, resources, and innovative solutions to tackle complex, interconnected challenges. These alliances foster resilience, adaptability, and scaleāessential qualities in an era of rapid change driven by climate, economic, and social shifts.
Through our work in Africa, India, and Latin America weāve seen that achieving measurable impact in agricultural programs often requires a long-term perspective. Programs aiming to increase incomes through higher yields or reduced production costs take time because of the natural pace of agricultural cycles. This slow process needs patience and a commitment to iterative learning.
To accelerate progress, we advise businesses to focus on systems approaches: Adopt a long-term commitment but streamline co-creation processes to move to piloting faster.
(a) Pilots donāt need to be perfect; the key is to iterate and adapt. As we often remind ourselves, āno plan survives enemy contact.ā Flexibility is essential to identify and refine solutions quickly, ensuring the approaches that work can scale effectively.
(b) As demonstrated in our partnership with Mars Wrigley, a steady and long-term commitment fostered deeper, more sustainable agricultural improvements for farming households and built loyalty among farmers, contributing to a secure, traceable supply chaināan invaluable asset for businesses.
Partnerships that are adaptable, resilient, and sustainable integrate corporate strategies with global frameworks such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address systemic issues like poverty, inequality, and sustainability. By embedding systems thinking into partnerships and committing to both short-term adaptability and long-term outcomes, businesses can achieve measurable impact while ensuring growth, resilience, and global relevance.
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yes; and the right kind of risk
Focus on being data driven on social impact - resources will limited but demand will grow so prioritizing will be critical. Put emphasis on local strategies where possible.
A3. There is a lot of guidance and supporting social infrastructure out there. As social impact leaders what we need is to serve as conduits between the literature, guidance, and toolkits we know, trust, and have tested and advising business leaders. It is important for us to continue to focus, knowing that reform usually comes through taking stepwise actions and consistency. A few sources of inspiration and guidance Iāve liked recently include:
ā Morrison, John. (2024). The Just Transition: A Systems-Thinking Approach to Managing Climate Action. Palgrave Macmillan. The Just Transition: A Systems-Thinking Approach To Managing Climate Action | SpringerLink
ā Posner, M. (2024). Conscience Incorporated: Pursue Profits While Protecting Human Rights. NYU Press.
ā C40 Cities developed a toolkit for city leaders that outlines the seven pillars of a city-based just transition
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/01/local-approach-to-just-transition-is-important/
Q3: my advice would be to authentically engage with and listen to the people who will be directly impacted by your decisions/actions and ensure that they are part of designing/building a solution. That you are accountable to these people throughout the process.
One piece of guidance is always hard and often superficial! So here goesā¦
Connect with others and outside of your focus area. This is hard guidance because of all the time constraints on everyone. But good and novel ideas for social impact so often arise from novel interactions. Related to this is that leaders need to do the next right thing ā small or large. There are a lot of ways to make practical, pragmatic progress right now despite the political windsā¦
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Very true @Stephanie_Barrientos . Equality and inclusion require quite a lot of attention. though, I must say though that quite some steps have been made, we are not where we used to be 10 years ago. But I agree with you it needs more attention put into it.