“Only when companies disclose their impact - negative and positive - will we live in a transparent, holistic economy.” - Paul Allard, CEO & Co-Founder, Impak Finance.
Watch our panel from EVPA’s Annual Conference.
We started into 2020 with a heavy focus on reshaping our economy – away from shareholder capitalism towards stakeholder capitalism. As the COVID crisis struck, it became even more apparent, which company has “systemic relevance” and which ones lack a purpose in this time of need. How does social innovation help companies to (re-)discover that relevance and turn it into action? Will the COVID crisis accelerate our push towards stakeholder capitalism? Or will it trigger a return to business as usual? We will bring together business and impact leaders to discuss the role of companies and their shareholders in reshaping our economy. We will deep-dive on 1) Trends in capital allocation in financial markets 2) The role of executives in shaping long-term corporate agendas 3) Bottoms-up versus Top-down transformation 4) The role of social innovation and intrapreneurship in corporate transformation 5) Purpose-washing and accountability.
Speakers: - Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, Chief Mission Officer, Essilor - Shannon Klinger, Chief Legal Officer, Novartis - Joachim Drees, Former CEO in the Automotive Industry - Mercedes Gutierrez, Head of Communities Engagement, Ingka Group (IKEA) - Andreas Bluethner, Director Nutrition, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - Paul Allard, CEO & Co-Founder, Impak Finance - Saskia Bruysten, Co-Founder & CEO, Yunus Social Business - Daniel Nowack, Managing Director, Yunus Social Business
Our serial entrepreneur Gjergji is setting up a textile social business to create over 130 better paying jobs with exceptional working conditions for vulnerable women in Albania.

Since the 1980s, pioneers like Bill Drayton, Muhammad Yunus and Anita Roddick have led through action, creating powerful examples of business solutions to societal or environmental issues. They called it social business, social entrepreneurship or impact entrepreneurship.

Before we wrap up 2022, the year we celebrated our 10-year anniversary in working in social business, we'd like to take some time to reflect on what we've achieved so far and what lies ahead of us in 2023.